[JPRT 110-40]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
110th Congress
2d Session JOINT COMMITTEE PRINT S. Prt.
110-40
_______________________________________________________________________
COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS
PRACTICES FOR 2006
VOLUME II
----------
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
COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES FOR 2006
VOLUME II
110th Congress
2d Session JOINT COMMITTEE PRINT S. Prt.
110-40
_______________________________________________________________________
COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS
PRACTICES FOR 2006
VOLUME II
__________
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
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
41-618 WASHINGTON : 2008
_____________________________________________________________________________
For Sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; (202) 512�091800
Fax: (202) 512�092104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402�090001
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.
NEAR EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
----------
ALGERIA
Algeria is a multiparty republic of approximately 33 million
inhabitants whose head of state (President) is elected by popular vote
to a five-year term. The President has the constitutional authority to
appoint and dismiss cabinet members and the Prime Minister, who serves
as the head of government. The President also serves as commander-in-
chief of the armed forces. President Bouteflika was re-elected in 2004
after competing against five other candidates in a generally
transparent election in which the military remained neutral. While
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces, there were a few instances in which elements of the
security forces acted independently of government authority.
The Government continued to fail to account for thousands of
persons who disappeared in detention during the 1990s. Other
significant human rights problems included reports of abuse and
torture; official impunity; prolonged pretrial detention; limited
judicial independence; denial of fair, public trials; restrictions on
civil liberties, including freedom of speech, press, assembly, and
association; security-based restrictions on movement; limitations on
religious freedom, including increased regulation of non-Muslim
worship; corruption and lack of government transparency; discrimination
against women; and restrictions 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 arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
During the year, according to the Ministry of the Interior (MOI)
and press releases, the total number of terrorist, civilian, and
security force deaths declined to 323 (compared to 488 in 2005, 429 in
2004, and 1,162 in 2003). Of these, the Government stated that
terrorists killed 54 civilians (76 in 2005) and 90 security force
members (177 in 2005); security forces killed an estimated 179
suspected terrorists (235 in 2005).
Terrorists targeted civilians, security forces, and infrastructure.
Press reports estimated that 135 civilians and 174 members of the
security forces were killed in terrorist attacks, most of which were
attributed to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).
Revenge, banditry, and land ownership disputes--not terrorism--
prompted some killings. In February Ali Tounsi, head of the national
police, stated that terrorism in the country had been nearly eliminated
and that some violence was the result of organized crime, not
terrorism. Most of the violence occurred in mountainous and rural
areas. For the first time in more than two years, there were terrorist
attacks in the capital. On October 19, an improvised explosive device
(IED) exploded outside a military barracks in the Algiers suburb of El-
Harrach, wounding six, and on October 30 two bombs killed two persons
approximately 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from downtown Algiers. On
December 10, a shuttle bus carrying 20 expatriate workers of a Western
oil services company was attacked in a suburban area of Algiers near
residences of senior government officials and a major hotel. Two men on
the bus were killed.
In a March press conference, former Prime Minister Ouyahia
officially stated that the total death toll of the 1998 Ramka massacre
committed by terrorists in the province of Relizane had been 1,000, not
150, as previously stated by the Government.
b. Disappearance.--In June, according to local and international
NGOs, three individuals disappeared but later reappeared in court on
October 9 and were charged with belonging to a terrorist group (see
section 1.d.). It was not known when the individuals were formally
placed in pretrial detention. In November, according to the Algerian
League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH), an individual
disappeared and remained missing at year's end.
For courts to hear charges of disappearance, the law requires at
least two eyewitnesses. Most of the thousands of disappearances in the
mid-1990s, many of which have been attributed to the security forces,
remain unresolved. The Government has not prosecuted any security force
personnel, and there is no evidence that the Government investigated
any of the 5,200 cases that it acknowledged were caused by security
forces. According to some local NGOs, the Government has refused to
investigate cases to avoid the possibility of criminal charges against
security forces or other government officials. Courts have therefore
refused to consider cases where a family member, as a single eyewitness
to an abduction, identified specific policemen as the abductors.
Press reports indicated that the GSPC kidnapped approximately 55
civilians during the year.
The total number of disappeared during the 1990s continued to be
debated. During the year, the Government estimated that 6,546 persons
were missing or disappeared as a result of government actions between
1992 and 1999, with some 10,000 additional persons missing or
disappeared from terrorist kidnappings and murders. Local NGOs reported
that security forces played a role in the disappearances of
approximately 8,000 persons.
In September 2005 voters approved by referendum President
Bouteflika's proposed Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation,
which ended the Ad Hoc Mechanism that was established in 2003 to
account for the disappeared. According to official results, 80 percent
of registered voters participated, and 97 percent of the participating
voters approved the charter. The charter went into effect on March 8,
granting amnesty to units of the National Popular Army, the security
forces, and persons who helped fight against extremists, as well as to
certain persons involved in terrorist activities. To qualify for
amnesty, individuals engaged in terrorism had to cease their armed
activities and surrender themselves and their weapons to the
authorities. Persons implicated in mass killings, rapes, or bomb
attacks in public places were not eligible for amnesty. NGOs criticized
the amnesty as a blanket for the security services. Many imprisoned
terrorists were also given amnesty.
Families of the disappeared experienced complications and delays in
receiving compensation from the Government. At year's end, it remained
unclear how many families had applied for or received compensation.
Local and international NGOs complained that the charter's blanket
amnesty for security forces did not hold state agents sufficiently
responsible for acts of violence they may have committed. Some local
NGOs criticized the charter for enabling terrorists to escape justice
for crimes they committed against civilians.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Both the constitution and Legal Code prohibit torture and
other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; however,
there were reports from Algeria Watch in March and Amnesty
International (AI) in April that government officials employed such
practices. According to the Algerian League for the Defense of Human
Rights, security forces frequently used torture, including to obtain
confessions.
The Penal Code criminalizes torture; government agents can face
prison sentences for up to three years for committing such acts.
However, impunity remained a problem (see section 1.d.).
Human rights lawyers maintained that torture continued to occur in
military prisons, more often against those arrested on ``security
grounds.'' However, they believed that the frequency and severity of
torture declined during the year, due in part to better training of the
security forces and alternative intelligence-gathering techniques. In
July AI published a report on torture by the secret military police,
concluding that the security forces were still benefiting from
impunity. In May 2005 AI reported that the ``chiffon'' method--stuffing
a rag into a person's mouth while forcing contaminated liquids into the
stomach until the person vomited--was the preferred method of torture
because it left no physical traces of assault.
In April police detained Mourad M'hamed, a journalist at the daily
newspaper El-Khabar. Police shoved and, according to the newspaper,
subjected him to ``heavy psychological pressure'' for several hours
because he had published a document concerning the terrorist group
GSPC, an act viewed as a threat to national security. In July he was
tried for releasing information on national security to the public and
acquitted (see section 2.a.).
In 2004, seven gendarmes were imprisoned in a military detention
facility in Blida awaiting trial on charges of torture and
maltreatment. At year's end, there was no information on their status.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--According to the UN
Development Program (UNDP), prison conditions were difficult but
improving. The Government permitted the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC), the UNDP and the Red Crescent Society to visit
regular, non-military prisons. The ICRC declined to report its
findings. The Government denied independent human rights observers
visits to military and high-security prisons and detention centers.
There were approximately 51,000 inmates in 127 prisons.
Overcrowding was a problem in some prisons. The quality of medical care
was uneven, according to international observers, and depended upon the
prison. In 2005 there were hunger strikes in several prisons to protest
conditions and the length of pretrial detentions, but reports of such
strikes diminished sharply during the year. Independent human rights
observers reported that conditions in prisons generally improved during
the year. According to press reports, the justice minister ordered an
investigation into prison conditions as a result of prisoner
complaints. Also according to press reports, the Government fired
prison guards at two prisons and reshuffled administrations at 18
prisons.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention. As in previous years, the security
forces arbitrarily arrested and detained citizens; however, LADDH and
the Algerian Human Rights League (LADH) reported that such abuses
occurred with decreasing frequency. In 2005, the head of the National
Consultative Commission for the Protection and Promotion of Human
Rights (CNCPPDH) said that pretrial detention, although defined as an
exceptional measure by Article 123 of the Penal Procedure Code, was
overused.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The General Directorate
for National Security (DGSN), or the national police force, falls under
the control of the Ministry of Interior and has national jurisdiction.
The Gendarmerie, under the Ministry of Defense, also perform police-
like functions outside urban areas. Police were generally effective at
maintaining order throughout the country. Low levels of corruption
existed, especially in the customs police.
Impunity remained a problem. The Government did not provide
disaggregated public information on the numbers, infractions, or
punishments of police, military, or other security force personnel.
According to human rights attorneys, police officials, and local NGOs,
the most frequent abuse of police authority occurred as a result of
officers not following established guidelines for arrests. In January
2005, all security forces were provided a copy of a code of conduct
establishing regulations for conduct and sanctions for abuses.
In March the DGSN director stated that as part of a national police
internal crackdown on malfeasance, several DGSN officials had been
arrested for embezzlement, use of public money for personal gain, and
cronyism. In April the Judicial Police (the main body of the DGSN)
brought official legal action against 10 police officers. Results had
not been made public by year's end.
In March the Gendarmerie officially announced that 4,200 gendarmes
had been dismissed between 2000 and 2005 for lack of discipline and
abuse of power.
Arrest and Detention.--Police must obtain a summons from the
prosecutor's office to require a suspect to appear in a police station
for preliminary questioning. Summonses are also used to notify and
require the accused and/or the victim(s) to attend a court proceeding
or hearing.
The Government issues warrants under three different circumstances:
to bring an individual from work or home to a court; to execute a
prosecutor's approved request to place a person into custody pending
trial; or to arrest a suspect considered to be a flight risk. Police
may make arrests without a warrant if they witness an offense taking
place. Lawyers reported that procedures for warrants and summonses were
usually carried out properly.
The constitution specifies that a suspect may be held in detention
for up to 48 hours without charge. If more time is required for
gathering additional evidence, the police may request that the
prosecutor extend the suspect's detention to 72 hours. In practice, the
security forces generally adhered to the 48-hour limit in non-terrorism
cases. However, defense lawyers asserted that detainees in prolonged
pretrial detention were sometimes not promptly charged.
Prolonged pretrial detention remained a problem. The law does not
provide a person in detention with the right to a prompt judicial
determination of the legality of the detention. Persons accused of acts
against the security of the state, including terrorism, may be held in
pretrial detention as long as 20 months, according to the Code of Penal
Procedure; the prosecutor must show cause every four months for
continuing pretrial detention.
Judges rarely refused prosecutor requests for extending preventive
detention. Detention can be appealed to a higher court but is rarely
overturned. If the detention is overturned, the defendant can request
compensation. In December 2005, the minister of justice acknowledged
publicly that prosecutors sometimes abused investigative detention.
Detainees generally had prompt access to a lawyer of their choice and,
if indigent, were provided a lawyer by the Government.
There is no system of bail, but in non-felony cases suspects are
usually released on ``provisional liberty'' while waiting for trial.
Under provisional liberty, suspects are required to report weekly to
the police station in their district and are forbidden from leaving the
country.
Article 23 of the penal code requires detainees in pretrial
detention to be immediately informed of their right to communicate with
family members, receive visitors, and be examined by a doctor of their
choice at the end of detention. In addition, any suspect can request a
medical examination once on police premises or before facing the judge.
In practice, however, detainees were typically examined only at the end
of their detention. There continued to be frequent reports during the
year that these rights were not extended to detainees.
In June, according to local and international NGOs, Mohammed Rabah
Ajine, Zeineddine Belacel, and Habib Boukhatemi, all from Tiaret,
disappeared and were later placed in pretrial detention in Algiers. On
October 9, the three appeared before a judge and were charged with
belonging to a terrorist group operating in Algeria and abroad.
According to NGO SOS Disparus, at year's end the three were in
detention and their trials were pending (see section 1.b.).
Local prosecutors are required to grade the performance of police
captains operating in their jurisdiction to ensure that they comply
with the law in their treatment of suspects. Police captains
subsequently grade their officers.
Amnesty.--In May and July, President Bouteflika pardoned 200
journalists who had been convicted of defamation, including those
serving sentences. However, journalists involved in ongoing
prosecutions for defamation were ineligible for pardons.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution provides
for an independent judiciary, executive branch decrees and influence
limited judicial independence. The constitution provides for the right
to a fair trial; however, in practice, authorities sometimes did not
respect legal provisions regarding defendants' rights, and denied due
process. Defendants and their attorneys were sometimes denied access to
government-held evidence relevant to their cases.
In February 2005, the Superior Council of Judges permanently
dismissed and disbarred Judge Mohamed Ras El Ain at a disciplinary
hearing that did not afford full due process. Human rights lawyers and
local and international press reported that he was accused of
criticizing the politicization of the judiciary. Ras El Ain maintained
that the judicial system had been abused to serve the interests of a
political party.
The judiciary is composed of civil courts, which hear cases
involving civilians facing charges not related to security or
terrorism; and the military courts, which can also hear cases involving
civilians facing security and terrorism charges. Regular criminal
courts can try cases involving security-related offenses at the local
level.
Military courts in Oran, Blida, Constantine, and Bechar try cases
involving state security, espionage, and other security-related
offenses involving military personnel and civilians. Each tribunal
consists of three civilian judges and two military judges. Although the
President of each court is a civilian, the chief judge is a military
officer. Defense lawyers must be accredited by the military tribunal to
appear. Public attendance at the trial is at the discretion of the
tribunal. Appeals are made directly to the Supreme Court. The military
tribunals tried cases in 2005 and during the year, but the tribunals
did not disclose information on proceedings.
The nine-member Constitutional Council reviews the
constitutionality of treaties, laws, and regulations. Although the
council is not part of the judiciary, it has the authority to nullify
laws found unconstitutional, to confirm the results of any type of
election, and to serve as the final arbiter of amendments that pass
both chambers of the parliament before becoming law.
Most trials are public and non-jury. Defendants are presumed
innocent and have the right to be present and to consult with an
attorney, provided at public expense if necessary. Defendants can
confront or question witnesses against them or present witnesses and
evidence on their behalf. Defendants also have the right to appeal. A
woman's testimony is equal to that of a man's.
In August 2005, the Government began a program designed to
eliminate judicial corruption. A National Council of Magistrates met
twice (and twice in 2005) to take disciplinary measures, resulting in
the investigation of more than 40 magistrates. In December, 12 judges
went before the council for abuse of power, lack of reserve, and
unethical relationships. The results of the investigations had not been
made public at year's end.
In September 2005, Justice Minister Tayeb Belaiz publicly announced
that 60 magistrates had been fired because of ``reprehensible acts.''
In the same month, 21 magistrates appeared before the High Council of
Magistrates for disciplinary sanctions, which ranged from expulsion to
transfers. Eight were fired and 23 were demoted.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were reports of political
prisoners and political detainees. On January 21, Bachir Larabi,
correspondent for the Arabic-language newspaper El-Khabar in the
western region of El-Bayadh, was imprisoned for defamation for an
article published on December 9, 2003, incriminating local authorities
and a local association in the failed construction of a nursing home.
On February 22, he was released. Salah Mokhtari, from the Arabic-
language newspaper Djazair News, was arrested on December 18 and
released on December 26. Four arrest warrants were issued for Mokhtari
between 2004 and 2005 for articles published in the weekly newspaper
El-Kawalis, where he worked. In previous years, journalists were
detained without charge for lengthy periods before trial for defamation
against government officials.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The judiciary was not
fully independent and impartial in civil matters. Favoritism can occur,
depending on the family connections and status of the parties involved.
Individuals may bring lawsuits seeking damages for human rights
violations and be compensated for alleged wrongs.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions; in practice,
however, government authorities infringed on citizens' privacy rights.
The Government actively monitored the communications of political
opponents, journalists, human rights groups, and suspected terrorists
(see section 4).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and press; however, the Government restricted these
rights in practice.
Individuals generally were able to criticize the Government
privately without reprisal. However, citizens were less inclined to
criticize the Government in public. The Government attempted to impede
criticism by monitoring political meetings.
The law specifies that freedom of speech must respect ``individual
dignity, the imperatives of foreign policy, and the national defense.''
The state of emergency decree gives the Government broad authority to
restrict these freedoms and take legal action against what it considers
to be threats to the state or public order. These regulations were
heavily applied throughout the year, and in some instances the
Government targeted specific media organizations and their staff.
Radio and television are government-owned, with coverage favorable
to government policy. During the year, opposition spokesmen were
generally denied access to the public radio or television. Television
access continued to be severely limited for some opposition parties.
These limitations were less evident for radio. Presidential candidates
received equal amounts of time on the state-owned radio and television
channels during the three-week official campaign season prior to the
2004 elections.
The country's non-state-owned print media consisted of more than 43
daily, 60 weekly, and 17 monthly publications that supported or opposed
the Government to varying degrees; only six newspapers' circulation
exceeded 10,000 copies. The Government owned two French-language and
two Arabic-language newspapers. Many political parties, including legal
Islamic parties, had access to the independent press and made use of it
to express their views. Opposition parties also disseminated
information via the Internet and in communiques.
The law permits the Government to levy fines and to imprison
members of the press in a manner that restricts press freedom. The
Government censored directly and indirectly and intimidated the media
into practicing self-censorship. The Government used defamation laws to
harass and arrest journalists, and the press faced government
retaliation for criticizing government officials.
Charges of defamation are based on the 1990 communication law which
protects Islam from defamation, controls access to external
information, and outlaws writing that threatens national unity. In
2001, the laws were amended to criminalize writing, cartoons, and
speech that insult or offend the President, parliament, judiciary, or
armed forces. The Penal Code imposes high fines and prison terms of up
to 24 months for defamation or ``the insult'' of government figures,
including the President, members of parliament, judges, members of the
military, and ``any other authority of public order.'' Those convicted
face prison sentences that range from 3 to 24 months and fines of $675
to $6,750 (50,000 to 500,000 dinars).
In January the regional correspondent of the daily newspaper El-
Khabar, Bachir El-Larabi, was sentenced to a month's imprisonment for
defamation. In the same case, Ali Djerri, director of the newspaper,
was fined $700 (50,000 dinars). El-Larabi was released in February.
On December 25, a court in Jijel sentenced Omar Belhouchet, editor-
in-chief of the French-language daily El-Watan, and columnist Chawki
Amari to three months in prison and fined them $14,088 (986,000 dinars)
for an article published in June accusing the wali of Jijel of
corruption. Amari told the international NGO Reporters Without Borders
that he did not receive a summons to appear before the court of Jijel
and only became aware of the trial after its verdict was rendered. In
June, also for an article involving the alleged corruption of the wali
of Jijel, Ali Fodil from the Arabic-language daily newspaper Echourouk
el-Youmi was sentenced to three months in prison and fined $703 (49,000
dinars). Belhouchet, Amari, and Fodil appealed their sentences and were
not detained.
In February, Ali Dilem, the cartoonist for the French-language
daily newspaper Liberte, was sentenced to a year in prison and a $700
(50,000 dinars) fine for 12 cartoons dealing with President Bouteflika
that were published in October and November 2003.
On February 20, Kamel Boussad, director of the weekly Panorama, and
Berkane Bouderbala, editor of the weekly Essafir and its religious
supplement Errisala, were imprisoned because both reprinted Danish
caricatures of the Prophet Muhammed. The minister of communication
lodged a complaint on the basis of Article 144 of the Penal Code, which
provides for up to five years in prison for offenses against the
Prophet or God's Messengers or which denigrate the doctrine of Islam.
On March 15, Boussad and Bouderbala were released.
On February 10, after broadcasting the same caricatures, Lotfi
Cheriet, general manager of the television channel Canal Algerie, was
reassigned and demoted. The narrator of the piece was fired. Houria
Khatir, director of television channel Thalita, was also fired for
permitting images of the caricatures to be televised.
On April 1, police detained Mourad M'hamed, a journalist at the
daily newspaper El-Khabar. He was shoved and, according to the
newspaper, subjected to ``heavy psychological pressure'' for several
hours in a police station because he had published a document
concerning the terrorist group GSPC, an act viewed as a threat to
national security. In July he was tried for releasing information on
national security to the public and acquitted (see section 1.c.).
On October 31, an Algiers court convicted editor Ali Fodel and
reporter Naila Berahal of the Arabic-language daily Echourok el-Youmi
on charges of defaming Libyan leader Muammar al-Qadhafi. The judge
sentenced both defendants to six months in prison and ordered the
newspaper closed for two months. Fodel and Berahai appealed, and the
case was pending at year's end.
During the year, 68 press-related cases were tried. In 2005, there
were 114 recorded cases of press harassment.
In May and July, President Bouteflika pardoned all 200 journalists
with pending defamation cases or defamation convictions, including 11
sentenced to jail terms in 2005.
In 2004, Mohamed Benchicou, the managing editor of the opposition
paper Le Matin and author of a book critical of the President,
Bouteflika--An Algerian Imposter, was convicted of violating foreign
exchange controls in attempting to sell the book. He was sentenced to
two years in prison and released in June. He challenged the continued
confiscation of his passport, and in September a judge ordered it
returned to him.
Government economic leverage on the media was considerable. Unlike
in previous years, there were no closures of newspapers for debts to
the state-owned printing house. All newspapers were printed at
government-owned presses, and the Government continued to influence the
independent press through the state-owned advertising company, Agence
Nationale d'Edition et de Publicite (ANEP), which decided which
independent newspapers could benefit from advertisements placed by
state-owned agencies and companies. ANEP, and therefore the Government,
controlled the largest source of income for newspapers.
Most independent newspapers continued to rely on the Government's
four publishers for printing presses and newsprint.
In March, the Government banned Boualem Sensal's book ``Algiers:
Dead Letter Box'' because it criticized the Government and suggested
fewer people were killed in the war for independence than officially
claimed.
The Government continued restrictions on both the local and the
international media's coverage of issues relating to ``national
security and terrorism.''
In February, the Government blocked distribution of two editions of
the French newspapers France Soir and Le Monde because they contained
the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammed.
Satellite dish antennas were widespread.
Access to print and broadcast media for Tamazight (Berber language)
and Amazigh culture continued to grow. Tamazight programming also
increased on the non-Berber language channels, as did advertisements in
Tamazight on all television and radio channels. Beginning in the 2006-
2007 scholastic year, the Tamazight language was officially taught in
primary schools, starting in the fourth grade in 17 predominantly
Berber provinces.
Restrictions remained in place on the international media, limiting
its ability to report freely; however, the restrictions were not as
stringently enforced as in previous years. Al-Jazeera's office remained
closed. At year's end, neither Ahmed Megaache from Al-Arabia nor Ait
Larbi from Le Figaro had received accreditation.
Internet Freedom.--Access to the Internet was generally free;
however, the Government monitored email and Internet chatrooms,
particularly those dealing with terrorism and security issues. Article
14 of the 1998 ministerial decree on telecommunications states that
Internet service providers are legally liable for the material and Web
sites they host.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government limited
academic freedom. While a growing number of academic seminars and
colloquiums occurred without governmental interference, there were
extensive delays in issuing visas to international participants and
instances where international experts were denied entrance (see section
4).
Scheduled performances of French humorist Djamel Debbouze in April
were canceled. Local media speculated that the cancellation was due to
his position on Western Sahara.
In October the Ministry of Culture prevented books and CD-ROMs in
support of Salafist views of Islam from being exhibited and sold at the
International Book Fair of Algiers.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association; however, the exercise
of these rights was severely restricted in practice.
Freedom of Assembly.--Article 41 of the constitution provides for
the right of assembly; however, the emergency decree and government
practice continued to sharply curtail this right. A 2000 decree
continued to ban demonstrations in Algiers. Citizens and organizations
were required to obtain permits from the appointed local governor
before holding public meetings. The Government frequently granted
licenses to political parties, NGOs, and other groups to hold indoor
rallies, although licenses were often granted on the eve of the event,
thereby impeding publicity and outreach. After repeated difficulties in
2005 in obtaining permission to hold outdoor meetings, LADDH decided to
hold indoor meetings. Groups opposing the Charter on Peace and
Reconciliation also had difficulty securing permission to hold public
gatherings. In September 2005, a gathering of the families of the
disappeared in Constantine was violently disbanded by the police. In
Algiers the same month, families of the victims of terrorism gathered
in front of the Prime Minister's office for three consecutive weeks to
protest.
During the year the Government broke up numerous marches, protests,
and demonstrations outside the capital. After a September 5
announcement, SOS Disparus resumed its weekly gathering in front of the
CNCPPDH headquarters to urge President Bouteflika to find a different
solution to the problem of the disappeared.
On June 28, in the Tiaret province, more than 300 young men
gathered in the streets and marched, blocking the main national highway
in the province to protest the absence of water, gas, and secure and
paved roads. Police attempted to break up the protest, but riots lasted
for three days. One individual died as a result of tripping over a
felled lamp pole, 67 persons were arrested for vandalism, and 34
persons were injured. On the third day of the conflict, the tension
escalated when demonstrators asked local officials to release all of
the incarcerated youths. Due to their status as minors, 57 youths were
released after less than one week of detention, while the remaining 10
served prison sentences ranging from one to four months.
On July 22, the Movement for a Society of Peace (MSP), a party in
the governing coalition, organized a march in Algiers in support of the
Lebanese and Palestinian people. When security forces attempted to
prevent the march, violence occurred. Fifteen demonstrators were
arrested, but were released the same day following negotiations between
police and MSP officials.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for the right of
association; however, the emergency decree and government practice
severely restricted this right. The MOI must approve all political
parties before they may be legally established (see section 3). The
Government restricted the registration of certain NGOs, associations,
and political parties on ``security grounds,'' but declined to provide
evidence or legal grounds for refusing to authorize other organizations
that could not be disqualified on security grounds. The Government
frequently failed to grant official recognition to NGOs, associations,
and political parties in an expeditious fashion. The MOI may deny a
license to or dissolve any group regarded as a threat to the
Government's authority or to the security or public order.
The Government issued licenses and subsidies to domestic
associations, especially youth, medical, and neighborhood associations.
The MOI regarded organizations unable to attain government licenses as
illegal. Domestic NGOs encountered bureaucratic obstacles to receiving
financial support from abroad. Although not illegal, financial support
from abroad is conditioned on a series of authorizations from the
ministries of Interior and National Solidarity. These authorizations
are difficult to obtain.
Membership in the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), a political party
banned in 1992, remained illegal. SOS Disparus and two political
parties, the Democratic Front of Sid-Ahmed Ghozali and the Wafa party
of former prime minister Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi (generally regarded as
the political heir to the FIS), remained unrecognized but operated
without interference.
In November the Government prevented diplomatic representatives
from visiting Algerian NGO Somoud, an advocacy group for victims of
terrorism.
As in the previous year, the Government issued visas to Freedom
House, a foreign NGO, to meet with other NGOs and foreign diplomats in
the country.
c. Freedom of Religion.--Article 2 of the constitution provides for
freedom of religion, while declaring Islam the state religion. In
practice, the Government restricted religious freedom.
On March 1, the parliament adopted Ordinance 06-03 dealing with the
conditions and regulations of religions other than Islam. According to
the Ministry of Religious Affairs, one objective of the ordinance is
the maintenance of public order. The ordinance confines non-Muslim
worship to specific buildings approved by the state, imposes penalties
for proselytizing, and treats transgressions as criminal rather than
civil offenses. There are restrictions on public assembly for purposes
of practicing a faith other than Islam without a license, prohibitions
on proselytizing of citizens by foreigners, and controls on the
importation of religious materials. There were no reports that the
ordinance was enforced during the year.
The Government requires organized religions to obtain official
recognition prior to conducting any religious activities. The
Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Seventh-Day Adventist churches are the
only non-Islamic faiths authorized to operate in the country. Members
of other denominations, particularly Methodists, were forced to operate
without government permission or register as a part of the Protestant
Church.
Article 36 of the constitution provides citizens the right to
choose their own religion; however, the Government's interpretation of
Shari'a (Islamic law) does not recognize conversion from Islam to any
other religion. There are no specific laws against Muslim citizens
proselytizing non-Muslims; however, the Government considers the
proselytizing of Muslim citizens by non-Muslims to be a subversive
activity. The Government restricted the importation of religious
literature, including Islamic literature, intended for widespread
distribution, although it did not restrict such materials for personal
use. In recent years, non-Islamic religious texts and music and video
selections have become easier to locate for purchase. The government-
owned radio station provides broadcast time for Protestant and Catholic
radio broadcasts. The Government prohibits the dissemination of any
literature portraying violence as a legitimate precept of Islam.
The education and religious affairs ministries strictly require,
regulate, and fund the study of Islam in public schools. The Government
monitored activities in mosques for possible security-related offenses,
barred their use as public meeting places outside of regular prayer
hours, and convoked imams to the Ministry of Religious Affairs for
``disciplinary action'' when deemed appropriate. The Ministry of
Religious Affairs provided financial support to mosques and paid the
salaries of imams; the ministry also trained and regulated the
appointment of imams, and the law allows it to pre-screen religious
sermons before they are delivered publicly (see section 2.a.). However,
officials from the ministry have stated that they rarely interfere with
sermons beyond an advisory capacity. The Government monitored all
Koranic schools to prevent extremist teachings. The Ministry of
Religious Affairs controlled Islamic sermons during the violence
between Islamists and the Government during the 1990s, and those
restrictions largely remained in place.
The Penal Code provides for prison sentences and fines for
preaching in a mosque by persons who have not been recognized by the
Government as imams. All persons, including imams recognized by the
Government are prohibited from speaking during prayers at the mosque in
a manner that is ``contrary to the noble nature of the mosque or likely
to offend the cohesion of society or serve as an apology for such
actions.''
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The country's 1992-2002 civil
conflict pitted self-proclaimed radical Muslims belonging to the Armed
Islamic Group (GIA) and its later offshoot, the GSPC, against moderate
Muslims. During the year radical Islamic extremists issued public
threats against all ``infidels'' in the country, both foreigners and
citizens. The country's terrorist groups generally did not
differentiate between religious and political killings.
In October 2005, following an announcement by the authorities
warning against such behavior, the tribunal of Bejaia sentenced six
young persons to three to six months in prison for having eaten in an
``ostentatious way'' during daylight hours during the Muslim fasting
month of Ramadan. The youths were released after three months of
detention.
Anti-Semitic political commentary and cartoons appeared
periodically in the Arabic-language press without government response.
Following the July-August conflict between Israel and the terrorist
group Hizballah, anti-Semitic articles, political commentary, and
cartoons regularly appeared in the press. The Government did not
promote tolerance or anti-bias education, and there is no hate crime
legislation. The country's Jewish population numbered fewer than 100
persons. No synagogues in the country are functioning.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Article 44 of the constitution provides
for these rights; however, the Government restricted the exercise of
them. The Government did not permit young men eligible for the draft
and who had not yet completed their military service to leave the
country without special authorization; however, such authorization was
granted to students and to those persons with special family
circumstances.
Under the emergency decree, the interior minister and the
provincial governors may deny residency in certain districts to persons
regarded as threats to public order. The Government also maintained
restrictions for security reasons on travel into the four southern
provinces of Ouargla, El-Oued, Laghouat, and Ain-Salah, where much of
the hydrocarbon industry and many foreign workers were located.
Armed bandits and terrorists intercepted citizens at roadblocks,
often using stolen police uniforms and equipment to rob them of their
cash and vehicles. On occasion, armed groups killed groups of military
and civilian passengers at these roadblocks (see section 1.a.).
The Family Code does not permit anyone under 18 to travel abroad
without a guardian's permission (see section 5).
The law does not provide for forced exile, and it was not known to
occur.
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 and asylum and there
were no reports of refoulement during the year. The Government provided
protection to as many as 100,000 refugee Sahrawis, who left the Western
Sahara after Morocco took control of the territory in the 1970s. The
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food
Program, the Algerian Red Crescent, and other organizations also
assisted Sahrawi refugees. The Government generally cooperated with
UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees, but
did not permit UNHCR to conduct a census of the Sahrawi refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
Article 10 of the constitution provides citizens with the right to
change their government freely. In 2004 citizens exercised this right
through a multiparty Presidential election held on the basis of
universal suffrage. The constitution mandates Presidential elections
every five years and limits the incumbent to two terms. The election
was generally transparent.
Elections and Political Participation.--For the first time since
the end of the one-party system and after more than a decade of civil
strife and continuing acts of terrorism, in 2004 a sitting President
not only completed his five-year term of office, but was re-elected in
a contested election. However, the election and the electoral system
were not without flaws. In the 2004 election, President Bouteflika won
approximately 85 percent of the vote, according to official results.
Voter participation was 58 percent, compared to 46 percent in the 2002
legislative elections.
Unlike previous elections, in 2004 there was marked progress
towards a more free and transparent electoral process. An election
observer from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
stated in a press conference that the election was generally free and
fair, although not without flaws.
Problems with the electoral system persisted. The Administrative
Court of Algiers was criticized by the country's political class and
independent media for having invalidated the National Liberation
Front's Eighth Party Congress in 2003. The invalidation was viewed as
politically motivated and a setback to the President's main opponent,
former Prime Minister and FLN Secretary-General Ali Benflis, because
the party representatives chosen during the Eighth Party Congress were
Benflis supporters. The invalidation also froze the FLN's bank
accounts, which became accessible in February 2004 only after the
election of the new secretary-general Abdelaziz Belkhadem, who became
prime minister during the year.
Opposition candidates also complained that the MOI regularly
blocked registered parties from holding meetings, denied them access to
larger and better equipped government conference rooms, and pressured
hotels into not making conference rooms available, while facilitating
the activities of the pro-Bouteflika FLN. Opposition candidates had
access to the state-controlled media during the official three-week
election campaign period, but not before or after the campaign.
Opposition candidates, primarily the (Islamist) ``Movement for
National Reform,'' expressed concern over potential tampering with the
voter lists. Candidates filed numerous complaints that the lists were
disorganized, unusable, and inflated. The Electoral Commission made
hundreds of corrections based on 191 complaints. During the year the
Government welcomed the recommendations of IFES to correct voting
problems, but it only partially implemented the recommendations before
the elections.
An accord between Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia and Arouch leader
Belaid Abrika addressed economic and social concerns and permitted
regional elections in November 2005. However, negotiations did not
resume as planned. At a September 14 press conference, Abrika stated
that 80 percent of the commitments of the accord had not been honored.
According to Abrika, the emergency social economic plan that was to be
devoted to the region never started.
The country has a bicameral parliament consisting of the 389-seat
National People's Assembly (lower house) and the 144-seat Council of
the Nation (upper house or Senate). All members of the Assembly are
elected by popular vote to five-year terms. In the Council, two-thirds
of the members are elected by the regional assemblies (the Popular
Communal Assemblies and the Popular State Assemblies), and the
remaining one-third is appointed by the President; all members serve
six-year terms, and the constitution requires that half the elected
members and one-third of the appointed members be replaced every three
years. The constitution provides the President with the authority to
rule by executive order in special circumstances. In cases when
parliament is not in session, the President has the right to legislate
by executive order. However, he must submit an executive order to
parliament for approval upon its return, first to the Assembly then to
the Council of the Nation. If the Assembly disapproves the executive
order twice, the President must dissolve the Assembly. Assembly
elections were held in 2002, and indirect elections for the Council of
the Nation were held in 2003.
The law requires that potential political parties receive official
approval from the MOI to be established. To obtain approval, a party
must have 25 founders from across the country whose names must be
registered with the MOI. The Government refused to register Wafa
because of its perceived ties to the banned FIS constituted a threat to
national security, according to the minister of interior. The
Government also failed to provide an official response to the 1998
registration request of the Democratic Front. It was unclear why there
was no response, but the party leadership claimed the Government was
not ready for ``real democratic openness.'' No party may use religion
or ethnic heritage as a basis to organize for political purposes. The
law also bans political party ties to nonpolitical associations and
regulates party financing and reporting requirements.
In indirect elections in 2003 for 48 seats of the Council of the
Nation, members from Islamic parties were elected for the first time.
Thirty-two women served in senior positions in the executive and
legislative branches. There were three women in the cabinet: the
minister of culture and minister delegates for family and female
condition and for scientific research. Women also held 24 of the 389
seats in the Assembly and 4 of the 144 seats in the Council of the
Nation. A woman led the Workers Party, and all the major political
parties, except the Islah Party, had women's divisions headed by women.
The ethnic Amazigh minority of about nine million centered in the
Kabylie region participated freely and actively in the political
process and represented one-third of the Government. However, Amazigh
protests and boycotts surrounding the 2003 and 2004 elections
underscored the economic and social neglect felt by many in this
community. In 2005 the Government signed an agreement with ethnic
Berber leaders that promised more economic aid for the region, but at
year's end it had not been delivered (see section 2.b.).
Government Corruption and Transparency.--During the year,
Transparency International's composite index of the degree to which
corruption is perceived to exist among a country's politicians and
public officials indicated that the country had a serious corruption
problem.
Anticorruption regulations in the Penal Code call for prison
sentences from two to 10 years for high-ranking officials; however, the
regulations were not widely implemented.
A 2004 Presidential decree created a unit to investigate financial
information at the Ministry of Finance. The independent unit has
responsibility for analyzing and dealing with suspicious banking and
financial operations that may constitute money-laundering or the
financing of terrorism.
On February 1, a law establishing a national anticorruption program
was passed, although it was amended to remove a provision that required
elected and senior officials to declare their assets and, in certain
cases, lifted parliamentary immunity. The amendment came at the
insistence of parliamentarians who argued that the existing penal code
was sufficient to punish corruption offenses and that the decision to
lift parliamentary immunity should reside solely with parliament. On
December 9, President Bouteflika issued three decrees to implement
provisions of the February anti-corruption legislation. The first
decree established the National Office for Prevention of and Struggle
against Corruption (ONPLC), which is responsible for ``periodically
gathering statements of patrimony of state agents.'' At the beginning
and end of their terms, all state agents (high-ranking civil servants)
are required by the second decree to declare all ``fixed and movable
goods'' belonging to them and their minor children, whether they live
in the country or abroad. They must also declare all liquid assets,
investments and liabilities. The third decree broadens the scope to
public officers by requiring them to declare their assets to the state.
The three Presidential decrees and the penal code address the types of
offenses that the removed provision was intended to punish.
The case of Ahmed Bouricha, wali of Blida, was still under
investigation at year's end. In May 2005, he was forced to resign his
position after being implicated in real estate corruption, use of
public funds for personal purposes, and misuse of agricultural lands.
On January 21, the director of customs announced that 530 cases of
customs officers breaking the law had been recorded since 2001. Of
those, seven high-level customs officials were dismissed for corruption
and embezzlement, while scores of the other charged customs officers
received prison terms of unspecified length.
At year's end, the trial of Djillali Araar, the wali of El-Tarf
Province was ongoing. President Bouteflika fired Araar on October 28.
Araar was charged with corruption and misuse of public funds. A
government investigation of transactions involving the El-Tarf
provincial government reportedly uncovered bogus projects, overbilling,
and contract awards that did not follow proper procedures. Araar was
the third governor since 2005 (including the walis of Blida and Oran)
to be dismissed for corruption.
Although permitted under the constitution, access to government
information was often restricted. Despite pledges to eliminate
corruption, there is no law facilitating access to information. Public
procurement was often tainted with irregularities, including the
excessive use of private agreements. According to the Ministry of
Public Works, following President Bouteflika's April 2005 statement
that the use of private agreements, including single source contracts,
would be prohibited, government agencies began implementing a public
tender policy for all infrastructure and large government projects.
Some agencies, however, continued to use direct contracts for smaller
and less publicized projects. For those public tenders, evaluations
were not released to participating companies, and evaluation methods
and techniques were not clearly defined.
Lack of government transparency remained a serious problem.
Parliamentary debate in 2005 on the corruption law disclosed that 80
percent of government officials did not declare their wealth. Many
government economic statistics were not released to the public.
However, as of 2005 all ministries were required to establish Web sites
and update them regularly. All ministries have Web sites, but not all
are updated. The Ministry of Justice provides information on citizens'
rights and legislation at two Web sites.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The Government continued to harass some local NGOs, and impeded the
work of international NGOs. The Government interfered with attempts by
some domestic and international human rights groups to investigate and
publish their findings. Although some human rights groups, including
LADH and LADDH, were allowed to move about freely, the most active and
visible organizations reported interference by government authorities,
including surveillance and monitoring of telephone calls, difficulty in
securing meeting spaces, and difficulty in obtaining approval for
international speakers to speak on sensitive issues (see section 1.f.).
Domestic NGOs must be licensed by the Government and are prohibited
from receiving funding from abroad without approval from the minister
of national solidarity. However, approximately 100 unlicensed NGOs
operated openly, such as women's advocacy groups and charity
organizations. Although international NGOs continued to experience
delays in obtaining visas, outright refusals were rare. Delays in
processing visa applications nonetheless prevented a number of NGOs
from conducting programming during the year. AI, for example, planned
to organize a seminar on violence against women in March. Because it
was unable to obtain visas for the presenters, AI moved the seminar to
Morocco. On at least two occasions, programming by the National
Democratic Institute (NDI) was cancelled or postponed due to visa
problems. An NDI conference on electoral systems planned for June was
cancelled because international experts could not obtain visas. NDI's
``Young Political Leaders Forum,'' which was planned for September, was
indefinitely postponed because of visa difficulties for international
experts. NDI's local resident director was denied reentry into the
country from September to December; she was finally allowed reentry,
but only to retrieve her belongings and depart.
If an NGO is not legally recognized by the MOI, it is not allowed
to conduct investigations. Sometimes, however, legally recognized NGOs
were prevented from conducting investigations. For example, the LADDH,
a legally recognized NGO, did not have access to prison camps or
detention centers. Domestic NGO Djazairouna, also legally recognized,
faced indirect government pressure to relocate.
The most active independent human rights group was the LADDH, an
organization with members throughout the country. The LADDH was not
permitted access to government officials for human rights advocacy or
research purposes or to prisons, except for normal lawyer-client
consultations.
The less active LADH is an independent organization based in
Constantine. LADH has members throughout the country monitoring
individual cases.
The ICRC has full access to civilian prisons and pre-trial
detention centers; however, it has not been granted access to the
country's military or high-security prisons (see section 1.c.).
International NGO Handicap International and local NGO FOREM, which
both work on children's rights, did not report difficulty conducting
investigations.
In 2005, the Government invited the UN special rapporteur on
freedom of expression and on violence against women to visit, although
neither did. However, the Government continued to deny requests for
visits from the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances (pending since 1997), the UN special rapporteur on
torture (pending since 1997), and the UN special rapporteur on
extrajudicial executions (pending since 1998).
The Consultative Commission for the Protection and Promotion of
Human Rights is the government-established ombudsman for human rights.
Directed by Farouk Ksentini, the commission is composed of 22 members
from governmental bodies and 23 from civil society and NGOs. The
nongovernmental members included representatives of Islamic religious
organizations, the Red Crescent Society, and women's rights advocacy
groups. The President approves nominees, and the commission's budget
and secretariat come from his office. The commission is mandated to
report on human rights issues, coordinate with police and justice
officials, advocate domestic and international human rights causes,
mediate between the Government and the population, and provide
expertise on human rights issues to the Government.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Article 29 of the constitution prohibits discrimination based on
birth, race, sex, language, and social status. In general, the
Government enforced the nationality and family codes, although women
continued to face some legal and social discrimination.
Women.--Spousal abuse occurred, and in practice was prosecuted
under Article 264 of the Penal Code, which states that a person must be
incapacitated for 15 days or more and present a doctor's note
certifying the injuries before filing charges for battery. Because of
societal pressures, however, women frequently were reluctant to endure
this process. According to a joint study in 2004 by the Justice
Ministry, women's associations, and the National Institute of Public
Health (INSP), 70 percent of abused women refused to lodge a complaint
or follow through with the complaint.
Spousal abuse was more frequent in rural areas and among less-
educated persons. According to the Government, from January to March
there were 1,762 cases of violence against women. According to a March
2006 INSP study, 70 percent of abused women are jobless and 26 percent
are illiterate. In 2005, according to the Government there were 7,419
cases of violence against women, including 5,178 cases of physical
violence, 277 cases of sexual violence, 1,753 cases of ``ill
treatment,'' 34 murders, and 176 cases of sexual harassment. According
to a September 2006 National Research Center for Anthropology study, 52
percent of a sample of 13,000 women indicated that they had suffered
from physical abuse on at least one occasion.
Rape, spousal and nonspousal, occurred. Nonspousal rape is illegal;
spousal rape is not. Prison sentences for nonspousal rape range from
one to five years. There were strong societal pressures against a woman
seeking legal redress against her spouse for rape, and there were few
reports of the law being applied in such cases. However, women's groups
have begun to speak out against violence in the family and held several
seminars and conferences in 2005 and during the year. In January and
May, SOS Femmes en Detresse, a local NGO advocating for women's rights,
organized two seminars related to sexual violence against women. In
July, Femmes en Communication, another NGO advocating for women's
rights, organized a two-day seminar on violence against women.
Throughout the year, the Government's office of the minister delegate
for the family and female condition held a series of seminars that
articulated a national strategy to combat violence against women.
SOS Femmes en Detresse and Wassila Network, another local NGO,
provided judicial and psychological counseling to abused women. Women's
rights groups experienced difficulty in drawing attention to spousal
abuse as an important social problem, largely due to societal
attitudes. Several rape crisis centers run by women's groups operated,
but they had few resources. The Working Women section of the General
Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA) established a counseling center with a
toll free number for women suffering from sexual harassment in the
workplace. The center receives a growing number of calls. During the
year, the center received 1,524 calls, compared to 1,010 calls in 2005.
According to the Penal Code, prostitution is illegal; however, the
INSP and female advocacy groups reported that prostitution was a
growing problem. The National Gendarmerie recorded 330 prostitution-
related arrests from January to October.
The punishment for sexual harassment is one to two years'
imprisonment and a fine of $685 to $1,370 (50,000 to 100,000 dinars).
The punishment is doubled for a second offense. In the capital, there
were at least a dozen cases reported in the press during the year. In
2005 several persons were convicted under the new law; no updated
figures were available.
Article 29 of the constitution provides for gender equality;
however, some aspects of the law and many traditional social practices
discriminated against women. The Family Code, adopted in 1984 and
amended in February 2005 by Presidential decree, is based in large part
on Shari'a. The Family Code prohibits Muslim women from marrying non-
Muslims, although this regulation was not always enforced. Amendments
in February 2005 to the Nationality Code allowed a woman to marry a
foreigner and transmit citizenship and nationality in her own right to
both her children and spouse. The Family Code does not restrict Muslim
men from marrying non-Muslim women. Under both Shari'a and civil law,
children born to a Muslim father are Muslim, regardless of the mother's
religion.
Under the 2005 amendments, women can seek divorce for
irreconcilable differences and violation of the prenuptial agreement,
among other grounds. In a divorce, the amendments provide for the wife
to retain the family's home until children reach 18 years of age.
Custody of children normally is awarded to the mother, but she may not
make decisions on education or take them out of the country without the
father's authorization. In practice, more women retained the family's
home when they have custody of the children.
The Family Code also affirms the Islamic practice of allowing a man
to marry up to four wives. In practice, however, this rarely occurs
(about 1 to 2 percent of marriages), and under the amended Family Code,
restrictions on polygyny were tightened. Women can include a ``no
polygyny clause'' in the prenuptial agreement, and the husband must
obtain a court ruling, usually easy to secure, allowing him to take an
additional wife. A wife may sue for divorce if her husband does not
inform her of his intent to marry another woman prior to the marriage.
The amendments to the Family Code in practice vitiated the Shari'a
requirement for a male sponsor's (wali's) role and consent to the
marriage of a woman, although the requirement has been formally
retained. The wali continues to contract the marriage, but the woman
may choose any male that she wishes as the wali.
Women suffered from discrimination in inheritance claims. In
accordance with Shari'a, women are entitled to a smaller portion of an
estate than are male children or a deceased husband's brothers.
According to Shari'a, such a distinction is justified because other
provisions require that the husband's income and assets are to be used
to support the family, while the wife's remain, in principle, her own.
However, in practice women do not always have exclusive control over
assets that they bring to a marriage or that they earn themselves.
Married women under 18 years of age may not travel abroad without
permission of their husbands. Married women may take out business loans
and use their own financial resources. According to the National Center
of Trade Records, 93,328 women had their own business. There were an
estimated two million unemployed women in Algeria.
Despite constitutional and legal provisions providing gender
equality, in practice women still faced discrimination in employment.
Leaders of women's organizations reported that discriminatory
violations are common.
In urban areas, there was social encouragement for women to pursue
a higher education or a career. Girls have a higher high school
(baccalaureate) graduation rate than boys. According to statistics
published on May 2 by the minister delegate in charge of family and
female condition, females represent 60 percent of the medical
profession, 55 percent of the media profession, 30 percent of the upper
levels of the legal profession, and more than 60 percent of the
education profession. Of the 7.7 million workers, 1.4 million are
female, representing only 18 percent of the workforce. Women may own
businesses, enter into contracts, and pursue careers similar to those
of men. Two female magistrates, one appointed by President Bouteflika
and one elected by peers, were among the 18-member High Council of
Magistrates. In addition, 55 percent of magistrates were women; the
2005 class of new judges was 50 percent women; and women served at all
levels in the judicial system. In 2005 the MOI began adding more women
to the police force and placed at least one female officer in each
precinct to assist women with their abuse claims. This policy continued
during the year, as part of a ministry strategy that is currently
scheduled to last until 2009.
In July the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of
Health initiated a series of training sessions for imams and
mourchidates (female guides) in order to better address social and
medical issues, including HIV/AIDS. As part of the program, 100 copies
of a national guide on Islam and HIV/AIDS were distributed to the
attendees.
According to a study by the Research Center in Applied Economics
for Development, 17.5 percent of females are unemployed compared to
14.9 percent of males.
Children.--The Government was generally committed to protecting the
welfare, rights, health, and education of children. Child abuse is
illegal but continued to be a problem. NGOs that specialized in the
care of children cited continued instances of domestic violence against
children, which they attributed to the ``culture of violence''
developed since the civil conflict of the 1990s and the social
dislocations caused by the movement of rural families to the cities to
escape terrorist violence. In April 2005, the INPS reported that in
2004, 4,554 children younger than 16 were abused, of whom 2,306 were
hospitalized for injuries stemming from abuse; 1,386 were victims of
sexual abuse; and 53 were victims of incest. Experts assumed that many
cases went unreported because of familial reticence.
According to press reports, children continued to be victims of
terrorist attacks. In January, February, and April, according to press
reports, there were incidents involving the kidnap and rape of girls by
terrorists. In May the bodies of 22 children were found in the province
of Jijel. They were alleged to have been used as human shields by the
GSPC. In July the body of a young girl, allegedly decapitated by
terrorists, was found in Bouira. Terrorist groups did not claim
responsibility for any of the incidents.
The Government provides free education for children through high
school. Education is compulsory until the age of 16. According to the
ministry of national education, 98 percent of children completed the
ninth grade. Boys and girls generally received the same education,
although girls from rural areas were slightly more likely to leave
school because of familial financial reasons, and sons were often given
educational priority.
The Government provided free medical care for all citizens--
including children with disabilities--albeit in generally rudimentary
facilities.
Economic necessity compelled many children to resort to informal
employment, such as street vending (see section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in
persons, and the country is a transit and destination country for men,
women, and children from sub-Saharan Africa and Asia trafficked for
forced labor and sexual exploitation. The Government did not
acknowledge trafficking to be a problem. According to the Government,
in the absence of specific anti-trafficking laws, other laws against
illegal immigration, prostitution, and forced labor are used to enforce
anti-trafficking standards. There were no indications of official
government involvement in trafficking.
Forced prostitution and domestic servitude of illegal immigrants
from sub-Saharan Africa occurred as immigrants transited through the
country seeking economic opportunity in Europe. Official statistical
estimates of the severity of trafficking do not exist. No government
assistance programs existed for victims, nor were there any information
campaigns about trafficking.
In September 2005, 10 members of the Coast Guard received 4 days of
training on smuggling and trafficking prevention.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law provides free medical care for
persons with disabilities, especially children; however, there is
widespread societal discrimination against persons with disabilities.
The law does not prohibit discrimination against persons with
disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, or the
provision of other state services. The Government did not mandate
accessibility to buildings or government services for persons with
disabilities. Public enterprises, in downsizing their work forces,
generally ignored a 2002 law which requires them to reserve one percent
of jobs for persons with disabilities. Social security provided
payments for orthopedic equipment, and some healthcare-oriented NGOs
received limited government financial support. The Ministry of National
Solidarity provided financial support to NGOs; however, for many NGOs
this financial support represented only a very small portion of their
budgets--approximately 2 percent. The Ministry of National Solidarity
maintained that there were 2.5 million persons with disabilities in the
country. However, according to the Federation of Disabled Associations
(FAHM), there are currently three million persons with disabilities in
the country.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Because of societal and
religious pressures, AIDS is considered a shameful disease in Algeria.
According to December statistics released by the Ministry of Health,
2,092 citizens are HIV-positive. During the year, the health ministry
launched an AIDS prevention campaign, stressing the need to avoid
discrimination, especially in the workplace, against those with AIDS
and those who are HIV-positive.
Section 6. Workers Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution allows workers to
form and join unions of their choice but requires workers to obtain
government approval to form a union. The law on labor unions requires
the labor ministry to approve or disapprove a union application within
30 days and allows for the creation of autonomous unions. However, the
Government may invalidate a union's legal status if its objectives are
determined to be contrary to the established institutional system,
public order, good morals, or the laws or regulations in force. There
were no legal restrictions on a worker's right to join a union.
Approximately two-thirds of the labor force belonged to unions. There
was only one labor confederation, the General Union of Algerian Workers
(UGTA). The UGTA includes national unions that are specialized by
sector.
The law prohibits discrimination by employers against union members
and organizers and provides mechanisms for resolving trade union
complaints of antiunion practices by employers. It also permits unions
to recruit members at the workplace. Although unions may form and join
federations or confederations, in practice, attempts by new unions to
form federations or confederations have been obstructed by delaying
administrative maneuvers. Since early 1996, the Autonomous Unions
Confederation has attempted unsuccessfully to organize the autonomous
unions, and it functioned without official status. The law permits
unions to affiliate with international labor bodies and develop
relations with foreign labor groups. For example, the UGTA is a member
of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. However, the
law prohibits unions from associating with political parties and also
prohibits unions from receiving funds from foreign sources. The courts
are empowered to dissolve unions that engaged in illegal activities.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised this right in
practice, subject to some conditions. The law provides for collective
bargaining for all unions, and the Government permitted the exercise of
this right in practice for authorized unions. Under the state of
emergency decree, the Government can require public and private sector
workers to remain at work in the event of an unauthorized or illegal
strike. According to the law on industrial relations, workers may
strike only after 14 days of mandatory conciliation or mediation. On
occasion, the Government offered to mediate disputes. The law states
that decisions reached in mediation are binding on both parties. If no
agreement is reached in mediation, the workers may strike legally after
they vote by secret ballot to do so. A minimum level of public services
must be maintained during public-sector service strikes.
The law provides that all public demonstrations, protests, and
strikes must receive prior government authorization. Strikes and labor
gatherings occurred throughout the year in various sectors, including
the construction, medical, port facility, education, and customs
sectors. A 2001 ban on marches and demonstrations in Algiers remained
in effect.
There were no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution
prohibits all forms of forced or compulsory labor, including by
children; however, there were reports from the labor ministry that such
practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Under the labor code, the minimum age for employment is 16, except for
apprentice positions. In order to be an apprentice, minors must have
the permission of a legal guardian. The law prohibits participation by
minors in dangerous, unhealthy, or harmful work, or in work that is
considered inappropriate because of social and religious
considerations. On February 20, the Ministry of Labor stated that only
95 ``young workers'' were identified during site visits performed by
labor inspectors at 5,847 companies. The Ministry of Labor enforces
minimum age laws by means of surprise inspections of public sector
enterprises, but it does not consistently enforce relevant statutes in
the agricultural or private sectors.
In 2005 the Ministry of Labor reported a rate of child
participation in the labor force of 0.56 percent. That figure was
challenged, however, by the local NGO FOREM, which runs a children's
rights watchdog group financed by the European Union. According to the
watchdog group, in the eight most populous provinces six percent of
children age 10 and younger participated in the labor force, while 63
percent of children age 13 to 16 participated. The survey found
children working a variety of hours in small workshops, on family
farms, and especially in informal trades, where children from
impoverished families are employed for economic reasons.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage of
$140 (10,000 dinars) per month did not provide a decent standard of
living for a worker and family. Ministry of Labor inspectors were
responsible for ensuring compliance with the minimum wage regulation;
however, enforcement was inconsistent.
The standard work week was 37.5 hours, with one ten-minute break
and one hour for lunch. Employees who worked beyond the standard work
week received premium pay on a sliding scale from time-and-a-half to
double-time, depending on whether the overtime was worked on a normal
work day, a weekend, or a holiday.
The law contains well-developed occupational, health, and safety
standards, but Ministry of Labor inspectors did not enforce these
regulations effectively. There were no reports of workers being
dismissed for removing themselves from hazardous working conditions.
Because employment was usually based on detailed contracts, workers
rarely were subjected to unexpected conditions in the workplace. If
workers were subjected to such conditions, they first could attempt to
renegotiate the employment contract or, failing that, resort to the
courts; however, the high demand for employment in the country gave an
advantage to employers seeking to exploit employees.
__________
BAHRAIN
Bahrain is a monarchy led by King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa with a
population of approximately 725,000, approximately 430,000 of whom are
citizens. King Hamad is the head of state. His son, Crown Prince Sheikh
Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, is heir apparent; and his uncle, Sheikh
Khalifa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa, as prime minister, is the head of
government. The King appoints a cabinet of ministers. Members of the Al
Khalifa royal family hold about half of the cabinet positions,
including all strategic ministries. In 2002 the Government adopted the
current constitution that reinstated a legislative body with one
elected chamber, the Council of Representatives (COR), and one
appointed chamber, the Shura Council. In November and December,
parliamentary and municipal elections were held and all political
societies participated, including the four that boycotted the 2002
parliamentary elections. The constitution provides that the King is
head of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the
Government. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control
of the security forces.
Citizens were not able to change the Government and experienced
restrictions on civil liberties such as the freedoms of press, speech,
assembly, association, and some religious practices. Though citizens
were not able to form political parties, the law authorized registered
political societies to run candidates and participate in other
political activities. Reported judicial abuses included lack of
judicial independence and allegations of corruption. Occurrences of
domestic violence against women and children were common, as well as
discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, sect, and ethnicity.
Trafficking in persons and restrictions on the rights of expatriate
workers remained problems. The Shi'a majority population was routinely
discriminated against in leadership positions.
On September 19, King Hamad granted citizenship to at least 372
children of citizen women and noncitizen spouses. On June 6, the first
female judge in the country was appointed to the Higher Civil Court.
The first woman was elected to the COR, after running unopposed in her
district.
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 unlike the
previous year, there were no reports that government officials employed
them.
During the year, there were no known instances of officials being
punished for human rights abuses committed. Controversy continued over
impunity for alleged torturers which the Government maintained was
granted by the 2001 general amnesty.
In May 2005 the Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) and the
dissolved Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), in cooperation with
the National Committee for Martyrs and Victims of Torture (NCMVT),
briefed the UN Committee Against Torture on their concerns. (The BCHR
remained a banned organization.) They focused on impunity for acts of
torture committed prior to 2001; rejection by courts of all cases
lodged against alleged torturers and of all requests for compensation;
and the absence of redress and rehabilitation mechanisms for victims of
torture.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prisons in the country
generally met international standards. In late 2005 while the
Government permitted limited visits to prisons, it did not allow visits
to short term detention facilities by independent human rights
observers.
In late December 2005 a BHRS team, including doctors,
psychologists, lawyers, and academics, made two visits to Jaw prison,
the country's only men's prison. Jaw housed 450 to 500 inmates. BHRS
was also scheduled to visit the country's women's prison in Isa Town on
February 25, but interior ministry officials postponed the visit
indefinitely for administrative reasons. The visit had not been
rescheduled by year's end.
According to BHRS representatives, BHRS was given full access to
the Jaw facilities, apart from the short-term detention section, and
permitted interviews with both staff members and inmates, including two
inmates on death row. They conducted private interviews with 56
inmates, some of whom were specified individuals and others whom they
chose at random. Per the BHRS report, there was no systematic torture
at the facility, but there were reports from some inmates of
mistreatment in the detention section where new inmates are first held
before being assigned a permanent cell.
Citing concerns about drug use at Jaw, the BHRS report carried
claims by some prisoners that some prison staff members had supplied
drugs to inmates. It also said that the prison provided drug abuse
counseling to addicts.
On August 10, the quasi-governmental Supreme Council for Women
(SCW) conducted a visit of the country's women's prison in Isa Town.
Following the visit General Secretary Lulwa Al Awadhi called publicly
for the Supreme Judicial Council to look into sentences that were
overly severe for the crimes committed. There was no publicly released
SCW report on the visit.
Juveniles were housed separately from adults until the age of 15.
In 2004 the Ministry of Social Development announced plans to open a
separate center for the care of juvenile delinquents, but it had not
yet done so by year's end.
Although International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) officials
visited the country during the year, they did not request prison
visits. Bahrain Red Crescent Society officials confirmed that ICRC
officials had not visited prisons for several years, since the release
of all political prisoners in 2000.
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 Ministry of
Interior (MOI) is responsible for public security. It controls the
Public Security Force and the extensive security service, which are
responsible for maintaining internal order. The Bahrain Defense Force
(DINARSF) is responsible for defending against external threats and
also monitors internal security. There were no reports of corruption
within the MOI and the DINARSF, although corruption was difficult to
assess given the lack of transparency in activities and budgets.
During the year there were no known instances of police officers
punished for committing human rights abuses.
Press reports carried several cases of law enforcement officials
being jailed and/or fined for misconduct, most often for accepting
bribes.
Arrest and Detention.--A felony suspect must be charged and
transferred to the Public Prosecutor's Office immediately. Within seven
days of his arrest, a detainee must appear before a judge in the Public
Prosecutor's Office to determine the viability of continued detention
regarding the case. If the judge decides the suspect is a flight risk
or is a danger to society, he may rule for continued detention up to a
maximum of 45 days while the investigation is carried out. This process
may continue through reviews by subsequent different judges, but
detention may not exceed six months. However, according to the BHRS,
there are occasional reports of detention for up to one year, but these
cases are uncommon and were not reported during the last year.
On August 16, new counterterrorism legislation was enacted that
allows for a five-day detention period of a terrorist suspect. Upon
request, the public prosecutor may extend this period based on the
needs of the investigation for up to an additional 10 days. At the end
of this period, the detainee must be transferred to the public
prosecution and questioned within three days. The public prosecutor
must then decide to issue a detention order or to release the detainee.
The detention order may not exceed 60 days.
Judges may grant bail to a suspect and do so regularly. Detainees
were generally allowed prompt access to visiting family members.
The Ministry of Justice was responsible for the assignment and
management of public prosecutors, while the MOI oversaw security and
all aspects of prison administration. Detainee access to attorneys was
often restricted in the early stages of detention; attorneys must seek
a court order to confer with clients. The state provided counsel if the
defendant could not afford to hire an attorney. After conviction
attorneys required the prison director's permission to visit a client
in jail.
Jaw prison housed convicted, sentenced prisoners only. According to
a BHRS official who conducted visits with inmates at Jaw prison in
December 2005, some prisoners described lengthy pretrial detentions up
to nine months. However, the official said these were not detentions
but delayed trials for additional crimes while the inmates were already
serving out a sentence on an earlier conviction.
Amnesty.--On December 15, the King granted amnesty to all those who
were connected to the March Dana Mall incident and the December 2005
airport incident (see section 2.b.).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for a
nominally independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was not
independent, and courts were subject to government pressure regarding
verdicts, sentencing, and appeals. There were allegations of corruption
in the judicial system. The constitution provides that the King appoint
all judges by royal decree. The King also serves as chairman of the
Supreme Judicial Council, the body responsible for supervising the work
of the courts and the public prosecution. The constitution does not
provide a legislative branch confirmation process for judicial
appointees nor does it establish an impeachment process. The
constitution also specifies that punishment is personal, therefore
family members cannot be punished for an individual's alleged crimes.
On June 6, the first female judge, Mona al-Kawari, was appointed to
the Higher Civil Court.
The legal system is based on a mix of British civil law, Common
Law, Shari'a (Islamic law), and traditional laws. The judiciary is
organized into two separate branches: the civil law courts and the
Shari'a courts.
The civil law courts, through their two branches (criminal and
civil), adjudicate all civil and commercial cases, criminal cases, and
personal status cases involving non-Muslims. The Courts of Minor Causes
(the Lower Courts and the Court of Execution) have one judge with
jurisdiction over minor civil, commercial, and misdemeanor cases. The
High Civil Courts have three judges with jurisdiction over larger civil
and commercial cases, felonies, and personal status cases involving
non-Muslims. The Civil High Court of Appeal has a panel of three judges
and hears appeals.
Both the civil and criminal court systems have a Supreme Court of
Appeal, and a Court of Cassation, which is the final appellate court.
The Shari'a courts have jurisdiction over personal status cases
involving citizen and noncitizen Muslims. There are two levels: the
Senior Shari'a Court and the High Shari'a Court of Appeal. At each
level is a Sunni Maliki Shari'a Court with jurisdiction over all
personal status cases brought by Sunni Muslims, and a Ja'afari Shari'a
Court with jurisdiction over cases brought by Shi'a Muslims. The High
Shari'a Court of Appeal is composed of a minimum of two judges. In the
event of a disagreement, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) provides a third
judge, and the decision is based on a majority vote. There are 11
judges in the Sunni Maliki Shari'a courts and 12 judges in the Shi'a
Ja'afari Shari'a courts.
The constitution established the Constitutional Court to rule on
the constitutionality of laws and statutes. The court's membership
consists of a President and six members, all appointed by the King.
These seven judges serve nine year terms and cannot be removed before
their terms expire. The court's determination is final and ``binding on
all state authorities and on everyone,'' according to the constitution.
The DINARSF maintains a separate court system that only tries
military personnel accused of offenses under the Military Code of
Justice. The MOI has a similar system for trying police officials.
There were no reports of either court considering cases involving
civilian, common criminal, or security cases during the year.
Trial Procedures.--Civil and criminal trial procedures provided for
an open trial, the right to counsel, question witnesses, and the right
to appeal. Juries are not a part of the judicial system. Reports
continued alleging lack of access to a fair trial.
Defendants may choose their own attorneys. If they are unable to
afford a private attorney, defendants may ask the MOJ to appoint an
attorney to represent them in court. Defendants are present during
trial proceedings, and they have the right to question witnesses.
According to the constitution, defendants are presumed innocent until
proven guilty.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Citizens may bring civil
suits before the court seeking cessation of or damages for human rights
violations; however, there was impunity for alleged torturers that the
Government maintained was granted by the 2001 general amnesty.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution provides for personal freedom under
the law. It also provides for freedom from arbitrary interference with
privacy, home, and correspondence except under the provisions of the
law and under judicial supervision; however, the Government continued
to infringe on citizens' right to privacy. Telephone calls, email, and
personal correspondence remained subject to monitoring (see section
2.a.). Police informer networks were extensive and sophisticated.
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 limited the
exercise of these rights. The election law prohibits speeches at most
public locations and limits the areas where campaign materials can be
placed.
On July 20, the King ratified amendments to the association law
that forbids any speech or discussion infringing on public order or
morals (Law 18 of 1973). Under the amendments, restricted locations for
protests or gatherings include in the vicinity of hospitals, airports,
commercial malls, and security-related installations. Possible
sentences for organizing unauthorized gatherings have been increased
from three months to six months in jail. The original law allows
security officials to break up public meetings if any crime under the
Penal Code is committed or if public security is threatened.
By year's end, according to human rights organizations, the
Government had blocked local access to 21 Web sites through Internet
service provider Batelco. Among these sites were local Web log and chat
sites, human rights Web sites, sites containing information about Arab
Christians, and the Wa'ad political society's Web site.
On November 16, Mohamed al-Sahlawi and Hussein al-Habashi were
arrested as they were allegedly preparing to distribute printed
materials calling for a boycott of the elections and a change of the
Government. According to press reports, the two face charges related to
the Press Law and the Penal Code for promoting change of the system of
the state through illegal means and possessing publications containing
false information that ``would cause disruption to public security and
damage the public interest.'' It was reported that the men planned to
distribute 1,500 leaflets to mosque attendees urging people to boycott
the national elections and participate in protests. At year's end the
lawyer for the men confirmed that they would remain in custody until
their appearance at the Lower Criminal Court, scheduled for January 7,
2007.
In 2002 the King decreed a press law. The Government began
implementing the law but later ``froze'' it due to a public outcry.
Although suspended the law was enforced at the Government's discretion.
The suspended press law provides for restricted freedom of speech and
press. The law provides for prison sentences in three general
categories of offenses: criticizing the state's official religion;
criticizing the King; and inciting actions that undermine state
security. In addition, the law allows fines up to $5,300 (2,000 dinars)
for 14 other offenses, including publicizing statements issued by a
foreign state or organization before obtaining the consent of the
Minister of Information; publishing any news reports that may adversely
affect the value of the national currency; reporting any offense
against the head of a state that maintains diplomatic relations with
the country; or publishing offensive remarks towards an accredited
representative of a foreign country because of acts connected with the
person's position.
In early September Dr. Salah al-Bandar distributed a report to
selected individuals and political societies claiming the existence of
a group of high-level individuals in the Government that attempted to
manipulate the election process. At the time al-Bandar, a British
citizen, was an advisor to the President of the Central Informatics
Organization, which originally had responsibility for conducting
elections. On September 13, al-Bandar was deported, and the Government
confiscated his belongings. He was accused of seizing official
government documents and stealing private checks.
On October 4, the High Criminal Court banned the publishing of any
news, commentary, or other information related to the report or the
legal case against al-Bandar. All Web sites were banned from discussing
the al-Bandar report about the alleged election fraud. The law
prohibits newspapers from publishing information related to any case
that is under investigation or is being tried in the courts. It also
levies a fine of up to $2,650 (1,000 dinars) on any newspaper or
individual who publishes news relating to crimes that the investigative
authorities have decided should not be published. Bahrain News Agency
reported that the decision came as a result of some newspaper coverage
that harmed the public interest and incited sedition in the community.
Local press coverage and commentary on international issues was
open, and discussion of local economic and commercial issues also was
relatively unrestricted. Newspapers covered opposition politics in
detail and also published Friday mosque sermons, both Shi'a and Sunni.
However, there was both censorship and self-censorship. Representatives
from the Ministry of Information actively monitored and blocked local
stories on sensitive matters, especially those related to sectarianism,
national security, or criticism of the royal family, the Saudi royal
family, and judges.
Public demonstrations over foreign policy, unemployment, personal
status laws, housing shortages, human rights abuses, and other issues
were covered in the print media but not always on government owned
television. Radio and television broadcasts in Arabic and Farsi from
countries in the region, including by satellite, were received without
interference.
In private settings, individuals openly expressed critical opinions
regarding domestic political and social issues. There was considerable
freedom of discussion on the Internet (chat rooms, discussion forums,
and individual Web logs), in letters to the editor, and occasionally on
state run television call in shows.
The Government owned and operated all local radio and television
stations. However, satellite television systems were readily available
to the public, providing access to international broadcasts. There were
no reports of restrictions in access to these broadcasts. In 2004 the
Government lifted its ban on correspondents from the Qatar based Al
Jazeera satellite television channel, but maintained control over the
selection of the locally-based correspondent.
There was no government-owned print media, but the Ministry of
Information exercised considerable control over local privately owned
print media. One of the country's most prominent newspapers, Al-Wasat,
was subject to occasional government harassment. In 2003 Dr. Mansour
al-Jamry, editor in chief of Al Wasat, was interrogated, fined, and
sentenced for allegedly publishing sensitive information about an
ongoing investigation of a locally based terrorist cell. Al-Jamry
appealed his case to the Constitutional Court, arguing that the laws
under which he was charged, dealing with judicial authority, criminal
procedure, and the press, were unconstitutional. In 2004 the High
Criminal Court judge referred Al-Jamry's case to the Constitutional
Court. The Constitutional Court upheld the constitutionality of the
three laws and sent the case back to the High Criminal Court. At year's
end a decision on the case was still pending.
After the Government dissolved the BCHR in 2004, the BCHR appealed
its dissolution in court. On February 22, following a final appeal by
the BCHR to the Court of Cassation, Bahrain's highest appeals court,
the court decided against the BCHR. Accompanying the March 8 public
announcement of the court decision, was a warning from the Ministry of
Social Development that it would recommend legal measures against
members of BCHR if they continued their activities.
The BCHR was dissolved after the arrest of Adinarsulhadi al-
Khawaja, former President of the BCHR, for criticizing and insulting
Prime Minister Sheikh al-Khalifa at the Al-Aruba Club during a
presentation on poverty in 2004. Shortly thereafter, the Government
temporarily closed Al-Aruba Club and dissolved the BCHR for engaging in
activities beyond the scope of the society's bylaws. In 2004 al-Khawaja
was sentenced to one year in prison for violating the Penal Code by
inciting hatred against the regime and spreading rumors that could
undermine state security, but was ordered released by the King hours
after sentencing.
Internet Freedom.--The Government restricted use of the Internet.
The only Internet service provider in the country is government-owned
Batelco which prohibited user access to Internet sites considered to be
antigovernment or anti Islamic.
At year's end a human rights organization reported that there were
at least 21 Web sites blocked to resident users. During the year users
were reportedly prevented from accessing Web logs, chat sites, and
various Web sites, including the Arab Network for Human Rights
Information, and the National Committee for Martyrs and Victims of
Torture, among others. Access to Google Earth and Google Video was
blocked for several days in August and then reinstated. Some users were
able to access the sites using alternate servers. The Internet (chat
rooms, discussion forums, and individual Web logs) allowed for
generally candid discussions and expression.
The country has experienced an overall growth in the readership and
contribution to Web logs. Web logs carried information about the al-
Bandar report before and in greater depth than the mainstream press.
Discussions on Web logs had been particularly active about the report,
although the Government blocked some Web logs until they removed any
references to the al-Bandar case. During the year, a number of local
bloggers were blocked on the Internet for commenting upon election
irregularities.
Email use was reportedly monitored (see section 1.f.). Batelco
estimates that more than 135,000 persons used the Internet, with
approximately 45,000 local e-mail accounts.
In February and March 2005 authorities arrested three Web site
administrators on charges of inciting hatred against the regime and
spreading false rumors that could undermine state security. Their Web
site had been blocked by the Government for several years and these
administrators were detained for 17 days. Supporters of the
administrators held a number of demonstrations against the detentions
and the detainees went on a hunger strike for several days. Immediately
following their release the three men were prohibited from traveling,
but this travel ban was lifted after two weeks. At year's end charges
remained pending with the Public Prosecution and had not been
transferred to the courts to go to trial.
In April 2005 the Ministry of Information launched a six-month
campaign to register all Web sites in the country. Reportedly only
approximately 80 sites registered, many of which were government sites.
Estimates of the number of Web sites residing on servers in the country
range into the thousands. Under the new government regulations, Web
site administrators face the same libel laws that apply to print
journalists, and Web masters are held jointly responsible for all of
the content posted on their Web sites or chat rooms.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--Academic freedom was
limited, although there were no formal regulations. Academics avoided
contentious political issues, and the University of Bahrain did not
have a political science program. The university's hiring and
admissions policies favored Sunnis and others who were assumed to
support the Government. The proportion of Shi'a students was estimated
to be close to the approximately 70 percent of Shi'a in the general
population, although there are proportionately fewer Shi'a professors.
There were some restrictions on popular music events, reportedly
for reasons of public order with large audiences. For example, on
February 27 the Ministry of Information denied a request by a Lebanese
radio station to organize a concert featuring Lebanese singer Nancy
Ajram during Formula One events. However, a subsequent request for
Ajram to perform was approved for a May 18 concert. Ajram performed
again at the end of the year during the Eid al-Adha holidays.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--Although the constitution provides for the right of free
assembly, the law restricts the exercise of this right. On July 26, the
Government implemented new legislation governing demonstrations and
rallies and codified restrictions on where and when public gatherings
or demonstrations can be held. Organizers must submit the request to
the MOI with at least 72 hours advance notice. The request must be
signed by three individuals from the area in which the demonstration
will take place and who are known to be law-abiding citizens. The new
law prohibits any public gatherings or demonstrations near hospitals,
airports, commercial centers, or facilities designated to be security-
related by the MOI. Public gatherings and demonstrations are not
permitted after 11:00 p.m. or before 7:00 a.m. without written
permission from the head of public security or his deputy.
According to the new legislation, the head of public security is
required to notify the organizers of any public gathering about any
changes to the request (such as location, time, or route) at least 48
hours prior to the event. If there is no response to the request, the
gathering may proceed as requested. Organizers of an unauthorized
gathering may be held responsible for any damage to public or private
property. Under this legislation funeral processions may not be turned
into political rallies and security officials may be present at any
public gathering.
Organized groups in the country are either civil society groups
registered by the Ministry of Social Development, political societies
registered by the MOJ, or labor unions registered with the Ministry of
Labor. Based on the proposed by-laws a new group submits, the
Government decides whether its proposed activities are social or
political in nature. The Ministry of Social Development has not allowed
the National Committee for the Unemployed to register as a civil
society group because of the political nature of its activities.
Scores of demonstrations occurred throughout the year. Many related
to local issues, such as housing, unemployment, and political
naturalization, and there were occasional demonstrations related to
international events, such as the Israel-Hizballah conflict. Some of
these demonstrations were not approved by the Government, but
government intervened only on occasion. A local human rights
organization reported that efforts by the Haq Movement, an organization
advocating constitutional changes and a continued boycott of the
elections and political system, to hold an unauthorized seminar on
September 22 was prevented from meeting. No arrests were reported.
The MOI reportedly told the owners of some venues to close their
premises to prevent meetings from occurring, but it was not possible to
determine the number of times this happened.
On September 29, political societies held a rally to focus
attention on the issue of the Government's alleged naturalization of
persons for political purposes. Although the Government permitted the
rally to proceed, it cited the new legislation as the basis for
preventing participants from taking the rally to the main highway
through the commercial district. Several demonstrators reportedly threw
rocks at police and at least one Molotov cocktail that set alight a
traditional Bahraini boat on decorative display next to the road.
Police dispersed the demonstrators with tear gas. There were no
arrests.
The Government limited and controlled political gatherings. The
Political Rights Law of 2002 regulates election campaigns and prohibits
``election meetings'' at worship centers, universities, schools,
government buildings, and public institutions (see sections 2.c. and
3). On July 30, amendments to this legislation lowered the voting age
to 20 years of age and provided for a 10 year loss of the right to vote
or stand as a candidate for any person sentenced to more than six
months in prison for any crime. The electoral restriction was not
enforced during the year, as the names of citizens sentenced for more
than six months appeared on the voter registration lists.
In December 2005 Shaikh Mohamed al-Sanad was detained upon his
return from Qom, Iran. Approximately three weeks earlier, his office in
Qom released a statement questioning the legitimacy of the Government,
and calling for a repeat of a UN referendum conducted in 1971
concerning independence. As Shaikh al-Sanad was being detained at the
airport, a group of 100 to 300 protesters gathered in the airport
arrival lounge. Riot police were deployed and clashed with protesters.
Several days later 21 individuals previously released were rearrested
and charged for their alleged involvement in the events at the airport.
One of the 21 protesters was later released.
As court proceedings began for the 20 detainees, demonstrators
gathered near the Public Prosecutor's Office to protest the detention.
Over the course of the next couple of weeks, several of these
demonstrators were arrested for their participation in unlawful
gatherings at the Public Prosecutor's Office. On February 7, 12 of the
airport detainees were sentenced to two years in jail and one detainee
was cleared of all charges and released. Although the 12 were cleared
of the charges of assaulting police and damaging public property, each
was convicted of participating in an illegal gathering.
On February 15, of the remaining seven airport detainees, four were
sentenced to one year in prison for participating in an unlawful
gathering, and the remaining three were cleared of all charges and
released. On April 11, the court heard an appeal for 13 of those
sentenced; eight of the two-year sentences were reduced to one year and
four of the two-year sentences were upheld. The thirteenth prisoner was
cleared of all charges and was released.
On March 10, demonstrators gathered near Dana Mall for an
authorized peaceful demonstration to protest the sentences of those
involved in the events at the airport and the detention of protesters.
When confronted by police, many of the youth entered the mall and
caused damage to the shops inside. Nineteen individuals were arrested.
Charges consisted of damaging property, assaulting police officers, and
participating in an unlawful demonstration. There were convictions on
all three charges, and the court sentenced those found guilty to jail
time.
Meanwhile, over the course of several evenings at the end of March
and the beginning of April, groups of masked youths burned tires on the
outskirts of several villages. Police made eight arrests and, on April
16, revealed the identity of seven of the individuals, with photos,
through the media. The eighth detainee was a minor.
On September 20, King Hamad announced by decree that all detainees
and sentenced prisoners related to the December 2005 airport incident
and related disturbances, including the masked youths, were to be
pardoned and released before the start of the Muslim month of Ramadan.
On September 22, 43 were released to their families and another 18 two
days later.
Throughout 2005 the National Committee for the Unemployed staged
numerous rallies calling on the Government to find solutions to the
country's unemployment problem. As the committee is not registered with
the Government, it cannot legally organize activities. Although the
committee submitted an application for registration with the Ministry
of Social Development (MOSD), it did not receive a response. The
ministry did not release reasons for its lack of action. The Government
warned the committee on several occasions against holding unauthorized
events, and police and protestors clashed at two of its demonstrations.
There were no charges placed against demonstrators or against police
who were alleged to have used excessive force.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for the right of
freedom of association; however, the Government limited this right in
practice. Though the Government does not allow the formation of
political parties, it has authorized registered political societies to
run candidates and participate in other political activities (see
section 3).
The 1989 Civil Societies Law prohibits any activity by an
unlicensed society and any political activity by a licensed civil
society. The law provides the Ministry of Social Development the right
to reject the registration of any society if its services are deemed
unnecessary, are already being provided by another society, are
contrary to state security, or are aimed at reviving a previously
dissolved society.
During the year the Government permitted several NGOs, including
the Bahrain Transparency Society, the Bahrain Human Rights Society, the
Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society, and the Bahrain Society for Public
Freedoms, among others, to conduct some political activities such as
election monitoring and promotion of election-related codes of conduct.
In June 2005 the Bahrain Youth Human Rights Society attempted to
register as a civil society group, but the Ministry of Social
Development did not respond to the application. Unofficial sources
claimed that the society contained an insufficient number of members
over the legal age of 18 and, therefore, could not legally register.
Members of the society speculate that they have not been allowed to
register due to their relationship with members of the now dissolved
BCHR.
In 2004 the MOSD dissolved the BCHR after the BCHR President
criticized the Prime Minister during a seminar (see section 2.a.). BCHR
members continue to issue reports on alleged human rights abuses and
participate in international human rights events. Members keep the BCHR
web site updated, although access to the Web site was blocked. BCHR are
consulted by journalists and appear in press pieces on human rights
issues.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion; however, the Government placed limitations on the exercise of
this right. The constitution declares Islam as the official religion,
and all other religious groups must obtain a permit from the Ministry
of Islamic Affairs to operate and hold religious meetings. Depending on
a group's activities, it may also need approvals from the Ministry of
Social Development, the Ministry of Information, and/or the Ministry of
Education.
The Muslim population is approximately 70 percent Shi'a and 30
percent Sunni. There are numerous Christian churches of different
denominations, four Sikh temples, and several official and unofficial
Hindu temples located in Manama and its suburbs. The only synagogue has
been closed since 1948.
The Government funds, monitors, and subjects all official religious
institutions to some control. The Government may appropriate or
withhold funding to reward or punish particular individuals or places
of worship although reports of this were not common. There were no
reported closures of mosques or ma'tams (congregation hall for
religious ceremonies) during the year.
Sunni and Shi'a waqfs made funding decisions for new mosque
construction. Although both Sunni and Shi'a waqfs were reportedly well-
endowed and were able to fund mosque construction, new mosques were
dependent upon government approval of land allocation. The Government's
approval of land allocation for mosques was not transparent and
reportedly not proportionate to the Shi'a community relative to its
population in the country.
The Government rarely interfered with what it considered to be
legitimate religious observances. During the year, the Government
permitted public religious events, most notably the large annual Shi'a
holiday of Ashura, but police closely monitored these gatherings. The
MOI's policy of providing full media coverage of Ashura events
continued this year. There were no restrictions on the number of
citizens permitted to make pilgrimages to Shi'a shrines and to holy
sites in Iran, Iraq, and Syria. The Government monitored travel to Iran
and scrutinized carefully those who chose to pursue religious study
there.
The vast majority of those who attended Christian churches were
expatriates. Events at churches occurred frequently and were advertised
regularly in the English press, including the hosting of guest speakers
from many countries.
The Political Rights Law of 2002 forbids election speeches in
worship centers, but political sermons continued (see sections 2.b. and
3). Proselytizing by non Muslims is illegal and the Government
prohibited anti Islamic writings; however, Christian publications,
including Bibles, were sold openly. Religious tracts of all branches of
Islam, cassettes of sermons delivered by sheikhs from other countries,
and publications of other religions were readily available. Christian
pastors were permitted to provide literature to Christian inmates and
to prison libraries.
In 2004 the Royal Court denied an application for a Shi'a mosque
and ma'tam to be established in Rifa'a declaring that land, cannot be
allocated for commercial enterprises.
Christian congregations and churches were registered with the
Government and operated freely.
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs has repeatedly denied a Baha'i
congregation a license to function. The ministry views Baha'ism as an
inauthentic offshoot of Islam and blasphemous, and it refuses to
recognize the congregation, which continued to practice its faith
without government interference.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Discrimination against the
majority Shi'a population remained a problem. Sunnis received
preference for employment in sensitive government positions and in the
managerial ranks of the civil service. The royal family is Sunni, and
the defense and internal security forces were predominantly Sunni.
Shi'a citizens held posts in these forces, though not positions of
significance. In the private sector, Shi'a tended to be employed in
lower paid, less skilled jobs. Educational, social, and municipal
services in most Shi'a neighborhoods were inferior to those found in
Sunni communities.
In private conversations and in Internet forums, Shi'a consistently
complained of discrimination, especially in public sector jobs and
positions at the university. Although the percentage of Shi'a students
was close to the approximately 70 percent Shi'a population in the
country, only about 40 percent of university faculty was Shi'a. Shi'a
compose a high percentage of the country's unemployed.
The Government has not enacted any laws protecting the rights of
Jews to religious freedom; however, it has not interfered with their
freedom to practice their religion. One Jewish citizen served in the
Shura Council. Some anti-Semitic political commentary and editorial
cartoons appeared, usually linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
These anti-Semitic articles and depictions occurred without government
response. Examples of this were also seen during the July-August
conflict between Israel and Hizballah, when Israel was regularly
referred to as the ``Zionist entity'' in the press. Although the one
synagogue is not open due to the small size of the Jewish community in
the country, Jews practiced their faith privately without interference
from the Government.
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, except as modified by law and judicial decisions. Banishment
and prevention of return are prohibited. Citizens were free to move
within the country and change their place of residence or work.
The 1963 Citizenship Law provides that the Government may reject
applications to obtain or renew passports for reasonable cause, but the
applicant has the right to appeal such decisions before the High Civil
Court.
The constitution permits the Government to revoke citizenship only
in the cases of treason and other such cases ``according to the law.''
The Government has not revoked the citizenship of any person under the
2002 constitution.
Opposition groups claimed that the naturalization process was
politically driven to manipulate demographics for voting purposes and
to keep Shi'a out of the police and defense forces, which are allegedly
dominated by naturalized Sunnis from foreign countries. Although
naturalization requirements are clearly defined, they were not applied
impartially, and adjudication of naturalization applications was not
transparent. The Government reportedly was more lenient with
naturalization requests from expatriates in the security forces. Shi'a
and non-Arab applicants reportedly experienced longer delays in the
processing of their cases. The Government occasionally granted
citizenship to Sunni residents from neighboring countries. The
Government stated that some of the Saudis who had received citizenship
were the grandchildren of Bahraini citizens who had immigrated to Saudi
Arabia. According to the country's nationality law, these persons have
a legal right to citizenship.
On September 19, King Hamad by royal decree granted citizenship to
at least 372 children of citizen mothers and noncitizen fathers.
Although most were born and resided in the country most of their lives,
they had not been granted citizenship because according to law,
citizenship derives from one's father and not one's mother. Previously,
these children were required to obtain resident permits, were not
eligible for some social services, or had to pay for some other
services (see section 5).
The constitution prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports
of forced exile during the year. In 2004 the Royal Court granted 34
citizens living in exile the right to return to the country. Since that
time there have been no reports of citizens returned from exile to the
country. In January, the cabinet discussed the matter of government
assistance to over 500 former exiles and their families. Assistance of
approximately $660 (250 dinars) monthly was provided to 250 families
with either unemployed or elderly former exiles.
There is no official requirement for women and children to have
their husband's/father's permission to travel abroad and there were no
reports of women and children facing any restrictions on travel.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status to persons who meet 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. In practice, the Government provided protection
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they fear
persecution.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
Citizens do not have the right to change their government or their
political system; however, the constitution provides for a
democratically elected Council of Representatives, the lower house of
parliament. The King appoints the Prime Minister, who then proposes
cabinet ministers who are appointed by the King. Members of the royal
family held all strategic cabinet ministry positions and approximately
half of all ministerial slots.
The bicameral National Assembly consists of the 40-member popularly
elected COR and the 40-member appointed Shura (Consultative) Council.
The Office of Legal Affairs drafts the text of laws, not the COR or the
Shura Council. This office had been part of the Prime Minister's
cabinet until July when it was made a quasi-independent body linked to
the MOJ. The King may veto laws passed by the National Assembly, which
in turn may override a veto by a two thirds majority vote. If the
legislature overrides a veto, the King must promulgate the law within
one month. No veto has been exercised and no law has been enacted that
was proposed by a member of the legislature since the constitution was
adopted.
The King may dissolve the COR at his discretion, and he retains the
power to amend the constitution and to propose, ratify, and promulgate
laws. Either council may question government ministers, and the COR may
pass a two thirds majority vote of no confidence requiring a minister's
resignation. The COR may also introduce a resolution indicating it
cannot cooperate with the Prime Minister. Both the elected and the
appointed chambers of the National Assembly would then have the option
to pass the resolution by a two thirds majority that would require the
King to either dismiss the Prime Minister or dissolve the COR. The
situation of a no-confidence vote has never arisen.
Elections and Political Participation.--Bahrain held parliamentary
and municipal council elections in two rounds on November 25 and
December 2. Voter participation in the first round was 73 percent of
all registered voters. In second round runoff races 69 percent of those
eligible to vote cast ballots. Although there was a small group of
eligible voters who maintained a boycott of the elections, all
political societies, including the four that boycotted the 2002
elections, participated in the elections.
Although no international observers participated, nine local civil
society groups were permitted access to poll stations to observe
voting, including Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society and Bahrain
Society for Public Freedoms. Bahrain Transparency Society and Bahrain
Human Rights Society joined efforts to form the Election Monitoring
Joint Committee (EMJC).
Although by year's end it had not issued its final report, in an
initial assessment EMJC reported that there were no reports of
widespread attempts to influence the outcome of the elections. In
addition to the country's 40 district polling centers, voters of any
district could cast their votes at one of ten general polling stations.
Prior to the elections, the general stations had received attention as
an area possibly vulnerable to manipulation. Official polling station
observers did not report significant problems during the voting
process, although there were allegations that general poll center vote
counts were manipulated in some cases against opposition candidates in
close races.
At district polling stations, results were announced to observers
and candidate representatives following the counting of ballots.
However, at many general poll centers during the first round this did
not happen. Votes from general polling stations were taken to central
facilities and folded in with those of other general stations before
vote counts were made public. After the first round, EMJC presented
this lapse in transparency to the High Commission for Elections, and
adjustments were made for the runoff elections. Prior to moving ballot
boxes following the vote in the runoff races, election officials
announced vote counts to observers.
EMJC reported a series of other violations, the most serious being
that candidates did not cease campaign activities 24 hours prior to the
polls as required by law. Campaign volunteers continued to pass out
fliers and lobby voters in the vicinity of polling stations on election
day. In addition observers reported many violations of campaign posters
and billboards moved closer to polling stations than allowed by law
just prior to the election. Most other violations were minor and
procedural.
On August 11 Minister of Social Development Dr. Fatima al-Balushi
declared that the administrative and financial procedures of NGOs would
come under direct control of a new department in the ministry. The
purpose of this regulation was to prevent charitable organizations'
financial support of candidates during elections.
On July 30, the Government implemented an amendment to the
Political Rights Law lowering the voting age from 21 to 20 years of
age.
The Government drew the unified electoral districts for both the
municipal council and the legislative elections to protect Sunni
interests by creating several districts with small populations likely
to elect a Sunni candidate. In contrast districts where a Shi'a
candidate was likely to win were drawn to include large numbers of
voters, a formula that diluted the voting strength of the Shi'a
community. Observers commented that this gerrymandering generally
violated the one man, one vote principle common to most democracies.
According to voter lists for the elections, divergence in the electoral
population per district is significant--the number of eligible voters
per elected representative can vary by as much as a factor of 13.
In July 2005 a Political Societies Law replaced the 1989 law as the
governing law for organized political activity. The law gives political
societies legal authority to exist and defines guidelines within which
they can operate. Political societies were highly critical of
provisions in the law that require them to notify the MOJ before
contacting political groups abroad. The law also prohibits foreign
funding or training, raised the minimum membership age from 18 to 21;
and gives the MOJ the authority to reject an application for
registration.
The Government did not allow the formation of political parties,
but 15 political societies, which received some government funding and
operated somewhat like political parties, chose candidates for
parliamentary and municipal elections, campaigned for political office,
developed political platforms, held internal elections, and hosted
political gatherings (see section 2.b.). The Government began
recognizing political societies in 2002 and placed them under the
jurisdiction of the 1989 Civil Societies Law. Although the 1989 law
prohibits civil society groups from engaging in political matters, the
Government permitted such activity at its discretion.
Al-Wifaq, the country's largest political society (Shi'a), and
three other political societies, boycotted the 2002 parliamentary
elections, citing grievances over the constitutional provisions that
equalized the powers of the elected COR and the royally-appointed Shura
Council. During 2005 all political societies except one, including
three of the four boycotting societies, registered under the new
Political Societies Law, a required first step toward participation in
the November and December legislative elections. The remaining
boycotting political society registered in spring of the reporting
period. As of the end of the year, 15 political societies were
registered with the Ministry of Justice. The ministry did not refuse or
defer the application of any political society.
The Ministry of Social Development suspended the opposition Islamic
Action Society (IAS) for 45 days after a June 2005 seminar in which
members of the IAS allegedly praised 73 persons convicted of a 1980's
coup attempt. The ministry accused the IAS of ``defaming the
constitution, national symbols, and the political leadership;
tolerating incitement; and distributing pamphlets not licensed by the
Ministry of Information.''
Women have the right to vote and run for public office. In the
legislative elections, 18 women ran in the legislative and five ran in
the municipal elections. One woman, Latifa al-Qa'oud, was unopposed in
her district and became the first female member of parliament. None of
the other women candidates were elected. Percentages of the voting by
gender were not released by the Government.
On June 6, King Hamad appointed Mona al-Kawari the first female
judge. On June 8, the UN General Assembly elected attorney Shaikha Haya
Bint Rashid Al Khalifa as President, the assembly's first Muslim woman
President.
In December the King appointed 10 women to the 40-member Shura
Council. This represents an increase of four from the previous Shura
Council that served from 2002 to this past year. One of these women,
Alice Samaan, a Christian, was elected to be the second deputy speaker
of the council.
In 2004 the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs reported that women held 9
percent of senior civil service posts. Minister of Health Dr. Nada
Haffadh and Minister of Social Development Dr. Fatima al-Belooshi
continued to serve in the parliament.
The Shi'a constitute approximately 70 percent of resident citizens,
and both Shi'a and Sunni citizens have equal rights before the law.
However, the royal family is Sunni, and Sunnis dominate politically and
economically.
The King appointed one Christian and one Jewish member to the new
Shura Council in December. Eighteen Shura Council members were Shi'a
Muslims and 17 were Sunni. Five of the 23 cabinet ministers were Shi'a,
including a deputy prime minister.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Significant areas of
government activity continued to lack transparency. New legislation
increased transparency in Central Bank transactions and activities and
increased disclosure responsibilities for the 39 companies listed on
the local stock exchange. The annual National Audit Bureau report
analyzed the accounts of state-owned entities and was made available to
the public. The COR called ministers to appear at public sessions to
respond to questions from members of parliament.
There was no law providing citizens with access to information held
by the Government.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Restrictions on freedom of association and expression hindered
investigation or public criticism of the Government's human rights
policies. There were approximately 400 NGOs registered in the country,
most of which were sports clubs and charitable organizations. NGOs must
report to the Ministry of Social Affairs when their members participate
in international NGO events. There were three major human rights NGOs
that reported on issues of concern: Bahrain Human Rights Society,
Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society (BHRWS), and Bahrain Center for
Human Rights (dissolved in 2004 but former members continue to report,
see section 2.b.). BHRS was independent from the Government. BHRWS
considers itself independent while members of its leadership were also
members of the King-appointed Shura Council.
In recent years the Government has allowed increased interaction
between local civil society groups and international human rights
organizations. During the year citizen members of Amnesty
International, who have not registered as an NGO with the Ministry of
Social Development, carried out several activities without interference
by the Government. In December they organized a letter writing campaign
for International Human Rights Day. Members coordinated with the
Bahrain Society for Public Freedoms to observe the elections and
monitor media coverage during the election campaign. In May, the group
organized free public screenings of the film The Road to Guantanamo.
However, on June 23, they were prevented from staging a mock soccer
game to focus attention on Guantanamo Bay detainees.
In December 2005 BHRS and a foreign human rights organization
organized a conference on family law issues. In October and November
2005 members of some domestic NGOs participated with international NGOs
in conferences leading to the Forum for the Future conference. A local
human rights activist organized a ``parallel'' Forum for the Future
conference for regional NGOs, which was funded by the Government.
Bahrain Transparency Society had regular contact with Transparency
International.
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) was active from 2002 to
2004. The group produced reports, supported victims of trafficking, and
organized other events. From 2003 government ministries warned the
center against conducting activities that were outside its bylaws such
as criticizing the Government or specific government officials. In 2004
the Ministry of Social Development dissolved the BCHR. The Government
locked the center's rented office space and froze its bank accounts.
The BCHR challenged its closure in court, but lost the case and its
subsequent appeals (see section 2.a.). Individual members continued to
conduct activities and write reports about issues of concern in the
name of the center.
In August 2005 the Government released the locked BCHR office space
to the Migrant Worker Protection Society. MWPS had been working under
the BCHR umbrella but became an independent NGO after BCHR was
dissolved.
The BHRWS, established in December 2004 and led by a member of the
Shura Council, conducted a number of human rights activities throughout
the year, including organizing conferences and awareness campaigns on
women's rights, children's rights, and labor rights. In December 2005
BHRWS announced the establishment of a new coalition called ``Respect''
to focus on the twin issues of the need for a family law and the
protection of abused domestic workers. In July BHRWS was forced to
disband the coalition because the MOSD required that the new coalition
be registered with the ministry. Rather than register as a new society,
BHRWS took on the full campaign independent of the other members of the
coalition.
On December 19, the BHRS released its fourth annual report covering
events in 2005. The report highlighted that authority granted to public
security officials in the gathering law (even before the recent
amendments) to break up meetings contradicts the constitution.
In May the project director of a foreign organization was asked by
immigration authorities to leave the country. The formal reason for his
departure was that his residency status had lapsed and he was without
an official sponsor. However, observer speculation focused on the
probability that the Government perceived the organization's activities
to have violated the Political Societies Law that prevents political
societies from receiving direct funding from foreign sources. Although
the organization did not provide direct funding to political societies,
the organization offered training courses for elections officials and
political leaders.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides for equality; equal opportunity; and the
right to medical care, welfare, education, property, capital, and work
for all citizens. However, these rights were protected unevenly,
depending on the individual's social status, sect, or gender.
Women.--No government policies or laws explicitly addressed
violence against women. Spousal abuse of women was widespread,
particularly in poorer communities. Since June 2005 the Batelco Care
Center for Family Violence has offered free medical, psychological,
legal, and social assistance to victims of violence, primarily women
and children. The center runs a hotline that abused persons can call
for assistance. This center recorded 586 cases involving domestic abuse
during the year: nearly two-thirds from women, just less than one-
quarter from children, and the remainder from men.
On November 23, the Government opened a shelter for women. Its
facilities accommodated victims of both domestic abuse and trafficking
crimes.
A 2004 study of 605 women of varying age, social status, and
educational background concluded that 30 percent of the country's
married women had been subjected more than once to verbal, physical, or
psychological spousal violence. There were very few instances of women
seeking legal redress for violence, and there was little public
attention towards or discussion of the problem. Incidents usually were
not brought to the attention of authorities.
Rape is illegal and the press reported cases of men being arrested
for rape. The law does not address spousal rape. Although the number of
convictions was not available, during the year there were 45 cases of
rape and 212 cases of sexual assault referred to the public prosecutor.
Reports of foreign women working in domestic positions being beaten
or sexually abused by their employers and recruiting agents were
common. Numerous cases were reported to local embassies, the press, and
the police; however, most victims were too intimidated to sue their
employers, although they had the right to do so. Courts reportedly
allowed victims who registered complaints to sue for damages or return
home. If the victim brings a suit against the employer, the plaintiff
cannot leave the country for the duration of the case.
Since its inception in 2002, the Migrant Worker Protection Society
(MWPS) has supported several victims who have taken their cases to
court, but compensation to victims was reportedly very low. In 2003
Anita Verma, a 28-year-old Indian domestic worker, was hospitalized
after being abused by her employer for three months. She had received
less than one month's full pay. She sued her employer for damages and
back pay. Although Anita repeatedly indicated her desire to return to
her family in India, she was not permitted to travel unless her former
employer signed her exit papers, which she would only agree to do if
Anita dropped the charges. After pursuing the case for over two years,
a family illness prompted Anita to drop the charges. She returned to
her home country on February 18.
There is no specific law that prohibits female genital mutilation
(FGM). According to the Batelco Care Center for Family Violence Cases,
there have been no cases of FGM for many years.
Women's legal rights vary according to Shi'a or Sunni
interpretations of Islamic law (as determined by the individual's faith
or by the court in which various contracts, including marriage, were
made). In 2004 the MOJ suspended six Shari'a court judges indefinitely,
following complaints from women of unfair treatment. According to the
ministry, the judges reportedly had lost the trust of the community due
to their misconduct (see section 1.e.).
Shi'a and Sunni women have the right to initiate a divorce;
however, religious courts may refuse the request. Women of either sect
may own and inherit property and may represent themselves in all public
and legal matters. In the absence of a direct male heir, Shi'a women
may inherit all property. Sunni women without a direct male heir
inherit only a portion as governed by Shari'a; the balance is divided
among the brothers or male relatives of the deceased. In practice,
better educated families used wills and other legal maneuvers to
ameliorate the negative effect of these rules.
In divorce cases, the courts routinely grant mothers custody of
daughters under age nine and sons under age seven. Custody usually
reverts to the father once the children reach those ages. Regardless of
custody decisions, the father retains guardianship, or the right to
make all legal decisions for the child, until the child reaches the
legal age of 21. A noncitizen woman automatically loses custody of her
children if she divorces their citizen father. A Muslim woman legally
can marry a non Muslim man if the man converts to Islam.
Married women have the right to apply for a passport without their
husband's consent. Women have the right to travel abroad without
gaining prior consent.
By law foreign women who marry citizens are eligible for
citizenship after five years of marriage. Foreign men who marry
citizens, however, are not entitled to citizenship, and neither are
their children. In July 2005 the Bahrain Women's Society launched a
campaign to promote full citizenship rights for foreign husbands and
their children. Over the past three years, the society has run a
registration campaign to record the personal information of the more
than 1,800 children (infant to age 21) who were born to citizen mothers
and do not have citizenship. On September 19, King Hamad by royal
decree granted citizenship to at least 372 children of citizen mothers
and noncitizen fathers. However, this action did not change the
legislation, so any such children will still face citizenship
difficulties.
According to November government data, women constituted 11 percent
of the private sector workforce and 42 percent of the Government
workforce. The Government was a leading employer of women.
Labor laws prohibit discrimination against women; however,
discrimination existed in the workplace. The influence of religious
traditionalists sometimes hampered women's rights. In January 2005 a
new law granted women working in the public sector 42 days maternity
leave, not including weekends. Women in the private sector are entitled
to 45 days maternity leave, including weekends.
Prostitution is illegal and throughout the year there were press
reports of arrests of prostitutes and their managers. During the year
68 cases of prostitution were referred to the public prosecution for
investigation. In calendar year 2005, the most recent statistics that
were available, the state won 20 prostitution-related cases. Sentences
for individuals who ``encouraged the practice of prostitution'' varied
between 10 days and two years in prison. Sentences for those who
``managed an establishment for the practice of prostitution", ranged
from prison sentences of three months to three years.
Sexual harassment is prohibited; however, harassment was a
widespread problem for women, especially foreigners working as
domestics and other low level service jobs. The press reported a number
of cases of men being arrested for sexually harassing women. During the
year 420 cases of sexual harassment were referred to the public
prosecution.
The President of the University of Bahrain is a woman and 60
percent of the students are women.
Several women's organizations seek to improve the status of women
under both civil and Islamic law. Throughout the year, the Government
and NGOs sponsored a number of conferences related to women's rights.
Women activists had been trying since 2001 to establish a Bahrain
Women's Union and were finally granted the permission to register and
hold elections for members of their board following a March court
decision in their favor. The MOSD had refused to allow the union to
register, stating that the union's activities were political in nature.
The union seeks to bring together numerous societies to advocate for
women's rights.
Children.--The Government has often stated its commitment to the
protection of children's rights and welfare. It generally honored this
commitment through enforcement of related civil and criminal laws and
through an extensive social welfare network.
Children born to citizen mothers and noncitizen fathers are not
entitled to citizenship and are not eligible for certain social
services, including public education.
According to the Education Act of 2005, education is free and
compulsory for all children, including noncitizens, ages six to 15. In
recent years, authorities did not enforce compulsory education rules.
However, the Education Act imposed fines on parents whose children
failed to attend school and outlined other measures to encourage school
attendance. According to the World Development Indicators from the
World Bank in 2001, 98.4 percent of children were enrolled in school.
In 2001, 98.4 percent of boys were enrolled in basic education and 97.5
percent of girls were enrolled in basic education. Most students
finished secondary school. No new statistics were available.
Limited medical services for infant and preadolescent citizens were
provided for free. Noncitizen adults and children paid a fee for each
visit for care at public health centers.
According to the Bahrain Women's Society (BWS), child abuse was
common, although public discussion of it was rare. The BWS ``Be Free''
Campaign, which has posted a Web site for victims of child abuse since
2002, reported that during the year it received on average over 300
emails per month mostly from youth and adults, from inside and outside
the country, reporting to have been victims of child abuse. The newly
established Be Free Center reportedly serviced over 3,000 individuals
over the year through trainings and lectures conducted for children and
parents at the center, at schools, and at other public venues.
Child prostitution is illegal and there were no reported cases
during the year.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons. Workers from Southeast Asia, South Asia, the
Horn of Africa, and the former Soviet Union reported experiencing
conditions that amounted to trafficking (see section 6.c.), such as
withholding of passports, restrictions on their movements, and physical
or psychological intimidation to work. Some of these victims reported
being forced into commercial sexual exploitation; however, the most
common forms of trafficking in persons involved unskilled construction
laborers and domestic workers. There are approximately 50,000 foreign
housemaids working in the country, and labor laws do not fully cover
domestic workers. According to government statistics, foreigners make
up 57 percent of the workforce.
Up to half of low and unskilled expatriate workers were subjected
to illegal contract substitution, whereby workers agreed to a contract
in their home country, but were required to agree to and sign a
different contract upon arrival, nearly always for less pay and often
for different work. Victims of trafficking experienced nonpayment of
salaries; inadequate meals; physical, sexual, and psychological abuse;
absence of rest days, and/or extremely long working hours.
Frequently, traffickers--including some from influential families--
tricked new workers into paying up to $1,200 (450 DINARS) for
fraudulent visas and nonexistent jobs, leaving stranded workers
vulnerable to trafficking due to their illegal immigration status in
the country and high debt in their home country. The Ministry of Labor
(MOL) nearly doubled its number of labor inspectors to approximately 40
to investigate reports of visa abuse.
Prostitution is illegal, but during the year there was evidence
that a number of foreign women were forced into commercial sexual
exploitation through deception or intimidation. The problem was
especially problematic for Thai women coming to the country. Although
many Thai women traveled to the country voluntarily, there were
indications of the use of false job offers and physical force to
traffic some of them into commercial sexual exploitation. During the
year the Thai Embassy repatriated 385 women.
In cases of forced prostitution, the Government reportedly
prosecuted the offender and often the victim's sponsor or employer, but
did not provide any information on cases it pursued this year. (See
section 5).
The fear of deportation or employer retaliation prevented many
foreign workers from making complaints to the authorities. Many foreign
workers were unaware of their rights under the law, such as the right
to change employers without the consent of the original employer after
working two years in a position.
Throughout the year the press carried stories of expatriate workers
committing or attempting suicide. Exact statistics of attempts and
deaths were unavailable.
The Government can fine employers guilty of forced labor up to
$2,650 (1,000 dinars). The rules require sponsors to put up a deposit
of $265 (100 dinars) for each runaway worker. The Government published
pamphlets on expatriate workers' rights in several languages, provided
manuals on these rights to local diplomatic missions, and operated a
telephone hotline for victims. The Government does not provide direct
assistance to victims. Through August there were approximately 500
labor cases involving a total of over 650 expatriate workers sent from
the MOL to the Public Prosecution for investigation and prosecution.
In June 2005 Meena Raj Kumar Dolare was sentenced to three months
in jail and fined $1,325 (500 dinars) for severely assaulting her maid
in 2003. Though Dolare reportedly admitted to the abuse, she was
released on $1,325 bail (500 dinars) and vowed to appeal the ruling.
Rights activists praised the ruling, but reported that it was the only
conviction in more than 20 rape and physical abuses cases filed by
foreign housemaids in the past two-and-a-half years. The MWPS reported
that since it began its work in 2002, at least a dozen foreign women
have dropped abuse cases against their employers because the courts
delayed proceedings for months or even years and they wanted to return
to their home countries. Due to the hardship on the worker presented by
these court proceedings, MWPS has ceased advising women to seek court
rulings against their sponsors. Instead, cases have been resolved
favorably through intervention by foreign embassies and mediation
between embassy staff and sponsors.
In August, a sponsor attempted to send Sangita, a domestic worker,
home to India involuntarily without paying her the 22 months of back
pay she was due. Before the sponsor took her to the airport, however,
she was able to contact the MWPS for help. Through MWPS and Indian
Embassy intervention on her behalf, the sponsor agreed to pay her
$1,325 (500 dinars) of the $2,330 (880 dinars) she was owed. On
November 12 Sangita returned home.
During the year the Embassy of the Philippines reported that 446
distressed Filipino workers were repatriated, 89 percent of whom were
women. Nearly all of these women were domestic workers. This compares
to 210 repatriations in 2005. The workers claimed that they faced a
range of problems including maltreatment, physical and sexual abuse,
and non-payment of salary. The Philippine Embassy's shelter for victims
of abuse reported that 749 workers over the year, compared with 466 in
2005, ran away from their sponsors for reasons of alleged abuse.
Statistics on other nationalities were not available.
Several NGOs provided assistance to trafficking victims with the
Government's approval. They include the MWPS, The Art of Living
Foundation, the Indian Community Relief Fund, and the BHRWS. The MWPS,
which operated a shelter for victims, reported that it received up to
20 pleas of help from expatriate workers in distress every month. On
average the MWPS said that 40 percent of the cases constituted severe
abuse.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law protects the rights of persons
with disabilities and a variety of governmental, quasi governmental,
and religious institutions are mandated to support and protect persons
with disabilities.
There were no reports of discrimination against persons with
disabilities in employment, education, or access to health care.
Children with learning disabilities, physical handicaps, speech
impediments, and Down syndrome were enrolled in specialized education
programs in public schools.
Greater emphasis has been given in recent years to public building
designs that incorporate access for persons with disabilities; however,
the law does not mandate access to nonresidential buildings for persons
with disabilities.
Since January 2005, new public buildings in the central
municipality must include facilities for persons with disabilities.
Society tended to view persons with disabilities as persons in need
of protection rather than as fully functioning members of society.
Nonetheless, the Government is required by law to provide vocational
training for persons with disabilities who wish to work. The 1976 Labor
Law requires any employer of more than 100 persons to hire at least 2
percent of its employees from the Government's list of workers with
disabilities. However, the Government does not monitor compliance. The
Government placed persons with disabilities in some public sector jobs.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The 1963 Citizenship Law grants
citizenship to Arab applicants who have resided in the country for 15
years and non-Arab applicants who have resided in the country for 25
years. There were reports that the citizenship law was not applied
uniformly, and that the Government allowed expatriate Sunni Arabs who
had served less than 15 years in the security services to apply for
citizenship. There were also reports of Arab Shi'a who had resided in-
country for more than 15 years and non-Arab expatriates who had resided
more than 25 years who had not been granted citizenship.
In September, in the wake of allegations from the public of a wave
of naturalization for political purposes, the minister of interior
denied that such naturalization had taken place and announced that
5,000 people had been naturalized according to the law over the
previous three years.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law does not
criminalize homosexual relationships between consenting adults of at
least 21 years of age. According to BHRS reports of violence or
discrimination against homosexuals were not common. Also, persons with
HIV/AIDS did not commonly experience discrimination. However, reports
of crimes in the media did not regularly specify if a victim of a crime
was an alleged homosexual or had HIV/AIDS. While discrimination was not
common or apparent, both attributes are socially taboo and not widely
covered in the media.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The 2002 Workers Trade Union Law
grants workers, including non citizens, the right to form and join
unions. Public sector workers may join trade unions, but their unions
are not officially recognized by the Government. Twenty-two percent of
the private-sector labor force belonged to unions. The trade union law
of 2002 established a union federation, the General Federation of
Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU), which all unions had been required to
join, until new legislation this year allowed for the establishment of
additional federations.
The law prohibits unions from engaging in political activities.
New labor legislation enacted during the year provided protection
to workers terminated for their union activities and required extra
compensation for workers who are not paid their salaries on time.
Members of the military are prohibited from joining unions. The law
allows union membership for private sector, civil service, and maritime
workers. Seven public sector unions have been formed and have
registered with the federation, but they are still not recognized by
the Government. In February 2005 the High Civil Court rejected a case
filed by the Federation on the right of civil servants to organize.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to organize and bargain collectively. Unions can
be formed at establishments of any size. Employers and the Government
are required to treat unions as independent judicial entities.
The law states that ``the right to strike is a legitimate means for
workers to defend their rights and interests''; however, the law also
restricts this right. The law requires arbitration before a vote to
strike and a two-week notification that a union intends to strike. A
new law lowered the vote threshold from 75 percent to a simple majority
vote of a union's members.
Although government sources say the arbitration provision will not
preempt the right to strike, the text of the law does not clearly
specify that a union may proceed to a strike vote if it disagrees with
the arbitrator's decision.
On November 20, the Prime Minister issued an executive order with
language expanding the 2002 Labor Union Law vital sector definition.
Under the new order, additional sectors in which strikes are not
allowed include the oil, gas, and education sectors. Health centers,
pharmacies, and bakeries are also specified under the new order.
Expatriate workers from several companies carried out unauthorized
strikes throughout the year. In nearly all cases, the workers were not
members of unions, but joined in a show of strength. Even though the
workers were not union members, and therefore, the strikes were
illegal, employers negotiated over worker demands rather than dismiss
large numbers of workers.
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. There were reports that such practices
occurred, particularly in cases of domestic workers and those working
illegally (see section 5). There were no reports of forced or
compulsory child labor.
Foreign workers, who make up 57 percent of the workforce (76
percent of the private sector workforce), in some cases arrived in the
country under the sponsorship of an employer and then switched jobs
while continuing to pay a fee to their original sponsor. This practice
made it difficult to monitor and control the employment conditions of
domestic and other workers.
In numerous instances employers withheld salaries from their
foreign workers for months and even for years, and refused to grant
them the necessary permission to leave the country. The Government and
the courts generally worked to rectify abuses if they were brought to
their attention, but they otherwise focused little attention on the
problem. The fear of deportation or employer retaliation prevented many
foreign workers from making complaints to the authorities (see section
6.e.).
Labor laws do not fully cover domestic workers. There were numerous
credible reports that domestic workers, especially women, were forced
to work 12 to 16 hour days, given little time off, were malnourished,
and were subjected to verbal and physical abuse, including sexual
molestation and rape. Between 30 to 40 percent of the attempted suicide
cases handled by the Government's psychiatric hospitals were foreign
domestic workers (see section 6.e.).
According to foreign embassies and NGOs, it was estimated that
there were 50,000 foreign domestic workers in the country who are
predominantly of Sri Lankan, Indonesian, Indian, and Filipino origins.
During the year, there were several incidents of seriously abused
domestic workers reported in the press.
Domestic workers who have no embassy representation in the country
(e.g. Sri Lanka) were often subjected to the worst types of physical
and sexual abuse. With no diplomatic mission to represent them, runaway
domestic workers had few places to turn for support.
On November 23, the Government officially opened a shelter to
protect female victims of trafficking and victims of domestic abuse.
The shelter can accommodate 60 to 80 women and their children.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace and prohibits
forced and compulsory child labor. The Government enforced this
prohibition effectively (see section 6.c.).
The minimum age for employment is 16 years of age. Rare exceptions
can be made for juveniles between the ages of 14 and 16, who have an
urgent need to assist in providing for their families. MOL inspectors
enforced child labor laws effectively in the industrial sector; child
labor outside that sector was monitored less effectively, but it was
not believed to be significant outside family operated businesses. Even
in such businesses, it was not widespread.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no national minimum
wage. Unskilled foreign laborers in particular did not earn as much as
the guidelines suggested. The Labor Law allows employers to consider
benefits for foreign workers such as annual trips home, housing, and
education bonuses as part of the salary.
The Labor Law is enforced by the MOL and mandates acceptable
conditions of work for all adult workers, including a maximum of 48
hours per week. Except for Muslims during Ramadan when work should not
exceed six hours per day and 36 hours per week, workers are entitled to
one day of rest after six consecutive days of work and to annual paid
vacations of 21 days after one year of service. The Labor Law for the
Private Sector permits 12 hours of overtime per week that is to be paid
at a rate of 25 percent above the normal wage if conducted during the
day and 50 percent if completed at night. Special MOL permission is
required for anyone working over 60 hours per week. The Labor
Inspectorate conducts periodic, comprehensive inspections of private
sector enterprises, including verification of employee hours and wages.
The MOL set occupational safety and health standards and
effectively enforced them by performing workplace inspections. A team
of 15 inspectors in conjunction with ministry officials had the
authority to levy fines and close work sites if employers did not
improve conditions by specified deadlines. During the year the press
reported on several workplace deaths, but exact figures were not
available.
The ministry enforced the Labor Law with periodic inspections and
routine fines for violators. In 2005 ten safety and health inspectors
covered approximately 34,000 active work places. During the year the
ministry increased the number of safety and health inspectors to 15.
Trained inspectors visited labor camps to verify if workers'
accommodations met required safety and hygiene standards. The
inspectors were only authorized to inspect premises that have a
commercial registration. Inspectors were not authorized to inspect
private homes where most domestic workers reside and work.
When a worker lodges a complaint, the MOL opens an investigation
and often takes remedial action. The MOL reportedly received 3,059
complaints during the year, including those from domestic workers. On
average there were six complaints from domestic workers per month.
Ministry officials said that they were able to resolve approximately
half of these cases through mediation in the ministry. The remaining
cases were taken up by the Public Prosecution for investigation. The
Fourth High Civil Court consists of three labor courts and has
jurisdiction over cases involving alleged violations of the Labor Law.
Complaints brought before the MOL that cannot be settled through
arbitration must be referred to the court within 15 days.
The Labor Law provides for fines and jail sentences for private
sector employers who failed to pay wages as required by the law. The
law applies equally to employers of citizens and of foreign workers.
Although the practice is illegal, many companies transported
expatriate workers in open trucks on benches, and accidents, sometime
fatal, resulted. On September 16, two trucks, one transporting 23
workers and the second carrying seven, collided resulting in the injury
of 28 workers, six of them seriously. Three weeks later, a truck
carrying over 30 laborers collided with a tractor trailer killing three
of the workers and injuring another 28. On December 19, MOL officials
announced that a ban on the transport of workers in open trucks would
be enforced within one month.
The press reported the deaths of several workers at construction
sites during the year. Numerous workers reportedly suffered injuries on
the job. The MOL routinely recommended that construction companies give
their workers a midday break during the summer months. The ministry's
recommendations were not binding, however, and numerous workers
reportedly suffered heatstroke.
__________
EGYPT
The Arab Republic of Egypt, with a population of approximately 79
million, has been governed by the National Democratic Party (NDP) since
the party's establishment in 1978. The NDP, which continued to dominate
national politics by maintaining an overriding majority in the
popularly elected People's Assembly and the partially elected Shura
(Consultative) Council, derives its governing authority from the 1971
constitution and subsequent amendments. Executive authority resides
with the President of the republic and the cabinet. In September 2005,
President Hosni Mubarak won a fifth 6-year term, with 88 percent of the
vote, in the country's first multi-candidate Presidential election, a
landmark event that was otherwise marred by low voter turnout and
charges of fraud. The civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces, which committed numerous,
serious abuses of human rights.
The Government's respect for human rights remained poor, and
serious abuses continued in many areas. These included limitations on
the right of citizens to change their government; a state of emergency,
in place almost continuously since 1967; torture and abuse of prisoners
and detainees; poor conditions in prisons and detention centers;
impunity; arbitrary arrest and detention, including prolonged pretrial
detention; executive branch limits on an independent judiciary; denial
of fair public trial and lack of due process; political prisoners and
detainees; restrictions on civil liberties--freedoms of speech and
press, including internet freedom; assembly and association; some
restrictions on religious freedom; corruption and lack of transparency;
some restrictions on NGOs; and discrimination and violence against
women, including female genital mutilation.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary and Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of targeted political killings nor were there any confirmed
reports of deaths in custody in police stations or prisons during the
year. On January 23, the independent newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm
reported that 19 Islamist prisoners had died in captivity of
unspecified causes during the preceding six months. By year's end,
there had not been any public governmental or NGO investigation of this
story.
On March 25, a plainclothes Alexandria police officer from the
Montazah station allegedly shot and killed 19 year-old Youssef Khamis
Ibrahim after Youssef refused to allow the officer to search him. A
police spokesman later said Youssef was suspected of being a drug
dealer, charges his family denied. Immediately following Youssef's
funeral on March 25, a number of mourners attacked the Montazah police
station; eight rioters were arrested. Two Members of Parliament from
Alexandria submitted requests to the minister of interior and the
Parliament to conduct official inquiries, but by year's end there had
been no additional developments.
On September 7, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR)
reported that 81 detainees were tortured to death inside police
stations between 2000 and 2004 and that 21 detainees were reportedly
tortured to death in police stations between April 2004 and July 2005.
EOHR further reported that detainees were kicked, burned with
cigarettes, shackled, forcibly stripped, beaten with water hoses, and
dragged on the floor. There were no reports of death by torture during
the year.
During the year, there were killings by terrorist groups. On April
24, three suicide bombers attacked the Red Sea resort of Dahab, killing
at least 20 persons and injuring more than 100 others. On April 26,
suicide bombers separately attacked a Multinational Force and Observers
(MFO) vehicle in the northern Sinai (near Al-Gorah) and an Egyptian
security vehicle (near Al-Arish). There were no casualties other than
the bombers. According to police sources, the attackers were members of
Al-Tawhid wa Al-Jihad (Monotheism and Holy War), a Sinai-based
extremist group.
By mid-May, in response to the Dahab and Gorah attacks, the police
announced they had detained at least 30 suspects, while at least 9
other suspects had been killed during exchanges of gunfire with the
authorities. On May 9, according to media reports, security forces
killed an alleged operational planner of the Dahab attacks, as well as
previous Sinai terror attacks (in October 2004 in Taba and July 2005 in
Sharm el-Sheikh), Nasser Khamis al-Mallahi, near al-'Arish in the
northern Sinai.
On December 3, police in the northern city of Damietta shot and
killed three fishermen, and injured 30 others, after the fishermen
resisted police efforts to remove their fish traps from the Nile. The
police were attempting to implement a new government policy to reduce
water pollution; the fishermen were protesting the forcible removal of
their traps. By year's end there had been no public investigation into
the Damietta deaths.
Several reported cases from 2005 of killings by security forces
remained unresolved. On March 27, the UN Special Rapporteur on
Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions reported that the
Government denied that security forces were responsible for the death
of 34-year old detainee Nefissa Zakariyya Al-Marakby in March 2003. The
Special Rapporteur said the Government had failed to substantiate this
denial and noted that the autopsy results provided by the Government
were ``consistent with sexual mistreatment.'' The Special Rapporteur
also said that ``it was especially troubling that the interviews were
not conducted with the other detainees and members of the security
forces who were potential witnesses.''
The UN Special Rapporteur also regretted that the Government
``failed to cooperate with the mandate . . . given by the United
Nations Commission on Human Rights'' regarding allegations that an
unnamed Egyptian police officer from the Atlas (Cairo) police station,
in October 2005, had shot a bus driver, Alaa Mahmoud Abdel Lateef, and
his friend Mohamed Adly. The UN report further stated that although
Egyptian authorities had detained and investigated the police officer
for four days, the Government had not replied to the Special
Rapporteur's request that the Government take ``all necessary
measures'' to ensure the accountability of the guilty party.
Regarding the Government's response to allegations of excessive use
of force by security forces in the deaths of 27 Sudanese migrants in
December 2005, the Special Rapporteur noted that the Government had
rejected the allegations ``without adequate substantiation.'' The
Special Rapporteur regretted ``that the Government's response consists
of conclusory denials that lack factual substantiation that would be
provided by investigations and medical examinations.'' The Government
replied that ``the loss of life resulted from the chaos and the
stampede invoked by the extremist leaders of those demonstrators and
not by . . . use of excessive force or firearms on the part of the
police.''
During the year, the Government did not conduct any public
investigation or disciplinary proceedings in the cases of the killings
of 11 citizens by security forces during the parliamentary elections of
November and December 2005. Most of these deaths had occurred after
security forces closed hundreds of polling stations to opposition
voters.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
cases of disappearance.
Human rights monitors continued to call attention to unresolved
disappearances, including the 2003 disappearance of Egyptian journalist
Reda Hilal.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Article 42 of the constitution prohibits the infliction of
``physical or moral harm'' upon persons who have been arrested or
detained. Article 126 of the Penal Code penalizes acts of civil
servants or public employees who commit or order acts of torture.
However, torture and abuse of prisoners and detainees by police,
security personnel, and prison guards remained common and persistent.
Torture and authorizing torture are felonies punishable by 3 to 10
years' imprisonment. For deaths resulting from torture, the crime is
considered intentional murder punishable by a life sentence. Arrest
without due cause, threatening death, or using physical torture are
punishable by imprisonment. Abuse of power to inflict cruelty against
persons is punishable by imprisonment and fines. Victims may also bring
a criminal or civil action for compensation against the responsible
government agency. There is no statute of limitations in such cases.
Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW), and other
human rights organizations have observed that the Penal Code fails to
account for mental or psychological abuse; abuse against persons who
have not been formally accused; or abuse occurring for reasons other
than securing a confession.
According to HRW in a December 23 statement, ``Torture is pervasive
in Egyptian detention centers.'' There were numerous, credible reports
that security forces tortured and mistreated prisoners and detainees.
Domestic and international human rights groups reported that the State
Security Investigations Service (SSIS), police, and other government
entities continued to employ torture to extract information or force
confessions. In prominent cases, defendants alleged that police
tortured them during questioning (see sections 1.e. and 2.c.). Although
the Government investigated torture complaints in some criminal cases
and punished some offending police officers, punishments generally have
not conformed to the seriousness of the offenses.
Principal methods of torture reportedly employed by the police and
the SSIS included stripping and blindfolding victims; suspending
victims from a ceiling or doorframe with feet just touching the floor;
beating victims with fists, whips, metal rods, or other objects; using
electrical shocks; and dousing victims with cold water. Victims
frequently reported being subjected to threats and forced to sign blank
papers for use against themselves or their families should they in the
future lodge complaints about the torture. Some victims, including male
and female detainees and children, reported sexual assaults or threats
of rape against themselves or family members. While the law requires
security authorities to keep written records of detentions, human
rights groups reported that the lack of such records often effectively
blocked investigations.
The Emergency Law--applied almost continuously since 1967 under a
declared state of emergency--authorizes incommunicado detention for
prolonged periods. Detentions under this law frequently were
accompanied by allegations of torture. On April 30, the Government
extended the State of Emergency until May 2008. Following terrorist
attacks in October 2004 and April and July 2005, the authorities
conducted mass arrests of hundreds of persons allegedly linked to the
lead suspects and reportedly tortured some of them in custody (see
section 1.d.).
On December 6, approximately 100 lawyers and civil society
activists, representing 40 human rights organizations, attended a
protest at the Lawyers' Syndicate in Cairo against ``the crimes of
torture committed by the security services.'' During the year human
rights activists began to call attention to approximately a dozen
amateur videos--taken by observers with mobile phone cameras and
circulated on the internet--which appeared to document abuse or torture
of detainees by security officials.
In 2004 the Government's Central Audit Agency directed the Ministry
of Interior to require any security or police officers found
responsible for torture to be financially liable for any judgments
levied against the ministry. According to the Human Rights Association
for the Assistance of Prisoners (HRAAP), there were at least 2
instances of courts awarding punitive damages during the year to
victims of police abuse.
Numerous cases of torture were documented. On September 7, EOHR
issued a report on cases of torture and death in police stations. The
report recorded 156 cases of torture between 2000 and 2004 (75
nonfatal) and 59 cases (38 nonfatal) between April 2005 and April 2006.
The report said that detainees were kicked, burned with cigarettes,
shackled, forcibly stripped, beaten with water hoses, and dragged on
the floor.
In early March, three Britons, released from prison after a 2004
conviction by the Supreme State Security Emergency Court for belonging
to a banned organization, alleged that security personnel had
mistreated them through sleep deprivation, beatings, and unsanitary
prison conditions, and that security personnel had tortured one of them
with an electric prod (see section 1.e.).
On March 30, Muslim Brotherhood (MB) member Mohammed Nagui
testified to the Public Prosecutor that SSIS officers in Al-Haram had
arrested and tortured him. He specifically accused officers Mahmoud
Nour El-Din and Ibrahim Abdel Gawad of stripping him naked and
torturing him with electrical shocks.
On June 5, according to EOHR, officers at the Ain Shams police
station beat and sexually assaulted Seham Mamdouh Mahmoud. The police
briefly detained her, then repeatedly kicked her in the abdomen as she
fought off an officer's attempt to sexually assault her. Seham was
released that night. At year's end, authorities had not investigated
the incident or punished the officer.
Authorities used force to disperse peaceful, unauthorized
demonstrations. On May 25, opposition activists demonstrated at the
Journalists' Syndicate in Cairo to mark the one year anniversary of
``Black Wednesday.'' (During the May 25, 2005 national referendum, pro-
government thugs, allegedly including undercover security personnel,
attacked several groups of opposition protesters and journalists, and
sexually assaulted several women journalists and protesters.) In late
2005, the public prosecutor closed the investigation into these
assaults, claiming that that it was not possible to identify the
perpetrators, many of whom were documented on video as they assaulted
opposition demonstrators and journalists. No police officers were
prosecuted for the abuses.
On May 26, according to EOHR and other widely circulated reports,
police tortured Kifaya activists Muhamed al-Sharkawy and Karim al-
Shaeer, who had been detained in the aftermath of the May 25
demonstration, at the Kasr al-Nil police station. (The Kifaya, or
``Enough,'' Movement staged multiple demonstrations throughout the 2005
calling for political reform.) According to Sharkawy's own account,
police severely beat him at a building on Abdel Khalek Tharwat Street
and then took him to Kasr al-Nil police station, where they tortured,
and reportedly sodomized him. Police also beat Shaeer, detained him at
the Kasr al-Nil police station, and transferred him to the custody of
SSIS. A dozen Tora Prison detainees, all opposition and pro-democracy
activists, launched a hunger strike on May 29 to protest Sharkawy's
treatment, and other protests took place in front of the Doctors'
syndicate on May 30 and outside the Kasr al-Nil police station on June
1. Sharkawy and Shaeer remained in detention without charge until their
release in July.
In late November, the security forces detained a group of students
in Cairo and Alexandria (including 11 Western citizens and an unknown
number of Tunisians, Syrians, and Egyptians), apparently on suspicion
of having connections to networks recruiting Islamist extremists to
fight in Iraq. Some of the Western detainees claimed that the SSIS
tortured them at the SSIS office in Nasr City (north Cairo) with
beatings and electric shocks, administered while the detainees were
blindfolded and handcuffed. The detainees also reported that the SSIS
deprived them of sleep, and forced to watch as other detainees were
tortured. In December, the Western students were deported. According to
AI, the Tunisians remained in detention at year's end. There was no
information available at year's end about the status of the Egyptian
and Syrian students.
During the year, the Government continued efforts to hold some
security personnel accountable for torturing prisoners in their
custody; however, the Government also continued to give light sentences
to police officers convicted of serious abuses. Human rights
organizations and the press reported that at least seven police
officers in seven separate cases, faced criminal trials or civil suits
during the year. Some of the cases involved incidents that took place
in previous years.
On May 28, the Azbakeya Misdemeanor Court sentenced officers Amr
Saudi and Yasser Al Tawel, of the Azbakeya Police Department, to three
months in prison and a $17 (LE 100) fine for beating Hossam Al Saeed
Mohamed Amer, who had been accused of counterfeiting in 2003.
On June 3, the public prosecutor referred SSIS Captain Ashraf
Mostafa Hussein Safwat Abdel Qader to Felony Court for torturing
detainee Mohamed Abdel Kader al-Sayed to death in 2003. After court
sessions on June 22 and November 4, the court postponed the trial until
February 3, 2007. Also on November 4, the victim's family annulled the
power of attorney it had given to its lawyers, the Association for
Human Rights and Legal Assistance (AHRLA), and dropped its claim for
civil damages. AHRLA accused the SSIS of pressing the family to drop
the civil suit against Captain Ashraf in exchange for the release of
another family member who had also been detained since 2003. Several
human rights organizations have called attention to the fact that this
case marks the first government prosecution of an SSIS officer (as
opposed to a regular police officer) in at least two decades.
On June 5, a misdemeanor court in Port Said convicted a police
captain, Ahmed Tawfik Aly, of abusing a detainee, opposition activist
Mohamed Hegazy, in April 2005. The court sentenced the police officer
to one year in prison, but suspended the sentence.
On December 26, Cairo prosecutor Bakr Ahmed Bakr ordered the
detention of two police officers, Islam Nabih and Reda Fathi, in
connection with the January 18 sexual assault (including sodomy with a
stick) of Cairo mini-bus driver Imad Al-Kabir. A widely-circulated
Internet video clip documented the attack on Imad and generated
considerable public attention. HRW had issued an appeal on December 23
for the prosecution of Imad's attackers. At year's end, police officers
Islam and Reda remained in detention, denied bail and awaiting trial.
In 2004 the public prosecutor indicted police Major Yasser Ibrahim
al-Akkad, head of the criminal investigations unit at Haram Police
Station in metropolitan Cairo, for torturing actress Habiba while
investigating the 1999 killing of her husband. At year's end, the case
against al-Akkad, who claimed that Habiba willingly confessed, remained
unresolved.
In April 2005, two defendants facing prosecution for their alleged
roles in the October 2004 bombings in Taba filed a lawsuit against the
interior ministry, charging that their confessions had been obtained by
torture. The lawsuit remained pending at year's end. On November 30, a
state security court in Ismailiya convicted the defendants of
involvement in the Taba bombings, sentencing them to death. At year's
end they remained on death row.
In March 2005, six police officers were convicted of torturing to
death Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim in 2002, and each was sentenced to 10 years'
imprisonment; the sentences were reduced to 7 years by an appeals
court. AHRLA filed a civil suit on behalf of Ibrahim's family, seeking
$1.6 million (LE 10 million) in compensation. The family's civil suit
remained unresolved at year's end.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), supported by
approximately a dozen other human rights NGOs, petitioned the African
Commission for Human and People's Rights (the African Union's principal
human rights body, headquartered in The Gambia) to hear evidence
concerning assaults by government supporters on journalists and
opposition demonstrators during the May 2005 referendum. The commission
agreed to consider the merits of EIPR's claims that the Government
failed to prevent and prosecute physical and sexual attacks on female
journalists and demonstrators in May 2007.
The Government did not permit a visit during the year by the UN
Special Rapporteur on Torture, who had been seeking to make an official
visit since 1996.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor, and the Government did not permit visits by international human
rights observers. During the year, officials from the National Council
for Human Rights (NCHR), who visited several prisons were the only
domestic human rights group permitted to visit detention facilities.
EOHR and HRAAP both stressed the deteriorating conditions in prisons,
especially overcrowded cells and a lack of medical care, proper
hygiene, food, clean water, proper ventilation, and recreational
activities. Tuberculosis was widespread; overcrowded cells remained a
problem. Some prisons continued to be closed to the public.
On November 6, an estimated 800 detainees at Abu Zaabal prison
staged a hunger strike in protest of mistreatment and the lack of
visitation rights. At Tora Prison, south of Cairo, prisoners launched
several hunger strikes over the course of the year. In April, the
Parliament's Human Rights Committee requested that prisoners be
permitted to meet with their wives as a means of preserving family ties
and reducing AIDS among prisoners.
In April 2005, EOHR issued a report, based on prison visits made in
2004 and on complaints received from approximately 100 prisoners, that
attributed the cause of poor health and sanitary conditions in prisons
to the poor quality food given to the prisoners, overcrowding in cells,
and the absence of specialized doctors, medicines, or medical
equipment. HRAAP's 2004 report came to similar conclusions.
Failure to implement judicial rulings regarding the release of
administrative detainees and the opening of prisons to visits remained
a problem. Relatives and lawyers often were unable to obtain regular
access to prisons for visits. Special restrictions were placed on the
number of visits and visitors to prisoners incarcerated for political
crimes or terrorism.
As required by law, the public prosecutor continued to inspect all
regular prisons during the year; however, findings were not made
public. SSIS detention centers were excluded from mandatory judicial
inspection.
While separate prison facilities existed for men, women, and
juveniles, adults were not always separated from juveniles, and abuse
of minors was common.
Lawyers were permitted to visit prisoners in their capacity as
legal counsel; however, they often faced bureaucratic obstacles
preventing them from meeting with their clients (see section 1.d.). The
International Committee of the Red Cross and other international and
domestic human rights monitors did not have access to prisons or to
other places of detention.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, during the year, police and
security forces conducted large-scale arrests and detained hundreds of
individuals without charge under the Emergency Law. 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 (see section 1.e. and
2.b.). The Government continued to use the Emergency Law under the
official state of emergency to try non-security cases in the emergency
courts and to restrict many other basic rights. Police also arbitrarily
arrested and detained hundreds of persons involved with unlicensed
demonstrations. The Government detained several hundred Sudanese asylum
seekers in late December 2005, and released them in January.
The Government also arrested, detained, and abused several internet
bloggers (see sections 1.c. and 2.a.).
There were varied and conflicting estimates of the number of
extraordinary detainees (i.e. citizens held by the Government, often
without trial, for alleged political crimes). Credible NGOs estimated
that there were 6,000-10,000 detainees in addition to those prisoners
in the ordinary criminal justic system. The Government did not release
any official data on detainees. Citing a senior interior ministry
source, a leading journalist, Salama A. Salama, reported on April 23
that there were at least 4,000 detainees. The Government held a number
of detainees, including many MB activists, for periods ranging from
several weeks to several months. In other cases, generally involving
Islamist extremists belonging to the Islamic Group or Islamic Jihad who
were initially detained by the Government during the 1990s, detention
periods of more than ten years occurred.
Role of Police and Security Apparatus.--The country has both local
and national law enforcement agencies, all of which fall under the
Ministry of Interior. Local police operate in large cities and
governorates. The ministry controls the State Security Investigations
Service (SSIS), which conducts investigations, and the Central Security
Force (CSF), which maintains public order. SSIS and CSF officers are
responsible for law enforcement at the national level and for providing
security for infrastructure and key officials, both domestic and
foreign. Single-mission law enforcement agencies, such as the Tourist
and Antiquities Police and the Anti-Narcotics General Administration,
also work at the national level. The security forces operated under a
central chain of command and were considered generally effective in
their efforts to combat crime and terrorism and preserve and maintain
public order. However, a culture of impunity militated against
systematic prosecution of security personnel who committed human rights
abuses.
There was widespread petty corruption in the police force,
especially below senior levels. An internal affairs mechanism, the
workings of which are not publicized, was regularly employed for
investigating corruption and other instances of police malfeasance.
Judicial recourse was also employed (see section 1.c.). In addition to
acceptance of bribes or simple theft, there were instances of
accompanying assault and even murder.
Impunity was a serious problem. The Government failed to
investigate and punish many instances of credible allegations of
mistreatment by police and security forces.
Working with the UN Development Program (UNDP), the Government has
continued to provide human rights training for thousands of judicial
and law enforcement officials. Ongoing programs target judges,
prosecutors, police officers, media figures, and lawyers ``to
familiarize Egyptians with international standards of human rights . .
. as well as Egypt's treaty commitments.'' Despite these training
programs, however, there were continued instances of torture by police,
and human rights monitors believed the use of torture by police was
widespread. Although some police were prosecuted, human rights monitors
believed most incidents of torture went unpunished. Security forces
continued to mistreat and torture prisoners, arbitrarily arrest and
detain persons, hold detainees in prolonged pretrial detention, and
engage in mass arrests.
By year's end, the public prosecutor had not brought any action
against security personnel for several unresolved incidents in 2005,
including documented assaults on citizens on May 25, July 30, during
the parliamentary elections, and during the December 30, 2005 violence
against Sudanese asylum seekers (see sections 2.b., 2.d., and 3).
Arrest and Detention.--The Emergency Law allows detention of an
individual without charge for up to 30 days, only after which a
detainee may demand a court hearing to challenge the legality of the
detention order, and may resubmit a motion for a hearing at one-month
intervals thereafter. There is no limit to the detention period if a
judge continues to uphold the detention order or if the detainee fails
to exercise his right to a hearing. Incommunicado detention is
authorized for prolonged periods by internal prison regulations. Human
rights groups and the UN Committee Against Torture both expressed
concern over the application of measures of solitary confinement.
In cases tried under the Emergency Law, access to counsel was often
restricted or denied prior to the transfer of the accused to a
courtroom to begin legal proceedings. Many detainees under the
Emergency Law remained incommunicado in State Security detention
facilities without access to lawyers. After these cases are transferred
to trial, the court appoints a lawyer.
The Penal Code also gives the Government broad detention powers.
Prosecutors must bring charges within 48 hours following detention, or
release the suspect. However, they may hold a suspect for a maximum of
six months while they investigate. Arrests under the Penal Code
occurred openly and with warrants issued by a district prosecutor or
judge. There was a functioning system of bail for persons detained
under the Penal Code but none for persons detained under the Emergency
Law. The Penal Code contains several provisions to combat extremist
violence, which broadly define terrorism to include the acts of
``spreading panic'' and ``obstructing the work of authorities.''
On December 30, 2005, Egyptian police sought to clear a squatters'
settlement of several thousand Sudanese asylum seekers who had occupied
a Cairo park outside UN offices since September. The Sudanese had
demanded that UNHCR resettle them in another country and refused to
move. Police used water cannons and riot gear to clear the camp (see
section 1.a.). According to police, some of the asylum seekers resisted
police efforts to clear the camp. At least 27 asylum seekers died in
the ensuing melee. Security forces detained approximately 700 Sudanese
and threatened them with deportation. All of the refugees were released
in the early part of the year.
There were also numerous arrests and detentions of non-MB
opposition figures and demonstrators, particularly in connection with
demonstrations in Cairo in May in support of judicial independence (see
sections 2.b. and 3).
On April 28, state security briefly detained and interrogated Amir
Salem and Ehab al-Kholy, lawyers for imprisoned opposition figure Ayman
Nour. The investigation of Salem and El-Kholy, on charges of inciting
the masses and insulting the President, came three weeks before Nour's
scheduled appeal. Salem was the head of Nour's defense team.
Notwithstanding the prevailing State of Emergency, and the
Government's use of the emergency law provisions (e.g., to prohibit
unauthorized gatherings of more than five people, or to arbitrarily
detain citizens who aroused police suspicion), the Government continued
to rely on the regular penal code for the vast majority of criminal
investigations and prosecutions. In those criminal cases investigated
and prosecuted under the Penal Code, defendants generally had access to
counsel. In cases tried under the extraordinary State Security courts
authorized by the emergency law, defendants complained of inadequate
access to counsel. In recent years, thousands of persons have been
detained administratively under the Emergency Law on suspicion of
terrorist or political activity. Several thousand others have been
convicted and were serving sentences on similar charges (see section
1.e.). During the year HRAAP estimated that the total number of persons
in administrative detention was approximately 10,000. HRAAP estimated
that an additional 10,000 persons have been released over the past
three years. Government officials disputed this figure, but did not
provide authoritative data on detainees.
The security forces detained dozens of individuals in Sinai, in
connection with ongoing investigations into the terror attacks there in
October 2004, July 2005, and April 2006. At year's end there were no
reliable estimates of the total number of suspects detained in the
Sinai.
There were numerous examples of arrest and detention of peaceful
demonstrators. During April and May, authorities arrested over 500
activists for participating in demonstrations in support of the
independence of the judiciary (see section 2.b.). Also during the year,
the Government arrested and detained hundreds of persons associated
with the MB, which has been an illegal organization since 1954.
Continuing a trend begun in 2005, the Government periodically
detained dozens of MB members and supporters. Over the course of the
year, the Government detained hundreds of opposition activists
associated with the banned MB without charge or trial, including senior
MB leaders Essam El-Erian and Mohamed Morsi, who remained in detention
from May until early December as a result of their involvement in
demonstrations in support of judicial independence. The precise number
of MB activists in detention at year's end was unknown. Detention
periods for MB members ranged from several weeks to several months,
pending investigative outcomes. On October 26, HRW reported that it had
collected the names of 792 MB members who had been detained between
March and mid-October and that 62 of the 792 remained in custody: 33 of
them without charge under provisions of the Emergency Law, and 29 of
them on charges of ``belonging to an illegal organization'' (see
sections 1.e. and 2.b.). (In 2004, by contrast, the Government arrested
only 90 MB members.)
On December 10, several dozen students affiliated with the MB at
al-Azhar University conducted a ``militia-style'' parade clad in black
balaclavas and demonstrating martial arts exercises. Government and
independent media commentators criticized this display and the MB
leadership distanced itself from the demonstrators and reiterated its
commitment to peaceful change. Nevertheless, the Government arrested
several hundred MB members and sympathizers in response to the
demonstration, including the organization's third-ranking official
Khairat al-Shatir and several other businessmen who were thought to be
leading financiers of the MB. At year's end, approximately 200 MB
member remained in detention.
Amnesty.--On April 11, the Government released 300 detained former
members of the militant Gama'a al-Islamiya (Islamic Group); during the
previous six weeks, the Government released 650 other former militants,
apparently after they disavowed violence.
On October 24, the beginning of the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, President
Mubarak declared amnesties for 176 prisoners who had served half their
terms in criminal cases and were pardoned for good conduct, along with
100 more members of Gama'a al-Islamiya, including two of the group's
historic leaders, Essam Derbala and Assem Abdel-Maged, who were jailed
in 1981 for their role in the assassination of President Anwar El-Sadat
and who were the last Gama'a leaders in prison.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary. The judiciary is, however, subject to executive
influence. The President may invoke the Emergency Law to refer any
criminal case to the emergency courts or military courts, in which the
accused does not receive most of the constitutional protections of the
civilian judicial system.
The constitution provides for the independence and immunity of
judges and forbids interference by other authorities in the exercise of
their judicial functions. The Government generally respected judicial
independence in non-political cases. Nevertheless, during the year,
thousands of judges affiliated with the Cairo and Alexandria Judges'
Clubs (the two largest independent professional associations for the
judiciary) publicly called for greater autonomy for the judiciary from
the executive branch. The Judges' Clubs, whose leadership is selected
by votes of the membership, called for the passage of a new law
governing executive-judiciary relations, which would raise judicial
salaries, separate judicial duties from compensation packages
controlled by the Ministry of Justice (i.e. an executive branch organ),
and decrease the oversight role of the Supreme Judicial Council, a
regulatory body answering to the ministry and composed of government
appointees.
On June 26, the Parliament approved a new law regulating the
judiciary. In a letter to President Mubarak on July 12, the UN Special
Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Leandro Despouy,
expressed his concerns regarding the negative impact of the judicial
authority law on the independence of the judiciary in Egypt. Despouy
said that the Government had not consulted on the new law with ``all
sectors concerned, in particular the Judges' Club and experts in
constitutional law, whose points of view should be duly taken into
account.'' Despouy also raised concerns about the new law's criteria
for selection and appointment of judges, its lack of recognition of the
right of judges to form and join independent judges' associations, and
a failure to clearly address the separation between the prosecution and
the executive power. Additionally, Despouy said the new law did ``not
provide judges with basic fair trial guarantees,'' if they faced
disciplinary action from the Government.
Earlier, on June 14, the Special Rapporteur had expressed his
concerns about the draft judicial law, as well as the disciplinary
proceeding against Court of Cassation judges, and ``the violent
repression of peaceful demonstrations in support of the judges and
their claims for the protection of their independence.''
The President appoints all judges upon recommendation of the Higher
Judicial Council, a constitutional body composed of senior judges.
Judges receive tenure, limited only by mandatory retirement at age 64.
Only the Higher Judicial Council may dismiss judges for cause, such as
corruption. Headed by the President of the Court of Cassation, the
council regulates judicial promotions and transfers. The Government
included lectures on human rights and other social issues in its
training courses for prosecutors and judges.
In the civilian court system, there are criminal courts, civil
courts, administrative courts, and the Supreme Constitutional Court.
There are three levels of regular criminal courts: primary courts;
appeals courts; and the Court of Cassation, which represents the final
stage of criminal appeal. Civil courts hear civil cases and
administrative courts hear cases contesting government actions or
procedures; both systems have upper-level courts to hear appeals. The
Supreme Constitutional Court hears challenges to the constitutionality
of laws or verdicts in any of the courts.
According to a 1993 Supreme Constitutional Court decision, the
President may invoke the Emergency Law to refer any crime, including
charges against civilians, to a military court. Military verdicts were
subject to a review by other military judges and confirmation by the
President, who in practice usually delegated the review function to a
senior military officer. Defense attorneys claimed that they were not
given sufficient time to prepare and that military judges tended to
rush cases involving a large number of defendants. Judges had
guidelines for sentencing, defendants had the right to counsel, and
statements of the charges against defendants were made public.
Observers needed government permission to attend court sessions. Human
rights activists have attended hearings, but only when acting as
defense counsel.
Trial Procedures.--The Government will provide a lawyer at the
state's expense if the defendant does not have counsel. The Bar
Association maintains a roster of lawyers eligible to serve as public
defenders. Defendants can appeal if denied this right. Detainees in
certain high-security prisons continued to allege that they were denied
access to counsel or that such access was delayed until trial, thus
denying counsel the time to prepare an adequate defense (see sections
1.c. and 1.d.). A woman's testimony is equal to a man's in court. No
law prohibits a woman serving as a judge; however, Tahani al-Gabali,
currently serving on the Constitutional Court, is Egypt's only female
judge (see section 5).
The emergency courts share jurisdiction with military courts over
crimes affecting national security. The President can appoint civilian
judges to the emergency courts upon the recommendation of the minister
of justice or military judges upon recommendation of the minister of
defense. Sentences are subject to confirmation by the President. There
is no right to appeal. The President may alter or annul a decision of
an emergency court, including a decision to release a defendant.
The Government has asserted that referral to emergency courts
usually has been limited to terrorism or national security cases, as
well as major cases of drug trafficking; however, the Government also
has occasionally used emergency courts to prosecute homosexuals,
heterodox religious groups, and political dissidents. Government
authorities ignored judicial orders in some cases. The Government has
used the Emergency Law to try cases outside the scope of combating
terrorism and grave threats to national security.
On November 30, the High State Security Emergency Court in
Ismailiya announced that the Mufti of the Republic had approved the
court's conviction and death sentences against Ossama Al-Nakhlawi,
Younis Alyan, and Mohamed Gayez Sabah, for involvement in the 2004 Taba
terror bombings. HRW issued a statement after the verdict noting that
the convicts' claims of incommunicado detention, denied access to
counsel, and allegations of torture and forced confession raised
serious questions, and urged the Government to permit the men to be re-
tried ``in a trial that complies with basic standards of due process.''
On May 17, a Higher State Security Court in Cairo began to try 14
persons charged with involvement in the Azhar and Abdul-Moneim Riyad
terror bombings in Cairo in April 2005. The trial was ongoing at year's
end.
On June 18, the Government executed brothers Ezzat and Hamdan
Hanafi, who had been convicted and sentenced to death by a state
security emergency court in September 2005 for narcotics trafficking
and kidnapping. Ezzat Hanafi had issued a statement protesting his
death sentence by an emergency court, which cannot be appealed, and
requested that President Mubarak use his authority as ``military
commander'' under the state of emergency to order that the case be
reviewed by a panel of civilian judges. Several domestic NGOs and
Amnesty International protested the executions on the grounds that
trials before (Emergency) Supreme State Security Courts ``violate basic
principles for a fair trial, including the right to appeal before a
higher tribunal"
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were political prisoners
and detainees.
On May 18, the Court of Cassation, Egypt's highest appeals court,
upheld the five-year prison sentence of Ayman Nour, runner-up in the
2005 Presidential election and leader of the opposition al-Ghad
(Tomorrow) Party. A Cairo court had convicted Nour in December 2005 of
forging proxy signatures on his party's registration papers. Human
rights organizations and Nour's supporters said his detention and trial
had been politically motivated and failed to meet basic international
standards. Nour's situation has been closely followed by the
international community, as well as by domestic and international human
rights organizations. During the year, Nour also faced dozens of
charges ranging from assault to insulting Islam. Nour's supporters
asserted that these charges, raised by private citizens, were
politically motivated harassment. His family and supporters reported
that his health was deteriorating as a result of imprisonment. Nour, a
diabetic with heart disease, remained in prison at year's end.
On October 31, a military court convicted independent
parliamentarian Talaat Sadat, nephew of former President Anwar Sadat,
of defaming the Egyptian military, and sentenced him to one year of
prison with hard labor and no possibility of appeal. In interviews on
October 4, Sadat publicly alleged that the Egyptian military, including
then-Vice President Mubarak, had conspired to assassinate President
Sadat in 1981. Prior to his trial, the Parliament had stripped Sadat of
his parliamentary immunity (see section 2.a.).
During the year, the Government continued to try and convict
journalists and authors for libel, as well as for expressing their
views on political and religious issues (see sections 2.a. and 2.c.).
Some observers regarded the large number of arrested, detained, and
sometimes convicted (see sections 1.d. and 2.b.) members of the Muslim
Brotherhood as political prisoners and detainees.
Other political prisoners included approximately 26 members of the
banned Islamic Liberation Party (Hizb al-Tahrir al-Islami), including
three Britons, Maajid Nawaz, Ian Nisbet, and Reza Pankhurst. In 2004,
the 26 men linked to Hizb al-Tahrir were convicted by the Supreme State
Security Emergency Court of belonging to a banned organization. Several
of the defendants, including the three Britons, alleged they had been
tortured to compel them to sign confessions. In early March, the three
Britons were released and deported to the United Kingdom. After their
release, they told British reporters that security personnel had
mistreated them through sleep deprivation, beatings, and unsanitary
prison conditions, and that security personnel had tortured Pankhurst
with an electric prod. They also said that other prisoners had also
suffered torture, including by electrical shocks. The 23 other Hizb al-
Tahrir convicts reportedly remained in prison at year's end (see
section 1.c.).
According to local human rights organizations, the Government
detained as many as 10,000 persons without charge on suspicion of
illegal terrorist or political activity (see section 1.d.). In
addition, several thousand prisoners were serving sentences after being
convicted of similar charges.
The Government did not permit international humanitarian
organizations access to political prisoners (see section 1.c.).
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Human rights observers
recommended that rules for pursuing judicial and administrative
remedies, including standards for considering damages for victims, be
established to obtain equitable redress and parity in compensation.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution provides for the privacy of the home,
correspondence, telephone calls, and other means of communication;
however, the Emergency Law suspends the constitutional provisions
regarding the right to privacy, and the Government used the Emergency
Law to limit these rights. Under the constitution, police must obtain
warrants before undertaking searches and wiretaps. Courts have
dismissed cases in which police obtained warrants without sufficient
cause. Police officers who conducted searches without proper warrants
were subject to criminal penalties, although penalties seldom were
imposed. However, the Emergency Law empowers the Government to place
wiretaps, intercept mail, and search persons or places without
warrants. Security agencies frequently placed political activists,
suspected subversives, journalists, foreigners, and writers under
surveillance, screened their correspondence (especially international
mail), searched them and their homes, and confiscated personal
property.
A telecommunications law allows telephone wiretaps and Internet
monitoring only by court order. However, some human rights observers
alleged that the Government routinely violated this law. Although the
law does not explicitly criminalize homosexual acts, police have in the
past targeted homosexuals using Internet-based ``sting'' operations
leading to arrests on charges of ``debauchery.'' There were no reports
of such Internet entrapment cases during the year (see sections 1.c,
1.e., and 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; however, the Government partially
restricted these rights in practice, particularly by using the
Emergency Law to infringe on civil liberties. Nevertheless, citizens
openly expressed their views on a wide range of political and social
issues, including vigorous criticism of government officials and
policies and direct criticism of the President. During the year there
was continued public debate about political reform, human rights,
corruption, and related issues. Several independent newspapers played
an important role in public life. For example, the daily Al-Masry Al-
Youm, which focuses on domestic politics, has grown from its first run
of 500 copies in 2004 to a circulation of over 60,000 during the year
and has offered significant, independent coverage of the May
demonstrations supporting judicial independence, Muslim Brotherhood
activities, government corruption, and other controversial topics.
During the year, a number of opposition political activists,
journalists, and non-governmental organizations continued to advocate
political reform and openly criticized the Government. The year
witnessed a number of government actions, including disciplinary
hearings against independent judges, widescale detentions of MB
members, and lawsuits against independent journalists that led some
opposition figures to charge that the Government was seeking to curtail
criticism and activism.
On October 31, a military court convicted independent
parliamentarian Talaat Sadat of ``spreading false rumors and insulting
the Armed Forces'' and sentenced him to one year in prison, with no
possibility of appeal. In early October, police arrested Sadat after he
publicly accused Egyptian military commanders, including then-Vice
President Mubarak, of complicity in the 1981 assassination of his
uncle, former President Anwar Sadat. Sadat had given a series of
interviews--including to Deutsche Presse-Agentur and to the Egyptian
television programs Cairo Today and Sorry for the Disturbance--prior to
the 25th anniversary of the assassination (see section 1.e.). Sadat
remained imprisoned at year's end.
The Penal Code, Press Law, and Publications Law govern press
issues. The Penal Code stipulates fines or imprisonment for criticism
of the President, members of the Government, and foreign heads of
state. The Press and Publication Laws ostensibly provide protection
against malicious and unsubstantiated reporting. In recent years,
opposition party newspapers have published articles critical of the
President and foreign heads of state without being charged or harassed;
however, the Government continued to charge journalists with libel.
Under the law, an editor-in-chief found to be negligent could be
considered criminally responsible for libel contained in any portion of
the newspaper.
On July 10, the People's Assembly amended sections of the penal
code governing the press by adding minimum sentences of high fines or
jail for journalists who criticize foreign leaders or the President.
Despite a pledge by President Mubarak in 2004 that the Government would
amend the law to eliminate jail time for journalistic offenses, the new
law stipulates up to five years in prison for any journalist convicted
of ``vilifying'' a foreign head of state. The amended law also
preserved existing articles which allow for detention of ``whoever
affronts the President of the republic'' as well as journalists whose
work might ``disturb public security, spread horror., or cause harm to
. the public interest.''
The constitution restricts ownership of newspapers to public or
private legal entities, corporate bodies, and political parties. There
were numerous restrictions on legal entities that sought to establish
newspapers, including a limit of 10 percent ownership by any
individual; however, this limit appeared to have been enforced
unevenly.
The Government owned stock in the three largest daily newspapers,
which generally followed the Government line, and the President
appointed their top editors. The Government also controlled the
printing and distribution of newspapers, including those of the
opposition parties.
Opposition political parties published their own newspapers, which
frequently criticized the Government. They also gave greater prominence
to human rights abuses than did state-run newspapers. Most opposition
newspapers were weeklies, with the exception of the dailies Al-Wafd,
Al-Ahrar, and Al-Ghad, first published in 2005.
During the year, the courts tried several prominent libel cases,
filed both by government officials and private citizens. On February
23, a Cairo criminal appeals court upheld the April 2005 conviction and
one-year prison sentence of journalist Abdel Nasser al-Zuheiry for
libeling Mohamed Ibrahim Soliman, who had served as minister of housing
until the end of 2005, as corrupt. The court overturned the prison
sentences of Zuheiry's colleagues Youssef el-Aoumi and Alaa Yaha
Mohamed el-Ghatrify, but upheld fines of $1,750 (LE 10,000) for all
three journalists. In a statement issued on March 3, Soliman announced
that he was withdrawing his defamation complaint against the three
journalists, along with more than 30 other defamation complaints that
Soliman had filed. The Minister of Information, the Higher Press
Council, and the head of the Egyptian Journalists' Union reportedly
played a role in convincing Soliman to drop his case.
On February 27, a State Security prosecutor reportedly summoned
opposition journalists Iman El-Ashraf (Sawt El-Ummah) and Mohammed El-
Malhy (Dustour) for interrogation in Cairo on charges of defaming
Counselor Ezzat Agwa, who was a candidate for Chairman of the Judges
Club in Alexandria.
A judge accused of electoral fraud pursued high-profile libel
charges against three journalists and a lawyer, but eventually dropped
the case after Egypt's highest court indicated in a separate finding
that the judge may in fact have participated in fraud. Judge Mahmoud
Seddiq Borham sued Wael Ibrashi, editor of Sawt Al Umma; Hoda Abu Bakr,
a reporter with Sawt Al Umma; Abdel Rahim Al Shami, editor of the
banned Afaq Arabia, and Gamal Tageddin, of the Bar Association, for
their respective claims that Judge Borham had committed fraud during
the 2005 parliamentary elections when he served as a poll supervisor.
Borham launched his case on May 24, but dropped it on November 30 after
the Court of Cassation ruled that the parliamentary results that Borham
had supervised should be annulled due to fraud (Borham was the same
judge who filed the complaint that led to disciplinary action against
fellow judges Hisham Bastiwesi and Mahmoud Mekki. See section 3).
On June 26, a Giza misdemeanor court found Al-Dustour chief editor
Ibrahim Issa and reporter Sahar Zaki guilty of ``insulting and harming
the President of the republic.'' A group of ``concerned citizens'' from
the village of Al Warrak had filed the lawsuit after Al-Dustour had
published a story in April 2005 about a complaint filed by citizen
Sayid Mohamed Abdullah Soliman, who had accused President Mubarak, his
family, and senior officials of unconstitutional conduct and wasting
foreign aid during the privatization of several public companies. Issa
and Zaki received one-year prison sentences with labor and were each
fined $1,735 (LE 10,000). Litigant Soliman was also sentenced to jail
time and fined. At year's end, Issa, Zaki, and Soliman remained free
pending their appeal.
Security personnel arrested or detained more than a dozen Egyptian
journalists and a handful of foreign correspondents over the course of
the year.
On April 12, prison authorities banned jailed opposition leader
Ayman Nour from writing for his party's mouthpiece newspaper from jail
reportedly because his articles were critical of senior officials in
the ruling National Democratic Party.
On April 27, security forces in Dahab arrested Al-Jazeera's Cairo
bureau chief, Hussein Abdul Ghani, after he mistakenly reported news of
a clash between security forces and terrorists in the Delta governorate
of Sharqiya. (No clash occurred. Al Jazeera retracted its story later
on April 27.) A prosecutor charged Abdul Ghani with reporting ``false
information likely to harm the country's reputation.'' Abdul Ghani paid
bail of L.E. 10,000, and was released. By year's end, Abdul Ghani had
faced no additional judicial proceedings.
There were a number of detentions of journalists in connection with
May demonstrations in support of judicial independence in Cairo. On May
3, security forces detained Osama Abdel Nabi, a photographer for Al-
Masry Al-Youm newspaper. On May 7, security forces detained Nada Al-
Qassas, journalist for Al-Mawqif Al-Araby newspaper. On May 11,
security forces detained a Turkish television cameraman Hussein Mohsen
and Al Jazeera journalists Lina Al-Ghadban, Mohammed Al-Daba', Yasser
Seliman, and Nasr Youssef. Also on May 11, security personnel arrested
Al-Dostour journalist Abeer Al-Askary while she covered a demonstration
at the Cairo Lawyer's Syndicate building. According to credible
reports, the police took her to a nearby station where they tore her
clothes and beat her.
On May 19, security personnel briefly detained Associated Press
correspondent Nadia Abul Magd in Sharm El Sheikh outside the meeting of
the World Economic Forum, reportedly because she had strayed into a
security zone near the conference center.
On May 21, police arrested Al-Karama journalist Hamada Abdul Latif
in Dekernes for photographing a clash between security forces and
farmers. He was released four days later. Also on May 21, police
detained Al-Tagammu newspaper correspondent Beshir Sakr, Al-Karama
newspaper correspondent Mohammed Abdel Latif, French journalists Elvis
Younil and Jean Claude, Swiss journalist Gejoire Deboire, and Belgian
journalist Thomas Geithaid.
On June 2, BBC correspondents Dina Samak and Dina Gameel reported
that police assaulted them after they attempted to cover a meeting of
the General Assembly of the Journalists' Syndicate.
On October 8, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reported that
security forces had harassed and threatened Summer Said, a journalist
working for Reuters, in connection with her research and reportage
focused on the detention of Islamist political activists.
On November 14, plainclothes security personnel prevented
journalists from covering a demonstration in downtown Cairo to protest
sexual harassment of women. The Cairo correspondent for Radio France
and the French daily Liberation, Claude Guibal, told RSF that the
security personnel had prevented her from reaching the demonstration,
even though she identified herself and presented her journalism permit.
She was told to leave the area for ``security reasons.'' Security
officers then briefly surveilled Guibal in an apparent effort to make
sure she did not return to the scene of the demonstration. She later
told RSF that she felt ``clearly threatened and physically
intimidated.''
Other government agencies also restricted freedom of speech. The
Ministry of Education questioned 16-year-old Alaa Farag Megahed in June
after the student wrote an essay criticizing President George W. Bush
as well as the Egyptian government. School officials initially sought
to ban her from taking her examinations, but high-level government
intervention eventually allowed her to resume her studies.
The Government closed at least one newspaper during the year. On
March 8, the government-controlled Higher Press Council suspended
publication of Afaq Arabiya, a newspaper published by the Ahrar Party
which served as a mouthpiece for the Muslim Brotherhood, due to a
dispute among the newspaper's board members. Afaq Arabiya remained
closed at year's end.
The Emergency Law authorizes censorship for public safety and
national security. The Ministry of Information is empowered only to ban
particular issues or editions in the interest of public order. The
Ministry of Interior has the authority to stop specific issues of
foreign newspapers from entering the country on the grounds of
protecting public order. Under the law, the public prosecutor may issue
a temporary ban on the publication of news related to national
security. The length of the ban is based on the length of time required
for the prosecution to prepare its case. Only the cabinet can place a
long term ban on a foreign publication.
The law authorizes various ministries to ban or confiscate books,
other publications, and works of art upon obtaining a court order. The
cabinet may ban works that it deems offensive to public morals,
detrimental to religion, or likely to cause a breach of the peace. The
Government has increasingly ceded confiscatory authority to Al Azhar
University and acted on its recommendations. In October, Al-Azhar
banned the book Daily Life in the Medieval Islamic World, by James E.
Lindsay, on the grounds that it contained information not in accordance
with the principles of Islam. Also in October, the Egyptian Censorship
Office and confiscated 280 copies of Mohamed Fattoh's Modern Sheikhs
and the Making of Religious Extremism from Cairo's Madbouly bookstore
on the grounds that the publisher had not acquired a license from Al
Azhar. The book criticized Al Azhar and its censorship of art and
literature. There was no official court decision to confiscate the
book.
The Ministry of Interior regularly confiscated leaflets and other
works by Islamists and other critics of the state. Members of the
banned MB also were arrested in connection with publications (see
sections 1.d. and 3). In many cases, the press reported that police
confiscated written materials such as leaflets during the arrests. In
February, the authorities banned editions of the German magazine Der
Speigel, which contained reprints of the Danish cartoons of the Prophet
Muhammad and in September the authorities banned the importation of
editions of Le Figaro and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung because of
articles deemed insulting to Islam.
The Government controlled and censored the state-owned broadcast
media. The Ministry of Information owned and operated all ground-based
domestic television and radio stations. Two private satellite stations,
Al-Mihwar and Dream TV, operated without direct government control,
although the Government has a financial stake in both. The Government
did not block reception of foreign channels via satellite. The
percentage of citizens who received satellite television broadcasts has
grown steadily.
Internet Freedom.--Approximately five million persons used the
Internet, which the Government has actively promoted through low cost
access. The Government blocked access to some sites and monitored the
Internet (see section 1.f.).
On June 27, RSF issued a statement protesting the decision by the
Administrative Court to uphold a Ministry of Communication and
Information decree asserting the Government's right to block, suspend,
or shut down any Web site deemed to threaten national security. Judge
Faruq Abdul Qader had ruled that authorities should ``do their duty''
when they perceived a threat to national security.
On October 30, RSF published a list of 13 countries it labeled as
``enemies of the Internet,'' a list which included Egypt due to the
recent imprisonment of pro-democracy bloggers. The blog aggregator
egybloggers.com listed more than 1,400 Egypt-focused blogs at year's
end. According to estimates by individual Egyptian bloggers at the end
of the year, the actual number of bloggers in Egypt may be as high as
6,000.
During the year, the Government, which has previously blocked
Islamist Web sites, increasingly blocked secular sites as well. While
there is so specific legislation regarding blocking of Web sites, the
authorities may force Internet service providers to block sites on
public safety or national security grounds. On January 27, the
Government reportedly blocked the Web site Save Egypt Front
(saveegyptfront.org) and on March 3 blocked Masreyat (masreyat2.org/ib/
). Use of encoding devices is prohibited by the Telecommunications Act.
On May 7, security forces arrested prominent blogger Alaa Seif Al-
Islam (www.manalaa.net), and detained him at Tora Prison until June 22.
The authorities never charged him; observers believed that his
detention appeared linked to his participation in demonstrations in
support of judicial independence, and not due to his role as a blogger.
The security forces detained at least five other democracy activists
who were also bloggers during the same general period as Alaa: Malek
Mostafa from April 26-June 4; Asma Ali from May 7-June 4; Karim Al
Shaer from May 7-22 and May 25-July 20; Mohamed Adel from May 7-27; and
Mohamed Sharkawy from April 27-May 22 and May 25-July 20. Sharkawy was
tortured while in detention in late May (see section 1.c.).
On June 15, Hala Helmy Boutros, a blogger based in the Upper Egypt
city of Qena who had written about Egypt's Christians, reported that
airport security personnel in Cairo prevented her from traveling to the
United States to attend a conference on Coptic Christian issues. The
authorities ordered Boutros, who had blogged under the name ``Hala Al
Masry,'' to appear in a Cairo State Security Court on June 25. At her
June 25 hearing, Boutros faced charges of spreading false news and
disrupting Christian-Muslim relations. She was released after paying
bail of $525 (LE 3000). After her release, she ceased her blogging and
other public activism. She did not appear in court again before year's
end.
On November 6, Alexandria security forces arrested 22-year old
student blogger Abdel Karim Nabil Suleiman, whose blog entries had
contained strongly-worded critiques of Islam and Al-Azhar's Sunni
Muslim orthodoxy. (Abdel Karim had previously been detained for his
writings for 18 days in October 2005.) Abdel Karim had been expelled
and reported to the authorities by Al-Azhar University for criticizing
Islamic authority. At year's end, Abdel Karim remained in detention,
under a series of renewed detention orders ``pending investigation.''
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government did not
explicitly restrict academic freedom at universities; however, the
Government selected deans rather than permitting the faculty to elect
them. The Government justified the measure as a means to combat
Islamist influence on campus. In June 2005, HRW issued a report
entitled ``Reading between the `Red Lines': The Repression of Academic
Freedom in Egyptian Universities,'' which said that the Government
stifled academic freedom by censoring some textbooks, prohibiting
certain sensitive research topics, and closely monitoring and
controlling student political life. In a March 5 television interview,
Minister for Higher Education Hany Hilal said that ``the role of the
security agency is to secure the university and guarantee the safety of
the people inside it.'' He said that although there were a ``few
exceptions,'' the security services ``do not interfere in the
universities' internal affairs.'' Hilal also said that student
elections are ``the responsibility of each university.''
Plays and films must pass Ministry of Culture censorship tests as
scripts and final productions. The ministry censored foreign films to
be shown in theaters, but was more lenient regarding the same films in
videocassette or DVD format. Government censors ensured that foreign
films made in the country portrayed the country in a favorable light.
On June 3, the Ministry of Culture confiscated 2,000 copies of ``The Da
Vinci Code'' DVD on the grounds that it insulted religion. Later in
June, after the People's Assembly discussed banning the film, the
distributor opted not to pursue an Egyptian release.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly; however,
the Government restricted the exercise of this right. Citizens must
obtain approval from the Ministry of Interior before holding public
meetings, rallies, and protest marches. The Ministry of Interior
refused to permit some political events to occur, such as the May
rallies in support of judicial independence, and the Government tightly
controlled public demonstrations.
In numerous incidents, authorities showed little tolerance for
demonstrations by opposition groups and activists protesting government
policies. For example, on January 20, police dispersed a group of Ghad
Party supporters after they held up ``Free Ayman Nour'' signs at the
entrance to Cairo International Stadium. In February in the Red Sea
port city of Safaga, security forces used tear gas to disperse a
demonstration by family members of victims of the February 3 sinking of
the Al-Salaam Ferry.
On April 24, police arrested 15 activists and beat Judge Mahmoud
Mohammed Abdel Latif Hamza for their role in protests against the
February charges brought against Judges Hisham al-Bastawisy and Mahmoud
Mekky. On April 27, hundreds of police sealed off the Judges Club in
the face of mounting sit-in protests against Mekky and Bastawisy's
charges. In April and May, security forces detained over 500 activists
for participating in demonstrations in support of the independence of
the judiciary.
On May 7, security forces arrested blogger Alaa Seif Al-Islam and
detained him at Tora Prison until June 22. Observers believed that
authorities detained him because of his participation in demonstrations
in support of judicial independence (see section 2.a.).
On May 11, the scheduled day for the hearing of judges Bastawissi
and Mekky, police violently dispersed a demonstration outside the
Judges' Club and arrested 255 people, most of them members of the MB.
In a statement to the media, the EOHR said ``security forces used
excessive levels of violence to end the protests.'' Observers estimated
that approximately 10,000 security forces were deployed in and around
downtown Cairo.
On May 18, riot police beat demonstrators who had gathered outside
the High Court Building on the day of the hearing of senior Judges
Mekky and Bastawisy. Police arrested approximately 300 demonstrators,
most of them members of the MB. On May 17, the Minister of Interior
issued an order banning demonstrations in front of the High Court
Building.
On May 25, protestors gathered outside the Journalists' Syndicate
in Cairo to mark the one year anniversary of the May 2005 referendum-
day violence. (On May 25, 2005, supporters of the ruling party,
possibly including undercover security personnel, assaulted opposition
demonstrators and journalists, at several locations in Cairo.
Journalists documented the violence, including sexual assaults on some
female protestors and journalists, but in December 2005, the public
prosecutor closed the official investigation into the events, claiming
that it was impossible to determine the identity of the assailants. In
November, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, supported by
approximately a dozen other human rights NGOs, petitioned the African
Commission for Human and People's Rights, to examine the case. The
Commission's inquiry will commence in May 2007.)
At the conclusion of the May 25, 2006 demonstration, police
arrested several demonstrators including Muhamed el Sharkawy, who later
reported that police tortured and sexually assaulted him (see section
1.c.).
The authorities did allow some protests and demonstrations to
occur. For example, in February, authorities permitted several
demonstrations in Cairo and other cities to protest cartoons depicting
the Prophet Muhammad that had appeared in the Danish newspaper
Jyllands-Posten.
Police generally responded to political demonstrations during the
year with high numbers of riot police deployed by the Ministry of
Interior to contain both the size and effectiveness of the
demonstrations. A pattern of arresting demonstrators, detaining them
for at least 15 days ``pending further investigation'' continued,
particularly in cases of unauthorized rallies.
In a number of unauthorized demonstrations, police detained
suspected organizers, some of whom alleged mistreatment while in
detention (see sections 1.c. and 1.d.).
The Kifaya movement organized several demonstrations during the
year, but was less active than it had been in 2005. During a December
12 demonstration in Cairo to mark the second anniversary of the
movement, Kifaya activists scuffled with police.
Members of the MB also staged a number of larger protests
throughout the year, though these demonstrations, unlike those of
Kifaya, often met stiff resistance from security forces (see section
1.d.).
The Ministry of Interior selectively obstructed some meetings
scheduled to be held on private property and university campuses (see
section 4).
In July 2005, approximately 200 demonstrators gathered in Cairo to
protest President Mubarak's intention to seek a fifth term. The
protesters were attacked by uniformed security forces and men in plain
clothes armed with truncheons. Thirty persons were arrested and
reportedly detained in unofficial detention centers, in the camps of
the central security forces in Darassa, Cairo. By August 2005, all of
the detainees had been released. The Government took no steps to
investigate the assaults.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association; however, the Government significantly restricted the
exercise of this right. The minister of insurance and social affairs
has the authority to dissolve NGOs by decree. The law also requires
NGOs to obtain permission from the Government before accepting foreign
funds. According to officials, donations from foreign governments with
established development programs in the country were excluded from this
requirement.
During the year, a number of organizations active in human rights
advocacy and civil society development registered and obtained legal
status. However, applications of other groups, including the Egyptian
Association Against Torture, the Center for Housing Rights, and the
Word Center did not receive government approval. In 2005, dozens of
NGOs and civil society groups worked together to pool resources,
expertise, and volunteer staff to monitor and report on the
Presidential and parliamentary elections. These groups did not
generally receive their requested governmental accreditation, access to
polling stations, and vote counts. In a number of cases their
volunteers experienced harassment, brief detentions for questions by
security officials, and other forms of interference. The domestic
monitoring coalitions were nevertheless able to play a leading role in
monitoring and reporting on the Presidential and parliamentary
elections.
A July 2005 HRW report concluded that the extralegal role of the
security services resulted in a serious barrier to meaningful freedom
of association. The report documented multiple cases where the
Government rejected NGO registrations, decided who could serve on NGO
boards of directors, harassed NGO activists, and interfered with
donations to the groups. The report further criticized the NGO Law's
restriction on political and union-related activity and recommended
legal reform to overturn the ``host of intrusive administrative
practices that stunt organizing by civil society groups, and provide
ample means for state interference in their affairs.''
On October 30, the administration of Helwan University banned
several hundred students from running in the November 2 student union
elections on the grounds that they were affiliated with the MB. Between
October 30 and November 8, pro-government demonstrators allegedly
supported by the security forces clashed repeatedly with student
protesters at Helwan, Cairo, Mansoura, and Ain Shams universities. With
the elimination of opposition and MB candidates, NDP student candidates
won at most universities with student unions.
On November 29, members of the 9th March Movement for the
Independence of Universities demonstrated at Ain Shams University to
protest intimidation by security forces during student union elections
earlier in November.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
belief and the practice of religious rites; however, the Government
placed restrictions on the exercise of these rights. According to the
constitution, Islam is the official state religion and Shari'a (Islamic
law) the primary source of legislation. Religious practices that
conflict with the Government's interpretation of Shari'a are
prohibited. Members of non-Muslim religious minorities officially
recognized by the Government generally worshiped without harassment and
maintained links with coreligionists in other countries. Members of
religions not recognized by the Government, particularly the Baha'i
Faith, experienced personal and collective hardship. Approximately 90
percent of citizens are Sunni Muslims; less than 1 percent are Shi'a
Muslims. The percentage of Christians in the population ranged from 8
percent to 15 percent, or between 6 to 11 million, the majority of whom
belonged to the Coptic Orthodox Church. There were small numbers of
other Christian denominations, including Mormons and Jehovah's
Witnesses, a Baha'i community of approximately 2,000 persons, and a
small Jewish community of less than 200 persons.
The law bans Baha'i institutions and community activities, and
stripped Baha'is of legal recognition. The Government continued to deny
civil documents, including ID cards, birth certificates, and marriage
licenses, to members of the Baha'i community. The Ministry of Interior
requires identity card applicants to self-identify as Jew, Christian,
or Muslim. As a result, Baha'is face great difficulties in conducting
civil transactions, including registering births, marriages and deaths,
obtaining passports, enrolling children in school, opening bank
accounts, and obtaining driver's licenses. During the year, Baha'is and
members of other religious groups were compelled either to misrepresent
themselves as Muslim, Christian or Jewish, or go without valid identity
documents. Many Baha'is have chosen the latter course.
On December 16, the Supreme Administrative Court overturning a
lower court ruling, decided that Baha'is may not list their religion in
the mandatory religion ``field'' on obligatory government identity
cards. In May, the Ministry of Interior had appealed an administrative
court ruling issued in April, which supported the right of Baha'i
citizens to receive ID cards and birth certificates with the Baha'i
religion noted on the documents. The Government had indicated that all
citizens must be in possession of new computerized ID cards by January
1, 2007, and that old, hand-written cards will no longer be valid.
(Egyptian citizens not in possession of valid identity documents may be
subject to detention.)
Some elements of the press published articles critical of the
Baha'is. For example, on October 16, Roz Al-Youssef, a pro-government
newspaper, published excerpts of a government's Advisory Report, which
supported the Ministry of Interior's claim to overturn the April 4
ruling. The report argued that because the Baha'i Faith was not
recognized in Egypt as a ``divine religion,'' its followers were not
entitled to citizenship rights. The report argued that constitutional
guarantees of freedom of belief and religion do not apply to the
Baha'is, and that Egypt is not bound under its commitment as a
cosignatory to the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The report
also asserted that Baha'is are apostates, a threat to public order, and
recommended that ``methods must be defined that would insure that
Baha'is are identified, confronted, and singled out so that they could
be watched carefully, isolated and monitored in order to protect the
rest of the population as well as Islam from their danger, influence
and their teachings.''
In 1998 and 1999, President Mubarak issued decrees to facilitate
approval of permits for repairing, renovating, expanding, and building
churches. In December 2005, updating the 1998-99 decrees, President
Mubarak issued a new decree that devolved church repair and
reconstruction decisions to the governorate level and stipulated that
churches would be permitted to proceed with rebuilding and repair
simply by notifying the governorate administration in writing. Permits
for construction of new churches remained subject to Presidential
decree.
Despite these decrees, some local security and government officials
continued to prevent churches from being renovated, often requiring an
exhaustive list of documents to be submitted multiple times between
administrative and security departments of governorates, in repeated
attempts to preclude final authorization, despite Presidential and
interior ministry approvals for a building permit to be issued. As a
result, congregations have experienced lengthy delays--lasting for
years in many cases--while waiting for new church building permits to
be issued. Authorities have also refused to issue decrees for
restoration, renovation, and expansion of churches, or have failed to
enforce decrees that have already been approved. Local authorities have
also closed unlicensed buildings used as places of worship.
Overall, the approval process for church construction continued to
be hindered by delays often measured in years. According to statistics
published by the Government's Official Gazette, 63 Presidential decrees
were issued from June 30, 2005, through July 1, for church-related
construction, compared with 12 permits reported during the previous
period. Government officials have previously asserted that the
Government approves a much larger number of projects for church
construction and expansion, through informal arrangements between
church authorities and local security and administrative officials.
In March Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III consecrated a Cathedral
in Aswan that had taken six years to build. In November 2005, the
Presidency issued a decree permitting the construction of a church in
al-Rehab City, a development on the outskirts of Cairo. Church
officials had applied for the decree in 2001. In 2005 and 2006, the
Presidency also issued decrees to build churches in the newly developed
urban centers of Sheikh Zaied, Tenth of Ramadan, New Cairo, New Assuit,
and New Minya.
The National Council for Human Rights gave more attention to
religious freedom in its second annual report released in March,
calling for a solution for official recognition of Baha'is; addressing
the problem of Jehovah's Witnesses; and criticizing religious textbooks
for failing to address human rights. The report also recommended that
Parliament pass a law to facilitate construction of new places of
worship for all religious groups. Finally, the report noted that the
council had not received any response from the Ministry of Interior or
several governorates to its nine inquiries regarding alleged violations
of religious freedom that it had received.
In October, Helwan University instituted a new policy banning the
wearing of full facial veils (niqab) at the university residence halls.
Rulings concerning marriage, divorce, alimony, child custody, and
burial, are based on an individual's religion. In the practice of
family law, the Government recognizes only the three ``heavenly
religions'': Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Muslim families are
subject to Shari'a, Christian families to Canon law, and Jewish
families to Jewish law. In cases of family law disputes involving a
marriage between a Christian woman and a Muslim man, the courts apply
Shari'a. The Government does not recognize the marriages of citizens
adhering to faiths other than Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. A civil
marriage abroad is an option should a Christian male and a Muslim
female citizen decide to marry; however, their marriage would not be
legally recognized in the country. A female Muslim citizen in such a
situation could be arrested and charged with apostasy, and any children
from such a marriage could be taken and assigned to the physical
custody of a male Muslim guardian, as determined by the Government's
interpretation of Shari'a.
Neither the constitution nor the Civil and Penal Codes prohibits
proselytizing, but those accused of proselytizing have been harassed by
police or arrested on charges of violating Article 98(F) of the Penal
Code, which prohibits citizens from ridiculing or insulting ``heavenly
religions'' or inciting sectarian strife.
There are no legal restrictions on the conversion of non-Muslims to
Islam; conversion of Muslims to Christianity, however, is prohibited by
Shari'a. There were occasional reports that police harassed converts
from Islam.
Muslim-born convert to Christianity Bahaa Al-Accad has been
imprisoned without charge since April 2005. According to Al-Accad's
attorney, his family, and human rights activists, his conversion to
Christianity is the reason for his detention. They also reported that
al-Accad's health had been harmed by harsh detention conditions,
including malnutrition, and that other inmates had threatened to kill
him since they believed him to be an apostate. Accad remained in
detention at the Wadi al-Natroun Prison at year's end.
In 2004, an administrative court issued a verdict allowing Mona
Makram Gibran, who had converted to Islam and later converted back to
Christianity, to recover her original (Christian) name and identity.
Some legal observers believed the case would constitute a significant
precedent as the Government has otherwise refused to acknowledge
citizens' conversions from Islam to Christianity. As of late June,
there were 148 other cases involving individuals who converted to Islam
and then back to Christianity, who were attempting to recover their
original Christian identities. Of these 148 individuals, 32 have
received verdicts allowing them to recover their Christian identities
and many of them have done so. The Government has not appealed any of
these cases.
In the absence of a legal means to register their change in
religious status, some converts have resorted to soliciting illicit
identity papers, often by submitting fraudulent supporting documents or
bribing the Government clerks who process the documents. In such cases,
authorities periodically charge converts with violating laws
prohibiting the falsification of documents.
Coptic males are prevented from marrying Muslim women by both civil
and religious laws. A civil marriage abroad is an option should a
Christian male and an Egyptian Muslim female desire to marry; however,
if the couple returned to Egypt, their marriage would not be legally
recognized. Additionally, the woman could be arrested and charged with
apostasy, and any children from such a marriage could be taken and
assigned to the physical custody of a male Muslim guardian, as
determined by the Government's interpretation of Shari'a. The Coptic
Orthodox Church permits divorce only in specific circumstances, such as
adultery or conversion of one spouse to another religion.
There were no reports of forced religious conversion carried out by
the Government; however, unsubstantiated reports of forced conversions
of Coptic women and girls to Islam by Muslim men continued to be
received. Reports of such cases were disputed and often included
allegations and denials of kidnapping and rape. Observers, including
human rights groups, found it extremely difficult to determine whether
compulsion was used, as most cases involved a Coptic female who
converted to Islam when she married a Muslim man. Reports of such cases
almost never appear in the local media.
While there is no legal requirement for a Christian girl or woman
to convert to Islam to marry a Muslim man, conversion to Islam has been
used to circumvent the legal prohibition on marriage under the age of
16 or marriage between the ages of 16 and 21 without the approval and
presence of the girl's male guardian (usually her father). The law only
recognizes the willing conversion to Islam of any person over age 16.
However, there are credible reports of local government authorities
failing to uphold the law. Local authorities sometimes allow custody of
a minor Christian female who ``converts'' to Islam to be transferred to
a Muslim custodian, who is likely to grant approval for an underage
marriage. Some Coptic activists maintain that government officials do
not respond effectively to instances of alleged kidnapping. In cases of
marriage between an underage Christian girl and a Muslim man, there
have been credible reports that government authorities have failed to
sufficiently cooperate with Christian families seeking to regain
custody of their daughters.
Article 19 of the constitution requires elementary and secondary
public schools to offer religious instruction. Public and private
schools provide religious instruction according to the faith of the
student.
The Government occasionally prosecuted members of religious groups
whose practices deviated from mainstream Islamic beliefs and whose
activities were believed to jeopardize communal harmony.
On May 10, the public prosecutor Maher Abdul Wahid ordered Abdul
Sabur al-Kashef and Mohammed Radwan to be tried by a low-level criminal
court on charges of blaspheming Islam. Kashef is being prosecuted for
claiming to have seen God, a sacrilegious act in Islam, while Radwan is
being prosecuted for denying the existence of heaven and hell. Their
trial was ongoing at year's end.
Metwalli Ibrahim Metwalli Saleh, arrested by the SSIS in May 2003
apparently for his views on Islam, including support of the right to
convert, was released on April 23 after receiving eight separate
rulings from the Supreme State Security Emergency Court in his favor
and an official statement from the state security prosecutor ordering
his release.
During the year, a delegation of Jehovah's Witnesses from Europe
and the United States made several visits to Cairo to meet with
government officials in order to explore the prospects for the formal
establishment of the faith in Egypt, and to advocate for the human
rights and religious freedom of Egypt's small community of Jehovah's
Witnesses, which has been subject to periodic surveillance and
occasional harsh interrogations by the security services. By year's end
the Jehovah's Witnesses remained without legal status but reported that
hostile treatment from the security services had diminished
significantly.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There generally continued to
be religious discrimination and sectarian tension in society during the
year. Tradition and some aspects of the law discriminated against
religious minorities, including Christians and particularly Baha'is.
Article 40 of the constitution provides for equal public rights and
duties without discrimination based on religion or creed, and in
general the Government upholds these constitutional protections;
however, government discrimination against non-Muslims exists. There
are no Christians serving as Presidents or deans of public universities
and they are rarely nominated by the ruling party to run in elections
as NDP candidates. At year's end, there were 6 Christians (5 appointed;
1 elected) in the 454-seat People's Assembly; 6 Christians (all
appointed) in the 264-seat Shura Council; and 2 Christians in the 32-
member Cabinet. Christians, who represent approximately 10 percent of
the population, currently hold less than 2 percent of the seats in the
People's Assembly and Shura Council.
There also are few Christians in the upper ranks of the security
services and armed forces. Government discriminatory practices
continued to include discrimination against Christians in public sector
employment, in staff appointments to public universities, by payment of
Muslim imams through public funds (Christian clergy are paid by private
church funds), and by refusal to admit Christians to Al-Azhar
University (a publicly-funded institution). In general, public
university training programs for Arabic language teachers refuse to
admit non-Muslims because the curriculum involves the study of the
Qur'an. There have been no reports of Christian graduates since 2001.
On January 18, Muslim villagers in El Udaysaat attacked a group of
Christians, resulting in the death of one individual and the injury of
12 others. The confrontation was sparked by the discovery, on the
previous day, that the El Udaysaat Copts were secretly using a guest
house as a church.
On April 14, a seventy-eight year old Christian in Alexandria,
Nushi Atta Girgis, was killed by a Muslim, Mahmoud Salah al-Din Abd al-
Raziq, who had entered Girgis' church and stabbed three parishioners.
According to police accounts, al-Raziq attacked two other Alexandria
churches and wounded 15 others before being apprehended. At Guirgis's
funeral on April 15, and again on April 16, Christian and Muslim
protestors clashed in riots that resulted in the death of least one
Muslim, dozens of injuries to both Christians and Muslims, significant
damage to property belonging primarily to Copts, and some damage to
churches.
In 2000, Shayboub William Arsal, a Coptic Christian, was convicted
and sentenced for the 1998 murders of two Copts in al-Kush. His appeal,
which has been pending for 6 years, had still not been heard by year's
end. There was a widespread perception in the local Christian community
that Shayboub was convicted because of his religion.
Egypt's small Jewish community numbers approximately 200; most are
senior citizens. Anti-Semitic sentiments appeared in both the pro-
government and opposition press. Anti-Semitism in the media was common,
but less prevalent than in recent years, and anti-Semitic editorial
cartoons and articles depicting demonic images of Jews and Israeli
leaders, stereotypical images of Jews along with Jewish symbols, and
comparisons of Israeli leaders to Hitler and the Nazis were published
throughout the year. These expressions occurred primarily in the
Government sponsored daily newspaper, Al-Gumhuriyya, Akhbar Al-Yawm,
and Al-Ahram, and occurred without government response. For example, on
August 7, in an article in the government-controlled daily newspaper
Al-Ahram, the Grand Mufti Ali Gom'a criticized recent Israeli military
action in Lebanon and wrote that Israeli ``lies have exposed the true
and hideous face of the blood-suckers who . . . planned [to prepare] a
matzo [unleavened Passover bread] using human blood.''
On June 12, Al-Gumhuriyya, published an article entitled ``The
Octopus . . . Embellishes'' which stated that ``Jewish leaders managed
to utilize the Holocaust, and what was said about massacres of Jews in
Germany and Eastern Europe, which were ordered by the Nazi Leader
Adolph Hitler, and translated this into sympathy and even extortion to
help establish the state of Israel. The first thing that Israel did was
to declare the map of Greater Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates,
and abstained from abiding by UN (drawn) borders.''
On August 24 a Muslim cleric, Safwat Higazi, appeared on Dream TV
to discuss recent media reports that he had issued a ruling (on the
Islamic Al-Nas channel) which permitted the killing of Israeli Jews in
Egypt. Higazi opined that killing of certain Israeli Jews
(specifically, adults, who are currently serving in the Israeli Defense
Forces reserves) in Egypt was permissible. On September 13, Al-Ahram
published an opinion column entitled ``Who is the Nazi Now'' and stated
that ``. . . The war which Hitler led against the Jews was an excuse
through which the Zionists justified their colonizing of Palestine . .
. But the Jews, who escaped from oppression, oppressed the
Palestinians. and thus, the victims of the old Nazis became the new
Nazis . . . Who is the Nazi now? Guenther Gras, who admitted the
mistake he made when he was an adolescent? Or David Ben Gurion, Begin,
Shamir, Sharon, Olmert, and people of their kind?"
The Government has advised journalists and cartoonists to avoid
anti-Semitism. Government officials insist that anti-Semitic statements
in the media are a reaction to Israeli government actions against
Palestinians and do not reflect historical anti-Semitism; however,
there are few public attempts to distinguish between anti-Semitism and
anti-Israeli sentiment.
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, there
were some notable exceptions. Citizens and foreigners were free to
travel within the country, except in certain areas designated as
military zones. Males who have not completed compulsory military
service may not travel abroad or emigrate, although this restriction
may be deferred or bypassed under special circumstances. Unmarried
women under the age of 21 must have permission from their fathers to
obtain passports and travel. Married women no longer legally require
the same permission from their husbands; however, in practice police
reportedly still required such permission in most cases (see section
5). Citizens who left the country had the right to return.
On February 3, Egyptian authorities, purportedly for reasons of
national security, detained British parliamentarian George Galloway
overnight in an airport detention facility after he attempted to enter
Egypt. Upon his release, Galloway ``gave evidence'' in a mock trial of
President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair conducted by anti-
war activists in Cairo. Galloway also reported that Egyptian
parliamentarian Mustafa Al-Fiqi had transmitted an apology, on behalf
of President Mubarak, to him for the detention.
On October 27, security authorities prevented Dr. Abdel Hamid Al-
Ghazaly, advisor to MB Supreme Guide Mahdy Akef, from traveling to
London to attend a scientific conference.
On November 17, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that the security
services prevented Ahmed Sayf Al-Islam, son of Hassan Al-Banna (the
founder of the Muslim Brotherhood), and other members of the Al-Banna
family from traveling to Jordan to attend a meeting in Amman to mark
the centenary of Hassan Al-Banna's birth. Ahmed Sayf Al-Islam, who
serves as the Secretary General of Egypt's Bar Association, protested
that the Government's refusal to allow him to travel was ``a blatant
violation of the law and the human rights principals which allow
freedom of movement and travel.''
According to a statement issued by prominent Pakistani politician
Qazi Hussain Ahmed (leader of Pakistan's leading Islamist party) on
November 22, the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad refused to issue him a
visa so that he could attend the World Assembly of Muslim Youth
conference in Cairo.
The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
use it during the year.
Protection of Refugees.--The constitution includes provisions for
the granting of refugee status or asylum to persons who meet the
definition in the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
and its 1967 Protocol. Apart from a 1954 agreement with UNHCR and two
``technical decrees'' from the Ministry of Interior relating to
residence and travel, Egypt has no national legislative framework on
asylum. The Government generally did not issue work permits to
refugees. The Government admitted refugees on the understanding that
their presence in the country was temporary. Because the country lacked
national legislation or a legal framework governing the granting of
asylum, UNHCR assumed full responsibility for the determination of
refugee status on behalf of the Government; however, the January 2004
peace accord in the Sudan led the UNHCR to halt new refugee status
determinations in mid-2004. This led to protests by some Sudanese who
sought refugee status and resettlement. The UNHCR provided recognized
refugees with a refugee identification card that was considered a
residence permit and bore the stamp of the national authorities.
Refugees generally may not obtain citizenship.
During the year, approximately 20,000 recognized refugees (as well
as 13,000 individuals presenting asylum claims to UNHCR), resided in
the country. Approximately 25,000 of these individuals were Sudanese
nationals. A total of 12,350 Sudanese were registered with UNHCR as
refugees, but another 12,650 were registered asylum seekers who sought
formal refugee status. In addition, 40,000-70,000 Palestinian refugees
are reported to be in Egypt, although less than 200 are registered with
UNHCR. The number of Iraqi asylum seekers approaching UNHCR increased,
with more than 1,500 who registered during the year. Conflicting press
reports, some citing UNHCR, gave widely varying estimates of the number
of Iraqis seeking protection in Egypt at year's end, ranging from
20,000 to 150,000. Press reports also noted that some Iraqi children
had been expelled from Egyptian schools, that Iraqis had protested
Interior Ministry delays in the issuance of residence permits, and that
the authorities in Sixth of October City had rejected a request by
Iraqi asylum seekers to open a Shi'a mosque.
UNHCR halted refugee determinations in 2004, after the Sudanese
peace accords, and ceased consideration of applications by Sudanese for
resettlement abroad. Sudanese nationals residing in Egypt protested
this decision by periodically organizing peaceful demonstrations.
During occasional security sweeps the Government periodically detained
some asylum seekers who were not carrying proper identification.
Following intervention by the UNHCR, they were released. Sudanese
refugees, as well as those Sudanese who unsuccessfully sought refugee
status, were part of a much larger community of Sudanese residents,
many in Egypt illegally. Estimates of the total number of resident
Sudanese ranged from two to four million. Many Sudanese legally enter
with short-term visas and then decide to remain.
On December 30, 2005, Egyptian police sought to clear a squatters'
settlement of several thousand Sudanese asylum seekers who had occupied
a Cairo park outside UN offices since September. The Sudanese had
demanded that UNHCR resettle them in another country and refused to
move. Police used water cannons and riot gear to clear the camp (see
section 1.a.). According to police, some of the asylum seekers resisted
police efforts to clear the camp. At least 27 asylum seekers died in
the ensuing melee. Security forces detained approximately 700 Sudanese
and threatened them with deportation. All of the refugees were released
in the early part of the year. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty
International called for inquiries into the deaths, but by year's end,
the Egyptian government had made no such investigation (see section
1.d).
According to a study produced by the American University in Cairo's
Center for Forced Migration and Refugee Studies in July, migrants from
Sudan, regardless of their official status, face unemployment, poor
housing, limited access to health and education, and racial
discrimination.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
Elections and Political Participation.--Article 76 of the
constitution, as amended in May 2005, provides for a Presidential
election to be held every six years, replacing the referendum system in
place since 1952. In September 2005, in the country's first competitive
Presidential election, voters elected President Hosni Mubarak to a
fifth 6-year term, defeating nine other candidates representing
political opposition parties. The Government announced that Mubarak
received 88 percent of the vote and that Ayman Nour of the Al-Ghad
party had placed second, with 7 percent.
Press reports, voters, opposition groups, and civil society
monitors reported technical flaws and fraud during the Presidential
election. NDP representatives reportedly controlled many polling
stations and pressured voters to support Mubarak; NDP parliamentarians
reportedly paid small bribes and used other illegal inducements to win
votes for Mubarak; voter lists were outdated and included the names of
deceased persons; nonresident or unregistered voters were allowed to
vote for Mubarak; the NDP had exclusive control over voter lists in
some areas and refused to make the lists available to all competing
parties; some polling places were located in police stations; the
``indelible'' ink used to mark voters' fingers was applied
inconsistently and easily rubbed off; that there was confusion over
voter registration, including who was registered and where persons were
supposed to vote; and voters were not allowed to register to vote after
January 2005. Additionally, the Government did not invite international
election observers to formally observe the election, and the operations
of the Presidential Election Commission, a nine-member quasi-judicial
body tasked with approving candidates, were marred by a lack of
transparency.
Under the amendment to Article 76 of the constitution, licensed and
operating political parties can nominate candidates for the presidency,
provided they have been in legal status as recognized parties for 5
continuous years and secured at least 5 percent of the elected seats in
each of the PA and the Shura Council in the most recent parliamentary
elections. Fourteen of the country's 18 licensed opposition political
parties met the licensing and operating requirements for the 2005 race,
but only due to a one-time exemption clause for 2005, which eliminated
the requirement that an opposition party hold at least five percent of
elected seats in parliament.
The amendment also provides that candidates unaffiliated with
political parties may run for President, provided they secure
endorsements from at least 250 elected officials, to include at least
65 of the 444 elected members of the PA, at least 25 of the 176 elected
members of the Shura Council, and at least 10 elected members of local
councils in each of at least 14 of 26 governorates. No independent
candidates competed in the 2005 Presidential election.
The elections for the 444 open seats of the People's Assembly took
place in three stages during November and December 2005. The first
round in the greater Cairo area occurred peacefully, but there were
multiple confirmed reports of vote buying and charges of vote rigging.
Presidential runner-up Ayman Nour lost his parliamentary seat in a race
against a recently-retired state security officer. Nour's camp alleged
government fraud.
The second round of the parliamentary elections, which included
Alexandria, witnessed violence by government supporters against
opposition voters, resulting in at least three deaths and sporadic
police cordons intended to limit access to polling stations.
The third round of the parliamentary elections was marred by
widespread police cordons at polling stations aimed at limiting
opposition voters, as well as multiple clashes between police and
opposition voters which left at least eight persons dead. The NDP
retained its overriding majority in the new parliament but was joined
by 88 independent deputies allied with the Muslim Brotherhood and a
handful of other opposition deputies.
In a series of October rulings, the Court of Cassation ruled that
approximately 100 parliamentary contests spanning at least five
constituencies--Nasr City and Khalifa in Cairo, Qellin in Kafr El-
Sheikh, and Nadrawa and Dekerness in Daqahliyya--should be invalidated
due to evidence of vote rigging during the 2005 parliamentary
elections. Article 93 of the constitution gives Parliament the right to
decide which judicial rulings against it must be enforced.
Historically, the NDP-controlled Parliament has used Article 93 to
ratify only those court judgments that go against select opposition and
independent candidates. The National Council for Human Rights
recommended that Article 93 be amended so that court rulings against
Parliament should be binding and non-reviewable. By year's end, the
Parliament had not taken any action in response to the Court of
Cassation rulings.
In March, prominent judges, including Hesham Bastawissi and Ahmed
Mekky, accused other judges of taking part in election fraud during the
parliamentary elections. One of the accused judges, Mahmoud Seddiq
Borham, then filed a complaint claiming that Bastawissi and Mekky had
wrongly accused him of complicity fraud at the Mansoura polling station
he supervised during the parliamentary elections. On February 16, the
Supreme Judicial Council lifted the immunity of Bastawissi, Mekky, and
two other judges. A State Security Prosecutor ordered the four to
appear for questioning, which they did. On March 17, nearly 1,000
judges held a half-hour silent protest in downtown Cairo to demonstrate
for full judicial independence and to protest the Government's order to
interrogate their colleagues who criticized the recent elections.
Two months later, on May 18, a Supreme Judicial Council
disciplinary tribunal exonerated Judge Mekky on charges that he had
``disparaged the Supreme Judicial Council'' and ``talked to the press
about political affairs.'' But on the same grounds, the court issued a
rebuke and denied a promotion to Judge Bastawissi. (Mahmoud Seddiq
Borham eventually dropped his own libel suit in November against
journalists after the Court of Cassation invalidated the parliamentary
race that Borham had been responsible for supervising, due to evidence
of fraud. See section 2.a.)
On June 25, parliament approved a new Judiciary Law. Some judges
charged that the new limits imposed by the law would further diminish
the judiciary's supervisory role during elections (see section 1.e.).
Following the parliamentary elections, the NDP preserved its
dominance of the 454-seat People's Assembly. It also dominated the 264-
seat Shura Council, local governments, the mass media, labor, and the
large public sector, and controlled the licensing of new political
parties, newspapers, and private organizations. However, the
independent MPs linked to the Muslim Brotherhood have been increasingly
vocal in parliament. Several parliamentarians and parliament-watchers
have observed that the MBs' 88 ``independent'' members contributed to a
new, more rigorous dynamic in the parliament, including more
substantive debates and have led to better attendance and timeliness by
the ruling party members.
The People's Assembly debated government proposals, and members
exercised their authority to call cabinet ministers to explain policy.
The executive initiated almost all legislation. The Assembly exercised
limited influence in the areas of security and foreign policy and
retained little oversight of the Ministry of Interior's use of
Emergency Law powers. Many executive branch initiatives and policies
were carried out by regulation through ministerial decree without
legislative oversight. Individual voting records were not published,
and citizens had no independent method of checking a member's voting
record.
The Shura Council, the upper house of parliament, has 264 seats.
The constitution provides that two-thirds of the members are elected
and one-third are appointed by the President.
In addition, during the year, a variety of other aspirant political
parties, including the Karama (``Dignity,'' Arab nationalist) and Wasat
(``Center,'' moderate Islamist) sought legal recognition from the
courts or the PPC. At year's end, at least 12 aspirant parties were
awaiting decisions on their applications.
The Political Parties Law prohibits political parties based on
religion, and the MB remained an illegal organization; however, MB
members openly and publicly expressed their views. They remained
subject to government pressure (see section 1.d.). A total of 88
candidates affiliated with the MB were elected to the People's Assembly
in 2005 as independents. There were 6 women elected to the 454-seat
People's Assembly, as well as 5 women appointed. Two women served among
the 32 ministers in the cabinet.
Christians, who make up and estimated 8-15 percent of the
population, held less than 2 percent of the parliamentary seats.
On February 12, the Shura Council postponed the April municipal
elections until 2008. The opposition protested this move, which
extended the terms of 45,000 municipal officeholders, most of whom
belong to the NDP ruling party.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
public perception of corruption in the executive and legislative
branches.
The February 3 sinking of the Al-Salaam Bocaccio 98 ferry in the
Red Sea killed more than 1,000 people, many of them Egyptian migrant
workers returning from jobs in the Gulf. A parliamentary inquiry in
April ruled that the ship was overloaded, possessed inadequate safety
equipment, and had not been properly maintained. The relationship of
ferry owner Mamdouh Ismail, a Shura Council member, with Presidential
chief of staff Zakaria Azmi sparked public debate about corruption.
Although he was stripped of his parliamentary immunity shortly after
the accident, Ismail fled the country. His role as a board member of
the Red Sea Ports Authority led to media claims that he had used his
regulatory role to boost his business interests. At the time of the
Salaam sinking, his ferry company possessed a virtual monopoly on Red
Sea ferry traffic. By year's end, there had been no governmental
investigation or prosecutions in the Salaam disaster.
On October 1, press reports said that the police had arrested at
least nine members of a ring in North Sinai--at least two of whom were
policeman--who sold explosives and weapons to Palestinians and Sinai
residents.
Corruption was a topic of opposition media speculation, and it
emerged as a campaign theme for the opposition during both the
Presidential and parliamentary elections of 2005. Kamal El-Shazly, who
served as minister for parliamentary affairs, and Ibrahim Soliman, who
served as minister of housing, until President Mubarak replaced them in
December 2005, have frequently been the subjects of unproven
allegations of corruption. Shazly and Soliman both won re-election to
Parliament in 2005.
In December 2005, prosecutors indicted two key figures in the
country's media sector on corruption charges. Abdel Rahman Hafez,
director of the state-owned Media Production City, and Ehab Talaat, a
private sector advertising executive, were indicted on December 8 by
the public prosecutor, after a case against them was brought by the
Administrative Control Authority (a government anti-corruption body).
According to the indictment, Hafez conspired with Talaat to grant the
latter's ad agency advertising time on the state-owned Nile Satellite
Channel for a tenth of its actual value. At year's end, the case
against the two men was unresolved.
In August 2005, the press reported a wide-ranging scandal allegedly
involving senior members of the Ministry of Education who colluded with
teachers to assist dozens of secondary school students in Giza to cheat
on their general secondary school exams. According to press reports,
several of the cheating students came from prominent families who were
NDP members. Minister of Education Ahmed Gamaleddin Moussa referred the
case to the administrative and public prosecutors, who had taken no
action by year's end. Minister Moussa lost his cabinet portfolio in the
December 2005 cabinet reshuffle.
The local press routinely reported on confirmed cases of low-level
corruption, including tampering with official documents, embezzlement,
and acceptances of bribes by officials in various government
departments.
There are no legal provisions for public access to government
information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Government restrictions on NGO activities, including limits on
organizations' ability to accept funding, continued to limit reporting
on human rights abuses. Government officials were selectively
cooperative and responsive to NGO views (see section 2.d.).
The law governing the regulation and operation of all NGOs grants
the minister of social solidarity the authority to dissolve an NGO by
decree, rather than requiring a court order. There were no reports that
the minister used this measure during the year.
In late December, 16 domestic human rights organizations criticized
the closure of a local NGO, Ahalina, in Qaliubiya governorate. On
December 24, municipality and security officials in the working class
district of Shubra al-Kheima, closed Ahalina's offices on the grounds
that the organization was ``inciting riots'' and did not have a proper
license to operate. Ahalina, which works in the health, environment,
legal and educational fields, had unsuccessfully sought to register
with the Ministry of Social Solidarity. In November, Ahalina had
publicly challenged statements by Qaliubiya governor Adly Hussein that
the slum areas of the municipality were fully supplied with utilities.
Ahalina had sought to rebut the governor's assertion by pointing to
publicly available statistics which documented that 183 villages in the
governorate lack potable water, electricity, have inadequate sewerage,
and polluted air.
The leading independent human rights NGOs included the Egyptian
Organization for Human Rights, the Human Rights Association for the
Assistance of Prisoners, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies,
the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the Ibn Khaldun Center,
the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal
Profession, the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, and the
Egyptian Center for Women's Rights. The Arab Organization for Human
Rights generally took a softer line towards the Government. Informal
coalitions of internet activists and bloggers played an increasingly
significant role during the year in publicizing information about human
rights abuses. The Government did not demonstrate a consistent approach
towards cooperating with human rights NGOs and detained and abused some
Internet bloggers (see section 1.c.).
The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), established by
parliament in 2003, and operational in 2004, continued to monitor
government abuses of human rights by formally submitting citizen
complaints to the Government and issuing reports critical of the
Government. NCHR issued its second annual report in March, covering the
last 10 months of 2005 and the first two months of 2006. The NCHR
report pointed to the 2005 elections as examples of limited democratic
progress but also called attention to voting irregularities and fraud
as well as intervention by the security forces. The NCHR also called
for an end to the State of Emergency, expressed its concern about
administrative detentions outside of the procedures established by law,
and urged additional steps ``to put an end to torture and to assure
that the mistreatment of detainees and those arrested is also
discontinued.'' The NCHR urged ``all governmental entities'' to ``give
proper attention to complaints referred to them'' by the council. The
report also called for an end to ``assaulting demonstrators'' and an
expanded protection of media freedom, and described the Student Body
Regulations of 1979 as ``unjustified restrictions on the practice of
democracy within student activities.'' The NCHR also issued a variety
of studies keyed to particular issues, including the 2005 Presidential
and parliamentary elections. During the year, NCHR conducted public
seminars on a number of controversial current issues including civil
rights for Baha'is, the Government's regulation of NGOs, and
constitutional amendments.
At year's end, the NCHR reported that it had received 5,826
complaints during the year, of which 1,762 pertained to civil and
political rights. The NCHR officially forwarded complaints to relevant
ministries. Although NCHR did not publicize full details on complaints
forwarded to the Ministry of Interior, NCHR did note that the ministry
replied to 58 percent of the complaints it received from the NCHR.
One NCHR member, Bahey Eddin Hassan, criticized what he described
as the weak performance of the NCHR and indicated that would not seek
reappointment to the Council in January 2007, when the three year terms
of the original NCHR board members expires. Hassan questioned the
effectiveness of the NCHR since the organization possessed no legal
authority to compel the Government to address the concerns it raised.
Several leading human rights groups and civil society organizations
continued to press legal challenges against government decisions to
allow them to register under the NGO law. Although these organizations
were generally allowed to conduct operations, albeit on a limited
basis, they did so in technical violation of the NGO law with the
omnipresent specter of government interference and/or closure looming
over them (see section 2.b.).
EOHR, HRAAP, and other groups obtained limited cooperation of
government officials in visiting some prisons in their capacity as
legal counsel, but not as human rights observers.
A number of civil society organizations received direct funding
from foreign governmental and non-governmental donors to support their
work in a variety of areas, including human rights advocacy and
election monitoring. During the year, the Government permitted various
human rights organizations--including the Cairo Institute for Human
Rights Studies, HRAAP, EOHR, the Ibn Khaldoun Center, and the Arab
Center for Independence of the Judiciary--to hold and participate in
international conferences.
At the end of the year, the Arab Penal Reform Organization (APRO),
a local NGO, began mass distribution of human rights-based children's
stories to elementary schools in Cairo. The group aims to educate
children between the ages of 8 and 13 on the universal principles of
human rights and international law through a series of Arabic and
English stories about a young boy named Ali. The group aims to have 500
copies distributed by the end of the year. According to APRO, the
Ministry of Education welcomed APRO's initiative. The project is partly
funded by USAID.
International human rights NGOs have generally been allowed to
establish informal operations. Organizations such as Human Rights Watch
made periodic visits as part of their regional research program and
were able to work with domestic human rights groups. The National
Democratic Institute, International Republican Institute, and IFES,
which provide technical assistance in support of expanded political and
civil rights, established informal operations in Egypt in 2005. In
June, however, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ordered all three groups
to ``freeze'' their operations pending formal approval of their
registrations. By year's end, the three organizations remained
unregistered and unable to pursue full operations in Egypt.
The Government did not respond to standing requests from at least
five UN Special Rapporteurs--on torture, the situation of human rights
defenders, freedom of religion, independence of judges and lawyers,
human rights and counterterrorism--to visit.
The People's Assembly has a ``Human Rights Committee,'' which human
rights activists did not judge effective.
On April 3, the leadership of Cairo's Judges Club, citing
government pressure, cancelled a scheduled meeting with a visiting HRW
delegation.
In September, the AI Secretary-General visited and met with
Minister of Interior. In comments to the press after the meeting (the
first between an AI secretary-general and the top official in Egypt's
security apparatus), she described the human rights situation as ``very
serious. We have long had concerns about secret detentions,
disappearances, arbitrary detention of political prisoners, torture,
and ill-treatment issues of trial by the emergency security court, and
so on.'' She also said that there was a ``window of opportunity'' to
replace the emergency law with counterterrorism laws. ``Now, whether
that will lead to something depends on the political will of the
Government of Egypt.''
EOHR reported that on May 6, SSIS officials attempted to summon
Usama Abdel Razik, an EOHR lawyer, without legal basis. EOHR formally
protested and petitioned the Minister of the Interior order an
investigation into the incident. By year's end there had been no
further action on the matter.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides for equality of the sexes and equal
treatment of non-Muslims; however, aspects of the law and many
traditional practices discriminated against women and religious
minorities.
Women.--The law does not prohibit spousal abuse; however,
provisions of law relating to assault in general are applied. Domestic
violence against women was a significant problem and was reflected in
press accounts of specific incidents. According to a 2003 survey by the
Center for Egyptian Women's Legal Affairs, an estimated 67 percent of
women in urban areas and 30 percent in rural areas had been involved in
some form of domestic violence at least once between 2002 and 2003.
Among those who had been beaten, less than half had ever sought help.
The 2005 Egypt Demographic and Health Survey indicated that 47.4
percent of women above age 14 had experienced domestic violence. Due to
the value attached to privacy in the country's traditional society,
abuse within the family rarely was discussed publicly. Spousal abuse is
grounds for a divorce. However, the law requires the plaintiff to
produce several eyewitnesses, a difficult condition to meet. Several
NGOs offered counseling, legal aid, and other services to women who
were victims of domestic violence.
The Ministry of Social Solidarity operated more than 150 family
counseling bureaus nationwide, which provided legal and medical
services.
The court case of celebrity costume designer Hind El Hinnawy
attracted considerable public attention. On January 28, a family court
refused El Hinnawy's request that actor Ahmed El Fishawy be recognized
as her daughter's father, despite DNA evidence that proved his
paternity, because El Hinnawy could not produce proof that they had had
a secret, informal marriage. On May 24, however, an appeals court
overturned the family court ruling and recognized Fishawy as the
child's father.
The National Council for Women proposed and advocated policies that
promoted women's empowerment and also designed development programs
that benefited women. The Office of the National Ombudsman for Women
provided assistance to women facing discrimination in employment and
housing, domestic violence, sexual assault, and child custody disputes.
The law prohibits non-spousal rape and punishment ranges from three
years to life imprisonment; however, spousal rape is not illegal.
Although reliable statistics regarding rape were not available,
activists believed that it was not uncommon, despite strong social
disapproval. A rapist, if also convicted of abducting his victim, is
subject to execution.
In May 2005, after hearing confessions from two defendants that
they had raped and beated to death 23-year old Hoda Al-Zaher, Judge
Abdo Attia handed down sentences of only three years for one defendant
and three months for another, justifying these sentences under Article
17 of the criminal penalties code. In November, the public prosecutor
appealed the court's decision. At year's end, the case was under
appeal.
The law does not specifically address ``honor'' crimes (violent
assaults by a male against a female, usually a family member, with
intent to kill because of perceived lack of chastity). In practice, the
courts sentenced perpetrators of such crimes to lesser punishments than
those convicted in other cases of murder. There were no reliable
statistics regarding the extent of honor killings; however, there were
no reports indicating that honor killings were a widespread problem.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) remained a serious, widespread
problem, despite the Government's attempts to eliminate the practice
and NGO efforts to combat it. Tradition and family pressure continued
to play a leading role in the persistence of FGM. In 2005 a leading NGO
reported that the percentage of women who had undergone FGM had fallen
to 94 percent of all women age 18-49. The same study estimated that 60
percent of girls age 10-13 were at risk for FGM. The Ministry of Health
estimated that 50 percent of girls age 10 to 18 were subjected to FGM.
The 2005 Egypt Demographic and Health Survey, however, indicated that
95.8 percent of ever-married women were subjected to FGM. The
Government supported efforts to educate the public about FGM; however,
illiteracy impeded some women from distinguishing between the deep-
rooted tradition of FGM and religious practices. Moreover, many
citizens believed that FGM was an important part of maintaining female
chastity. FGM was equally prevalent among Muslims and Christians.
Religious leaders joined the Government in publicly refuting the notion
that FGM had any sort of religious sanction. In late November, the
three leading government-appointed Muslim religious leaders,
participating in a conference in Cairo aimed at eradicating FGM under
the sponsorship of a German human rights NGO (Target), said that FGM is
not encouraged by Islam. The Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar (Mohamed Sayed
Tantawi), the Grand Mufti (Ali Gom'a), and the Minister of Muslim
Religious Endowments (Mahmud Hamdi Zaqzuq) expressed the view that FGM
was not condoned by the Holy Quran or by the teachings and traditions
of the Prophet Muhammad. The government-supported National Council for
Childhood and Motherhood, also played a leading role in the November
conference and in the overall attempt to eliminate FGM.
Prostitution and sex tourism are illegal but continued to occur,
particularly in Cairo and Alexandria.
Sexual harassment is not prohibited specifically by law. There were
no statistics available regarding its prevalence.
On October 24-26, during the Muslim Eid Al-Fitr holiday marking the
end of Ramadan, there were reports of several incidents of sexual
harassment of female pedestrians by groups of young men in downtown
Cairo. Some critics of the Government charged that security forces had
failed to intervene to stop the harassment. Government officials and
certain pro-government newspapers said that the reports of harassment
were fabricated. The episode sparked considerable public debate and led
to calls by women's rights NGOs and the independent media for action by
the Government and society to combat sexual harassment.
During the May 2005 national referendum, several women, including
demonstrators and journalists, were reportedly assaulted and sexually
humiliated by pro-government thugs, including perhaps undercover
security force personnel. The public prosecutor concluded in late 2005
that a case could not be pursued because it was impossible to determine
who assaulted demonstrators (see section 2.b.). In response to a
request from EIPR, a Cairo-based rights group, the African Commission
on Human and People's Rights, the African Union's highest rights body,
agreed to consider formally the merits of the case in May 2007 (see
section 2.b).
The law provides for equality of the sexes; however, aspects of the
law and many traditional practices discriminated against women. By law,
unmarried women under the age of 21 must have permission from their
fathers to obtain passports and to travel. Married women do not require
such permission, but police did not apply the law consistently. A
woman's testimony is equal to that of a man in court. Under the Penal
Code, a married man is adulterous only if the sexual act is committed
in the marital home (Article 277) while a woman is adulterous wherever
the act is committed.
While no law prohibits a woman from serving as a judge, there was
only one female judge, Counselor Tahany al-Gabbani, appointed to the
Supreme Constitutional Court in 2003. In the cases of two female
attorneys, Fatma Lashin and Amany Talaat, who had challenged the
Government's refusal to appoint them as public prosecutors, the
administrative court ruled that it had no jurisdiction and referred the
case to the Supreme Judicial Council for determination. By year's end,
the Supreme Judicial Council had not ruled in the case.
Laws affecting marriage and personal status generally corresponded
to an individual's religion. Khul' divorce allows a Muslim woman to
obtain a divorce without her husband's consent, provided that she is
willing to forego all of her financial rights, including alimony,
dowry, and other benefits. However, in practice, some judges have not
applied the law accurately or fairly, causing lengthy bureaucratic
delays for the thousands of women who have filed for khul' divorce.
Many women have also complained that after being granted khul' divorce,
their ex-husbands have been able to avoid paying required child
support.
The Coptic Orthodox Church permits divorce only in specific
circumstances, such as adultery or conversion of one spouse to another
religion.
Muslim female heirs receive half the amount of a male heir's
inheritance, while Christian widows of Muslims have no inheritance
rights. A sole female heir receives half her parents' estate; the
balance goes to designated male relatives. A sole male heir inherits
all of his parents' property. Male Muslim heirs face strong social
pressure to provide for all family members who require assistance;
however, in practice this assistance was not always provided. Labor
laws provide for equal rates of pay for equal work for men and women in
the public sector. According to government figures from 2003, women
constituted 17 percent of private business owners and occupied 25
percent of the managerial positions in the four major national banks.
Educated women had employment opportunities, but social pressure
against women pursuing a career was strong. Women's rights advocates
claimed that Islamist influence inhibited further gains. Women's rights
advocates also pointed to other discriminatory traditional or cultural
attitudes and practices, such as FGM and the traditional male
relative's role in enforcing chastity.
A number of active women's rights groups worked to reform family
law, educate women on their legal rights, promote literacy, and combat
FGM.
Children.--The Government remained committed to the protection of
children's welfare; in practice, the Government made some progress in
eliminating FGM and in affording rights to children with foreign
fathers. However, the Government made little progress in addressing the
plight of street children, which remained a significant problem. The
Government provided public education, which is compulsory for the first
9 academic years (typically until the age of 15). The Government
treated boys and girls equally at all levels of education. The minister
of education asserted that 98 percent of citizen children were enrolled
in compulsory education through 9th grade. By contrast, UNICEF reported
that in the period 2000-05, 83 percent of citizen children of primary
school age attended school.
Approximately 30 percent of citizen students pursued studies at the
post-secondary level.
The Government was publicly committed to provide medical care for
all children, but strained health facilities and budgetary pressures
sometimes limited the provision of care.
The Child Law provides for privileges, protection, and care for
children in general. Six of the law's 144 articles set rules protective
of working children (see section 6.d.).
FGM remained a serious problem, despite some signs of a modest
downward trend, and was widely performed (see section 5, Women).
Child labor continued to be a significant problem, although the
Government took steps during the year to increase awareness of child
labor-related issues and enforcement (see section 6.d.).
The late November arrests of Ramadan Mansour and several associates
in connection with a series of murders of street children focused
public attention on the plight of the country's approximately 500,000
street children.
Although reliable data is lacking, several NGOs (including the Hope
Village Society, the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights, and the
Alliance for Arab Women) reported that child marriages, including
temporary marriages intended to mask prostitution, are a significant
problem.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons; however, other portions of the criminal code
may be used to prosecute traffickers. It is unclear how many
prosecutions for trafficking related crimes occurred during the year.
There were press reports of persons trafficked from Eastern Europe
through the country to Israel for commercial sexual exploitation and
forced labor. Because the country lacks a systematic victim
identification mechanism, it was difficult to determine how many of the
aliens illegally transiting the country were actually being trafficked
and how many were voluntary economic migrants. The Government
aggressively patrolled its borders to prevent alien smuggling, but
geography and finances limited the efforts. Government officials
participated in international conferences on combating trafficking in
persons. Some anti-trafficking activists suggested that some Egyptian
children may be trafficked from rural areas within the country for work
as domestic servants or laborers in the agriculture industry, but there
was no data available to support or refute this assertion.
Persons With Disabilities.--There are no laws prohibiting
discrimination against persons with physical or mental disabilities in
education, access to health care, or the provision of other state
services. Law 39 of 1975 (``The Social Integration Law''), amended by
law 49 of 1981 and by the Unified Labor Law of 2002 (articles 12-14),
provides that all businesses must designate five percent of their jobs
for persons with disabilities who are exempt from normal literacy
requirements. Statistics regarding the practical implementation of this
policy were unavailable. Similarly, there were no reliable statistics
regarding the total number of citizens with disabilities, but NGOs
estimated that at least eight percent of the population has some sort
of disability, and that one to two percent of the population is
severely disabled.
There is no legislation mandating access of persons with
disabilities to public accommodations and transportation; however,
persons with disabilities rode government-owned mass transit buses free
of charge, were expeditiously approved for installation of new
telephone landlines, and received reductions on customs duties for
specially equipped private vehicles to accommodate disabled drivers.
The Higher Council for Social Integration, which was established by
the 1975 law to provide leadership on the issue of persons with
disabilities, has met twice during the past three decades. A leading
NGO focused on the rights of persons with disabilities has sought to
increase the Government's and society's activities in support of
persons with disabilities. The Government, led by the Ministry of
Social Affairs, made efforts to address the rights of persons with
disabilities. It worked closely with UN agencies and other
international aid donors to design job-training programs for persons
with disabilities. Beginning in 2004, and with international donor
support, the Government, working with concerned NGOs, also sought to
increase the public awareness of the capabilities of persons with
disabilities in television programming, the print media, and
educational material in public schools. However, there remains
widespread societal discrimination against persons with disabilities,
resulting in a lack of acceptance into mainstream society.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There have also been
reports of abuse of foreign workers employed as domestic servants. For
example, on January 26, the Philippine government reported that
Veronica Bangit had reported abuse by her employers when she worked as
a domestic helper in Cairo.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--There are no legal obstacles to
establishing private sector labor unions, although such unions were
uncommon. Workers may join trade unions, but were not required to do
so. A local union or workers' committee may be formed if 50 employees
express a desire to organize. Most union members, about one-quarter of
the labor force, were employed by state-owned enterprises.
Unionization has decreased in the past several years as a result of
early retirement plans in public sector enterprises, which have aimed
at rightsizing workforces. Privatization of public sector enterprises
has also led to some job losses, although unions have continued to
operate in privatized companies.
There were 23 trade unions; all were required to belong to the
Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF), the sole legally recognized
labor federation. The ETUF controlled the nomination and election
procedures for trade union officers and permitted public authorities to
intervene in union financial activities.
ETUF officials had close relations with the ruling NDP, and some
were members of the People's Assembly or the Shura Council. They spoke
on behalf of worker concerns, and public confrontations between the
ETUF and the Government were rare. Previous ETUF President Sayed Rashad
served as an NDP member of parliament until his unsuccessful bid for
re-election in 2005. Rashad also served as head of the NDP's labor
committee. During the 2005 Presidential campaign, Sayed Rashad had
announced that ETUF's four million members supported President
Mubarak's re-election bid. Hussein Magawar, another NDP member of
parliament, replaced Sayed Rashad as ETUF head in January.
Elections for seats in the local unions (or ``factory councils''),
the 23 national trade unions, and ETUF , held every five years,
occurred in three stages from October--November. There were widespread
reports of irregularities in the registering of candidates. Opposition
activists charged that ETUF collaborated with the ruling NDP and
security forces to prevent opposition labor leaders from contesting the
elections. In the elections to determine the leadership of the 23
national unions, NDP-affiliated candidates won 22 of the seats.
Minister of Manpower Aisha Abul Hadi described the elections as
``impartial, clean, and democratic,'' but the independent Center for
Trade Union and Worker Services charged that the elections ``were the
worst ever in terms of violations'' and were ``undemocratic and non-
transparent.''
Some unions within ETUF were affiliated with international trade
union organizations. Others were in the process of becoming affiliated.
The law does not permit anti-union discrimination. There were no
reports of attempted discrimination, nor were there reports of attempts
to enforce this protection.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The 2003 Labor
Law establishes a labor consultative council, including representatives
from the Government, employers, and workers associations. The council
was intended to address tripartite issues and problems and review
labor-related domestic and international legislation; however, the
council did not meet during the year. The law provides for collective
bargaining, allowing for tripartite negotiations to improve labor terms
and conditions and resolve disputes between workers and employers.
Collective negotiation may be set in motion by any of the concerned
parties without the consent of other parties involved with the
assistance of the concerned administrative authority.
The Labor Law also established special pentagonal committees
composed of two judges and representatives from the Ministry of
Manpower and Migration (MOMM), the ETUF, and employers. The Labor Law
provides these committees with judicial powers to adjudicate labor
disputes arising from the law's application. Decisions by these
committees, which are intended to serve in place of the courts of first
resort, may be appealed through the regular appeals process. 2006
statistics regarding the number of complaints lodged and verdicts
issued were not yet available at the time of going to print; however,
observers noted that the pentagonal committees often failed to
establish quorums, thus limiting their responsiveness.
The MOMM has a unit for collective negotiations and for monitoring
the implementation of collective agreements. The Government sets wages,
benefits, and job classifications for public sector and government
employees, and the private sector sets compensation for its employees
in accordance with the Government's laws regarding minimum wages.
The Labor Law permits strikes, but only after an extended
negotiation process. There were no formal, recognized strikes during
the year. Wildcat strikes are prohibited, but un-authorized strikes
nonetheless took place. Peaceful strikes were allowed, provided they
were announced in advance and organized by the trade union to defend
vocational, economic, and social interests. To call a strike, the trade
union must notify the employer and concerned administrative authority
at least 10 days in advance of the strike date, giving the reason for
the strike and the date it would commence. Prior to this formal
notification, the strike action must be approved by a two-thirds
majority of the ETUF board of directors. Strikes are prohibited by law
during the validity of collective bargaining agreements and during the
mediation and arbitration process. Strikes are also prohibited in
strategic or vital entities in which the interruption of work could
result in a disturbance of national security or basic services. The
Labor Law also regulates litigation related to collective bargaining
and allows collective bargaining in what are identified as strategic
and vital establishments. The Land Center for Human Rights (LCHR), a
pro-labor group, reported that during the first half of the year, there
were 107 workers' protests (38 in the Governmental sector, 36 in state-
owned businesses, and 33 in the private sector) According to LCHR's
analysis, the protests included 18 strikes, 15 demonstrations, 31
gatherings, and 43 sit-ins.
For example, on November 5, train drivers at Cairo's main rail
station organized an unapproved strike in support of one of their
colleagues who was facing disciplinary action for alleged negligence
leading to an accident. The train drivers charged that government
negligence and poor maintenance were at fault. The strike caused
significant disruptions on a busy intercity commuter route.
On November 8, workers at the shipyard in Port Said, protested
unsafe work conditions with a day-long demonstration after a crane
accident killed a colleague.
On November 24, 2,000 members of the Pharmacists' Syndicate met in
Cairo to discuss recent police raids against pharmacies. The
pharmacists said the raids were aimed at pressuring the pharmacists to
halt their opposition to plans to privatize state-owned pharmacies. The
police raids on the pharmacies stopped after the pharmacists threatened
to strike and to boycott pharmaceutical products from state-owned drug
factories.
From December 7-10, an estimated 20,000 textile workers (including
7,000 women) at the Ghazl Al-Mahalla factory engaged in a work stoppage
to protest non-payment of bonuses. Minister of Manpower Aisha Abdul
Hadi reportedly played a direct role in the negotiations. The job
action was eventually resolved after management agreed to pay the
disputed bonuses. Some workers reportedly voiced displeasure with the
local factory council leadership, arguing that they were more
interested in doing the Government's bidding than protecting the
workers.
Firms, other than large companies in the private sector, generally
did not adhere to government-mandated standards. Although they were
required to observe some government practices, such as the minimum
wage, social security insurance, and official holidays, firms often did
not adhere to government practice in non-binding matters, including
award of the annual Labor Day bonus.
Labor law and practice were the same in the six existing export-
processing zones (EPZs) as in the rest of the country.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor. The 2003 Labor Law and the Child
Law do not specifically prohibit forced and compulsory labor by
children. Such practices, including by children, were reportedly rare.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child Law number 12 of 1996 and its executive regulations protect
children from exploitation in the workplace. While MOMM, working with
the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) and the
interior ministry, generally enforced these regulations in state-owned
enterprises, enforcement in the private sector, especially in the
informal sector, was lax. Employers continued to abuse, overwork, and
generally endanger many working children.
The law limits the type and conditions of work that children under
the age of 18 may perform legally. In nonagricultural work, the minimum
age for employment is 14 or the age of completing basic education (15),
whichever is higher. Provincial governors, with the approval of the
minister of education, may authorize seasonal work for children between
the ages of 12 and 14, provided that duties are not hazardous and do
not interfere with schooling.
Pre-employment training for children under the age of 12 is
prohibited. Children are prohibited from working for more than six
hours per day, and one or more breaks totaling at least one hour must
be included. Several other restrictions apply to children: they may not
work overtime, during their weekly day(s) off, between 7 p.m. and 7
a.m., or on official holidays. Children are also prohibited from
working for more than four hours continuously.
During the summer months, children under the age of 14 were
periodically seen working outdoors in and near construction areas of
Al-Rehab City, outside Cairo, and engaged in landscaping work
alongside, or in the median, of busy roadways near Katameyya, also on
the outskirts of Cairo.
Statistical information regarding the number of working children
was difficult to obtain and often outdated. NGOs estimated that up to
2.7 million children worked. Government studies indicated that the
concentration of working children was higher in rural than in urban
areas. Approximately 78 percent of working children were in the
agricultural sector. However, children also worked in light industry,
on construction sites, and in service businesses such as auto repair
shops. Press reports during the year focused attention on the estimated
2,000-3,000 children working in the stone quarries in Minya.
Previous changes in the Child Labor Law have not significantly
improved conditions due to lax enforcement by the Government.
Enforcement remained spotty, and in cases where offenders have been
prosecuted, the fines imposed were often small (i.e. $3.25 or LE 20)
and thus had questionable deterrent effect. Regulations proposed in
2003 under the revised labor law, however, sharply increased the
minimum fines in child labor cases to $81 (LE 500). The increased
penalties did not appear to have any impact during the year.
The Government made progress toward eliminating the worst forms of
child labor, pursuant to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
(CRC); however, many challenges remain. The Ministry of Justice's
department for legal protection of the Child worked with the NCCM to
finalize comprehensive changes to the child labor law during the year.
By year's end the draft changes had reportedly been submitted to
parliament for consideration. The NCCM also worked with the MOMM, ETUF,
ILO, UNICEF, and various government ministries to formulate and
implement a national strategy to combat child labor and eliminate the
worst forms of child labor; trained police officers on children's
rights and working with juveniles coordinated with the Ministry of
Education to incorporate study of the CRC into curricula; and set up
social and economic projects in several governorates to transfer
working children into non-hazardous activities. The MOMM also increased
child labor inspections in governorates with high dropout rates. The
Government's campaign to increase public awareness was highlighted by
workshops and conferences throughout the country. Many of these efforts
were characterized by high-level government involvement. For example,
during the African Football Cup of Nations, which Egypt hosted in
January-February, first lady Suzanne Mubarak (who also serves as
chairperson of the NCCM) publicized the fight against child labor by
participating in the ILO's ``Red Card to Child Labor'' campaign.
During the year, a foreign government, in partnership with the
World Food Program (WFP) and the Egyptian government, launched a five
million dollar project aimed at building government capacity to monitor
and combat child labor. A specific goal of the project is to move 4,300
child laborers into school and other training opportunities, and
prevent an additional 6,000 children from entering industries known to
employ child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage for government
and public sector employees was determined by the National Council of
Wages and differed among sectors. The law stipulates that 48 hours is
the maximum number of hours that may be worked in 1 week. Overtime for
hours worked beyond 36 per week is payable at the rate of 35 percent
extra for daylight hours and 70 percent extra for work performed at
night. The premium for work on rest days is 100 percent while workers
should receive 200 percent for work on national holidays. The
nationwide minimum wage generally was enforced effectively for larger
private companies; however, smaller firms did not always pay the
minimum wage. The minimum wage frequently did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family; however, base pay commonly
was supplemented by a complex system of fringe benefits and bonuses
that may double or triple a worker's take-home pay and provide a decent
standard of living.
The Ministry of Labor sets worker health and safety standards,
which also apply in the EPZs; however, enforcement and inspections were
uneven. A council for occupational health and safety was established by
the Labor Law to address health and safety issues nationwide. During
the year, ETUF called for development of a national health insurance
program prior to proposed changes in the health insurance law.
The 2003 labor law prohibits employers from maintaining hazardous
working conditions, and workers have the right to remove themselves
from hazardous conditions without risking loss of employment.
There were occasional reports of employer abuse of undocumented
workers, especially domestic workers. A few employers were prosecuted
during the year for abuse of domestic workers, but many claims of abuse
were unsubstantiated because undocumented workers were reluctant to
make their identities public.
__________
IRAN \1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The United States does not have an embassy in Iran. This
report draws heavily on non-U.S. Government sources.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Islamic Republic of Iran, with a population of approximately 68
million, is a constitutional, theocratic republic in which Shi'a Muslim
clergy dominate the key power structures. Article Four of the
constitution states that ``All laws and regulations shall be based on
Islamic principles.'' government legitimacy is based on the twin
pillars of popular sovereignty (Article Six) and the rule of the
Supreme Jurisconsulate, or Supreme Leader (Article Five).
The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, dominated the tricameral structure of government
(legislative, executive, and judicial branches). He was not directly
elected but chosen by an elected body of religious leaders, the
Assembly of Experts. Khamenei directly controlled the armed forces and
exercised indirect control over the internal security forces, the
judiciary, and other key institutions. Hardline conservative Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad won the presidency in June 2005 in an election widely
viewed as neither free nor fair.
The legislative branch is the popularly elected 290-seat Islamic
Consultative Assembly, or Majles. An unelected 12-member Guardian
Council reviewed all legislation passed by the Majles for adherence to
Islamic and constitutional principles and also screened Presidential
and Majles candidates for eligibility. The Majles was dominated by
conservatives, due in part to the Guardian Council's extensive
screening of candidates in the 2004 Majles elections. Prior to the June
2005 Presidential elections, the Guardian Council excluded all but
eight of the 1,014 candidates who registered, including all women. The
Guardian Council and parliamentary electoral committees screened
candidates for the December 15 municipal council and Assembly of
Experts elections, disqualifying scores of reformist candidates. The
civilian authorities did not maintain fully effective control of the
security forces.
The Government's poor human rights record worsened, and it
continued to commit numerous, serious abuses. The following significant
human rights problems were reported: severe restriction of the right of
citizens to change their government peacefully; unjust executions after
reportedly unfair trials; disappearances; torture and severe officially
sanctioned punishments such as death by stoning; flogging; excessive
use of force against demonstrators; violence by vigilante groups with
ties to the Government; poor prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and
detention; lack of judicial independence; lack of fair public trials;
political prisoners and detainees; severe restrictions on civil
liberties including speech, press, assembly, association, movement, and
privacy; severe restrictions on freedom of religion; official
corruption; lack of government transparency; violence and legal and
societal discrimination against women, ethnic and religious minorities,
and homosexuals; trafficking in persons; incitement to anti-Semitism;
severe restriction of workers' rights, including freedom of association
and the right to organize and bargain collectively; and child labor. On
December 19, for the fourth consecutive year, the UN General Assembly
adopted a resolution expressing detailed, serious concern over the
country's 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 reports
of executions after unfair trials. Exiles and human rights monitors
alleged that many of those supposedly executed for criminal offenses,
such as narcotics trafficking, were political dissidents.
The law criminalized dissent and applied the death penalty to
offenses such as apostasy, ``attempts against the security of the
State, outrage against high-ranking officials, and insults against the
memory of Imam Khomeini and against the Supreme Leader of the Islamic
Republic.''
On January 24, according to domestic press reports, two bombs
exploded in the city of Ahvaz, in the ethnic Arab majority province of
Khuzestan, with as many as nine dead and 40 wounded. On January 28 and
February 28, there were further bombings but no casualties reported.
The violence came amid social unrest that began with the April 2005
publication of a letter, claimed by the Government to be a forgery,
alleging government plans to reduce the percentage of the Ahvazi-Arab
population in the province. The bombings follow similar bombings in
June and October 2005.
Government officials initially blamed ``foreign governments'' for
the bombings, but on June 8, the revolutionary court in Khuzestan
announced death sentences for nine ethnic Arabs in connection with the
bombings. On March 2, authorities executed Mehdi Nawaseri and Ali
Afrawi for their involvement in the 2005 bombings. Afrawi was a minor
at the time according to the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Amnesty
International (AI). On November 9, authorities in Khuzestan confirmed
the sentences of execution of an additional 10 ethnic Arabs in
connection with the January and February bombings. All sentences were
imposed following secret trials that the international NGO Human Rights
Watch (HRW) said could not be considered to meet international
standards (see section 1.e.). According to an AI report, three of the
accused bombers were executed on December 19 in a Khuzestan provincial
prison.
On May 11, according to HRW, authorities executed Majid Segound and
Masoud Naghi Biranvand, both of whom were age 17 at the time of their
execution.
The Government responded forcibly to weeks of demonstrations by
members of the ethnic Azeri minority, which protested a May 19
newspaper cartoon viewed as offensive to the Azeri population. The
Government initially denied any protesters were killed, but on May 28 a
police official acknowledged that four were killed and 43 injured in
the northwestern town of Naqaba.
On July 31, student protester Akbar Mohammadi died in Evin Prison
following medical complications related to a hunger strike. Police
first arrested Mohammadi following his participation in July 1999
student demonstrations to protest government closure of newspapers.
Authorities reportedly denied Mohammadi's parents permission to see
their son's body and did not respond to calls for an independent
investigation into the cause of death.
In November 2005 an appeals court ordered the case involving the
death of Zahra Kazemi, a dual-national Iranian-Canadian citizen, to be
reopened; however, at year's end there was no progress and the case
remained under review. Kazemi, a photojournalist, was arrested for
taking pictures while outside Evin Prison in Tehran during student-led
protests. She died in custody in 2003 after allegedly being tortured.
Authorities admitted that she died as a result of a blow to the head.
In June the Kazemi family filed a civil case against the Iranian
government in Canadian courts.
According to a 2005 AI report, during the previous 15 years there
were reports of at least eight evangelical Christians killed in the
country (see section 2.c.).
During the year there was no statement altering the Islamic
Revolution Guards Corps's (IRGC) February 2005 announcement that
Ayatollah Khomeini's 1989 religious decree calling for the killing of
author Salman Rushdie remained in effect.
There was no further action on the killing of strikers in 2004, the
killings and disappearances reported by the Special Representative for
Iran of the Commission on Human Rights (UNSR) in 2001, or the killings
of members of religious minorities following the revolution.
b. Disappearance.--Little reliable information was available
regarding the number of disappearances during the year.
There were no developments in the October 2005 case of journalist
Massoumeh Babapour, found barely alive after being abducted and
repeatedly stabbed, after threats calling her an atheist and claiming
religious authorities had sentenced her to death.
According to an AI report in 2005, between 15 and 23 evangelical
Christians were reportedly missing or ``disappeared'' during the past
15 years.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits torture for the purposes of
extracting a confession or acquiring information. In 2004 the judiciary
announced a ban on torture, and the Majles passed related legislation,
approved by the Guardian Council. Nevertheless, there were numerous
credible reports that security forces and prison personnel tortured
detainees and prisoners.
In June the Government sent Saeed Mortazavi, the Tehran general
prosecutor, to represent the country at the opening of the UN Human
Rights Council. Mortazavi was accused by human rights groups of grave
human rights abuses, including murder and torture, and was reportedly
involved in the 2003 killing of Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi
(see section 1.a.).
In October the Government sent Interior Minister Mostafa
Purmohammadi as its representative at the Tri-Partite Commission of
Iran, Afghanistan, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva.
Purmohammadi has a history of human rights abuses, including
participation in the 1988 mass execution of several thousand political
prisoners at Evin Prison and the 1998 murders of writers and dissidents
throughout the country.
The penal code provides for the stoning, or lapidation, of women
and men convicted of adultery. In 2002 the head of the judiciary
announced a moratorium on stoning but reportedly ended the moratorium
in August. Prior to August there were reports of judges handing down
the sentence. On May 7, according to AI a woman, Mahboubeh Mohammadi,
and a man, Abbas Hajizadeh, were stoned to death in the northeastern
city of Mashhad. A court convicted the pair of adultery and the murder
of Mohammadi's husband.
In June 2005 a court sentenced a man to have his eyes surgically
removed. According to human rights specialists, such sentences were
rarely implemented; rather they were used as leverage to set ``blood
money.'' Nonetheless, in November 2005, domestic press reported prison
authorities amputated the left foot of a convicted armed robber.
In 2004 AI reported that it had documented evidence of ``white
torture,'' a form of sensory deprivation. Amir Abbas Fakhravar, a
political prisoner, was sent to the ``125'' detention center,
controlled by the revolutionary guards. According to AI his cell had no
windows, and the walls and his clothes were white. His meals consisted
of white rice on white plates. To use the toilet, he had to put a white
piece of paper under the door. He was forbidden to speak, and the
guards reportedly wore shoes that muffled sound. The UN Special
Rapporteur on Torture listed sensory deprivation among the techniques
constituting torture.
In July 2005 according to domestic press, Abbas Ali Alizadeh, the
head of the Tehran judiciary and head of the supervisory and inspection
committee to safeguard civil rights, provided Tehran Judiciary Chief
Mahmud Ali Hashemi-Shahrudi with a detailed report as a follow-up to
Shahrudi's directive on respect for citizens' rights. This unreleased
report was described in detail in the media and outlined abusive human
rights practices in prisons, including blindfolding and beating
suspects, and leaving detainees in a state of uncertainty.
Also in July 2005, according to domestic press, the deputy national
police commander for criminal investigation said police would
investigate any reports of torture. He said torture was not only
against regulations, but that forensic and scientific advances have
made torture unnecessary. Nevertheless, its existence in the criminal
investigation departments was undeniable.
The Government relied on ``special units'' (yegan ha-ye vizhe), to
complement the existing morality police, called ``Enjoining the Good
and Prohibiting the Forbidden'' (Amr be Ma'ruf va Nahi az Monkar) in an
effort to combat ``un-Islamic behavior'' and social corruption among
the young. These auxiliaries were to assist in enforcing the Islamic
Republic's strict rules of moral behavior. Credible press reports
indicated members of this morality force chased and beat persons in the
streets for offenses such as listening to music or, in the case of
women, wearing makeup or clothing regarded as insufficiently modest or
being accompanied by unrelated men (see section 1.f.).
According to a December 21 AI report, a woman identified as
``Parisa'' received 99 lashes in December, a reduction of the original
sentence of death by stoning for adultery.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions in the
country were poor. Many prisoners were held in solitary confinement or
denied adequate food or medical care to force confessions. After its
2003 visit, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions reported that
``for the first time since its establishment, [the working group] has
been confronted with a strategy of widespread use of solitary
confinement for its own sake and not for traditional disciplinary
purposes.'' The working group described Sector 209 of Evin Prison as a
``prison within a prison,'' designed for the ``systematic, large-scale
use of absolute solitary confinement, frequently for long periods.''
In March 2005 the UK-based International Center for Prison Studies
reported that 142,851 prisoners occupied facilities constructed to hold
a maximum of 65,000 persons. In May official statistics from the State
Prison Organization put the number of prisoners at 147,926.
Some prison facilities, including Tehran's Evin Prison, were
notorious for cruel and prolonged torture of political opponents of the
Government. Additionally, in recent years authorities have severely
abused and tortured prisoners in a series of ``unofficial'' secret
prisons and detention centers outside the national prison system.
Common methods included prolonged solitary confinement with sensory
deprivation, beatings, long confinement in contorted positions, kicking
detainees with military boots, hanging detainees by the arms and legs,
threats of execution if individuals refused to confess, burning with
cigarettes, sleep deprivation, and severe and repeated beatings with
cables or other instruments on the back and on the soles of the feet.
Prisoners also reported beatings about the ears, inducing partial or
complete deafness; punching the area around the eyes, leading to
partial or complete blindness; and the use of poison to induce illness.
Human rights activists and domestic press reported cases of political
prisoners confined in the same prison wing as violent felons. There are
allegations that the authorities deliberately incarcerated nonviolent
offenders with violent offenders anticipating that they would be
killed. HRW noted that student activists were physically tortured more
than dissident critics from within the system. It also noted physical
abuse in the presence of high-level judges.
In May 2005 Judiciary Chief Shahrudi reportedly complained about
security forces' treatment of some detainees. He said judges must
conduct interrogations, and confessions obtained without a judge
present were inadmissible. During the year there were no further
official remarks enforcing Shahrudi's statement.
In 2005 the Tehran province judiciary tasked its branches to
address and compile complaints about civil rights violations and
reportedly received 143 complaints, including one concerning a person
jailed since 1989 without a conviction or indication of criminal
record. In the unreleased report described by domestic press in July
2005, the judiciary's committee, called the Supervising and Inspection
Committee for Preserving Citizens' Rights, reported visiting detention
centers of the police security, criminal, and intelligence departments,
and army security and intelligence departments to assess the condition
of detainees, sanitation, visiting procedures, and procedures used to
summon and arrest suspects. In its findings the judiciary committee
noted unjustified arrests without warrants. It said the IRGC
intelligence department detention center would not allow the committee
to enter its facility. The report also called for an investigation of
suicides by female inmates in Rajai'i Shahr Prison. The committee
report stated every military camp or intelligence or security
department had its own detention center, in defiance of the judiciary
head's directive. Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS)
facilities operated without the required oversight of the Government's
prisons organization. The committee found serious problems in a wide
range of detention centers, jails, drug control centers, and prisons,
including Section 209 at Evin Prison and the Tehran Revolutionary
Court.
The committee reported that, contrary to instructions from the
judiciary head on size of a detention area, some suspects had been held
for eight or nine months in much smaller spaces. The report noted
torture and solitary confinement in detention centers and claimed it
had taken steps to resolve the issue. The report stated that
confessions obtained under duress were legally invalid. The committee
also called for investigations into possible violations committed
against arrested and detained girls and women.
Later in 2005 Tehran Judiciary head Alizadeh claimed the problems
cited in the report were resolved, upon the order of the judiciary, and
the ``culprits were presented to authorities.'' government spokesman
Abdullah Ramezanzadeh praised the report and said the Defense and
Information Ministries were expected to turn over names of those
responsible for torture to the judiciary. However, there was no
indication during the year that anyone was held responsible for the
abuses cited in the report.
In July 2005 the Secretary General of the Administration of Justice
of Tehran said in an interview that, following investigation into
prison conditions and corrective actions, every prison cell had an
average of 12 square meters, and all detention centers were now under
the supervision of the State Prison Organization of prisons.
Separately, in 2005 the judiciary spokesman called the allegations
in the committee's report complete falsehoods. He said the report's
claim of unlawful detention centers administered contrary to prison
regulations and in which defendants are blindfolded and beaten was
untrue.
Judiciary Chief Shahrudi in 2005 also asked the judiciary to
investigate reports of abuse of Internet writers, arrested in 2004 (see
section 1.e.). The judiciary's report also was not released; and
although it was acknowledged that some were abused, there was no
information that anyone was held accountable.
In May 2005 Shahrudi directed that convicts imprisoned for lesser
offenses and gravely ill prisoners should be given parole for three
months; the directive's implementation was unknown.
In September 2005 Shahrudi issued new sentencing guidelines under
which minor offenders would be fined and receive punishments other than
imprisonment. This change was reportedly due in part to prison
overcrowding; it is not known whether the change was implemented.
According to HRW most prisoners were eligible for release after serving
half of their sentences.
The Government generally has granted prison access only to the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); however, in June
Justice Minister Jamal Karimirad allowed a group of foreign and local
journalists to tour Evin Prison. BBC reported that, according to prison
officials, there are 2,575 men and 375 women in Evin Prison. Reporters
were denied access to well-known prisoners. Some others with whom they
spoke complained that their cases had not come to trial or that they
had been awaiting a verdict for months.
In 2004 HRW documented a number of unofficial prisons and detention
centers such as ``Prison 59'' and ``Amaken,'' an interrogation center
where persons are held without charge, questioned intensively for
prolonged periods, physically abused, and tortured.
In 2003 the UNSR of the Commission on Human Rights reported that
prisoner abuse occurred frequently in unofficial detention centers run
by unofficial intelligence services and the military. The UN Working
Group on Arbitrary Detention raised this issue with the country's
Article 90 parliamentary commission during its 2003 visit, generating a
commission inquiry that reportedly confirmed the existence of numerous
unofficial prisons.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, these practices remained
common.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Several agencies share
responsibility for law enforcement and maintaining order, including the
MOIS, the Law Enforcement Forces under the Interior Ministry, and the
IRGC. A paramilitary volunteer force known as the Basij and various
informal groups known as the Ansar-e Hizballah (Helpers of the Party of
God) aligned with extreme conservative members of the leadership and
acted as vigilantes. The size of the Basij is disputed, with officials
citing anywhere from 11 to 20 million, and a 2005 Western study
claiming there were 90,000 active members and up to 300,000 reservists.
Corruption was a problem; however, more so in the revolutionary
courts than in the criminal and civil courts. Many police officers were
also corrupt. Civilian authorities did not fully maintain effective
control of the security forces. The regular and paramilitary security
forces both committed numerous, serious human rights abuses. According
to a 2004 HRW report, the Government's use of plainclothes security
agents to intimidate political critics became more institutionalized
since 2000. They were increasingly armed, violent, and well equipped,
and they engaged in assault, theft, and illegal seizures and
detentions.
Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and penal code require
warrants or subpoenas for arrests and also state the arrested person
must be informed of charges within 24 hours; however, these safeguards
rarely occurred in practice. Detainees often went weeks or months
without charges or trial; frequently were denied prompt contact with
family; and often were denied access to legal representation for
prolonged periods. Bail was often set at extremely high levels, even
for lesser crimes. Detainees and their families are often compelled to
submit property deeds in order to post bail; many cannot afford to post
bail.
In practice there is neither a legal time limit for incommunicado
detention nor any judicial means to determine the legality of the
detention. In the period immediately following detention or arrest,
many detainees were held incommunicado and denied access to lawyers and
family members.
Security forces often did not inform family members of a prisoner's
welfare and location. Authorities often denied visits by family members
and legal counsel. Prisoners released on bail did not always know how
long their property would be retained or when their trials would be
held. In addition families of executed prisoners did not always receive
notification of their deaths. On occasion the Government forced family
members to pay to retrieve the body of their relative.
The December 19 resolution on the country's human rights situation
in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) expressed serious concern about the
use of arbitrary arrest, targeted at both individuals and their family
members.
On January 28, authorities reportedly arrested several hundred
members of a Tehran bus drivers' syndicate, along with some family
members, who were demonstrating for labor rights. Family members and
some workers were released, but several hundred were reportedly still
held in Evin Prison at year's end.
On February 13, officials in the city of Qom arrested as many as
1,200 Sufi worshippers in a clash that left more than 100 injured (see
section 2.c).
On June 14, human rights lawyer Saleh Kamrani, a member of the
country's Azeri ethnic minority, was detained without charge and taken
into government custody (see section 1.e). Charged with ``propaganda
against the system,'' according to AI, he was tried on September 13 and
sentenced to one year's imprisonment. The sentence was suspended for
five years, and he was released on September 18.
In September according to AI, at least nine Azeri Iranians were
arrested following demonstrations calling for a school boycott in the
Northwest. Azeri Iranians were protesting for their constitutional
right to use the Azeri language in schools (see section 5).
On September 26, authorities arrested and detained a Christian
couple, Reza Montazami and Fereshteh Dibaj, without charge. They were
released on October 5 (see section 2.c.).
On October 3, authorities arrested Hessam Firouzi, a doctor who
treated student activist Ahmad Batebi prior to Batebi's re-arrest (see
section 1.e.). Firouzi's wife reported that authorities took him to
Evin Prison without filing charges against him; however, he was
reportedly released on October 5.
In recent years the Government has used house arrest to restrict
the movements and ability to communicate of senior Shi'a religious
leaders whose views regarding political and governance issues were at
variance with the ruling orthodoxy; however, there were no new
instances of this practice publicly reported during the year.
Numerous publishers, editors, and journalists (including those
working on Internet sites) were detained, jailed, tortured, and fined,
or they were prohibited from publishing their writings during the year
(see sections 1.e. and 2.a.).
Adherents of the Baha'i faith continued to face arbitrary arrest
and detention (see section 2.c.).
Amnesty.--According to domestic press, the Government commuted
sentences of over 13,000 prisoners during 2005 to mark Muslim and
national holidays.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides that the
judiciary is ``an independent power''; however, in practice the court
system was subject to government and religious influence. After the
1979 revolution, the judicial system was revised to conform to an
Islamic canon based on the Koran, Sunna (the traditions of the
Prophet), and other Islamic sources. The constitution provides that the
head of the judiciary shall be a cleric chosen by the supreme leader.
The head of the Supreme Court and Prosecutor-General also must be
clerics. Women are barred from serving as certain types of judges.
There are several court systems. The two most active are the
traditional courts, which adjudicate civil and criminal offenses, and
the Islamic revolutionary courts. The latter try offenses viewed as
potentially threatening to the Islamic Republic, including threats to
internal or external security, narcotics and economic crimes, and
official corruption. A special clerical court examines alleged
transgressions within the clerical establishment, and a military court
investigates crimes connected with military or security duties. A press
court hears complaints against publishers, editors, and writers. The
Supreme Court has limited review authority.
HRW noted in a 2004 report that the judiciary was at the core of
suppressing political dissent and that, in practice, it violated due
process rights at every level, including the right to be promptly
charged; have access to legal counsel; be tried before a competent,
independent, and impartial court in a public hearing; and have right of
appeal. Detainees were often not clear of their legal status. Numerous
observers considered Tehran Public Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi the most
notorious persecutor of political dissidents and critics.
According to the civil code, persons under 18 years of age may be
prosecuted for crimes as adults, without special procedures, and may be
imprisoned with adults. The age of criminal responsibility is set at 15
years for males and nine years for females. As a party to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, the country is obligated not to execute
persons for crimes committed when they were younger than 18. However,
reports indicated that during the year the Government tried persons
under the age of 18, including Ali Afrawi, who was reported to have
been 17 years old at the time of his trial and execution in March (see
section 1.a.).
In September two men, Sina Paymard and Ali Alijan, were scheduled
to be executed for crimes they committed before the age of 18; however,
both received reprieves from the victims' families, who were permitted
under law to seek blood money in lieu of the death penalty.
In January 2005 government officials told the UN Committee on the
Rights of the Child that for many years there had been a moratorium on
the death penalty for persons under 18. During the same month,
according to credible reports, a man was executed for a crime committed
when he was 17. According to an HRW report, during the year 30
juveniles were on death row.
In 2004 20 local human rights groups called on the judiciary not to
sentence minors to death. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi
sought permission to hold a demonstration regarding this issue, but the
authorities denied her request. In 2005 UNGA adopted a resolution
denouncing the country's practice of executing minors, and the UN
Committee on the Rights of the Child urged the country to suspend
execution of juvenile offenders. On December 19, the UNGA again adopted
a similar resolution.
Trial Procedures.--Many aspects of the prerevolutionary judicial
system survive in the civil and criminal courts. For example, in theory
defendants have the right to a public trial, a lawyer of their choice,
and right of appeal. Panels of judges adjudicate trials. There is no
jury system in the civil and criminal courts; however, in the press
court a council of 11 persons specifically selected by the court
adjudicates the case. If postrevolutionary statutes do not address a
situation, the Government advises judges to give precedence to their
knowledge and interpretation of Islamic law.
According to the law, defendants are entitled to a presumption of
innocence, but this often does not occur in practice. Trials are
supposed to be open to the public; however, frequently they are closed
without access to a lawyer. The right to appeal is often denied.
UN representatives, including the U.S., the UN Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention, and independent human rights organizations noted
the absence of procedural safeguards in criminal trials. The December
19 UNGA resolution on the country's human rights expressed serious
concern about ``the persistent failure to comply fully with
international standards in the administration of justice.''
Trials in the revolutionary courts were notorious for their
disregard of international standards of fairness. Revolutionary court
judges were chosen in part due to their ideological commitment to the
system. Pretrial detention often was prolonged, and defendants lacked
access to attorneys. Authorities often charged individuals with
relatively undefined crimes, such as ``anti-revolutionary behavior,''
``moral corruption,'' and ``siding with global arrogance.'' Defendants
did not have the right to confront their accusers. Secret or summary
trials of five minutes' duration occurred frequently. Other trials were
deliberately designed to publicize a coerced confession, and there were
allegations of corruption.
The legitimacy of the special clerical court system continued to be
subject to debate. The clerical courts, which investigate offenses and
crimes committed by clerics and which are overseen directly by the
supreme leader, are not provided by the constitution and operated
outside the domain of the judiciary. In particular, critics alleged
clerical courts were used to prosecute clerics for expressing
controversial ideas and participating in activities outside the sphere
of religion, such as journalism. The recommendations of the 2003 UN
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention included a call to abolish both
the special clerical courts and the revolutionary courts.
In its 2003 report, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
noted failures of due process in the court system caused by the absence
of a ``culture of counsel'' and the previous concentration of authority
in the hands of a judge who prosecuted, investigated, and decided
cases.
In 2004 a Tehran Justice Department official alleged that the
Government tried and sentenced fugitive al-Qa'ida members detained in
the country. The Government did not identify those convicted, the
verdicts, or their sentences and provided no further information during
the year.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--In April 2004 then-President
Khatami stated that ``absolutely, we do have political prisoners and
people who are in prison for their beliefs.'' However, no accurate
estimates were available regarding the number of citizens imprisoned
for their political beliefs. In 2003 the UN Special Representative for
the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Expression and
Opinion estimated the number to be in the hundreds. Although there were
few details, the Government has reportedly arrested, convicted, and
executed persons on questionable criminal charges, including drug
trafficking, when their actual ``offenses'' were political. The
Government has charged members of religious minorities with crimes such
as ``confronting the regime'' and apostasy and conducted trials in
these cases in the same manner as threats to national security.
Political prisoners occasionally were given suspended sentences or
released for short or extended furloughs prior to completion of their
sentences, but could be ordered to prison at any time. Political
activists were also controlled by having a file placed in the courts
that could be opened at any time. There were also reports during the
year that the Intelligence Ministry pressured families of political
prisoners, banning them from speaking to foreign press and blocking
their telephone conversations.
There was no information that authorities took any action on
Judiciary Chief Shahrudi's 2005 reported order for investigations of
political prisoner cases or leaves of absence for imprisoned students.
There were reports that some persons have been held in prison for
years and charged with sympathizing with outlawed groups, such as the
domestic terrorist organization, the Mujahedin-e- Khalq (MEK).
On March 18, Akbar Ganji, a former IRGC leader turned political
activist and journalist, was released from prison. Ganji was imprisoned
in 2000 in connection with his reports linking the Government to the
``serial murders'' of 80 dissidents in the country and abroad. He was
sentenced in 2001 to six years in prison on charges including acting
against national security and spreading propaganda. He received a one-
month furlough for medical treatment in 2005 and subsequently went on a
70-day hunger strike to protest his detention. After his release he was
allowed to travel abroad.
On April 25, authorities arrested philosopher and scholar Ramin
Jahanbegloo for ``acting against national security and having contacts
with foreigners'' and held him at Evin Prison. A media campaign called
for his release, including statements from human rights organizations,
prominent international scholars, and Western governments. Jahanbegloo
was released from prison on or about August 30 and allowed to travel
abroad.
On June 3, according to Azerbaijani press reports, ethnic Azeri
activist Abbas Lisani was arrested following a protest demonstration.
Lisani was reportedly charged with ``holding rallies against the state
system.'' He was reportedly released on September 26 but re-arrested on
November 1. Lisani received a one-year prison sentence for ``spreading
antigovernment propaganda'' and at year's end was in prison in the
northwestern province of Ardabil.
On June 12, authorities arrested former Majles deputy and human
rights activist Ali Akbar Musavi Khoini, who was reportedly taken to
Evin Prison and held without charge. Khoini, who had been attending a
women's rights protest when he was detained, was a critic of the
Government during his 2000-04 term of office, protesting the
Government's human rights abuses, prison conditions, and the lack of
fair trials. Authorities permitted Khoini to attend a memorial service
for his father on September 21, where he told the crowd that he was
being tortured and pressured to ``repent'' for his criticisms of the
Government. Observers at the service told HRW that Khoini had visible
bruises. On October 15, he was released on bail.
On June 14, the Government detained Azeri-Iranian human rights
lawyer Saleh Kamrani without charge. Kamrani reportedly defended
several individuals, including ethnic Azeri activist Abbas Lisani, who
were arrested during the May demonstrations in the ethnic-Azeri
majority region of the Northwest (see section 1.a.). Kamrani's family
received no information on his whereabouts for several days but later
learned that he was detained in Evin Prison. Kamrani was released from
Evin on September 18, according to AI.
On July 27, authorities re-arrested student activist Ahmad Batebi,
who had been released from prison for medical treatment in 2005. On
October 15, they released him again after he posted an approximately
$325,000 (300-million toman) bail, but he was returned to custody by
October 17, according to his father. Officials gave no justification
for Batebi's re-arrests. According to his wife, at the time of his re-
arrest, Batebi warned that he would go on a hunger strike, a tactic
often used by political prisoners as a protest. Batebi was involved in
the 1999 Tehran student protest, and his photo was published in several
international news outlets, illustrating the protests. Subsequently,
Batebi was sentenced to death in 1999, a sentence that was commuted to
15 years in prison. Batebi reportedly was severely beaten and harshly
interrogated while in prison and consequently suffered from health
problems. At year's end Batebi was in Evin Prison.
On September 16, Internet writer Mojtaba Saminejad was reportedly
released from prison. Saminejad was arrested in February 2005 and
sentenced to more than two years in prison on charges that included
insulting the supreme leader. He was first detained in 2004 after
reporting the arrest of other Internet writers and, according to HRW,
tortured and held for 88 days in solitary confinement. In January 2005
he was released on $62,500 (50 million toman) bail. Saminejad started
another Internet site but was detained again, and his bail tripled,
which he could not pay. His trial in May 2005 was held behind closed
doors.
In October student activist Manuchehr Mohammadi fled the country
while on furlough from Evin Prison. Mohammadi was sentenced to 13 years
in prison, following involvement in the July 1999 Tehran student
protests. He is the brother of activist Akbar Mohammadi, who died in
custody on July 31 (see section 1.a.).
On October 8, police arrested dissident cleric Ayatollah Mohammad
Kazemeini Boroujerdi at his home, after dispersing hundreds of his
followers who had gathered there. Boroujerdi reportedly came under
increased pressure from the Government for urging separation of
religion from politics. According to press reports, over 70 of his
supporters were arrested in late September and early October.
Boroujerdi has reportedly been arrested and imprisoned several times
since 1992 and has claimed that he was tortured and threatened with
execution (see section 2.c.). At year's end there was no update on this
case.
In July 2005 while acting as an attorney for the accused, Abdol
Fattah Soltani was accused of espionage. Soltani's lawyer, human rights
specialist Mohammad Dadkhah, and HRW claimed the reason for his arrest
was his work in the investigation into the death of Zahra Kazemi. On
July 18, the Tehran Revolutionary Court acquitted Soltani of espionage
but convicted him of ``disclosing classified information'' and
``spreading propaganda against the system,'' according to domestic
press reports. Soltani was sentenced to four years in prison and five
years deprivation of his ``social rights.''
Police arrested journalist Siamak Pourzand in 2001 and tried him in
March 2002 behind closed doors. He was denied free access to a lawyer
of his choice and was sentenced to 11 years in prison for ``undermining
state security through his links with monarchists and
counterrevolutionaries.'' After repeated hospitalizations followed by
reimprisonment, Pourzand was furloughed again in 2004 and remained
under house arrest at year's end.
In July 2005 police arrested journalist Massoud Bastani for
covering a demonstration to support political prisoner Akbar Ganji.
Bastani was held in Evin Prison, released in August 2005, then
reimprisoned and sent to Arak prison, normally used for nonpolitical
prisoners. He was released on furlough in September 2005 but returned
to prison the next month. In December 2005 the head of the Association
of Iranian Journalists called for Bastani's release and said he was in
poor health. In September an Internet source said he remained in
prison.
Arjang Davoudi was arrested in 2003 for assisting a Canadian
reporter making a documentary about Canadian-Iranian photojournalist
Zahra Kazemi. In 2005 he was condemned by a revolutionary court to
either 14 or 15 years in jail; reportedly he was beaten and kept in
solitary confinement for approximately 100 days. Davoudi wrote a book
from prison about his ordeal and had his manuscript privately delivered
to a publishing company. According to one report, the Information
Ministry prevented the book's publication by violence against the
publisher and its employees. At year's end he was believed to be in
internal exile in Bandar Abbas.
In 2004 Peyman Piran, a student activist, was sentenced to 10 years
in prison for acting against national security, contacting foreigners,
disturbing public opinion, and behaving insultingly. In 2004 security
forces also forcibly evicted his father, retired teacher Mostafa Piran,
and his family. Mostafa Piran was reportedly beaten and held in
solitary confinement in July 2004 for his attempt to organize a
teachers' strike to mark the anniversary of the July 1999 student
demonstrations, in defiance of a ban. Mostafa was released in March
2005, but Peyman remained in Evin Prison. There was no additional
verified information on Peyman Piran at year's end.
Behruz Javid-Tehrani, a member of the Democratic Party of Iran, was
first arrested in 1999 and spent four years in prison. He was then re-
arrested in July 2004 and condemned to seven years in prison and 54
lashes. In August 2005 it was reported that he was held in solitary
confinement for three months and had told relatives that he was
severely beaten. As of July he reportedly remained in Evin prison.
In December 2004 student leader Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, jailed
since June 2003, was sentenced by the revolutionary court to 16 years
in prison. He was temporarily furloughed in August 2005; however, in
July according to AI, he was in Evin Prison.
In November 2004 local press reported that after an early October
2005 trial, a Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced former foreign
minister Ebrahim Yazdi, leader of the banned Freedom Movement
opposition party, to an unspecified but long imprisonment, based on
charges of actions against national security, insulting the supreme
leader, and other charges. At year's end Yazdi was not in prison, but
his court case remained pending. He registered as a Presidential
candidate in the 2005 elections, but the Guardian Council rejected his
candidacy.
Former deputy prime minister Abbas Amir-Entezam, imprisoned for 26
years, was reported to be on leave from prison at year's end.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The judiciary is nominally
independent from the executive and legislative branches but remained
under the influence of executive and religious government authorities.
The head of the judiciary is appointed by the Supreme Leader, who in
turn appoints the head of the Supreme Court and the chief public
prosecutor. According to the constitution, under the supervision of the
head of the judiciary, the Court of Administrative Justice investigates
the grievances of citizens with regard to government officials, organs,
and statutes. In practice, however, citizens' ability to sue the
Government is limited. It appeared that citizens were not able to bring
lawsuits against the Government for civil or human rights violations.
Dispute resolution councils are available to settle minor civil and
criminal cases through mediation before referral to courts.
Property Restitution.--The constitution allows the Government to
confiscate property acquired either illicitly or in a manner not in
conformance with Islamic law. The UN Special Rapporteur (UNSR) on
Adequate Housing noted religious minorities, including members of the
Baha'i faith, were particularly affected. The U.S.'s June report noted
the ``abusive use of [the law] is seen as an instrument for
confiscating property of individuals as a form of retribution for their
political and/or religious beliefs.'' The report noted documentation of
approximately 640 Baha'i properties confiscated since 1980, instances
of numerous undocumented cases, and court verdicts declaring
confiscation of property from the ``evil sect of the Baha'i'' legally
and religiously justifiable. Rights of members of the Baha'i faith were
not recognized under the constitution, and they have no avenue to seek
restitution of or compensation for confiscated property.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution states that ``reputation, life,
property, (and) dwelling(s)'' are protected from trespass except as
``provided by law''; however, the Government infringed on these rights.
Security forces monitored the social activities of citizens, entered
homes and offices, monitored telephone conversations, and opened mail
without court authorization. There were widespread reports that the
homes and offices of reformist journalists were entered, searched, or
ransacked by government agents in an attempt to intimidate.
Vigilante violence included attacking young persons considered too
``un-Islamic'' in their dress or activities, invading private homes,
abusing unmarried couples, and disrupting concerts. At year's end there
was no systematic campaign, although greater enforcement was reported
on university campuses.
Authorities entered homes to remove television satellite dishes,
although the vast majority of satellite dishes in individual homes
continued to operate. Beginning in August there were press reports that
the Government increased its confiscation of satellite dishes. Early in
2004 Western media reported that Islamist militia confiscated
approximately 40,000 satellite dishes from four factories secretly
manufacturing satellite equipment in eastern Tehran (see section 2.a.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of expression and the press, within limits. Article 23 of the
constitution states ``investigation of individuals' beliefs is
forbidden, and no one may be molested or taken to task simply for
holding a certain belief.'' Article 24 of the constitution states
``publications and the press have freedom of expression except when it
is detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam or the rights of
the public.'' At the same time, the penal code states that ``anyone who
undertakes any form of propaganda against the state'' can be imprisoned
up to a year. The law does not define ``propaganda.'' The press law
forbids censorship but also forbids disseminating information that may
damage the Islamic Republic or offend its leaders and religious
authorities. It also subjects writers to prosecution for instigating
crimes against the state or ``insulting'' Islam; the latter offense is
punishable by death.
In practice the Government severely restricted freedom of speech
and of the press. The Culture Ministry must grant permission to publish
any book, and it inspects foreign printed materials prior to their
domestic release. According to the Tehran-based Association for
Advocating Freedom of Press, state pressure on journalists increased
after President Ahmadinejad assumed office in August 2005. Journalists
were frequently threatened and sometimes killed as a consequence of
their work. The December 19 UNGA resolution on human rights in the
country expressed, among other abuses, serious concern about the
continuing harassment, intimidation, and persecution of student
activists, human rights defenders, NGOs, clerics, journalists and
Internet writers, parliamentarians, students, and academics. It cited
unjustified closure of newspapers and blocking Internet sites.
Basic legal safeguards for freedom of expression did not exist, and
the independent press was subjected to arbitrary enforcement measures
by elements of the Government, notably the judiciary. During 2005
approximately 100 newspapers and magazines were closed for varying
periods. Self-censorship, even more than formal governmental
censorship, limited dissemination of information during the year.
The Government, through a state-controlled entity called the Sound
and Vision Organization, directly controlled and maintained a monopoly
over all television and radio broadcasting facilities; programming
reflected the Government's political and socioreligious ideology.
Because newspapers and other print media had a limited circulation
outside large cities, radio and television served as the principal news
source for many citizens. Satellite dishes that received foreign
television broadcasts were forbidden; however, many citizens owned
them, particularly the wealthy.
Beginning in August the Government increased confiscation of
illegal satellite dishes in homes (see section 1.d.). The Government
blocked foreign satellite transmissions using powerful jamming signals
in the past. Separately, the Government ruled private broadcasting
illegal; cooperation with private broadcasting was also illegal.
Foreign journalists faced harassment. The Government required
foreign correspondents to provide detailed travel plans and proposed
stories before receiving visas. They were also required to hire
``fixers'' inside the country at high cost. Some were denied visas.
The 1985 press law established the Press Supervisory Board, which
is responsible for issuing press licenses and examining complaints
filed against publications or individual journalists, editors, or
publishers. In certain cases the board may refer complaints to the
press court for further action, including closure. Its hearings were
conducted in public with a jury composed of clerics, government
officials, and editors of government-controlled newspapers.
The press law also allows government entities to act as
complainants against newspapers, and often public officials lodged
criminal complaints against reformist newspapers that led to their
closures. Offending writers were subjected to lawsuits and fines.
During the year there were numerous closures of newspapers and other
press outlets, as well as arrests of journalists.
Some human rights groups asserted that the increasingly
conservative press court assumed responsibility for cases before press
supervisory board consideration, often resulting in harsher judgments.
Efforts to amend the press laws have not succeeded, although in 2003
parliament passed a law limiting the duration of temporary press bans
to stop the practice of extending ``temporary'' bans indefinitely.
After the 1997 election of President Khatami, the independent
press, especially newspapers and magazines, played an increasingly
important role in providing a forum for debate over reform in the
society. However, the press law prohibited the publication of a broad
and ill-defined category of subjects, including material ``insulting
Islam.''
In the early part of the year, at least two student activists
affiliated with the reformist student group Office for Consolidation of
Unity (OSU) were expelled from their universities by the Education
Ministry. The OSU in particular reported harassment and detention of
its members by government authorities, often plainclothes security
forces. Students reported facing disciplinary committees, courts, and
even jail sentences related to their activities in student political
groups. Student groups reported interference with their activities and
with student elections. Several liberal and reform-minded professors
were dismissed or forced to retire. On May 31, plainclothes security
forces detained Abdullah Momeni, a spokesman for the OSU. The previous
week the Government detained two students at the Amir Kabir University
in Tehran, blogger Abed Tavanche, and fellow student Yashar Qajar, of
the Islamic Students Union. Tavanche and Qajar were held without charge
and released at the end of July.
In January the Ministry of Intelligence and Security and the
Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance jointly instructed the semi-
official news outlets Iranian Student News Agency and Iranian Labor
News Agency to not report on the arrests and prosecution of student
activists without coordinating with those ministries, according to the
news Web site Rooz Online. Rooz also reported that the Supreme National
Security Council warned editors in chief not to publish political
analysis that differed from the country's official policy. Tehran
Prosecutor General Saeed Mortazavi reportedly stated that ``freedom of
the press and freedom of expression are not absolute and are subject to
respect for Islamic and legal principles.''
Domestic press reports indicated the Government attempted to limit
the distribution of reformist campaign materials in the December 15
municipal council elections.
On January 8, a court in Mashhad gave blogger Ahmad Reza Shiri a
three-year suspended jail sentence for articles published on his blog,
according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Shiri was not jailed but
must serve that sentence if he has further trouble with government
authorities. According to RSF authorities often use suspended sentences
to intimidate and silence journalists who criticize the Government.
On January 29, Elham Afroutan and six other journalists from the
weekly newspaper Tamadon-e-Hormozgan in the city of Bandar Abbas were
arrested for writing an article critical of Ayatollah Khomeini.
Afroutan and one other journalist were reportedly released in June
after posting bail, according to RSF.
The state-owned newspaper Iran was suspended following publication
of a May 12 cartoon that incited riots among the country's Azeri
minority (see section 5). On May 23, according to RSF editor Mehrdad
Qasemfar and cartoonist Mana Nayestani were arrested and taken to Evin
Prison. They were reportedly given a 50-day leave but returned to
prison on October 12. At year's end both were believed to be out of
prison.
On July 24, the East Azerbaijan province press court revoked the
license of provincial daily Nada-yi-Azerabadagan and sentenced its
editor, Abolfazl Vesali, to six months in jail reportedly for
``inciting the public.'' Vesali was released on bail after spending 45
days in jail.
In August the Tehran public court revoked the licenses of the two
publications (the monthly magazine Aftab and business newspaper Akhbar-
e-Eqtesadi) and sentenced Aftab managing editor Isa Saharkhiz to four
years in prison. Aftab was reportedly closed for ``publishing false
information,'' specifically, a series of articles critical of the
country's prison system.
On August 19, the Supreme Court sentenced Saghi Baghernia,
publisher of the business daily Asia, to six months in prison for
``propaganda against the regime.''
Also in August according to domestic press, government spokesman
Gholam Hoseyn Elham wrote an open letter to Tehran prosecutor Mortazavi
accusing some publications of a smear campaign against the Government
and calling for legal action against publishers of ``slanderous
reports.''
In September according to the Committee to Protect Journalists
(CPJ), an appeals court upheld the one-year prison sentence against
Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand, Kurdish journalist and human rights activist.
Kabudvand, who is also secretary of the Kurdistan Organization for the
Defense of Human Rights, wrote for the now-defunct weekly Payam Mardom
Kordestan and was convicted of ``inciting the population to rebel
against the central state.''
On September 12, major reformist daily Shargh was closed by the
Press Supervisory board. Authorities cited a satirical cartoon
published on September 7 as the reason for the closure. Also on
September 12, monthly publications Nameh and Hafez were closed.
Government authorities reportedly pressured Shargh to replace its
managing editor before the closure, but the paper did not comply.
Following the closure of Shargh, a new publication, Rouzegar, began
employing many of the original Shargh staff. On October 19, the new
publication was suspended three days after it began publishing, when it
ignored government warnings to avoid covering political topics.
On September 19, government officials raided the office of Advar
News, a news Web site affiliated with the student group OSU. The Web
site was shut at that time but resumed under a different name on
October 4.
On October 12, three journalists from the Kurdish language weekly
Rouji Ha Lat, Farhad Aminpour, Reza Alipour, and Saman Solimani, were
arrested without charge. They were reportedly released one month later.
On October 16, proreform weekly Safir Dashtestan was reportedly
closed for publishing an article critical of Supreme Leader Khamenei,
according to RSF. Its publisher, editor, and an editorial assistant
were detained; however, they were later released on bail.
In November 2005 RSF accused Ministry of Intelligence officials of
harassing journalists, claiming government officials had summoned at
least 10 journalists for questioning and advised them not to criticize
the new President or write articles on sensitive issues like the
nuclear program. HRW asserted, ``By attacking a small percentage of
those critical of the Government, authorities have been able to silence
a much larger body of journalists, activists, and students.''
There were threats and prosecution against journalists writing
about ethnic issues. For example, Yusuf Azizi was arrested in April
2005 for writing about ethnic issues and released on bail in June 2005;
as of year's end, he had resumed writing.
Throughout the year the Government continued to harass senior Shi'a
religious and political leaders and their followers who dissented from
the ruling conservative establishment. On October 8, authorities
arrested dissident cleric Ayatollah Boroujerdi, who had publicly
espoused the separation of religion and politics (see section 1.e.). In
August 2005 Hojatoleslam Mojtaba Lotfi, the aide to Ayatollah Montazeri
arrested in 2004 for publishing a book on Montazeri's five years of
house arrest, was reportedly released from jail.
Internet Freedom.--The Government increased control over the
Internet during the year as more citizens used it as a source for news
and political debate. A 2004 poll by a domestic press outlet found many
citizens trusted the Internet more than other news media. In 2005
approximately 6.2 million citizens used the Internet, and there were
683 Internet Service Providers (ISPs). All ISPs must be approved by the
Ministry of Culture and Guidance, and the Government used filtering
software to block access to some Western Web sites, reportedly
including the Web sites of prominent Western newspapers and NGOs.
During the year approximately seven million citizens used the Internet,
although the Communications Ministry estimated as many as 16 million
users of the ``Internet and information technology,'' according to
domestic press reports.
In October the Government imposed a limit of 128 kilobytes per
second (KBps) on Internet speed and required ISPs to comply with the
limit by decreasing Internet service speed to homes and cafes. The new
limit made it more difficult to download Internet material and to
circumvent government restrictions to access blocked Web sites.
In January Arash Sigarchi, journalist and Internet author, was
sentenced to three years in prison for ``insulting the supreme leader''
and ``propaganda against the regime.'' According to domestic press
Sigarchi was reportedly released on medical leave on June 7, and on
December 23, the Government acquitted him of all charges and declared
the case closed.
RSF reported that during the year that 38 journalists were arrested
and dozens of media outlets censored. According to RSF repression of
bloggers decreased during the year, but Internet censorship increased.
According to RSF the news Web sites Advar and Entekhab were blocked
during the year as well as several Web sites dealing with women's
issues inside the country. Women's groups reportedly launched an online
petition during the year to protest Internet filtering.
In January 2005 Judiciary Chief Shahrudi and other judiciary
officials met with several Internet writers about their claims of
mistreatment. Domestic media later reported that Shahrudi instructed
the public prosecutor's office to transfer the cases to a special
committee. The report on the treatment of the Internet writers was
never publicly released (see section 1.c.). Most of the writers were
released on bail by the end of 2005. After their release, RSF reported
authorities summoned the bloggers for questioning several times a week,
and government officials threatened them.
In April the Minister of Communications and Information Technology
announced the Government's intention to establish a ``national
Internet,'' which would improve on the costly monitoring process that
required Web site information to exit the country and then return. A
study published by HRW in October 2005 listed Internet sites that had
been blocked in the country, including women's rights sites, several
foreign-based, Farsi-language news sites, some popular sites of
Internet writers, the Freedom Movement Party Web site, a Web site
promoting the views of Ayatollah Montazeri, several Kurdish Web sites,
Web sites dedicated to political prisoners, and a Baha'i Web site. In
October 2005 government authorities also blocked access to the Baztab
news Web site. The Web site manager said they received a judicial order
saying the temporary ban was based on a complaint related to the
nuclear issue. In December 2005 13 Majles deputies protested Internet
censorship in a letter to President Ahmadinejad and urged him to end
the ban on these three sites.
Beginning in 2004 the Government launched a major crackdown on
sites based in the country, including blogs (web-based publications of
periodic articles with commentary by the author and readers),
reportedly blocking hundreds of Internet sites. According to HRW in the
past three years, Tehran Chief Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi reportedly
ordered more than 20 Internet journalists and civil society activists
arrested and held in a secret detention center in Tehran.
In 2004 four of these detainees denied any mistreatment during a
televised ``press conference'' arranged by Tehran's Chief Prosecutor
Mortazavi. However, widespread and credible reports indicated that
while in secret detention, threats, torture, and physical abuse were
employed to obtain false confessions and letters of repentance (see
section 1.e.). After their release, some detainees testified to a
Presidential commission about their treatment. Commission member and
former Presidential advisor Mohammad Ali Abtahi later wrote on his
Internet site that detainees claimed they were beaten, held in solitary
confinement, denied access to lawyers, and forced to make false
confessions. In January 2005 Abtahi reported that the Government
blocked access to his Internet site.
According to RSF the Government claimed to have blocked access to
10 million ``immoral'' Internet sites during the year. In 2005 the
judiciary announced the creation of a special unit to handle Internet-
related issues. According to press reporting, the judiciary highlighted
over 20 subject areas to be blocked, including insulting Islam,
insulting the Supreme Leader or making false accusations about
officials, undermining national unity and solidarity, and propagating
prostitution and drugs.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted
academic freedom. In September President Ahmadinejad called for the
removal of secular and liberal professors from universities. Reports
indicated dozens of university professors were dismissed or forced to
retire. Student groups reported that during the year the Government
used a ``star'' system to rank politically active students--each star
denoted a negative mark. Students with three stars were reportedly
banned from university or prevented from registering for upcoming
terms. Government informers were common on university campuses.
Additionally, there were reports the Government maintained a broad
network of student informants in Qom's major seminaries who reported
teaching counter to official government positions.
The Government censored cultural events. In November 2005 the
Minister of Islamic Culture and Guidance promised more stringent
controls on books, cinema, and theater, although he indicated the
change would not be immediate. He also warned of greater surveillance
of ``hundreds'' of cultural associations. Culture Ministry officials
also reportedly cancelled more than 30 concerts. In December 2005
President Ahmadinejad announced a ban on Western music, which remained
in effect during the year. A September report by a Western NGO noted
that censorship by authorities and a culture of self-censorship
strongly inhibited artistic expression in the country.
The Government also effectively censored domestic films, since it
remained the main source of production funding. Producers were required
to submit scripts and film proposals to government officials in advance
of funding approval. After President Ahmadinejad assumed office in
August 2005, the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council announced a ban of
movies promoting secularism, feminism, unethical behavior, drug abuse,
violence, or alcoholism. Films of some domestic directors were not
permitted to be shown in the country.
Admission to universities was politicized; all applicants had to
pass ``character tests'' in which officials eliminated applicants
critical of the Government's ideology. Some seats in universities
continued to be reserved for members of the Basij, regardless of their
scores on the national entrance exam. To obtain tenure professors had
to refrain from criticism of the authorities.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution permits assemblies and marches, ``provided
they do not violate the principles of Islam''; however, in practice the
Government restricted freedom of assembly and closely monitored
gatherings to prevent antigovernment protests. Such gatherings included
public entertainment and lectures, student meetings, labor protests,
funeral processions, and Friday prayer gatherings.
Paramilitary organizations such as the Ansar-e Hizballah, a group
of vigilantes who seek to enforce their vision of appropriate
revolutionary comportment upon society, harassed, beat, and intimidated
those who demonstrated publicly for reform. They particularly targeted
university students.
On March 8, police dispersed a rally in Tehran commemorating
International Women's Day. Participants were reportedly attacked and
beaten by police (see section 5). On June 12, police forcefully
dispersed a women's rights demonstration; many protesters were detained
and arrested, including former Majles deputy and human rights activist
Ali Akbar Musavi Khoini. Khoini was subsequently released; however,
others reportedly remained in prison at year's end.
On September 24, police reportedly arrested 30 activists who
gathered in front of the UN office in Tehran to protest the death
sentence of Kobra Rahmanpour, who was convicted of the stabbing death
of her mother-in-law in 2000. She pled self-defense but received a
death sentence.
On December 11, students disrupted a speech by President
Ahmadinejad at Amir Kabir University, shouting slogans directed against
him. Ahmadinejad reportedly spoke with some students following his
speech and assured them they would not be punished for expressing their
views; however, reports indicated some student participants still
feared retaliation.
In December 2005 Sherkat-e-Vahed went on strike to protest
nonpayment of wages, poor working conditions, and the arrests of 14
association leaders. Mansour Osanloo, the head of Sherkat-e-Vahed, was
arrested at that time, and detained in Evin Prison. On January 28,
Sherkat-e-Vahed members demonstrated, calling for the release of
Osanloo and attention to their grievances. Police used force to disrupt
the protest and arrested several hundred members of the syndicate, as
well as some of their family members, according to the International
Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). Family members and some of the
workers were released, but at year's end there was no information
regarding other reportedly detained workers. On August 9, Osanloo was
released on bail but re-arrested on November 19 (see section 6.b.).
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for the
establishment of political parties, professional associations, Islamic
religious groups, and organizations for recognized religious
minorities, provided that such groups do not violate the principles of
``freedom, sovereignty, and national unity,'' or question Islam as the
basis of the Islamic Republic; however, the Government limited freedom
of association, in practice.
The Government's 2002 dissolution of the Freedom Movement, the
country's oldest opposition party, remained in effect.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution declares that the
``official religion of Iran is Islam and the doctrine followed is that
of Ja'fari (Twelver) Shi'ism.'' The constitution also states that
``other Islamic denominations are to be accorded full respect'' and
recognizes the country's pre-Islamic religions--Zoroastrians,
Christians, and Jews--as ``protected'' religious minorities; however,
in practice the Government restricted freedom of religion. Religions
not specifically protected under the constitution, particularly the
Baha'i Faith, did not enjoy freedom.
The central feature of the country's Islamic republican system is
rule by the ``religious jurisconsult.'' Its senior leadership consisted
principally of Shi'a clergymen, including the supreme leader of the
revolution, the President, the head of the judiciary, and the speaker
of parliament.
During the year, for the first time, approximately 200 Baha'i
students were admitted to universities. However, it was not known if
their admission resulted from changed government policy or a change in
the use of university application forms.
On May 19, officials arrested 54 Baha'is in Shiraz. No charges were
made, and all but three were released on bail within a week. The
remaining three Baha'is were released on June 14.
On June 28, authorities re-arrested Baha'i member Pooya Mavahhed,
who was first arrested in August 2005 on a charge of opposition to the
Government but was released 10 days later on bail.
On August 17, according to press reports, authorities arrested
Babak Rouhi in Mashad on counts of having made copies of a Baha'i book
for a Baha'i function.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The population is
approximately 99 percent Muslim; 89 percent of the population is Shi'a,
and 10 percent is Sunni. Baha'i, Christian, Zoroastrian, and Jewish
communities constitute less than 1 percent of the population.
The Government carefully monitored the statements and views of the
country's senior Muslim religious leaders. It restricted the movement
of several religious leaders, who had been under house arrest for
years, and arrested and imprisoned at least one dissident cleric,
Ayatollah Boroujerdi, during the year (see section 2.a.). All ranking
clerics were pressured to ensure their teachings confirmed (or at least
did not contradict) government policy and positions (see section 1.e.).
Sunni Muslims are the largest religious minority. The constitution
provides Sunni Muslims a large degree of religious freedom. Sunni
Muslims claimed the Government discriminated against them, although it
was hard to distinguish whether the cause for discrimination was
religious or ethnic, since most Sunnis are also ethnic minorities,
primarily Arabs, Balouchis, and Kurds. As an example of discrimination,
Sunnis cited the lack of a Sunni mosque in the nation's capital,
Tehran, despite over a million Sunni inhabitants.
Members of the country's non-Muslim religious minorities,
particularly Baha'is, reported imprisonment, harassment, and
intimidation based on their religious beliefs. In November 2005 the
domestic press quoted a leading cleric, Ayatollah Ahmad Janati,
secretary of the Guardian Council, as saying humans who follow anything
but Islam are like animals who graze and commit corruption. The comment
was widely criticized in the country, and the Majles representative of
the Zoroastrian community publicly condemned Janati's remarks. The
representative was then summoned to court to face charges of spreading
false news and showing a lack of respect for authorities, but no case
was pursued against him.
All religious minorities suffered varying degrees of officially
sanctioned discrimination, particularly in employment, education, and
housing. In June the UNSR for Adequate Housing visited the country and
reported that rural land, particularly that belonging to minorities,
including many Baha'is, was expropriated for government use and owners
were not fairly compensated. With the exception of Baha'is, the
Government allowed recognized religious minorities to conduct religious
education of their adherents, although it restricted this right
considerably in some cases. Religious minorities are barred from
election to a representative body, except for the five Majles seats
reserved for minorities, and from holding senior government or military
positions, but they were allowed to vote. Although the constitution
mandates an Islamic army, members of religious minorities did serve in
the military, although non-Muslim promotions were limited by a military
restriction against non-Muslims commanding Muslims. Reportedly non-
Muslims can be officers during their mandatory military service but
cannot be career military officers.
The legal system previously discriminated against recognized
religious minorities in relation to blood money; however, in 2004 the
Expediency Council authorized collection of equal blood money for the
death of Muslim and non-Muslim men. Women and Baha'i men remained
excluded from the revised ruling.
Inheritance rules favored Muslim family members over non-Muslims.
For example, under existing inheritance laws, if a non-Muslim converted
to Islam, that person would inherit all family holdings while non-
Muslim relatives would receive nothing.
Furthermore, proselytizing of Muslims by non-Muslims is illegal.
The Government did not ensure the right of citizens to change or recant
their religion. Apostasy, specifically conversion from Islam, was
punishable by death, although there were no reported instances of the
death penalty being applied for apostasy during the year. There was no
further information on the Internet report of a Christian killed in
November 2005 who had converted from Islam 10 years earlier. Baha'is
are considered apostates because of their claim to a religious
revelation subsequent to that of the Prophet Mohammed. The Government
defined the Baha'i faith as a political ``sect'' linked to the Pahlavi
monarchy and Israel and, therefore, counterrevolutionary.
Baha'i organizations outside the country warned that the Government
intensified a strategy of intimidation against Baha'is. The country's
estimated 300,000 to 350,000 Baha'is were not allowed to teach or
practice their faith or to maintain links with co-religionists abroad.
The Government continued to imprison and detain Baha'is based on their
religious beliefs. A 2001 Justice Ministry report indicated the
existence of a government policy to eliminate the Baha'i community
eventually.
In March the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and
Belief expressed concern about allegations that security forces were
monitoring and gathering information about the Baha'i community. Baha'i
groups reported the Government was collecting names of Baha'is across
the country, and there was an increase of anti-Baha'i editorials in
progovernment newspapers.
In December 2005 the longest held Baha'i prisoner, Zabihullah
Mahrami, died in prison of unknown causes. Mahrami was arrested in 1995
and faced a life sentence for apostasy. Another Baha'i, Mehran Kawsari,
who was sentenced to three years in prison in November 2004 after
writing a letter to then-President Khatami on the situation of Baha'is,
was released on bail on March 18.
On May 19, 54 Baha'is were arrested in the city of Shiraz. Those
arrested were primarily Baha'i youths participating in a student
volunteer program to tutor underprivileged children. All were released
by mid-June.
Throughout 2005 the Government arrested 65 other Baha'is, detained
them, and later released them on high bails, often in the form of
property deeds. While they were imprisoned, their families often were
not informed of their location, and authorities denied any record of
their arrests or did not indicate charges against them. Some were not
allowed to work for several months after their release. Government
agents also searched numerous Baha'i homes and seized possessions.
In October the National Spiritual Assembly of Baha'is of the United
States reported that more than 300 Baha'i students passed the
university entrance exam in the country and were admitted. The Baha'i
group reported 201 students were allowed to register for university,
but 14 were identified as Baha'is by their professors, dismissed from
classes, and told they would need a Ministry of Education certificate
to resume studies. At year's end they had reportedly not received
responses from the ministry.
The December 19 UNGA resolution on the country's human rights
expressed serious concerns about increasing discrimination against
religious and ethnic minorities, citing the escalation and increased
frequency of violations against Baha'is. It called on the Government to
implement the 1996 UNSR report of the Commission on Human Rights on
religious tolerance, particularly in regard to the Baha'i community.
In 2001 the U.S. estimated the Christian community at approximately
300,000. Of these the majority were ethnic Armenians and Assyro-
Chaldeans. Protestant denominations and evangelical churches also were
active, but they reported restrictions on their activities. The
authorities became particularly vigilant in recent years in curbing
proselytizing activities by evangelical Christians. Some unofficial
estimates circa 2004 indicated that there were approximately 100,000
Muslim-born citizens who had converted to Christianity. The U.S.
estimated that 15,000 to 20,000 Christians emigrated each year;
however, given the continued exodus from the country for economic and
social reasons, it was difficult to establish the role religion played
in the choice to emigrate.
On September 26, authorities arrested Fereshteh Dibaj and Reza
Montazami, Christian citizens, at their home in the northeastern part
of the country. The Information Ministry held the couple for 10 days
without bringing any charges against them, and agents confiscated their
home computer and other belongings. They were released on October 5.
Dibaj and Montazami operated an independent church in Mashhad.
In 2004 authorities reportedly arrested a number of Christians in
the northern part of the country and imprisoned Hamid Pourmand, a
Protestant minister and former military officer. In February 2005 a
military court convicted Pourmand of ``deceiving the armed forces'' for
not declaring he was a convert to Christianity. He was sentenced to
three years in prison and discharged from the military. A judiciary
spokesman said Pourmand was convicted for involvement with a
``political group'' and not because of his religion. In May 2005 the
Bushehr Revolutionary Court cleared Pourmand of apostasy but sentenced
him to three years in prison for espionage. At year's end there was no
further information.
Estimates of the size of the Jewish community varied from 15,000 to
30,000. The Government's anti-Israel stance, in particular the
President's speeches against Israel stating the Zionist regime should
be eliminated, and the perception among many citizens that Jewish
citizens supported Zionism and Israel, created a threatening atmosphere
for the community.
On December 11 and 12, the Government sponsored a conference
entitled, ``Review of the Holocaust: Global Vision.'' This conference
was widely criticized as it sought to provide a forum for those who
deny the existence or scope of the Holocaust. Topics included: ``Nazism
and Zionism: Cooperation or Hostility''; ``Holocaust: Concept and
Justification/Evidence''; ``Gas Chambers: Denial or Confirmation'';
``Aftermath and Exploitation''; ``Anti-Semitism and the Emergence of
Zionism''; and ``Western Media and Propaganda.'' Speakers at the
conference universally called for the elimination or delegitimization
of the state of Israel and concluded that the Holocaust did not occur
or was an exaggeration used by Jews for political and financial gains.
On October 20, Channel 1 aired a science fiction film made in the
country entitled The Land of Wishes. It featured an evil queen, adorned
with a large Star of David and sitting on a throne in the ``Black
House'' (which is also marked with a Star of David). The queen engages
in a battle of ``virtual warriors'' with a young girl who seeks to free
the masses the queen has enslaved. When the queen is defeated, her
technicians die struggling to rescue a ``medal"--also a Star of David.
In the fall the newspaper Hamshahri cosponsored a Holocaust cartoon
contest in which the paper solicited submissions from around the world
and awarded a $12,000 (approximately 111,000 rials) prize to a Moroccan
cartoonist who drew a picture of an Israeli crane erecting a wall of
concrete blocks around the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Islam's third
holiest site. The blocks bear sections of a photograph of the Nazi
extermination camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Within the domestic press, anti-Semitism in the media was present
and anti-Semitic editorial cartoons depicting demonic and stereotypical
images of Jews along with Jewish symbols were published throughout the
year, primarily in the government-controlled owned daily newspaper, Al-
Wifaq, and occurred without government response.
In October 2005 President Ahmadinejad told ``The World Without
Zionism'' conference that, ``as the Imam [revolutionary leader
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini] said, Israel must be wiped off the map.''
While chants of ``death to Israel'' had been common at public
gatherings prior to this declaration, Ahmadinejad's comment was the
first public call for Israel's destruction by a high-ranking government
official in recent years. Supreme Leader Khamenei, while not
repudiating Ahmadinejad's remarks, said the country would not commit
aggression against any nation.
Nevertheless, Ahmadinejad continued in subsequent speeches to make
similar comments, labeling the Holocaust a myth and calling for the
removal of the Jewish state from the Middle East. For example, on April
15, at the opening of a conference supporting Palestinians he said,
``Like it or not, the Zionist regime is headed towards annihilation.''
He followed this remark on April 27 on live state television claiming,
``The regime in Israel will one day vanish.'' On July 8, Ahmadinejad
stated that ``the basic problem in the Islamic world is the existence
of the Zionist regime, and the Islamic world and the region must
mobilize to remove this problem,'' and later that month stated during
an emergency meeting with Muslim leaders that ``the real cure for the
Lebanon conflict is the elimination of the Zionist regime, but there
should be first an immediate cease-fire.'' On August 3, in a speech
before the Organization of the Islamic Conference, he said, ``the
Zionist regime is fraudulent and illegitimate and cannot survive,'' and
on October 19 and November 13, Ahmadinejad stated, ``The regime in
Israel will be gone, definitely. You, the Western powers, should know
that any government that stands by the Zionist regime from now on will
not see any result but the hatred of people.'' On December 12, he
stated that he wished to give ``thanks to people's wishes and God's
will the trend for the existence of the Zionist regime is downwards and
this is what God has promised and what all nations want. Just as the
Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the
Zionist regime soon be wiped out.''
The sole Jewish member of parliament (MP) condemned the President's
remarks on the Holocaust, noting in a September 22 BBC News article
that ``it is very regrettable to see a horrible tragedy so far reaching
as the Holocaust being denied it was a very big insult to Jews all
around the world.''
The Jewish MP also complained in April 2005 that the state-run
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) television network
transmitted anti-Semitic programs, although he noted this year that
such broadcasts were sporadic. According to local press, IRIB replied
in a letter later in April that was read in the Majles that its
programming was based on ``research and documentary evidence'' and
claimed that IRIB's programming gave more attention to positive Jewish
characters than negative ones. IRIB's statement notwithstanding, anti-
Semitic material on national television included a serial started in
December 2004 called Zahra's Blue Eyes, in which Israelis reportedly
kidnapped Palestinian children to harvest organs for transplant.
In recent years the Government has made education of Jewish
children more difficult by limiting distribution of Hebrew texts and
requiring several Jewish schools to remain open on Saturdays, the
Jewish Sabbath. There were limits on the level to which Jews could rise
professionally, particularly in government. Jewish citizens were
permitted, however, to obtain passports and travel outside the country,
without previous limits on multiple-exit visas or restriction on
permitting all family members to travel at once.
In May a magazine published photos of synagogues draped in U.S. and
Israeli flags and claimed they were in Tehran and Shiraz when in fact
they were outside of the country. Anti-Jewish and anti-Israel
demonstrations followed in Shiraz. The Jewish MP protested in the
Majles and was supported by the Speaker of the Majles, Gholam Ali
Hadded Adel, who reprimanded the magazine. At the end of the year, a
Jewish community monthly publication stopped for unknown reasons.
The Mandeans, whose religion draws on Christian Gnostic beliefs,
number approximately 5,000 to 10,000 persons, primarily in the
southwest. There were reports that Mandeans experienced discrimination
in the form of pressure to convert to Islam and problems accessing
higher education.
The Zoroastrian community, whose religion was the country's
official religion before Islam, numbers approximately 30,000 to 35,000.
Sufis are a minority Muslim sect whose practices focus on mysticism
in Islam and involve dance and music. Sufis are sometimes regarded with
suspicion by followers of more orthodox interpretations of Islam. Sufi
organizations outside the country previously expressed concern about
government repression of their religious practices, and during the year
there were arrests in Qom, a center of orthodox Shi'ism, after calls by
Shi'a clerics for restrictions on local Sufis.
On February 14, according to authorities, 1,200 Sufi worshippers in
Qom were arrested. Sufi groups and human rights activists placed the
number of arrested at approximately 2,000. Qom officials announced that
the worshippers were arrested following attempts by authorities to
expel them from their place of worship. Officials in Qom said that the
building had been illegally turned into a place of worship and
worshippers who refused to leave had to be removed by force.
Authorities further stated that more than 100 persons, including 30
police officers, were injured.
On May 4, 52 Sufis were sentenced to one year in prison, fines, and
lashes (ultimately reduced to fines) in connection with the February
incident. Their lawyers, Farshid Yadollahi and Omid Behrouzi, shared
their sentence and were also banned from practicing law for five years.
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 Government placed some restrictions
on these rights. Citizens could travel within the country and change
their place of residence without obtaining official permission. The
Government required exit permits for foreign travel for all citizens.
Some citizens, particularly those whose skills were in short supply and
who were educated at government expense, had to post bonds to obtain
exit permits. The Government restricted the movement of certain
religious minorities and several religious leaders (see sections 1.d.
and 2.c.), as well as some scientists in sensitive fields.
For example, Hojjatoleslam Ezimi Qedimi was convicted of
``propagandizing in favor of groups and organizations against the
system.'' On August 31, he was released after serving approximately
five months in prison; however a five-year overseas travel ban remained
in effect. Additionally, in January 2005 according to domestic media,
former deputy minister for Islamic culture and guidance, Issa
Saharkhiz, was banned from foreign travel. In December 2005 Emaddedin
Baqi, President of the Association in Defense of Prisoners Rights, was
prevented from going to France to receive a human rights prize. There
was no indication during the year that these travel bans were lifted.
Citizens returning from abroad occasionally were subjected to
searches and extensive questioning by government authorities for
evidence of antigovernment activities abroad. Recorded and printed
material, personal correspondence, and photographs were subject to
confiscation.
Women must obtain the permission of their husband, father, or other
male relative to obtain a passport. Married women must receive written
permission from their husbands before leaving the country.
The Government did not use forced external exile, and no
information was available regarding whether the law prohibits such
exile; however, the Government used internal exile as a punishment.
The Government offered amnesty to rank-and-file members of the
Iranian terrorist organization, MEK residing outside the country.
Subsequently, the ICRC assisted with voluntarily repatriating at least
300 MEK affiliates housed in Iraq under MNF-I (Multinational Force
Iraq) protective supervision.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides means for granting asylum
or refugee status to qualified applicants 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. There were no reports of any forced return of persons to a
country where they feared persecution; however, there were reports that
the Government deported refugees deemed ``illegal'' entrants into the
country. In times of economic uncertainty, the Government increased
pressure on refugees to return to their home countries. The Government
generally cooperated with the office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting
refugees and refugee seekers.
No information was available on government policy regarding
temporary protection to individuals who may not qualify as refugees
under the 1951 Convention or its 1967 Protocol.
In October at a UNHCR meeting on refugees in Geneva, Interior
Minister Mostafa Purmohammadi estimated that the country hosted 950,000
legal refugees from Afghanistan, plus another one million illegal
Afghan refugees. Reportedly, the UNHCR complained that government
authorities pressured Afghan refugees to return to Afghanistan by
suspending education and medical services and revoking residence
permits. On October 12, the provincial government of East Azerbaijan
province announced Afghan refugees could not remain in the province and
had until October 22 to present themselves to authorities for their
situations to ``be clarified.'' The Government accused many Afghans of
involvement in drug trafficking.
According to a Western NGO, in February 2005 the country passed
regulations that increased fines for employers of Afghans without work
permits and imposed new restrictions to make it more difficult for
Afghans to obtain mortgages, rent or own property, or open bank
accounts. The Government did not impose the same restrictions on Iraqi
refugees. These rules also included new restrictions on residence in
certain cities and regions and lifted an earlier exemption from school
fees for Afghan refugee children. UNHCR cut all education assistance to
Afghans. In June the Government reduced the school fees charged for
Afghan students, according to a Western NGO. During the year government
officials called for increased repatriation of refugees to Afghanistan.
In January 2005 the judiciary announced amnesty for imprisoned
Afghans, including those on death row. Following release, these Afghans
were to be repatriated; however, there was no confirmation during the
year that they were repatriated. There were reports in 2005 of Afghans
being arrested and deported in the southeast of the country. Most were
illegal migrants, seeking to stay in the country for economic reasons,
but some had temporary residence permits. Government officials denied
arresting refugees. A June 2005 survey by a Western NGO noted that the
country had deported 140,000 Afghans, including some with refugee
status. At one border crossing, the Government worked with UNHCR to
allow deportees to claim asylum or cite other reasons why they should
not be deported, but it did not set up similar facilities at other
border crossings.
The UNHCR estimated that in 2001 there were approximately 200,000
Iraqi refugees in the country, the majority of whom were Iraqi Kurds,
but also including Shi'a Arabs. In numerous instances both the Iraqi
and Iranian governments disputed these refugees' citizenship, rendering
many of them stateless.
During the past few years, however, a large percentage of these
refugees were voluntarily repatriated. A Western NGO estimated that
during the year there were approximately 54,000 Iraqi refugees in the
country.
Although the Government claimed to host more than 30,000 refugees
of other nationalities during the year, including Tajiks, Uzbeks,
Bosnians, Azeris, Eritreans, Somalis, Bangladeshis, and Pakistanis, it
did not provide information about them, nor did it allow UNHCR or other
organizations access to them. A Western NGO reported that few
international humanitarian agencies operated in the country because the
Government restricted their operations and did not allow UNHCR to fund
them.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
Elections and Political Participation.--The right of citizens to
change their government was restricted significantly. The supreme
leader, the recognized head of state, is elected by the Assembly of
Experts and can only be removed by a vote of this assembly. The
assembly is restricted to clerics, who serve an eight-year term and are
chosen by popular vote from a list approved by the Council of
Guardians. There is no separation of state and religion, and clerical
influence pervades the Government. According to the constitution, a
Presidential candidate must be elected from among religious and
political personalities (rejal, which is interpreted by the Council of
Guardians to mean men only), of Iranian origin, and believe in the
Islamic Republic's system and principles. The Council of Guardians,
which reviews all laws for consistency with Islamic law and the
constitution, has ``approbatory supervision,'' allowing it to screen
candidates for election. The council only accepts candidates who
support a theocratic state. The supreme leader also approves the
candidacy of Presidential candidates, with the exception of an
incumbent President. Prior to the 2004 parliamentary elections, the
Guardian Council vetoed legislation that would have required it to
reinstate disqualified candidates unless the council legally documented
their exclusion. Regularly scheduled elections are held for the
presidency, the Majles, and the Assembly of Experts, as well as
municipal councils.
On December 15, there were elections for the Assembly of Experts,
municipal councils, and Majles by-elections. Hundreds of potential
candidates, largely reformists, were disqualified by the Guardian
Council and parliamentary electoral committees prior to the elections.
Nonetheless, in the municipal election for the Tehran city council,
reformists gained more seats than did supporters of President
Ahmadinejad. In the Assembly of Experts elections, Ahmadinejad's
political rival, Expediency Council chair Hojatoleslam Ali Akbar
Hashemi-Rafsanjani, received the most votes in the Tehran constituency
by a significant margin.
The December 19 UNGA resolution on the country's human rights
expressed serious concern at ``the absence of many conditions necessary
for free and fair elections'' including arbitrary disqualification of
large numbers of prospective candidates.
On November 14, council spokesperson Abbas Ali Kadkhodai announced
only 144 of the 492 prospective candidates were eligible to run in the
December 15 Assembly of Experts elections. Reports indicated that 100
candidates withdrew their applications, and all female candidates
failed the written exam on religious interpretation (ijtihad).
The fairness of the June 2005 Presidential election was undermined
both before and during the polls. The Council of Guardians initially
approved the candidacies of only six of the 1,014 persons who
registered and excluded all 89 female candidates as well as anyone
critical of the leadership, including former cabinet ministers.
Many candidates and the Interior Ministry complained of
irregularities during the polling, including interference by basiji
forces. There were no international election observers. After the
second round of voting, the supreme leader denied the allegations of
basiji involvement, and the council validated the results on June 29,
2005. Domestic press said 104 cases of alleged violations were under
review and suspects were detained in 26 cases; however, no further
action was taken. According to official statistics, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
won the run-off race with 61 percent of the votes.
Elections that were widely perceived as neither free nor fair were
held for the 290-seat Majles in 2004. The Guardians Council barred over
a third of the more than 8,000 prospective candidates, mostly
reformists, including over 85 sitting Majles members seeking re-
election.
The constitution allows for the formation of parties. There were
more than 100 registered political organizations, but these groups
tended to be small entities, often focused around an individual and did
not have nationwide membership. Following the June 2005 Presidential
elections, these political groupings significantly reorganized, with
new groups forming and existing entities changing leadership.
Conservative groups splintered during the year; moderate conservatives
appeared increasingly separated from fundamentalist conservatives. In
the December 15 municipal elections, reform groups created a single
electoral list for the Tehran municipal council elections.
In 2002 the Government permanently dissolved the Freedom Movement,
the country's oldest opposition party, and sentenced over 30 of its
members to jail terms ranging from four months to 10 years on charges
of trying to overthrow the Islamic system. Other members were barred
from political activity for up to 10 years and fined (see section
2.b.). Its leader, Ebrahim Yazdi, was no longer in prison; however,
there was no information regarding the circumstances of other Freedom
Movement members.
There were no female cabinet ministers, although one of the nine
vice Presidents is a woman, and several women held high-level
positions. There were 12 women serving in the Majles during the year,
and one woman was elected to the Majles in the December 15 by-
elections. Five Majles seats are reserved for religious minorities.
Other ethnic minorities in the Majles include Arabs and Kurds. There
were no non-Muslims in the cabinet or on the Supreme Court.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was widespread
public perception of extensive corruption in all three branches of
government, to include the judiciary, and in the bonyads (tax-exempt
foundations designed for charitable activity that control consortia of
substantial companies). In March Judiciary Chief Shahrudi criticized
economic corruption in the state sector and urged creation of a central
body with representatives from the state and private sectors to discuss
issues of privatization and elimination of corruption; however, there
was no known action on this body by year's end. On August 23, the
Majles passed a law requiring all state officials, including cabinet
ministers, and members of the Guardian Council, Expediency Council, and
Assembly of Experts to submit annual financial statements to the state
inspectorate.
In March 2005 Judiciary Chief Shahrudi claimed the judiciary was
pursuing ``700 to 800'' corruption cases related to state officials.
However, he clarified that these offenses were usually the work of
``junior administrators'' and high officials should not be prosecuted
for the activities of their subordinates. In October 2005 in responding
to criticism of a government report on corruption that omitted names,
Shahrudi said that those involved with financial crimes would not be
publicly identified until they are found guilty or the appeals process
exhausted. In November 2005 he also reportedly told the Majles that
inefficient economic institutions were at the root of corrupt practices
and the duality of the economy--both state and private ownership--
contributed to the problem. There was no information during the year
regarding further action on these corruption cases.
The country has no laws providing for public access to government
information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The Government continued to restrict the work of local human rights
groups. The Government denies the universality of human rights and has
stated that human rights issues should be viewed in the context of a
country's ``culture and beliefs.''
In 2004 the Government granted permission to the Society for the
Defense of the Rights of Prisoners to operate as an independent
nonpolitical NGO. The group worked to protect detainees and promote
prison reform, established a small fund to provide free legal advice to
prisoners, and supported the families of detainees. Founders included
former political prisons Emaddedin Baqi and Mohammad Hassan Alipour.
During the year the group maintained a Web site with information
addressing human rights issues and in June published a report about
prisons in the country. There was no indication during the year that
Judiciary Chief Shahrudi responded to their appeal for attention to
cases of political prisoners.
Various professional groups representing writers, journalists,
photographers, and others attempted to monitor government restrictions
in their respective fields, as well as harassment and intimidation
against individual members of their professions. However, the
Government severely curtailed these groups' ability to meet, organize,
and effect change.
Domestic NGOs worked in areas such as health and population, women
and development, youth, environmental protection, human rights, and
sustainable development. Some reports estimated that a few thousand
local NGOs operated during the year. However, in late 2005 a more
restrictive environment accompanied the new Presidential
administration, including pressure on domestic NGOs not to accept
foreign grants.
The European Union (EU) established a human rights dialogue with
the country in 2002 but held its last meeting in 2004. In a December
2005 press release, the EU called the dialogue results disappointing
and noted that the Government had not agreed to a meeting during the
year. The EU also expressed deep concern that the human rights
situation had not improved and, in many respects, had worsened. On
November 16, the Ministers of the European Parliament adopted a
resolution expressing concern about the deteriorating human rights
situation and calling on the country to restart the human rights
dialogue.
International human rights NGOs were not permitted to establish
offices in or conduct regular investigative visits to the country. On
an exceptional basis, in 2004 AI officials visited the country as part
of the EU's human rights dialogue, joining academics and NGOs to
discuss the country's implementation of international human rights
standards.
The ICRC and the UNHCR both operated in the country. In June the
Government allowed the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing to
visit. The December 19 UNGA resolution on human rights in the country
encouraged the Government to receive U.S. on extrajudicial, summary, or
arbitrary executions; torture; independence of judges and lawyers;
freedom of religion or belief; and freedom of opinion and expression.
It also encouraged the Government to receive the Special Representative
of the Secretary General on the situation of human rights defenders and
the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
The Islamic Human Rights Commission was established in 1995 under
the authority of the head of the judiciary, who sits on its board as an
observer. In 1996 the Government established a human rights committee
in the Majles, the Article 90 Commission, which received and considered
complaints regarding violations of constitutional rights; however, when
the seventh Majles formed its new Article 90 Commission in 2004, the
commission dropped all cases pending from the sixth Majles. During the
year the commission took no effective action.
Lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Shirin Ebadi, is a founder of
the Center for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR), which represents
defendants in political cases. On August 3, the Government banned CDHR,
claiming it had not obtained a proper permit, declared its activities
were illegal, and stated that those who continued its activities would
be prosecuted. Ebadi noted that according to the constitution,
``nongovernmental organizations that obey the law and do not disrupt
public order do not need a permit.'' At year's end CDHR was still
reportedly banned.
Early in the year, a number of NGOs were left without legal status
after they were instructed to file for new permits. Those NGOs that did
not file the request were vulnerable to accusations of operating
without a permit, but those that filed the paperwork had not received a
response by year's end. In either instance they could be accused of
operating without a permit.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
In general the Government did not discriminate on the basis of
race, disability, or social status; however, it did discriminate on the
basis of religion, gender, and ethnicity. It consistently denied
minorities their constitutional right to use their language in schools.
The poorest areas of the country are those inhabited by ethnic
minorities, including the Baluchis in Sistan va Baluchestan Province
and Arabs in the southwest. Much of the damage suffered by the citizens
of Khuzestan Province during the eight-year war with Iraq has not been
repaired; consequently, the quality of life of the largely Arab local
population was degraded. Kurds, Azeris, and Ahvazi Arabs were not
permitted to exercise their constitutional rights to study their
languages.
Women.--The constitution says all citizens, both men and women,
equally enjoy protection of the law and all human, political, economic,
social, and cultural rights, in conformity with Islamic rights. Article
21 states the Government must ensure the rights of women in all
respects, in conformity with Islamic criteria.
Nonetheless, provisions in the Islamic civil and penal codes, in
particular those sections dealing with family and property law,
discriminate against women. Shortly after the 1979 revolution, the
Government repealed the 1967 Family Protection Law that provided women
with increased rights in the home and workplace and replaced it with a
legal system based largely on Shari'a practices. In 1998 the Majles
passed legislation that mandated segregation of the sexes in the
provision of medical care. In 2003 the Council of Guardians rejected a
bill that would require the country to adopt a UN convention ending
discrimination against women.
On March 8, security forces attacked a rally in Tehran
commemorating International Women's Day (see section 2.b.). An
estimated 400 demonstrators gathered, and the police forcibly dispersed
the demonstration. Many demonstrators were reportedly beaten by police,
including septuagenarian writer and activist Simin Behbehani. According
to one women's rights activist, the rally organizers applied for a
demonstration permit, but it was denied minutes before the rally was
scheduled to begin.
On April 22, government spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi called feminist
views and Western views of women's rights ``unrealistic'' and
``unethical'' and stated the issue was manipulated for international
political purposes.
On June 12, security forces forcibly dispersed another women's
rights demonstration and arrested approximately 70 to 80 persons,
including former Majles deputy and activist Ali Akbar Mousavi Khoini.
Demonstrators called for gender equality under the law, including equal
rights in divorce, child custody, inheritance, and court testimony.
The December 19 UNGA resolution on country's human rights expressed
serious concern at ``the continuing violence and discrimination against
women and girls in law and in practice.'' Early in 2005 a U.S. on
violence against women visited the country and, at her final press
conference, spoke out against legal gender bias. The report found the
Government had taken significant but insufficient steps to address the
problem of violence against women, and it called on the Government to
ratify the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, which was proposed by parliament in 2003.
During recent years women fought for and received relative
liberalization of gender-based treatment in a number of areas. However,
many of these changes were not legally codified. The female members of
the seventh Majles elected in 2004 rejected some previous efforts by
their predecessors to achieve equal rights. For example, in October
2005 the Government announced that female civil servants in the Culture
Ministry and female journalists at the state newspaper and news agency
should leave the office by 6 p.m. to be with their families. However,
there was no indication that violators would be punished.
In 2005 activists on women's issues expressed concern that the
woman selected by President Ahmadinejad to lead the Center for Women's
Participation, which is affiliated with the office of the President,
did not have a background in women's issues. In addition the Government
changed the name of the organization to the Center for Women and
Family, raising concern that the organization sought to reorient debate
on women's problems to focus only on those related to the home,
concerns that proved accurate. During the year this office published
reports on feminism with a negative slant. In one article it drew
comparisons between feminism and prostitution.
Although spousal abuse and violence against women occurred,
reliable statistics were not available. Abuse in the family was
considered a private matter and seldom discussed publicly, although
there were some efforts to change this attitude. Rape is illegal and
subject to strict penalties, but it remained a widespread problem.
According to the Government's 2005 report on the rights of the child,
the Center for Women's Participation and the UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF) organized the first educational workshop on women's and girls'
human rights in January 2005. Freedom from violence was one of the
workshop's topics. The report also stated that in 2004 the Center for
Women's Participation established a national committee, based in the
Health Ministry, to combat violence against women; however, during the
year there was no information on committee activity since its
formation.
According to a 2004 report on the country from the Independent
Researchers on Women's Issues, there were no reliable statistics on
honor killings, but there was evidence of ``rampant'' honor killings in
the western and southwestern provinces, in particular Khuzestan and
Elam. The punishment for perpetrators was often a short prison
sentence.
Prostitution is illegal, but sigheh, or temporary marriage, is
legal. Accurate information regarding the extent of prostitution was
not widely available, although the issue received greater attention
than in previous years. Press reports described prostitution as a
widespread problem, with a media estimate of 300,000 women working as
prostitutes. The problem appeared aggravated by difficult economic
conditions and rising numbers of drug users and runaway children.
The law requires court approval for the marriage of girls younger
than 13 and boys younger than 15. Although a male can marry at age 15
without parental consent, the 1991 civil law states that a virgin
female needs the consent of her father or grandfather to wed, or the
court's permission, even if she is older than 18. The country's Islamic
law permits a man to have up to four wives and an unlimited number of
temporary partnerships (sigheh), based on a Shi'a custom in which a
woman may become the wife of a Muslim male after a simple religious
ceremony and a civil contract outlining the union's conditions.
Temporary marriages may last for any length of time and are used
sometimes by prostitutes. Such wives are not granted rights associated
with traditional marriage.
Women have the right to divorce if their husband signed a contract
granting that right or if he cannot provide for his family, is a drug
addict, insane, or impotent. However, a husband is not required to cite
a reason for divorcing his wife.
A widely used model marriage contract limits privileges accorded to
men by custom, and traditional interpretations of Islamic law recognize
a divorced woman's right to a share in the property that couples
acquire during their marriage and to increased alimony. In 2002 the law
was revised to make adjudication of cases in which women demand
divorces less arbitrary and costly. Women who remarry are forced to
give the child's father custody of children from earlier marriages.
However, the law granted custody of minor children to the mother in
certain divorce cases in which the father was proven unfit to care for
the child. In 2003 the Government amended the existing child custody
law to give a mother preference in custody for children up to seven
years of age (previously she only had preference for sons up to age
two); thereafter, the father had custody. After the age of seven, in
disputed cases custody of the child was to be determined by the court.
The penal code includes provisions for stoning persons convicted of
adultery, although judges were instructed in 2002 to cease imposing
such sentences. In addition a man could escape punishment for killing a
wife caught in the act of adultery if he was certain she was a
consenting partner; the same rule does not apply for women. Women may
also receive disproportionate punishment for crimes, including death
sentences (see section 1.a.). In August the Government reportedly
authorized judges to resume the sentence of stoning (see section 1.c.).
In October human rights groups and activists called on the Government
to end the practice. Activists reportedly published a list of 11
persons who had been sentenced to stoning during the year and noted
reports that two persons were stoned in May. Government officials
continued to deny that stoning sentences were imposed or implemented.
The testimony of two women equates with that of one man. The blood
money paid to the family of a female crime victim is half the sum paid
for a man. A married woman must obtain the written consent of her
husband before traveling outside the country (see section 2.d.).
Women had access to primary and advanced education. Reportedly over
60 percent of university students were women; however, social and legal
constraints limited their professional opportunities. Women were
represented in many fields of the work force, including the legislature
and municipal councils, police, and firefighters. However, their
unemployment rate reportedly was significantly higher than for men, and
they represented only 11 percent of the workforce. Women reportedly
occupied 1.2 percent of higher management positions and 5.2 percent of
managerial positions.
Women cannot serve as President or as certain types of judges
(women can be consultant and research judges without the power to
impose sentences). Eighty-nine women registered to run for President in
2005, but all were rejected by the Council of Guardians. This year
women's rights activists made an effort to allow women to run for the
Assembly of Experts. The constitution requires that Assembly of Experts
candidates have a certain religious qualification. Citing this
requirement, some religious leaders gave qualified support for the
candidacy of women in the Assembly of Experts elections. Two women took
the religious qualification exam, but neither passed.
Women can own property and businesses in their name, and they can
obtain credit at a bank. The law provides maternity, child care, and
pension benefits. The number of women's NGOs has increased from
approximately 130 to 450 in the past nine years.
The Government enforced gender segregation in most public spaces
and prohibited women from mixing openly with unmarried men or men not
related to them. Women must ride in a reserved section on public buses
and enter public buildings, universities, and airports through separate
entrances.
The penal code provides that if a woman appears in public without
the appropriate Islamic covering (hejab), she can be sentenced to
lashings and/or fined. However, absent a clear legal definition of
appropriate hejab or the punishment, women were at the mercy of the
disciplinary forces or the judge (see section 1.c.). Pictures of
uncovered or immodestly dressed women in the press or in films were
often digitally altered.
Children.--There was little current information available to assess
government efforts to promote the welfare of children. Except in
isolated areas of the country, children had free education through the
12th grade (compulsory to age 11) and to some form of health care.
Health care generally was regarded as affordable and comprehensive with
competent physicians. Courts issued death sentences for crimes
committed by minors (see section 1.c.).
In January 2005 the Government delivered a presentation to the
Committee on the Rights of the Child in compliance with its obligation
as party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Government
noted overall improvement in the situation of children, particularly in
education and health. The Education Ministry reportedly paid particular
attention to elevating the educational status of girls. It also noted
the Government's efforts to shelter refugees, many of whom were
children. According to the report, 195,000 Afghan and Iraqi refugee
children were in school, and UNHCR paid only 10 percent of the
education costs. In June the Government reduced the school fees charged
for Afghan students, according to a Western NGO.
At the same time, the report delivered to the Committee on the
Rights of the Child acknowledged the need for other legislative
protection and better enforcement of existing rules. The UN committee
noted positively the provision of free education for all citizens up to
secondary school. However, it expressed concern about persistent
discrimination against girls and recommended the Government review all
legislation to ensure it was nondiscriminatory. Among its
recommendations, the committee urged the Government ensure all children
were registered at birth and acquired permanent nationality without
discrimination.
In July 2005 UNICEF held a workshop in Tehran to explore
alternatives to imprisoning youths, according to UN Integrated Regional
Information Networks (IRIN) (see section 1.c.). Only a few cities had a
youth prison, and minors were sometimes held with adult violent
offenders (see section 1.c.). According to IRIN there were 300 boys and
40 girls at the Tehran youth prison, with the average age of 14, but
some were as young as age six. Children whose parents could not afford
court fees were reportedly imprisoned for petty offenses including
shoplifting, wearing make-up, or mixing with the opposite sex.
There was little information available to reflect how the
Government dealt with child abuse, including child labor (see sections
6.c. and 6.d.). Abuse was largely regarded as a private, family matter.
According to IRIN child sexual abuse was rarely reported. Nonetheless,
according to the Government's January 2005 report on the rights of the
child, the Health Ministry developed over the past few years an action
plan with UNICEF to fight child abuse, including training Health
Ministry officials on the rights of the child. According to UNICEF it
operated a hot line for children and their families in the city of Bam,
which was akin to similar services that operated in other major cities.
The services sometimes referred callers to a Ministry of Education
counseling program. The Government also set up hot lines for children
in foster care to report abuse. The July 2005 UNICEF conference in
Tehran also addressed problems relating to child sexual abuse,
including identifying, investigating, and protecting victims.
According to some reports, it is not unusual in rural areas for
parents to have their children marry before they become teenagers,
often for economic reasons. In 2002 the Majles sought marriage age
limits of 15 for girls and 18 for boys without court approval, but the
Council of Guardians objected, and the age was set at 13 for girls and
15 for boys. In the Government's January 2005 report to the Committee
on the Rights of the Child, it noted that early and forced marriages
should be stopped.
There are reportedly significant numbers of children, particularly
Afghan but also Iranian, working as street vendors in Tehran and other
cities and not attending school. In January 2005 government
representatives told the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that
there were fewer than 60,000 street children in the country. Tehran has
reportedly opened several shelters for street children. The
Government's January 2005 report on the rights of the child claimed
7,000 street children had been resettled.
Trafficking in Persons.--According to foreign observers, women and
girls are trafficked from the country to Pakistan, Turkey, and Europe
for sexual exploitation. Boys from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and
Afghanistan were trafficked through the country to Gulf States. Afghan
women and girls were trafficked to the country for sexual exploitation
and forced marriages. Internal trafficking for sexual exploitation and
forced labor also occurred. The Government did not fully comply with
the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, nor has it
made significant efforts to do so. The Government arrested and punished
several trafficking victims on charges of prostitution or adultery. In
2004 the Government conducted a study on trafficking of women, passed a
law against human trafficking, and signed separate Memoranda of
Understanding (MOU) with Afghanistan, Turkey, the International
Organization for Migration, and the International Labor Organization
(ILO). In December 2005 Iran, Pakistan, Greece, and Turkey formed a
joint working group to fight human trafficking, according to Pakistani
press reports. Domestic media reported that some trafficking networks
were disrupted during the year.
Persons With Disabilities.--In 2004 the Majles passed a
Comprehensive Law on the Rights of the Disabled; however, it was not
known whether there was any implementing legislation. There was no
information available regarding whether the Government legislated or
otherwise mandated accessibility for persons with disabilities or
whether discrimination against persons with disabilities was
prohibited; nor was any information available on which government
agencies were responsible for protecting the rights of persons with
disabilities. The Government's January 2005 report on the rights of the
child outlined health and education programs for children with
disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The constitution grants equal
rights to all ethnic minorities and allows for minority languages to be
used in the media and schools. In practice, however, minority groups
have not always been permitted to use their respective languages in
schools. Few minority groups called for separatism. Instead, they
complained of political and economic discrimination. Presidential
candidates, with the exception of the winning candidate, talked more
about problems facing minority groups in the 2005 Presidential
elections than in the past. Conservative candidate Ali Larijani, who
later became the secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security
and chief nuclear negotiator during the year, said all ethnic groups
were important.
In June the U.S. for Adequate Housing reported rural properties,
particularly those belonging to minorities, were expropriated for
government use without fair compensation to the owners. In August 2005
the U.S. said that ethnic and religious minorities, nomadic groups, and
women faced discrimination in housing and land rights, compounded by
rising cost of housing. The Ahvazi representative in the previous
Majles wrote a letter to then-President Khatami, complaining that Arab
land was being bought at very low prices or even confiscated. He also
said Arab political parties were not allowed to compete in elections,
and Arabic newspapers and magazines were banned.
The December 19 UNGA resolution on the country's human rights
expressed serious concern about continuing discrimination toward
persons belonging to ethnic and religious minorities, including violent
repression of Arabs, Azeris, Baha'is, Kurds, and Sufis. There was
societal violence in northwest, southwest, and southeast regions of the
country, populated by various ethnic groups. Interior Minister Mustafa
Purmohammadi ranked ethnic divisions as one of the biggest problems his
ministry had to address. The Government blamed foreign entities,
including a number of Western countries, for instigating some of the
ethnic unrest. Other groups claimed the Government staged the bombs in
Khuzestan during 2005 and early in the year as a pretext for
repression.
In March Kurds clashed with police, reportedly resulting in three
deaths and over 250 arrests. There were also clashes in June 2005, and
there were strikes and demonstrations in July and August 2005,
following the killing of a Kurdish activist by security forces.
According to HRW and other sources, security forces killed at least 17
persons and wounded and arrested large numbers of others.
In 2005 the Majles' national security and foreign policy committee
studied the unrest in Kurdistan, and its rapporteur told domestic media
that one factor was the comparatively high level of economic
development in Iraqi and Turkish Kurdish areas. The representative from
Sanandaj, Kurdistan also cited the lack of Sunni cabinet members as a
grievance. However, the results of a government inquiry were not made
public.
Foreign representatives of the Ahvazi Arabs of Khuzestan, whose
numbers are estimated to be from two to four million, claimed their
community in the southwest section of the country suffered from
persecution and discrimination, including the lack of freedom to study
and speak Arabic. Early in the year, there were several bombings in
Khuzestan (see section 1.a.). The Government blamed the violence on
outside forces and foreign governments, although the revolutionary
court later announced death sentences for at least 11 ethnic Arabs in
connection with the bombings. After the first bombing in January, the
Ahvazi Arab Revival Party, an irredentist group, criticized the
Government for blaming its problems on foreign governments and warned
that there would be more violence if the Government did not change its
policies regarding ethnic Arabs.
Provincial authorities sentenced 19 Ahvazi Arabs to death in
connection with the October 2005 and January and February bombings.
Human rights groups have accused the Government of torturing prisoners
to extract confessions and unfair trial practices; they called on the
Government to retry at least 10 of the accused bombers.
Ahvazi and human rights groups allege torture and ill-treatment of
Ahvazi Arab activists, including detention of the spouses and young
children of activists.
In April 2005 protests in Ahvazi followed the publication of a
letter--termed a forgery by the Government--allegedly written in 1999
by an advisor to then-President Khatami, referring to government
policies to reduce the percentage of ethnic Arabs in Khuzestan (see
section 1.a.). According to HRW after security forces attempted to
break up the demonstrations and opened fire, the clashes turned violent
and spread to other towns. The Government restricted press coverage of
the events (see section 2.a.).
The Ahvazi Human Rights Organization wrote a letter to the UN in
November 2005, claiming arbitrary arrests and executions of Ahvazi
Arabs, including a lynching by security forces and extrajudicial
killings in Karoon prison. The group claimed that in November 2005
three thousand Ahvazis staged a peaceful demonstration; however,
security forces responded with tear gas grenades, and two Arab youths
drowned as a result. The group also claimed the Government made mass
arrests during a performance of a Ramadan play. Two persons arrested
reportedly were sentenced to death.
In August 2005 the U.S. for Adequate Housing reported 200,000 to
250,000 Arabs were being displaced from their villages because of large
development projects in Khuzestan. Land compensation was inadequate--
sometimes one-fortieth of market value. Arabs also suffered from
importation of labor from other regions, despite high local
unemployment.
Azeris composed approximately one-quarter of the country's
population and were well integrated into the Government and society,
including the supreme leader and the head of the IRGC. However, Azeris
complained of ethnic and linguistic discrimination, including banning
the Azeri language in schools, harassing Azeri activists or organizers,
and changing Azeri geographic names. The Government traditionally
viewed Azeri nationalism as threatening, particularly since the
dissolution of the Soviet Union and the creation of an independent
Azerbaijan. Azeri groups also claimed that there were a number of Azeri
political prisoners jailed for advocating cultural and language rights
for Iranian Azerbaijanis. The Government has charged several of them
with ``revolting against the Islamic state.''
In May there were large-scale riots in the Azeri majority regions
of the Northwest following publication of a newspaper cartoon
considered insulting to Azeris (see section 2.a). The cartoon depicted
a cockroach speaking in the Azeri language. Police forcibly contained
the protests, and police officials reported that four persons were
killed and several protesters were detained (see section 1.a).
Authorities blamed foreign governments for inciting unrest.
The chief of the national police said security in southeastern
Sistan va Baluchestan Province was more problematic than elsewhere in
the country. In March a government convoy was attacked in the province,
and 21 government officials were killed. The province has had high
levels of ethnic unrest. In July 2005 an armed Sunni group claimed to
have beheaded a government security agent, presumably in the province;
however, the report remained unconfirmed.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In 2004 the judiciary
formed the Special Protection Division, a new unit that allowed
volunteers to police moral crimes.
The law prohibits and punishes homosexuality; sodomy between
consenting adults is a capital crime. The punishment of a non-Muslim
homosexual is harsher if the homosexual's partner is Muslim. In July
2005 two teenage boys, one 16 and one 18 years of age, were publicly
executed; they were charged with raping a 13-year-old boy. A number of
groups outside the country alleged the two were executed for
homosexuality; however, because of the lack of transparency in the
court system, there was no concrete information. In November 2005
domestic conservative press reported that two men in their twenties
were hanged in public for lavat (defined as sexual acts between men).
The article also said they had a criminal past, including kidnapping
and rape. It was not possible to judge whether these men were executed
for homosexuality or other crimes.
According to Health Ministry statistics announced in October, there
were over 13,000 registered HIV-positive persons in the country, but
unofficial estimates were much higher; most were men. Transmission was
primarily through shared needles by drug users, and a study showed
shared injection inside prison to be a particular risk factor. There
was a free anonymous testing clinic in Tehran, government-sponsored
low-cost or free methadone treatment, including in prisons. The
Government also started distributing clean needles in some prisons. The
Government supported programs for AIDS awareness and did not interfere
with private HIV-related NGOs. Contraceptives, including free condoms,
were available at health centers as well in pharmacies. Nevertheless,
persons infected with HIV faced discrimination in schools and
workplaces.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers the right to
establish unions; however, the Government did not permit independent
unions. A national organization known as Workers' House was the sole
authorized national labor organization. It served primarily as a
conduit for government control over workers. The leadership of Workers'
House coordinated activities with Islamic labor councils, which
consisted of representatives of the workers and a representative of
management in industrial, agricultural, and service organizations of
more than 35 employees. These councils also functioned as instruments
of government control and frequently blocked layoffs and dismissals.
The law allows employers and employees to establish guilds. The
guilds issued vocational licenses and helped members find jobs.
Instances of late or partial pay for government workers reportedly were
common.
In 2005 workers appointed a committee to lobby for the right to
form labor associations. The committee issued a statement signed by
5,000 workers that it did not recognize agreements signed between the
Government and the ILO because workers had no independent
representation at discussions. Workers criticized official unions for
being too close to the Government.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The country's
ILO membership requires respect for the right of freedom of
association. However, workers did not have the right to organize
independently and negotiate collective bargaining agreements. The ITUC
noted the labor code was amended in 2003 to permit workers to form and
join ``trade unions'' without prior permission if registration
regulations are observed. The Labor Ministry must register the
organization within 30 days.
Workshops of 10 employees or less are exempt from labor
legislation. According to the ITUC, over 400,000 of the country's
450,000 workshops were exempt circa 2003.
The law prohibits public sector strikes, and the Government did not
tolerate any strike deemed contrary to its economic and labor policies;
however, strikes occurred. There are no mechanisms to protect worker
rights in the public sector, such as mediation or arbitration.
In May members of the Syndicate of Bus Drivers of the Tehran and
Suburbs Bus Company (Sherkat-e-Vahed) wrote a letter to President
Ahmadinejad, asking him to respect their constitutional rights. In July
ITUC and the International Federation of Transport Workers (ITF) lodged
a joint complaint to the ILO calling for Osanloo's release. On August
9, Osanloo, head of Sherkat-e-Vahed arrested in December 2005 during a
protest strike, was released on bail. He was re-arrested on November 19
and again released on December 19 (see section 2.b.).
In a May 2005 letter, ITUC protested an attack that month on a
meeting at the Bakery Workers' Association related to founding a union
at the Tehran Vahed Bus Company. Reportedly 300 members of Hizballah
and the Islamic Labor Councils attacked the site.
The ITUC also protested the detention in August 2005 of Borhan
Divargar, a member of the Saqqez Bakery Workers' Union, and claimed he
had been beaten. In November 2005 he was reportedly sentenced to two
years in prison. The case was overturned on appeal, but the Government
brought new charges of ``attempting to hold an illegal gathering for
the purposes of committing a crime.'' A November report indicated he
was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. At year's end there was no
further update in this case.
In November 2005 President of the Saqqez Bakery Workers' Union
Mahmoud Salehi was reportedly sentenced to five years in prison and
three years of exile. Salehi was also charged with contacting an ITUC
delegation that visited the country in 2004.
In May the sentences of Salehi and fellow arrested labor activist
Jalal Hosseini were appealed and overturned by the Kurdistan Province
Court of Appeal. The Saqqez Revolutionary Court then brought new
charges against Salehi and Hosseini for committing crimes against the
country's internal security. On October 16 and 18, respectively, Salehi
and Hosseini faced closed trials in Branch One of the Saqqez
Revolutionary Court. A November report indicated that Salehi was
sentenced to four years' imprisonment and Hosseini to two years'
imprisonment.
According to the ITUC, labor legislation did not apply in Export
Processing Zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law permits the
Government to require any person not working to take suitable
employment; however, this requirement did not appear to be enforced
regularly. The law prohibits forced and bonded labor by children;
however, this law was not enforced adequately, and such labor by
children was a serious problem (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits forced and bonded labor by children; however, there
appeared to be a serious problem with child labor (see section 5). The
law prohibits employment of minors less than 15 years of age and places
restrictions on the employment of minors under age 18; however, the
Government did not adequately enforce laws pertaining to child labor.
The law permits children to work in agriculture, domestic service, and
some small businesses but prohibits employment of women and minors in
hard labor or night work. There was no information regarding
enforcement of these regulations.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law empowers the Supreme
Labor Council to establish annual minimum wage levels for each
industrial sector and region. During the year President Ahmadinejad
increased the minimum wage levels, but workers continued to claim that
it was too low. There was no information regarding mechanisms to set
wages, and it was not known if minimum wages were enforced. The law
stipulates that the minimum wage should meet the living expenses of a
family and should take inflation into account. However, many middle-
class citizens had to work two or three jobs to support their families.
The law establishes a maximum six-day, 48-hour workweek, with a
weekly rest day, normally Fridays, and at least 12 days of paid annual
leave and several paid public holidays.
According to the law, a safety council, chaired by the Labor
Minister or his representative, should protect workplace safety and
health. Labor organizations outside the country have alleged that
hazardous work environments were common in the country and resulted in
thousands of worker deaths annually. The quality of safety regulation
enforcement was unknown, and it was unknown whether workers could
remove themselves from hazardous situations without risking the loss of
employment.
There was anecdotal evidence suggesting some government employees
and students voted in the 2005 Presidential election to obtain the
stamp proving they had voted. Without this stamp, they feared they
would have employment or enrollment problems.
__________
IRAQ
Iraq, with a population of approximately 25 million, is a republic
with a freely elected government led by Prime Minister Nouri Jawad al-
Maliki. The current administration assumed office on May 20, after the
Council of Representatives (CoR) approved a unity government composed
of the major political parties. The December 15, 2005, CoR elections
establishing this government met internationally recognized electoral
standards for free and fair elections, and the results of the elections
reflected the will of the voters, according to the final report of the
International Mission for Iraqi Elections. During the year, sectarian
violence increased and deepened.
Widespread violence seriously compromised the Government's ability
to protect human rights. Sectarian-driven violence, acts of terrorism,
and revenge by armed groups in a climate of criminality and impunity
undercut government efforts to establish and maintain the rule of law.
On one side, predominantly Sunni Arab groups such as Al-Qa'ida in Iraq,
irreconcilable remnants of the Ba'thist regime, and insurgents waging
guerrilla warfare violently opposed the Government and targeted Shi'a
communities. The other, predominantly Shi'a militias with some ties to
the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), targeted Sunnis in large-scale death
squad and kidnapping activities. While the law provides for civilian
authorities' control over the security forces, there were many
instances in which elements of the security forces acted independently.
The February 22 bombing of the Al-Askariya Shrine in Samarra set
off a series of violent attacks that continued throughout the year. An
increased level of sectarianism resulted in significant population
displacements. Estimates of those displaced after the bombing ranged
widely from 380,000 to 500,000 persons.
Insurgents and terrorists increased their bombing and targeting of
markets, mosques, and religious pilgrims, largely on a sectarian basis.
In addition to these attacks, death squads and terrorist groups
attacked and killed shoppers and ordinary citizens such as bakers,
street cleaners, and storeowners, again largely on a sectarian basis.
These attacks caused thousands of deaths, principally in Baghdad, but
also across the country in Kirkuk, Mosul, and in the South and to the
northwest of Baghdad, reflecting a marked increase in extrajudicial
killings over the previous year.
The Government was unable to diminish these violent attacks,
although large efforts were made to implement better security measures,
particularly in Baghdad. The Prime Minister, with the concurrence of
the CoR, renewed each month the ``state of emergency'' originally
declared in November 2004, excluding the provinces of the Kurdish
Regional government (KRG). The state of emergency allows the Prime
Minister to impose curfews and restrictions on public gatherings,
associations, unions, and other entities; to put a preventive freeze on
assets; to impose monitoring of and seizure of means of communication;
and to have all armed forces directly report to him.
On November 5, the Iraqi Higher Tribunal found Saddam Hussein,
whose regime murdered, tortured, and caused the disappearance of
hundreds of thousands of persons, guilty of ordering the execution of
148 men and boys in Ad-Dujayl in 1982. On December 30, Hussein was
executed.
During the year, the following significant human rights problems
were reported: Pervasive climate of violence; misappropriation of
official authority by sectarian, criminal, terrorist, and insurgent
groups; arbitrary deprivation of life; disappearances; torture and
other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; impunity;
poor conditions in pretrial detention facilities; arbitrary arrest and
detention; denial of fair public trial; an immature judicial system
lacking capacity; limitations on freedoms of speech, press, assembly,
and association due to terrorist and militia violence; restrictions on
religious freedom; large numbers of internally displaced persons
(IDPs); lack of transparency and widespread corruption at all levels of
government; constraints on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs);
discrimination against women, ethnic, and religious minorities; and
limited exercise of labor rights.
The constitution and law provide a strong framework for the free
exercise of human rights, and many citizens contributed to efforts to
help build institutions to protect those rights. As well, the Ministry
of Interior (MoI) and Ministry of Defense (MoD) both increased the
numbers of trained security forces, which can be directed to establish
an improved rule of law environment. Nonetheless, during the year,
government institutions were greatly stressed and faced difficulty in
successfully responding to the challenges presented by widespread human
rights abuses.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The year was
characterized by a climate of increasing violence, principally carried
out by Sunni insurgents, Shi'a militias, terrorists, criminal elements,
death squads, and errant government agents. The level of extrajudicial
killings increased markedly over the previous year, according to
numerous independent studies, but there is no consensus on the correct
figures. During the year, according to the UN Assistance Mission for
Iraq (UNAMI), citing Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Baghdad Medical
Legal Institute data, 34,452 civilians were violently killed (16,867 in
Baghdad).
There were also other estimates of violent deaths directly
attributed to the conflict. A government report presented a total of
14,298 violent civilian deaths directly attributed to the conflict. The
large variation in numbers reflected different criteria for inclusion
in the total (e.g., exclusion of deaths attributed to criminality), as
well as uncertainty about additionality of hospital/morgue counts,
among other possibilities.
Unauthorized government agent involvement in extrajudicial killings
throughout the country was widely reported. Shi'a sectarian militias
such as the oppositionist Jaysh al-Mahdi (Mahdi's Army) and the Badr
Corps continued to be prevalent in the ISF, particularly in the center
and south of the country. For example, killings and kidnappings in
Basrah were carried out by militia members wearing police uniforms and
driving police cars.
MoI-affiliated death squads targeted Sunnis and conducted
kidnapping raids and killings in Baghdad and its environs, largely with
impunity. On May 7, then minister of interior Bayan Jabr announced to
the press the arrest of a major general and 17 other ministry employees
implicated in kidnapping and ``death squad activities.'' Jabr also
noted that that the MoI had found a terror group in its 16th Brigade
that carried out ``killings of citizens". On October 4, the MoI
announced its decision to dissolve the 8th Brigade of the police for
its support of death squads, and sent hundreds of personnel from that
brigade to training. No results of the investigation of the brigade, or
of the other arrests, were available by year's end.
In Irbil, Sulaymaniyah, and Dohuk, the three provinces comprising
the KRG area of the country, there were fewer reports of violence than
elsewhere. However, the KRG security forces were sometimes accused of
using excessive force that resulted in deaths. For example, on March
16, at a student protest in Halabja, KRG security forces fired into the
crowd when the protest turned violent, killing one student and injuring
several others.
Insurgent and terrorist bombings, executions, and killings were a
daily occurrence throughout all regions and sectors of society. Apart
from attacks in Baghdad, the Sunni insurgency and terrorists launched
numerous attacks in Anbar and Diyala provinces, and in Mosul and
Kirkuk--areas noted for their high level of violence. A large number of
attacks targeting Shi'a civilians were attributable to the jihadist Al-
Qa'ida in Iraq, in furtherance of its stated goal to spark a sectarian
conflict, weaken the Government, force the Coalition to withdraw, and
establish a base for transnational terror operations. Other insurgent
and terrorist groups also were involved in the violence. These groups
targeted government workers, ordinary citizens, and members of the ISF
among other groups.
According to government reports, 1,455 police officers were killed
in targeted attacks during the year. For example, in a suicide bombing
attack January 5 against a police recruitment center in Ramadi, 82
persons, many of whom were police, were killed, and 70 were wounded.
Potential recruits were also widely targeted. For example, 23 potential
police recruits were abducted, shot, and killed north of Baghdad on
January 23.
The February 22 terrorist bombing of the al-Askariya Shrine in
Samarra provoked a rise in sectarian violence. The al-Askariya Shrine
represents one of the most revered sites for those of the Shi'a faith.
Hours after the bombing of the holy shrine, a number of attackers,
reportedly from the Jaysh al-Mahdi militia, conducted extensive raids
and killings in Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad.
In the months that followed the bombing, a cycle of daily sectarian
retaliatory attacks resulted between Shi'a and Sunni. Sunni terrorist
groups continued to engage in a number of bomb and mortar attacks on
dense Shi'a neighborhoods. In a few examples among hundreds, on March
12, car bombs detonated at three markets in Baghdad's Shi'a-dominant
Sadr City while families were shopping for food. These attacks killed
at least 58 individuals and injured 200. On July 1, a car bomb at a
crowded market in Sadr City killed 62 and wounded 114 in an explosion
claimed by ``the Supporters of the Sunni People,'' ('Ahl al-Sunnah al-
Munaserai), a previously unknown group.
Terrorist attacks also targeted religious sites. On July 18, a
suicide bomb killed 59 persons in Kufa, near the Shi'a holy city of
Najaf, in an attack claimed by Al-Qa'ida. On August 10, 35 persons were
killed and 122 injured by bomb blasts near the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf
on a day commemorating the death of Zainab, the Prophet's daughter. The
soldiers of the Prophet's Companions (Jamaat Jund al-Sahaba) claimed
responsibility.
The actions and apparent growth of predominantly Shi'a militias
similarly contributed to the marked rise in violence. In particular,
numerous reports indicated that the Jaysh al-Mahdi militia was
responsible for a growing number of raids and killings of Sunni
citizens in Baghdad and other parts of the country during the year.
Throughout the country terrorist groups conducted sectarian attacks
that appeared to be carried out with the intent of instilling fear and
chaos in the population. On September 23, a Sadr City attack drew
international attention when a suicide bomber killed up to 35 Shi'a
women and children as they were waiting in line for cooking gas. On
November 23, six car bombs in different parts of Sadr City killed 202
and wounded 250 persons. On December 12, a suicide bomber killed 70
persons and wounded at least 236 in Tayran Square, in Baghdad after
attracting a crowd of day laborers to his truck with promises of work.
There were numerous reports of terrorists attacking shoppers on the
street, shopkeepers, garbage collectors, and others.
There were no publicly known judicial or disciplinary developments
in the killings reported in the 2005 Human Rights Report.
b. Disappearance.--Kidnappings and disappearances remained a severe
problem during the year; the majority of them appeared to be sectarian-
related. A very large number of kidnappings were also conducted for
ransom. The police solved virtually none of these cases.
During the year, many individuals disappeared, with frequent
accusations directed at the police. Many Baghdad residents complained
that family members were often taken without an arrest warrant by
neighborhood police officers who would later call for a ransom.
Numerous reports indicated that rogue police were involved in
sectarian-motivated kidnappings. However, since criminals, insurgents,
and militia members easily purchased and often wore police uniforms,
there was no reliable data on actual police abuses.
In Basrah reports of kidnappings and killings, often by gunmen
wearing police uniforms and riding in police vehicles, were a regular
occurrence. The motives were reported to be ransom and political
intimidation.
Kurdish security forces, including the armed forces (Peshmerga),
internal security forces (Asayish) and intelligence services (Parastin/
Zanyari), reportedly conducted illegal police operations outside KRG
boundaries in the provinces of Ninawa and of Tameen, whose capital is
Kirkuk. These operations abducted individuals and detained them in
unofficial and undisclosed detention facilities in the KRG.
Incidents of political kidnappings also occurred during the year.
For example, on July 1 CoR member Tayseer al-Mashhadani was kidnapped
while driving from Diyala to Baghdad. Fellow parliamentarians protested
the kidnapping by boycotting CoR sessions for a week. After prolonged
negotiation between the Government and the kidnappers, she was released
on August 26.
Other political figures did not share the same fortune. Ali al-
Mahdawi, director of Diyala Health Directorate and Sunni nominee for
deputy minister of health, was kidnapped on June 12 from within the MoH
in Baghdad, where he was scheduled to meet the minister. This marked
the first time that a kidnapping occurred inside a government ministry.
His whereabouts remained unknown at year's end.
On March 6, Ahmed al-Mosawi, the head of the Iraq Human Rights
Society, was kidnapped from the headquarters of the association. There
was no information about his whereabouts at year's end.
During the year there was a marked increase in large-scale
kidnappings. For example, on June 5, up to 50 persons were taken from
the Salhiya neighborhood in Baghdad. The MoI publicly denied
involvement, although residents reported that the assailants wore
police uniforms. Several of those taken were later released after
having been severely beaten. The whereabouts of the others was unknown
at year's end.
On June 21, approximately 70 Ministry of Industry and Minerals
employees on their way home from work were stopped at a temporary
checkpoint. Gunmen boarded their buses, released the women, and drove
off taking the male employees hostage. Approximately half of them were
released, and the rest were presumed dead.
Until its fall in 2003, the former regime murdered, tortured, and
caused the disappearance of many thousands of persons suspected of or
related to persons suspected of opposition politics, economic crimes,
military desertion, and a variety of other activities. Mass graves
continued to be discovered during the year.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution expressly prohibits torture in all its
forms under all circumstances, as well as cruel, inhuman, or degrading
treatment. However, there were many, well-documented instances of
torture and other abuses by government agents and by illegal armed
groups. The Government's ability to respond to the violence with full
transparency under strict adherence to the rule of law has been
hampered by the nature and breadth of the violence perpetrated by
terrorists and death squads, and the lack of capacity, particularly in
terms of pretrial detention facilities and maturing but still fragile
security forces and institutions.
During the year, local and international human rights organizations
continued to report that detainees held in several MoI and MoD
detention facilities, as well as in KRG security forces detention
facilities, were tortured and abused. Incidents of abuse included
application of electric shocks, fingernail extractions, and other
severe beatings. In some cases, police threatened and sexually abused
detainees and visiting family members.
Serious reports of torture and killings were leveled at MoI's
Serious Crime Unit detention facility in Basrah and the Khadamiya
National Police detention facility in Baghdad. Former detainees in both
facilities reported that they suffered severe beatings, electrocution,
sexual assault, and, in some cases, gunshot wounds. There were also
similar accusations against MoD facilities, particularly against the
5th Division, 2nd Brigade's detention facility in Baqubah.
Reports of abuse at the point of arrest, particularly by MoI's
National Police forces and by MoD's battalion level forces, were common
at year's end. Accusations included extreme beatings, sexual assault,
and threats of death. There was little indication that MoI or other
government officials took disciplinary action in cases alleging abuses,
apart from some transfers within the ministry.
On December 25, British and Iraqi forces raided MoI's Serious Crime
Unit, based at the Jameat police station in Basrah. The joint forces
released 127 prisoners, including juveniles. Many of the prisoners
showed signs of torture. The joint forces razed the building explaining
that a torture chamber had been discovered in the building, and they
did not want to risk it being re-used.
On May 30, a joint inspection team discovered that 1,431 detainees
were being held in extremely poor conditions in the Baghdad Central
Detention facility, a national police detention facility known as
``Site 4.'' Since Site 4's capacity was only approximately 500 beds,
inmates had insufficient space to lie down and instead sat knee-to-
knee. Some detainees claimed that they were hung by handcuffs from a
hook in the ceiling and beaten on the soles of their feet and their
buttocks. Inmates claimed that interrogators killed some detainees. A
number of juvenile detainees, mostly young teenagers, alleged sexual
abuse at the hands of MoI personnel and adult prisoners. There were
also allegations that some family members of the inmates were also
sexually assaulted. Following the inspection of Site 4, the Government
worked to improve conditions for the detainees, relocating many
including juveniles to safer locations. In June arrest warrants were
issued for over 50 suspected abusers. However, the MoI had yet to
execute any of the arrest warrants by year's end.
Abusive interrogation practices reportedly occurred in some
detention facilities run by the two KRG internal security forces and
the two KRG intelligence forces. The Parastin/Zanyari forces reportedly
operated separate detention facilities and prohibited human rights
organizations as well as the human rights ministry from visiting their
facilities and inspecting the treatment of detainees.
The KRG permitted visits to its MoI prison system by human rights
organizations. The KRG Ministry of Human Rights (MoHR) also visited
these prisons. Conditions generally were reported to meet international
standards.
Insurgents, terrorists, and some militia members regularly beat,
dismembered, beheaded, and electrically drilled and shocked their
victims. For example, according to March 28 press reports, 30
decapitated bodies were found near the village of Mulla Eid, near
Baqubah, north of Baghdad. A video shown on the Ansar al-Sunna Web site
was reported on June 10 to show the beheading of three men who appear
to be army soldiers. The blindfolded men identified themselves and said
that they were part of a ``death squad'' before being decapitated.
According to Reuters, police reported that the bodies of three persons,
including a beheaded woman showing signs of torture, were retrieved on
September 7 from the Tigris River near the town of Suwayra, south of
Baghdad.
There were no developments in the November 2005 Jadriyah bunker
investigation, in which hundreds of detainees were overcrowded and
severely malnourished with many showing signs of severe torture and
some reported deaths.
The national MoHR continued its own prison inspection program; its
reports were not publicly available.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Despite a law mandating
that detention facilities be under the sole control of the Ministry of
Justice (MOJ), detention facilities were operated by four separate
ministries: Justice, Interior, Defense, and the Ministry of Labor and
Social Affairs (MoLSA) for juvenile detention facilities. Additionally,
the KRG operated its own detention facilities. According to the UNAMI
March-April report, the general conditions of detention in the country
were ``not consistent'' with international human rights standards.
Overcrowding and lack of judicial oversight were principal problems.
Justice ministry prison and detention facilities (otherwise known
as the Iraqi Correctional Services or ICS) generally met
internationally accepted standards for basic prisoner needs. Observers
believed that, although isolated incidents of guard abuse occurred,
this was not a systematic problem. The ICS internal affairs department
monitored abuse or violations of UN standards for human rights in
prisons. Medical care in MOJ/ICS facilities was satisfactory and in
some locations exceeded the community standard. All prisoners received
medical screening upon admission, follow up care as necessary, and had
access to daily sick call with medical personnel.
However, a number of detention facilities under MoI and MoD control
did not meet international standards. There was continued overcrowding.
Many lacked adequate food, exercise facilities, medical care, and
family visitation. Detainee populations were high due to mass arrests
carried out under security and military operations. Limited
infrastructure or aging physical plants in some facilities resulted in
marginal sanitation, limited access to water and electricity, and poor
quality food. Medical care in MoI and MoD detention facilities was not
consistently provided, and rape, torture, and abuse, sometimes leading
to death, reportedly occurred in some of these detention facilities.
The ICS system operated 11 prisons and pretrial detention
facilities, and Kurdish authorities operated seven. The MoD operated 17
holding areas or detention facilities in Baghdad and at least another
13 nationwide for detainees captured during military raids and
operations.
At year's end the total number of MoI detention facilities was
unknown. Including police station holding stations, official MoI
detention locations were estimated to number over 1,000 facilities.
Additionally, there were reports of unofficial detention centers
throughout the country. Unlawful releases and continued detention
beyond the date of ordered release, as well targeting and kidnapping of
Sunni-Arab detainees were reported. However, there were indications
during the last months of the year of emerging Jaysh al-Mahdi militia
influence within the MOJ prison facility system.
The law mandates that women and juveniles be held separately from
men. Although in some cases women were housed in the same detention
facility as men, generally they were not. Juveniles were occasionally
held with adults. A number of juvenile detainees, mostly young
teenagers, alleged sexual abuse at the hands of MoI personnel and adult
prisoners. Additionally, pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners
were often held in the same facility due to space limitations.
The MOJ/ICS and KRG routinely permitted visits to prisons by
representatives of the both the national and the KRG ministries of
human rights. Access to national MoI detention and pretrial facilities,
as well as to similar facilities of the KRG Asayish and intelligence
forces, was generally not permitted for domestic and international
human rights NGOs or intergovernmental organizations (see section 4).
The KRG MoI and MoLSA detention facilities met international
standards for prisoner needs.
The KRG Asayish detention facilities did not provide consistent
access to human rights organizations. The KRG MoHR did not visit these
facilities. The KRG intelligence groups reportedly maintained separate
detention facilities; however, there were no reports of access by
outsiders to these facilities. The condition of prisoners and detainees
in these facilities was unknown.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution provides
protection against arbitrary arrest and detention, except in extreme
exigent circumstances as provided for in a state of emergency. In
practice, there were a number of instances of arbitrary arrest and
detention.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--During the year the MOI
exercised its responsibilities throughout the country except for the
KRG area. Such responsibilities include providing internal security
through police and domestic intelligence capabilities, and regulating
all domestic and foreign private security companies. It also has
responsibility for emergency response, border enforcement, dignitary
protection, firefighting, and facilities protection. The army, under
direction of the MoD, also played a part in providing domestic
security. During the year, ISF often did not have sufficient capacity
to prevent or respond to societal violence.
Sectarian divisions, personnel and equipment shortages, and
unwillingness to serve outside the areas in which they were recruited
were problems for all security forces.
The KRG maintained its own security forces as set forth in the
constitution. The KRG functioned with two party-based ministries of
interior. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party controlled the
ministry with oversight of the province of Sulaymaniyah, and the
Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) controlled the ministry with oversight
of the provinces of Irbil and Dohuk. The KRG also maintained two
separate army forces and two separate internal security units. All four
of these security forces detained and held suspects in custody.
Police effectiveness, particularly the national police, was
seriously compromised by militias, sectarianism, and in the case of the
KRG, political party influences. Corruption and a culture of impunity
were rampant. During the year, after some investigatory efforts, the
MoI announced the firing of hundreds of employees accused of
corruption. Many employees accused of serious human rights abuses were
transferred rather than fired or arrested.
Allegations of MoD abuses increased in the last few months of the
year. Of note were complaints against MoD battalion level units that
carried out arrests in Baghdad as well as against the 5th Division, 2nd
Brigade operating in Diyala Province.
There were few documented cases of criminal proceedings brought
against members of the security forces in connection with alleged
violations of human rights. MoI authorities claimed that several
policemen had been arrested and given both criminal and administrative
punishments in cases where allegations of torture were substantiated.
However, MoI did not provide information on individual cases.
Efforts to increase the capacity and effectiveness of the police
continued, including through human rights training and other forms of
assistance. Recruits received 21 hours of human rights and rule-of-law
training from certified instructors during their 10-week basic police
course. Officers received an additional 10 to 15 hours of human rights
training during the six-week basic course. After completion of the
basic course, police officers received an additional 34 hours of human
rights and rule-of-law training in a four-week course. The MoI also
continued to develop and provide training to its internal affairs
section and inspector general sections.
Arrest and Detention.--The constitution prohibits ``unlawful
detention'' and mandates that preliminary investigative documents be
submitted to a judge within 24 hours from time of arrest, a period
which can be extended by one day. Under the state of emergency, the
Prime Minister has the authority under ``extreme exigent
circumstances'' to provide authorization for suspects to be detained
and searched without an arrest warrant.
In practice police and the army personnel frequently arrested and
detained suspects without judicial approval. Security sweeps sometimes
were conducted throughout entire neighborhoods, and numerous people
were reportedly arrested without a warrant or probable cause. Police
often failed to notify family members of the arrest or location of
detention, resulting in incommunicado detention. The army performed
these law enforcement functions at the direction of the Prime Minister
relying on authorization in the declared state of emergency.
At year's end, according to MoHR data reported in the UNAMI
bimonthly report, the total number of noncoalition force official
detainees in the country was 16,308, the great majority being Sunni.
The ICS held 8,500; the MoI, 4,034; the MoD, 1,220; and the MLSA, 456.
The KRG total was 2,098. The MoI figures were considered to be low
estimates.
In practice very few detainees saw an investigative judge within
the legally mandated time period. Many complained of not seeing the
investigative judge until months after arrest and detention. In some
cases, individuals identified as potential witnesses were also detained
for months. Incommunicado detention took place.
Lengthy detention periods without any judicial action appeared to
be a systematic problem resulting from backlogs in the judiciary, slow
processing of criminal investigations, an insufficient number of
judges, and undocumented detentions.
There were a number of reports that KRG prisoners were held
incommunicado. KRG internal security units reportedly detained suspects
without an arrest warrant and transported detainees to undisclosed
detention facilities. There were many reports that family members were
not allowed to know the location of the detainees, nor visit them.
Reportedly, police across the country continued to use coerced
confessions and abuse as methods of investigation.
Although the law allows release on bond, in practice criminal
detainees were generally retained in custody pending the outcome of a
criminal investigation.
Judges are authorized to appoint paid counsel for the indigent and
did so in practice.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the judicial system is credited with efforts
to maintain an independent stance. Exceptionally, ministers were
legally afforded the opportunity to review and prevent the execution of
arrest warrants against ministry employees lawfully issued by sitting
judges presiding over criminal investigations. This provision gave
criminal immunity to some government employees and enabled a component
of the executive branch to terminate proceedings initiated by the
judicial branch.
The judiciary at all levels--investigative, trial, appellate, and
supreme--is managed and supervised by the Higher Juridical Council, an
administrative body of sitting judges from the Federal Supreme Court,
the Court of Cassation, and the appeals courts. Representatives of the
Office of the Public Defender, of a judicial oversight board (that
hears charges of misconduct by judges), and of regional judicial
councils also sit on the Higher Juridical Council (HJC).
The HJC's responsibilities include formulating and administering
budgets for the courts, nominating and assigning judges to the various
tribunals throughout the country, managing courthouses and related
facilities, supervising personnel matters, and establishing guidelines
and policies for the administration of the courts. Unlike the formal
courts, the HJC does not investigate and adjudicate cases involving
criminal conduct or civil claims.
Although the constitution provides for an independent judiciary in
all regions, the KRG judiciary remained part of the KRG executive
branch's Ministry of Justice. Judges in the KRG system were accused of
being appointed based on party ties.
While individual judges were viewed as objective and courageous,
judges also were vulnerable to intimidation and violence. In some
cases, particularly in Ninawa Province, judges refused to hear cases
against insurgents and terrorists for fear of retribution. There were
also reports that criminal cases at the trial level or on appeal to the
Court of Cassation were not adjudicated on their merits, suggesting
corruption or intimidation.
Defense attorneys were theoretically provided, but detainees rarely
had access to them before the initial judicial hearing, often for
security reasons. Many detainees met their lawyers for the first time
during the initial hearing. Defense attorneys rarely played a
substantive role in the trials or hearings.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair trial, and judges--investigative, trial, and appellate--generally
sought to enforce that right. An accused is considered innocent until
proven guilty and has the right to privately-retained or court-
appointed counsel. One of the significant challenges facing the
criminal trial courts, however, was insufficient access to defense
attorneys.
The criminal justice system is based on a civil law regime similar
to the Napoleonic Code. It is fundamentally inquisitorial--and not
adversarial--in form and content. The system is focused centrally on
the search for the truth, initiated and pursued almost exclusively by
judges, whose role it is to assemble evidence and adjudicate the guilt
or innocence of accused persons.
Investigative judges, working collaboratively with judicial
investigators, and in some cases police officers, are responsible for
interviewing witnesses, assembling evidence, examining suspected
criminals, and generating files on the results of the investigative
work. Although prosecutors and defense attorneys are frequently
participants in these pretrial investigative hearings, their roles are
for the most part limited to recommending that the investigative judges
pursue certain investigative avenues, including posing suggested
questions of witnesses and detainees. They rarely appealed decisions of
judges about the manner and scope of their investigations.
Three-judge panels are then responsible for trying the accused
persons, based largely on the results of judicial investigations.
During those trials the presiding judges question the accused
detainees; witnesses may testify at these proceedings. The prosecutor
and the defense attorney are afforded the opportunity to make brief
closing statements about the issues in the case.
After deliberation among the members of the panel, the presiding
judge announces the verdict and, in the case of a conviction, also
sentences the accused person(s). Criminal judgments of conviction and
acquittal may be appealed to the Court of Cassation, a judicial panel
that reviews the evidence assembled in the investigative and trial
stages and renders a decision.
The judicial system includes civil courts that address domestic,
family, labor, employment, contract, and real and personal property
claims. Challenges to the judgments rendered in these civil proceedings
are first taken to the Appeals Courts of the provinces in which the
trial courts sit; after that, secondary appeals may be made to the
Court of Cassation.
In addition to the criminal and civil trial and appellate courts,
the court system includes a Federal Supreme Court, the jurisdiction of
which is limited to resolving disputes between branches of government,
between the federal government and the provinces (governorates), and
reviewing the constitutionality of laws, regulations, procedures, and
directives of the various branches and units of government throughout
the country. The existing Federal Supreme Court was established in
2005, and its nine members were appointed by the Presidency Council.
The constitution requires that the CoR enact a law that will determine
the membership of, selection, and jurisdiction of the Federal Supreme
Court.
In 2003 the Governing Council created the Iraqi High Tribunal
(IHT), formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal, to try persons accused of
committing war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, and specified
offenses under the country's law from July 17, 1968, through May 1,
2003. On November 5, the IHT sentenced former dictator Saddam Hussein
to death based upon his conviction for crimes against humanity relating
to the murder of 148 villagers from Ad-Dujayl following an alleged
assassination attempt against him in 1982. Two other regime members,
Barzan al-Tikriti and Awad al-Bandar, were convicted at the same time
of similar crimes. All three were sentenced to execution by hanging.
Appeals were lodged on December 3, and the verdicts were confirmed on
December 26. Saddam Hussein was hung on December 30. At year's end the
sentences for the other two men had not been carried out.
The Anfal trial, which started on August 21, continued at year's
end. The charges concerned the alleged genocide of the Kurdish
population resulting in the deaths of an estimated 182,000 men, women,
and children, in part by the use of chemical weapons. After the
execution of Saddam, Ali Hassan al-Majid, widely referred to as
``Chemical Ali,'' remained the most high-profile defendant in that
case. At year's end investigations continued into a number of different
crimes allegedly committed by members of the former regime, including
the 1991 uprising, the draining of the marshes in the southern part of
the country, and the invasion of Kuwait.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports that the
national government held political prisoners or held persons without
charge for the peaceful exercise of human rights or personal
characteristics, opinions, or status.
Kurdish political activist Kamal Said Kadir had been sentenced to
30 years' imprisonment for ``defamation of public institutions'' in
December 2005. On April 3, after much international attention, he was
released from prison. Members of the Parastin, the security
intelligence service of the KDP in Irbil, had arrested and detained him
incommunicado for two months. Scant information was available
concerning detainees in the KRG detention facilities.
There were detainees held in the KRG on security charges who were
primarily held for political, sectarian, or ethnic reasons. Individuals
were arrested for criticizing government officials. Demonstrators were
arrested because they congregated in violation of regulations. Such
arrests were for political reasons. The KRG minister of human rights
stated that he did not consider these detentions to be a violation of
human rights because they were within the law.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The legal framework
exists, as well as an independent and impartial judiciary, for dealing
with civil issues in lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of,
human rights violations. Administrative remedies also exist. However,
during the year the priorities of an understaffed judiciary and
government administration were focused on issues more directly related
to security, and these procedures, and remedies were not effectively
implemented
Property Restitution.--The Commission for the Resolution of Real
Property Disputes (CRRPD), formerly the Iraq Property Claims
Commission, was established in 2004 by Coalition Provisional Authority
Regulation 12 as an independent governmental commission. Its purpose is
to resolve claims for real property confiscated, forcibly acquired, or
otherwise taken for less than fair value by the former regime between
July 17, 1968, and April 9, 2003, for reasons other than land reform or
lawfully applied eminent domain. The CRRPD process is intended
primarily to benefit those whose land was confiscated for ethnic or
political reasons as part of the ``Arabization'' program and other
policies of sectarian displacements. The deadline for filing claims is
June 30, 2007. On November 30, 2005, new governing legislation was
adopted that replaced the old CPA order and made certain changes to
clarify the CRRPD process and make it fairer.
There were approximately 1,300 CRRPD employees in offices located
in all 18 provinces and led by Ahmed al-Barrak, a former member of the
Iraqi Governing Council.
At year's end the CRRPD had received over 124,000 claims
nationwide. Of those claims, its regional commissions had adjudicated
over 20 percent nationwide, with geographic variations.
The CRRPD issued approximately 2000 decisions awarding compensation
of $22 million (28.6 billion dinars). The Government budget for all
CRRPD compensation awards is $200 million (260 billion dinars). After
adjudication, the CRRPD's only role in enforcement is to send official
notifications of decisions to the real estate registry office and
enforcement office of the regional court, which in turn are
responsible, respectively, for re-registering property in the name of
successful claimants and evicting current occupants, as appropriate.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution mandates that homes not be entered or
searched except with a judicial order issued in accordance with the
law. The constitution also prohibits arbitrary interference with
privacy. The Government attempted to respect these prohibitions in
practice, although in numerous instances, the security forces did not.
Under the state of emergency, the Prime Minister may authorize
authorities to detain suspects, and search them, their homes, and work
places. The law provides that all such actions must be pursuant to an
arrest or search warrant unless there are extreme exigent
circumstances. The police were instructed to comply with legal warrant
requirements but reportedly often did not.
In the KRG provinces, there was pressure on citizens to associate
with the PUK party in the province of Sulaymaniyah, and the KDP party
in the provinces of Irbil and Dohuk (see section 2.b.).
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
The ISF operated in major military actions against insurgents,
terrorists, and militias with the support of the Multi-National Force--
Iraq. MoI forces also coordinated with Multi-National Force--Iraq to
ensure a synchronized approach to security within the country.
Militia and terrorist killings were the main source of violence in
the country. Former regime elements, local and foreign fighters,
terrorists, and militias waged guerrilla warfare and campaigns of
violence. According to government data, 627 army soldiers were killed
during the year. Bomb attacks by Sunni terrorist groups against the
Government and densely populated Shi'a areas were common and frequently
prompted retaliatory attacks by Shi'a militias. Executions of military-
age Sunni males became common after the Samarra Mosque bombing.
Government military and police forces under government control
killed armed fighters or persons planning or carrying out violence
against civilian or military targets. According to personal accounts
and numerous press reports, these forces caused inadvertent civilian
deaths. Treatment of detainees under government authority was poor in a
number of cases.
Insurgents and terrorists typically targeted individuals whose
death or disappearance would advance their cause, particularly those
who were suspected of being connected to government-affiliated security
forces. Bombings, executions, killings, kidnappings, shootings, and
intimidation were a daily occurrence throughout all regions and sectors
of society. Al-Qa'ida in Iraq claimed responsibility for a number of
these attacks, although other insurgent and terrorist groups played a
role.
Judicial security remained an overriding concern as violence and
threats of violence affected judges in virtually all provinces. For
example, on May 4, a female bomber removed an explosive-laden vest
after being denied entrance to a Baghdad courthouse and left the vest
outside the building, where it exploded killing at least nine and
wounding 46 persons.
Within the past two years, 15 judges have been killed and many more
threatened, prompting the resignations of some and requests by others
to be transferred to other venues where they may be less at risk. The
judiciary suffered from a severe shortage of judges which has affected
their ability to process cases.
Throughout the year terrorists systematically damaged and destroyed
key infrastructure, principally but not exclusively in the central
region of the country. Sabotage against oil, electricity, and
transportation reduced the movement of goods and availability of
critical services to the population.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution broadly protects
the right of free expression, provided it does not violate public order
and morality. Despite this protection of freedom of expression, the law
provides, if authorized by the Prime Minister, for fines or a term of
imprisonment not exceeding seven years to any person who publicly
insults the national assembly, the Government, or public authorities.
The law prohibits reporters from publishing stories that defame
public officials. Many in the media complained that these provisions
prevented them from freely practicing their trade by creating strong
fears of persecution.
The law restricts media organizations from incitement to violence
and civil disorder, expressing support for the banned Ba'ath Party, or
for ``alterations to Iraq's borders by violent means.'' Under this
provision, the Council of Ministers voted on September 7 to close the
offices of Al-Arabiya television network for one month, considering its
reporting to be fomenting ``sectarian violence and war in Iraq.'' The
Council of Ministers order did not provide specifics as to why it
considered Al Arabia's coverage to be fomenting violence. On October 7,
the station resumed broadcasting again.
On November 5, Iraqi authorities shut down the offices of both Al-
Zawraa and Salah Al-Din television stations, charging them with
inciting violence, terrorism, and sectarianism. The Government
sanctioned the reopening of Salah Al-Din television station on November
15. However, the Government recommended the continued closure of al-
Zawraa satellite channel as well as a lawsuit against the owners and
managers for airing training videos on how to build explosive devices,
promoting calls to join terrorists and insurgent groups, and promoting
killings and genocide against a large segment of the populace. Despite
the recommendation, al-Zawraa continued to broadcast as a satellite
channel over the Egyptian-controlled Nilesat.
Media workers often reported that politicians pressured them not to
publish articles criticizing the Government. There were numerous
accounts of intimidation, threats, and harassment of the media by
government or partisan officials. In practice, the law was actively
used against media workers. For example, Al-Wasit newspaper editor Ayad
al-Tamimi and reporter Ahmed Mutare Abass were arrested for slander in
April 2005 and imprisoned for six months for publishing articles
criticizing the judicial system and police corruption in Al-Kut,
approximately 100 miles southeast of Baghdad. In August a Baghdad court
released them without jail sentences at the conclusion of another trial
for libel related to publications about Al-Kut, according to the
international NGO Reporters without Borders.
Print publications and broadcast media were a primary source of
news and public discourse in the KRG provinces; however, almost all
media outlets were controlled or funded by the major political parties.
The KDP sponsored the Kurdish-language newspaper Khabat (The Struggle),
the Arabic-language version, Attaakhi, and KTV (Kurdistan television).
KDP member and KRG Prime Minister Nechirivan Barzani also funded the
popular television station Zagros. The PUK sponsored the Kurdish-
language newspaper Kurdistani-Nwe (New Kurdistan), the Arabic-language
newspaper Al-Ittihad, and KurdSat television. Minor parties such as the
Kurdish Islamic Union also had their own newspapers and television
stations.
In addition to the party press, there were a few notable
independent media outlets that covered government and party corruption,
for example, the weekly newspapers Hawlatee (The Citizen) and Awena
(Mirror) and Radio Nawa. However, their journalists were subject to
frequent criminal prosecution for libel claims and extrajudicial
intimidation by junior or midlevel political party officials.
Violence against the media, primarily by militia and insurgency
groups, was commonplace, and self-censorship took place as a result.
Media workers reported that they refrained from producing stories on
insurgency and militia activity for fear of retaliatory attacks. During
the year, more than 60 media workers were killed or abducted for a
total of over 140 since 2003. One of the most reported killings of a
media worker was that of well-known journalist and al-Arabiya
television reporter Atwar Bahjat who was abducted February 22 and later
killed after reporting on the attack on the Al-Askariya Shrine. Her
technician and cameraman were killed along with her.
There were several hundred daily and weekly publications, as well
as dozens of radio and television stations at the national, regional,
and local levels, broadcasting in Arabic, Kurdish (two dialects),
Turkmen, and Syriac. Political parties strongly influenced virtually
all media. For private media, sales and advertising revenues typically
did not produce a reliable income stream, and lack of a constant power
supply was often a problem.
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. However, social
and religious as well as political pressures restricted freedom of
choice in academic and cultural matters. In particular, Kurdish parties
controlled the pursuit of formal education and the granting of academic
positions in the KRG areas. There were a number of reports of threats
by militia or insurgent groups against schools and universities, urging
them to modify activities, close down or face violence. Educational
institutions often complied with the threats.
Professors at Basrah University who were considered secular
received written threats and demands to depart Basrah. Universities in
Baghdad received numerous threats to close down or face attack. During
the year a series of killings targeted professors, particularly in
Baghdad and Basrah.
On November 14, armed gunmen in old and new police uniforms
kidnapped as many as 100 men from a Ministry of Higher Education
Directorate building in central Baghdad. While some hostages were freed
by the next day, others were later found dead. The minister of interior
ordered an investigation into the role of several high-ranking police
officials; however, the investigation produced no results by year's
end.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly and
peaceful demonstration, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice, although there were reports of abusive KRG practices
against protesters. During the year, the Prime Minister invoked the
emergency law, which gave him the authority to restrict freedom of
movement and assembly pursuant to a warrant or extreme exigent
circumstances. In general, this emergency law did not prevent peaceful
assembly from occurring, although it was used often to impose curfews.
Police in the central and southern parts of the country generally did
not break up peaceful demonstrations except when a curfew was violated.
In the KRG area, particularly in the province of Sulaymaniyah,
demonstrations took place to protest government corruption as well as
poor services. On August 8, KRG security forces opened fire during a
protest in Darbandikhan, killing one man. Local human rights
organizations reported that 100 protesters were arrested before,
during, and after the demonstration. In an August 9 demonstration in
Kalar, security forces reportedly shot into the crowd of protesters,
killing one person and injuring several others.
Residents alleged that the KRG intimidated and imprisoned numerous
participants of protests in Sulaymaniyah. In multiple demonstrations
against poor services in the town of Chamchamal, participants reported
that the PUK internal security forces as well as armed forces security
carefully monitored protests, and in some cases overtly videotaped the
proceedings. When authorities considered that the protests had become
unruly, participants were detained, in some cases allegedly at
undisclosed locations.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides the right to
form and join associations and political parties and specifically
mandates that this right be regulated by law. The Government generally
respected this right in practice. Within the KRG provinces, there was
pressure to associate with the PUK party in Sulaymaniyah and the KDP
party in Irbil and Dohuk.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution proclaims Islam as the
official religion of the state. While providing for full religious
rights for all individuals ``such as Christians, Yazidis, and Mandean
Sabeans,'' the constitution also stipulates that no law may be enacted
that contradicts the established provisions of Islam. While the
Government generally respected the right of the individual to worship
according to thought, conscience, and belief, private conservative and
radical Islamic elements continued to exert tremendous pressure on
other groups to conform to extremist interpretations of Islam's
precepts. In addition frequent attacks on religious places of worship,
as well as sectarian violence, hampered the ability of citizens to
practice their religion freely.
The Government continued to follow longstanding discriminatory
practices against those of the Baha'i Faith. During the year MoI
continued to adhere to its regulation prohibiting issuance of a
national identity card to those claiming the Baha'i Faith. Without this
official citizenship card, Baha'is experienced difficulty registering
their children in school, receiving passports to travel out of the
country, and proving their citizenship.
Constitutional provisions on religious freedoms countermand the
Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) Resolution 201 of 2001, which
mandates the death penalty for adherents of the Salafist branch of
Islam (Wahhabism) and Law No. 105 of 1970, which prohibits the Baha'i
Faith. These laws were selectively enforced against Baha'is, but at
year's end they had not been formally repealed.
During the year, there were a number of reports indicating that
employees and managers within ministries expressly or indirectly
pressured women to wear veils as a requirement for work--regardless of
the individual's religious affiliation. Reports of these coercive
tactics were particularly widespread in the Shi'a-dominated ministries
of health and transportation.
There were also allegations of religiously based employment
discrimination during the year. Several ministries reportedly hired and
favored employees that conformed to the religious preference of the
respective minister.
There were numerous allegations that criminals within the ISF,
largely Shi'a, targeted Sunnis for attack. Likewise, Sunni terrorist
groups often targeted Shi'a in killings and displacement tactics.
Religious groups are required to register with the Government. The
requirements include having at least 500 followers. Non-Muslims
complained that although the Government recognized their religious
holidays by law, in practice they were generally disregarded. Schools
routinely scheduled examinations during non-Muslim holy days, and no
special dispensation was given to students wishing to observe them.
During the year, there were allegations that the KRG continued to
engage in discriminatory behavior against religious minorities.
Minorities living in areas north of Mosul, such as Yazidis and
Christians, asserted that the KRG encroached on their property,
eventually building Kurdish settlements on the confiscated land. In
spite of reputed KRG discrimination against religious minorities, many
non-Muslim minorities fled to the Kurdish region to escape violence and
religious discrimination in other parts of the country.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Extremists, including
terrorist groups and militia members, targeted many individuals because
of their religious identity. Others were targeted because of their
secular leanings. Violence between Shi'a and Sunni Arabs based on
religion continued and worsened markedly after the February 22 bombing
of the Al-Askariya Shrine in Samarra.
Sectarian and vigilante checkpoints began to appear most notably
after February. They ostensibly were for neighborhood security but
often were used to identify and kill citizens based on their religion.
Both Shi'a and Sunni mosques were heavily attacked during the year.
According to the Sunni and Shi'a religious endowment offices, hundreds
of Shi'a and Sunni mosques were bombed or otherwise attacked during the
year.
Religious leaders were in several instances targeted for
kidnappings and killings. For example, Ayatollah Husayn al- Husayni was
kidnapped August 13 while in Baghdad. Mohammed Redha Mohammed, an
Islamic religious leader in Kirkuk as well as CoR member, was killed in
Baghdad on October 7 on his way to deliver Korans from the Sunni
Endowment. Father Paulos Alexander was beheaded on October 11 after
being kidnapped in Mosul, initially for ransom.
Members of the Yazidi community reported that they continued to be
targeted by Islamists throughout the year. They complained that the
misperception that they were devil-worshippers was behind some attacks
that the community had suffered in the province of Ninawa.
Sabean Mandean leaders asserted that there was an increase in
threats against and killings of members of their community during the
year. Whereas in previous years Sabeans were kidnapped for ransom,
Sabean leaders reported that they were being targeted for killings.
Sabeans reported receiving numerous death threat letters accusing them
of being ``sorcerers'' and urging them to leave Iraq altogether or face
death.
Members of the Christian community indicated that they were
targeted throughout the year, particularly by Sunni-affiliated
terrorists. Threats against churches, religious institutions, members
of the clergy and religious orders and individual Christians spiked
after comments by Pope Benedict XVI which were perceived to be anti-
Islamic but reportedly decreased after an apology was made. Both a
Dominican convent in Mosul and the Chaldean Major Seminary of St. Peter
in Baghdad were targeted during the year by terrorists, forcing
followers to relocate. Several priests were kidnapped and then released
for ransom, except Father Paulos Alexander.
Threat letters targeting residents based on their religious
affiliation were fairly common for almost all religious denominations.
Numerous reports indicated that Sunni Arabs, Shi'a Arabs, and
Christians all received death letters identifying them by sect and
urging them to leave their homes or face death. Internal displacement
based on religious or ethnic affiliation was fueled by these threats.
Islamist militants continued to target stores that provided goods
or services considered to be inconsistent with Islam, for example
alcohol. Liquor stores in Baghdad and in other areas were bombed,
looted, and defaced by Islamic extremists.
According to the head of the Christian and Other Religions
Endowment Office, the country's millennia-old Jewish population had
dwindled to less than 20 persons in the Baghdad area as a result of
migration over decades to Israel and other countries. There were also
unverified reports of small numbers of Jews living in KRG areas.
However, anti-Semitic sentiment remained a cultural undercurrent. As an
example, a citizenship law, among other provisions, precludes Jews who
immigrated to other countries from regaining citizenship. The law
became effective when it was published in the Official Gazette in
March.
On July 13, the speaker of parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani,
accused Jews of financing violent activity in the country designed to
undermine the Muslims who control parliament and to bring their own
agents to power. Mashhadani stated that although Muslims are accused of
murdering and kidnapping men and women, these acts are the actually the
work of ``the Jew and his Jewish son'' and that Jews, Israelis, and
Zionists are using Iraqi money and oil in order to foil the activities
of the Islamic Movement in Iraq. No government official condemned his
statement.
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
of free movement in all parts of the country and the right to travel
abroad and return freely. However, there were some limitations in
practice.
Under the state of emergency, the Prime Minister can restrict
movement pursuant to a warrant, impose a curfew, cordon off and search
an area, and take other necessary security and military measures (in
Kurdish areas, only in coordination with the KRG). The Government
availed itself of these powers in practice in the course of the year.
There were some reports that the KRG employed checkpoints to
prevent Arabs from moving into that area. For example, Arab travelers
with a large number of suitcases were reportedly turned away. Despite
these reports, thousands of Arab displaced persons were allowed entry
into the region.
The MoI's Passport Office reinstated a policy to require women to
obtain the approval of a close male relative before being issued a
passport (see section 5, Women). Additionally, because of the
longstanding prohibition of issuing national identity cards to those
claiming the Baha'i Faith, some Baha'is were unable to obtain
passports.
The constitution expressly prohibits forced exile of all native-
born citizens. The injunction also applies to naturalized citizens,
unless a judicial decision establishes that the naturalized citizen was
granted citizenship on the basis of material falsifications. Forced
exile did not occur.
There were no known government restrictions on emigration. Exit
permits were required for citizens leaving the country, but the
requirement was not enforced.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--The number of IDPs since the
fall of the previous regime sharply increased following the February 22
bombing. Estimates of the number of persons displaced after the bombing
varied between 380,000 and 500,000. The differing estimates derived
from various compilations by the UN High Commission for Refugees
(UNHCR), local authorities, the International Organization for
Migration (IOM), the Ministry of Displacement and Migration (MoDM), and
NGOs. More than 1.2 million IDPs had been displaced under the previous
regime, the majority of whom continued in that status. According to
UNHCR, there were a total of approximately 1.7 million IDPs at the end
of the year, and 1 to 1.4 million Iraqis in neighboring countries,
although a large percentage of them had left before 2003.
These IDP movements were caused by sectarian intimidation and
violence, a poor security situation, and poor public services. There
were numerous reports in Baghdad and across the country of threat
letters delivered to Shi'a, Sunni, or Christian residents warning them
to leave their homes within a certain period of time or face death.
Some Baghdad residents reported seeing their neighbors kidnapped or
killed by members of terrorist or militia groups aiming to evict
residents of the opposite sect. This overall campaign aimed at forcibly
displacing citizens was the main reason for the increasing polarization
of areas within Baghdad and outside of Baghdad.
Many Baghdad residents migrated to other neighborhoods, while
others left the city altogether. Between 40 percent and 60 percent of
new IDP flows were estimated to have originated in Baghdad. A large
number of Christians left Baghdad not only for Mosul but also for
Dohuk.
In Basrah sectarian violence caused a large number of Sunni Arabs
to leave their homes. The estimated 30 percent of Sunni Arabs who have
since returned to Basrah say they did so because they found hostile
receptions in the places where they sought refuge.
Most recent IDPs were living with host families or renting houses
in the host community. Other IDPs have occupied abandoned buildings
(old factories, unoccupied military facilities) public buildings
(schools, offices, and mosques), or homes abandoned by other displaced
families. The IOM estimated that only approximately 3 percent of these
IDPs were moving into camps set up by the MoDM or the Iraqi Red
Crescent Society (IRCS). IDPs used some of these camps for short
periods, as transit points in their displacement.
The Government, through MoDM, collected information about IDPs and
provided some assistance to them in the form of humanitarian supplies.
MoDM also coordinated with IRCS the provision of aid to IDPs.
Additionally, IOM and NGOs also provided assistance to IDPs.
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 yet established an effective 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 as refugees more than
23,000 Palestinian and some 2,500 Syrians in the country. The
Government has also implicitly recognized 14,000 Turks and 5,500
Iranians as refugees.
The Government cooperated with UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. UNHCR provided
protection and assistance to both Syrian and Palestinian refugees
through rental subsidies, other forms of material assistance, and legal
representation.
The Government re-established an interministerial committee charged
with making group and individual refugee determinations. The committee
did not review any cases during the year. The central government and
the KRG agreed to integrate approximately 3,000 Iranian Kurd refugees
in northern Iraq. The Government also continued to facilitate the
reintegration of hundreds of Iraqi Faili (Shi'a) Kurds returning from
Iran.
During the year, refugees were periodically targeted in attacks
carried out by insurgents, militias, and criminals. Protection for
Palestinian refugees remained poor. There were credible reports that
more than a dozen Palestinian refugees were murdered, and that police
targeted Palestinians for arbitrary arrest, detention, and house raids.
There was a wave of increased abuse of Palestinian refugees by the
security forces and the general public following the February 22
bombing. Several hundred Palestinian refugees left Baghdad to seek
refuge at the Jordanian and Syrian borders, and many more allegedly
fled Iraq with false Iraqi passports. In April at the request of a
Palestinian human rights group, Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-
Sistani issued a letter urging the authorities and his followers not to
harm the thousands of Palestinian refugees living in the country.
Groups not affiliated with the Government also reportedly
threatened the physical safety of refugees belonging to groups favored
or perceived to be favored by the previous regime (Palestinians, Syrian
Ba'thists, and Iranian Arabs).
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
On October 15, 2005, citizens voted to adopt a permanent
constitution, which included the full panoply of protections of human
rights including the right of citizens to change their government
peacefully through periodic, free, and fair elections based on
universal suffrage. Citizens exercised this right at the national level
on December 15, 2005 when they elected the 275 members of the CoR. The
Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) had the sole
responsibility for administering the October 2005 referendum and the
December 2005 elections.
Elections and Political Participation.--In spite of the threat from
terrorist and insurgent violence, the December 2005 national elections,
as well as the October 2005 referendum, were widely considered to have
met international standards for free and fair elections. The IECI
opened more than 6,000 polling centers throughout the country for a
total of more than 30,000 polling stations available to voters. The
December 2005 election turnout of more than 70 percent indicated that
voters had good overall access to the polling centers.
During the December 2005 election, observer groups and political
entity agents submitted more than 1,800 complaints. However, many of
these complaints were procedural and few pointed to substantive
irregularities. Allegations of ballot stuffing or interference by local
electoral staff, outsiders, or police, were not widespread. The April
12 final report of the International Mission for Iraqi Elections stated
that the December 2005 election met internationally recognized
electoral standards for free and fair elections and the results of the
elections reflected the will of the voters.
Political parties and candidates had the right to freely propose
themselves or be nominated by other groups. The Government did not
restrict political opponents, nor did it interfere with their right to
organize, seek votes, or publicize their views.
The country's political parties, as a general rule, tended to be
organized along either religious or ethnic lines--sometimes both. Shi'a
Islamist parties, such as the Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and the al-Da'wa al-Islamiyya Party, as well
as such Kurdish nationalist parties as the KDP and PUK, were
predominant political forces. Other political players included the
Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party and other ethnic minority parties, such as
the Assyrian Democratic Movement.
Membership in some political parties conferred special privileges
and advantages in employment. There were some reports that the KDP and
PUK prevented the employment of nonparty citizens and that KRG courts
favored party members.
By the end of the year, there had been no steps to undertake
provincial elections. Provincial councils were not fully representative
since many Sunni Arab groups boycotted the January 2005 election.
In the December 2005 election, female voter turnout was reportedly
as high if not higher than male turnout. The constitution provides for
the election of women to the CoR, with a goal of no less than one-
quarter female representation. Female leaders, representing a broad
spectrum of political views, expressed concern that some women were
selected to participate in the political process only to meet this
quota.
There were 76 women in the CoR, 28 percent of the membership, and
four female ministers in the Government: the minister of state for
women's affairs and the ministers of human rights, environment, and
housing and construction. Additionally, at least three cabinet members
were from small religious and ethnic minority groups (see section 5,
Women).
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Large-scale corruption
pervaded the Government and was a severe problem. Public perception of
government corruption continued to be high. Intimidation and politics
were factors in some allegations of corruption, and officials sometimes
used ``de-Ba'athification'' as a means to further political and
personal agendas. Anticorruption institutions were fragmented and
interaction among them was hampered by a lack of consensus about their
role. Lack of accountability continued to be widespread and was
reinforced by several provisions in statute as well as lack of
transparency. The law did not provide public access to government
information for citizens and noncitizens, including foreign media.
The constitution provides immunity from arrest to members of the
CoR unless the member is caught in the criminal act, or the charge is a
felony and the immunity is overturned by a majority vote. CoR member
Mishan al-Jabouri, charged with embezzlement, enjoyed this immunity
until October 9 when the CoR voted to overturn his immunity.
Paragraph 136 (b) of the Criminal Procedure Code provides ministers
with the ability to prevent enforcement of the arrest of their
employees. This law allows ministers to halt corruption proceedings
against their employees. On 15 separate occasions, the involved
minister reportedly halted adjudication and arrest of employees
suspected of corruption by the Commission on Public Integrity (CPI). In
other cases, ministries effectively stalled the investigation by
failing to provide information.
Despite these obstacles, there were several high-profile corruption
cases that reached resolution. During the year, former minister of
defense Hazem Sha'alan was convicted in absentia and sentenced to 60
years' imprisonment. He and 27 other officials were alleged to have
played a key role in the theft of $1 billion (1.3 trillion dinars) in
2004. A number of other MoD officials were arrested and were pending
trial at year's end.
Former minister of electricity, Ayham al-Samaraii was sentenced to
two years' imprisonment on charges of corruption on October 11. He
subsequently escaped from detention.
The CPI, formed in January 2004, is the Government's commission
charged with preventing and investigating cases of corruption in all
ministries and other components of the Government nationwide (except
for the KRG). The CPI, with a staff of 119 investigators, reports to
the country's chief executive and legislature and has the authority to
refer cases for criminal prosecution. During the year, the CPI received
more than 2,000 cases to investigate, a caseload that far outstripped
the organization's investigative capacity. By the end of the year, it
had adjudicated few of its cases, due to intimidation and lack of
training.
The Government also has a system of 31 inspectors general in the
various ministries, the city of Baghdad, the Central Bank, and the
religious endowments. The mandate of this program, which comprises
2,500 total staff, is to audit, inspect, and investigate in order to
reduce fraud, waste, and abuse. More than 50 percent of these offices
have a human rights unit within their organization.
The Board of Supreme Audit is responsible for conducting audits of
all contracts that ministries undertake.
Both the CPI and the inspection system remained vulnerable during
the year. There was widespread intimidation, as well as killings and
attempted attacks against CPI employees, inspection personnel, and
witnesses and family members involved with CPI cases. CPI had 11
employees or family members killed during the year.
CPI received a number of high level attempts to influence
prosecutions of members of the ruling party. Members of the legislature
also reportedly attempted to pressure the court on numerous occasions
to a particular ruling.
The former deputy commissioner of CPI was dismissed for engaging in
prosecutions along sectarian lines.
According to UNAMI's September-October report, payroll fraud in the
security forces was widespread. Police officers frequently required
payment from would-be recruits to join the police force. Absenteeism
was widespread, and in Kirkuk alone, half of the 5,000 police force and
13,000 army soldiers were reportedly absent at any given time, and many
were permanently absent without leave, but still received their pay
(see section 1.d.).
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Generally, the Government was generally disposed to cooperate with
the UN and its agencies on human rights issues. All nongovernmental
investigation of alleged human rights violations, such as access to
detention facilities, was highly restricted, according to the
Government due to the security situation, as well as government policy
(see section 1.c.).
The former regime did not permit the establishment of independent
human rights organizations, and as such the NGO community in the
country was still new. During the year, NGO activity and advocacy
continued but remained weak overall. Almost 5,000 local NGOs were
registered, although the number of members was small. The vast majority
of human rights NGOs affiliated with political parties or with a
particular sect and frequently focused human rights efforts along
sectarian lines. NGOs serving women did not generally subscribe to this
pattern.
The Ministry of State for Civil Society Affairs (MoSCA) continued
its efforts to impose onerous registration processes and excessive
documentary requirements on the NGO community. For much of the year, a
number of local NGOs reported having their assets frozen arbitrarily
despite compliance with burdensome reporting requirements. Women's
rights NGOs appeared especially vulnerable to this disruption, which
many attributed to disapproval of their activities and services. The
ministry announced that assets were being released towards the end of
the year; however, this claim could not be verified.
Unannounced and intimidating visits to some NGOs by representatives
of the MoSCA demanding photographs, passport details, names, and
addresses of all staff and their family members continued to occur. The
ministry also instructed all NGOs that they were no longer allowed to
communicate directly with other ministries. Instead, all communication
or requests were to be sent first to the MoSCA, which would then
forward the request if deemed appropriate. In practice this instruction
limited the ability of human rights NGOs to communicate concerns to
various ministries, including MoI, MoD, and MoHR.
Terrorist organizations frequently targeted human rights
organizations, and the poor security situation severely limited the
work of NGOs. Both local and international human rights organizations
continued to face obstacles in gaining access to prisons and detention
facilities.
The Kurdish areas, which have largely been autonomous since 1991,
were able to develop a stronger NGO community, although almost all
Kurdish NGOs were closely linked to the PUK and KDP political parties.
The KRG and Kurdish political parties generally supported humanitarian
NGO activities and programs.
Although no ombudsman existed, a national MoHR and a KRG ministry,
focused on raising awareness and knowledge of human rights and
conducting prison visits. Each ministry reported to its respective
prime minister. The national MoHR also worked to monitor human rights
abuse and advocate for and assist victims. However, limited resources
and poor cooperation from other ministries greatly limited the
ministry's effectiveness. The KRG MoHR was in a similar position.
The CoR Committee on Human Rights did not play a significant role
in developing human rights policy.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides that all citizens are equal before the
law without regard to gender, sect, opinion, belief, nationality,
religion, or origin. The Government did not effectively enforce these
provisions.
Women.--The general lack of security in the country and
increasingly conservative societal tendencies had a serious, negative
impact on women.
The constitution prohibits all forms of violence and abuse in the
family, school, and society. NGOs reported that domestic violence
against women increased during the year, although no reliable
statistics exist. Reportedly ``honor killings'' also increased based on
anecdotal observations from NGOs in the KRG as well as the KRG MoHR. In
its March-April report, UNAMI reported that as many as 534 women may
have been victims of honor-related crimes--including killings, torture,
and severe abuse--in the Kurdish area alone since the beginning of the
year.
Although the KRG amended its own penal code to render ``honor'' an
aggravating rather than extenuating factor, continued reports of honor
killings in the Kurdish region prompted the UN special representative
to send a letter of concern to President Talabani on August 24.
Anecdotal evidence from local NGOs and media reporting indicated that
domestic violence often went unpunished, with such abuse customarily
addressed within the tightly knit family and tribal structure.
Harassment of legal personnel working on domestic violence cases, as
well as sympathy from both police and judicial personnel, further
hampered efforts to bring perpetrators to justice.
Private shelters for women existed; however, space was limited and
their locations were secret and subject to frequent change. Some NGOs
worked with local provincial governments to train community health
workers to treat victims of domestic violence. Victims of domestic
violence received no substantive assistance from the Government.
The Penal Code prohibits rape, and imposes a maximum sentence of
seven years' imprisonment on perpetrators. It was difficult to estimate
the incidence of rape; however, NGO sources reported a significant
increase in the number of cases. Several NGOs documented cases of rape
committed by government officials, most of which were alleged to have
occurred in the MoI during the initial detention of prisoners.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is not illegal. Research done by
NGOs operating in rural areas of the Kurdish region showed that FGM was
practiced. NGOs reported few cases of FGM elsewhere. The Government
offered no substantive assistance for victims of FGM.
Prostitution is illegal. Reports of prostitution increased; some of
the increase was due to an increase in trafficking for sexual
exploitation.
Although the constitution forbids discrimination on the basis of
gender, in practice conservative societal standards impeded women's
abilities to exercise their rights. Throughout the country women
reported increasing pressure to wear veils. Many reported the presence
of flyers in their neighborhoods threatening women who refused. Women
were targeted for undertaking normal activities, such as driving a car,
talking on a cell phone, and wearing trousers, in an effort to force
them to remain at home, wear veils, and adhere to a very conservative
interpretation of Islam. In addition to societal pressures, there were
several reports of women at government ministries being told to wear a
veil or lose their job.
Islamic extremists reportedly targeted female university students
in a number of cities, demanding that they stop wearing western-style
clothing and cover their heads while in public. Additionally, these
extremists allegedly called for a separation of male and female
students in some universities.
During the year, the MoI's Passport Office reinstated a national
policy to require women to obtain the approval of a close male relative
before being issued a passport (see section 2.d.). In addition the
general lack of security in the country and increasing pressure from
fundamental religious parties had a serious, negative impact on women.
The Ministry of State for Women's Affairs, with a 17-person
professional staff, functioned primarily as a policy office without an
independent budget or the ability to hire employees.
Women complained that weak labor laws and the lack of an equal
opportunity employment law left them vulnerable to arbitrary dismissal.
The deteriorating security situation disproportionately affected
women's ability to work outside the home.
The constitution provides that a minimum of 25 percent of the seats
in the CoR be reserved for women. In national elections, women won just
over 25 percent of the seats. Women hold 76 of 275 (or 28 percent)
seats in the CoR, but they only chair two of the 24 standing
committees. Moreover, many female politicians and civil society leaders
complained that women were excluded from the Government formation
process. Four women were appointed as ministers in the Government (see
section 3).
The MoLSA Social Care Directorate administered a variety of social
care institutions, among them institutions for orphans and the elderly.
No substantive shelter assistance was offered for victims of domestic
violence. Women who were heads of single-parent households received a
minimal cash stipend from the ministry; however, the budget for this
assistance did not meet the need.
Children.--The Government in general was committed to children's
rights and welfare, although noncitizen children were denied government
benefits. They had to pay for services that were otherwise free such as
public schools, health services, and, except for several hundred
Palestinian families, were not eligible for the national food rationing
program.
On September 21, the Higher Education Commission set up by the
Tameen Governorate Council rejected the applications for school
admission by pupils from newly displaced families who had fled the
sectarian violence in other provinces, citing lack of capacity. No
alternative education plans was made for the children by year's end.
Free primary education is compulsory for six years, and 89 percent
of students reach the fifth grade. The enrollment of primary school-
aged children was 83 percent for boys and 74 percent for girls. The
percentage of children enrolled in primary schools was much lower in
rural areas, particularly for girls, whose enrollment was approximately
60 percent. Overall enrollment in school of those ages six to 24 is 55
percent.
According to a 2005 Ministry of Development and Cooperation survey,
youth literacy (ages 15 to 24) was 74 percent and adult literacy 65
percent. Only 56 percent of women were literate, compared to 74 percent
of men. Both the level of education and literacy rates for women and
girls dropped significantly in the last 15 years, especially in rural
areas. MoH clinics provided health care, which was largely free to all
citizens. There was no systemic distinction in the care provided to
boys and girls.
FGM was performed in some instances (see section 5, Women).
Although there were no statistics, a tradition of marrying young girls
(14 or older) continued, particularly in rural areas.
MOLSA operated over 20 orphanages for older children in Baghdad and
the provinces, housing a total of more than 600 children, and 40
orphanages for young children, housing approximately 1,500 children.
Despite efforts and laws against child labor, children often worked
as laborers on rural farms or in street commerce. Press reports
indicated that insurgents used children in diversionary tactics to
distract security forces, as well as informers and messengers. Children
sometimes participated directly in attacks as well, reportedly under
the direction of Jaysh al-Mahdi militia, throwing rocks or other
objects at security convoys.
Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution states that forced labor,
slavery, slave trade, trafficking in women or children, and the sex
trade should be prohibited; however, there were reports that persons
were trafficked to, from, and within the country.
Although statistics did not exist, according to reports from
destination countries, the country was a source for trafficking of
women and girls to other Arab countries, especially the Persian Gulf
and Levant states. The country, particularly in Kurdish areas, was
considered a destination for trafficking of male laborers from
Southeast Asia. There were also reports of girls, women, and boys
trafficked within the country for commercial and other sexual
exploitation.
Anecdotal evidence and media reports suggested that some
trafficking victims were taken from orphanages and other charitable
institutions by employees of these organizations. The MoLSA accused
private orphanages of being involved in these activities and called for
all private orphanages to be under its purview and inspection
authority. There were also reports that criminal gangs used threats and
blackmail to sexually exploit teenage boys for commercial and other
motives.
Both the MoI and the KRG MoI have responsibility for trafficking-
related issues. However, the demands of the security situation
relegated trafficking to a lesser priority. Trafficking crimes were not
specifically enumerated in MoI statistics on criminal activity.
However, the KRG reported instances in which it had followed up and
resolved cases of trafficking. For example, the KRG determined that a
Dubai construction firm had engaged in trafficking to bring 500 Indian
and Sri Lankan laborers to the province of Irbil. The workers were not
paid the contractually agreed-upon salary and were housed in squalid
conditions with insufficient food. The KRG facilitated the return of
the employees back to their home countries and pursued administrative
penalties with the company.
The MoI does not monitor trafficking crimes, include them in the
police training curriculum, nor conduct trafficking-related
investigations.
Victims of trafficking reportedly were prosecuted for a number of
crimes, including prostitution and document and passport fraud. There
were also documented cases of women victims being kept in ``protective
custody'' in detention centers to deter violence against them by their
families and traffickers. Few shelters existed in the country; most are
run by NGOs.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical disabilities. The Government enforced the
law in the Government but not in the private sector.
MoLSA operated several institutions for the education of children
and young adults with disabilities. These institutions offered basic
educational services; however, they did not have access to appropriate
educational technology due to the lack of training and funding.
Seventeen institutes operated in Baghdad and the provinces for
persons with mental and psychological disabilities and housed
approximately 1,000 persons. Additionally, there were 33 institutes
throughout the country for persons with physical disabilities,
including homes for the blind and deaf, as well as vocational/
rehabilitation homes. The Government provided benefits for thousands of
veterans with disabilities, many of whom supplemented their benefits
with some employment.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Ethnically and linguistically,
the country's population includes Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Chaldeans,
Assyrians, Shabak, and Armenians. The religious mix is likewise varied.
Assyrians and Chaldeans are considered by many to be a distinct
ethnic group. These communities speak a different language, preserve
Christian traditions, and do not define themselves as Arabs.
The constitution identifies Arabic and Kurdish as the two official
languages of the state. It also provides the right of citizens to
educate their children in their mother tongue, such as Turkmen, Syriac,
or Armenian, in government educational institutions in accordance with
educational guidelines, or in any other language in private educational
institutions.
During the year, discrimination against ethnic minorities was a
problem. There were numerous reports of Kurdish authorities
discriminating against minorities in the North, including Turkman,
Arabs, Christians, and Shabak. According to these reports, authorities
denied services to some villages, arrested minorities without due
process and took them to undisclosed locations for detention, and
pressured minority schools to teach in the Kurdish language. Ethnic and
religious minorities in Kirkuk frequently charged that Kurdish security
forces targeted Arabs, Turkmen, and Shabak.
Palestinians reportedly experienced arrest, detention, harassment,
and abuse by police, by individuals pretending to be police, and by the
general public. A law concerning citizenship came into effect in March
(see section 2.c.). Its provisions prevent Palestinians from obtaining
citizenship, or Jews who immigrated to other countries, from reclaiming
it.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was societal
discrimination and reported violence against individuals based on
sexual orientation. Laws that criminalized sexual assault against
minors were used in a manner that targeted homosexual youth. There were
several reported examples of juveniles sentenced to up to 10 years in
jail for having engaged in same-sex sexual relations.
An advocacy group reported attacks on homosexual men by armed
groups and militias during the year. For example, militias and men
wearing police uniforms reportedly kidnapped at least five members of
an advocacy group in al-Shaab, a poor Shi'a area of Baghdad in
December. The mutilated body of one appeared several days later. Other
reports of persons targeted because of their sexual orientation who
were kidnapped or disappeared in Baghdad in the last months of the year
included activists, a clothing store owner, and four barbers.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution provides the right
to form and join unions and professional associations, subject to
regulating law. The exercise of labor rights remained limited, largely
due to insurgent and sectarian-driven violence, high unemployment, and
maladapted labor organizational structures and laws.
The MoLSA Labor Directorate has jurisdiction over the labor code,
child labor, wages, occupational safety and health issues, and labor
relations.
The Government was the largest employer in the country, and the
status of government workers remained unclear. Under the 1987 labor
law, government workers were considered professionals not entitled to
join unions. This prohibition remained unenforced, although unmodified.
In this situation, some government agencies tacitly accepted unions,
while others banned them. There were no legal or practical restrictions
on who may be a union official or advisor, excessive or arbitrary
registration requirements, or restrictions on union political activity.
The law did not prohibit antiunion discrimination by employers or
others.
During most of the year, MoLSA recognized and dealt with unions
belonging to the General Workers Federation of Iraq.
There were no reported prosecutions of unions, union federations,
or leaders for corruption during the year.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The
constitution states that every citizen has the right to demonstrate and
strike peaceably in accordance with the law. There were no reported
reprisals against strikers. Typically strikes in the public sector
occurred due to low salaries. More common than strikes were popular
protests over unemployment or lack of basic services. The law does not
address collective bargaining, which is prohibited in the public sector
and was not widespread in the country. Government labor courts are
empowered to rule on labor code violations and disagreements.
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 in
Persons). According to some press reports, foreign workers in the
country were subjected to abusive treatment (see section 5, Trafficking
in Persons).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits the worst forms of child labor; however, the Government
did not effectively enforce these laws. The law limits working hours
for workers less than 18 years of age and prohibits their employment in
dangerous occupations. The minimum age for employment is 15 years. The
Child Labor Unit of MoLSA's Labor Directorate had neither enough
inspectors nor resources to enforce the law, maintain programs to
prevent child labor, or remove children from such labor.
Despite the various laws and regulations, children were routinely
used as an additional source of labor or income among the one million
families subsisting on a daily income of less than $1.00 (1,300
dinars). This work often took the form of seasonal manual labor in
rural areas. In cities it often meant begging or peddling a variety of
products, as well as working in sometimes hazardous automobile shops or
on construction sites.
Projects to combat child labor were few, and those that existed
affected few children. The Government took action only as funded by the
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) or NGOs. For example, the Italian branch of
the international NGO Terre des Hommes and UNICEF operated a
rehabilitation and counseling center for a small number of working
street children in Baghdad. Kurdish authorities supported several
small-scale projects to eliminate child labor in the KRG area. UNICEF
had established centers for working children in Irbil.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Wages are set by contract in the
private sector and set by the Government in the public sector. The
average salary was approximately $1,250 per year (1,625 million
dinars). Unskilled workers must work 357 days per year to achieve this
figure. These earnings were barely above poverty level ($2.00 per day
or 2,600 dinars) and did not provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family. A teacher can provide for a spouse and three
children at the poverty level.
The standard workday is eight hours with one or more rest periods.
Up to four hours of overtime work per day is permitted, and premium pay
for overtime is required.
According to some press reports, foreign workers in the country
were subjected to abusive treatment; no legal action in this area was
reported. According to press reports, foreign workers were also
induced, tricked, or forced to enter the country for work via nearby
countries including Dubai, Turkey, and Kuwait. In some cases the
foreign workers were complicit in finding ways to enter the country or
in accepting the wage inducements when they faced travel prohibitions
to the country from their home country; in other cases, they were the
victim of a more compulsory fraud involving passport confiscation or
outright fraud where they discovered their destination en route. Some
countries of origin undertook efforts to educate and to repatriate
workers.
The occupational safety and health component of MoLSA had
approximately 129 staff located throughout the country. The law
provides that workers have the right to remove themselves from a
situation endangering health and safety without prejudice to their
employment. Occupational safety and health standards and programs
existed and were sometimes enforced in state-owned enterprises.
Enforcement of safety standards at private sector work sites was
intermittent, and programs were rare. Most occupational safety issues
were linked to violence and terrorism, not health.
__________
ISRAEL
With a population of approximately seven million, including
approximately 5.3 million Jews, Israel is a multiparty parliamentary
democracy. ``Basic laws'' enumerate fundamental rights. The 120-member,
unicameral Knesset has the power to dissolve the Government and mandate
elections. On March 28, the 17th Knesset was elected democratically. On
May 4, Prime Minister Olmert presented his government to the Knesset.
The judiciary is independent and has sometimes ruled against the
executive, including in some security cases. Notwithstanding some cases
of abuse by individuals, the civilian authorities maintained effective
control of the security forces. (An annex to this report covers human
rights in the occupied territories. This report deals only with human
rights in Israel.)
Palestinians in the occupied territories are not citizens of the
country and do not enjoy the rights of citizens, even if living in
areas under full Israeli authority or arrested in Israel. The
approximately 20,000 non-Israeli residents of the Golan Heights were
subject to Israeli authority and Israeli law.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas, including serious
abuses by some members of the security forces against Palestinian
detainees. Poor conditions and improper application of security
internment procedures (see annex) persisted in some detention and
interrogation facilities. Institutional, legal, and societal
discrimination against Israeli Arabs continued. Non-Orthodox Jews and
other religious groups continued to face discrimination in personal and
civil status matters. Women suffered discrimination and, in some cases,
violence. The educational systems for Arab and Jewish students remained
unequal. Trafficking in and abuse of women and foreign workers remained
a problem in some areas and industries although the Government passed
new antitrafficking legislation. De facto discrimination against
persons with disabilities occurred. Government corruption and other
criminal activity by political leaders was a problem.
On July 12, the Lebanese terrorist organization Hizballah killed
three Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers and kidnapped two others in
northern Israel, resulting in a widened conflict in July and August.
During that period, Hizballah fired missiles into Israel, killing
civilians. Apart from the July-August conflict, Palestinian terrorist
attacks killed 10 Israeli civilians and four foreigners 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.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings.
On January 19, a border policeman killed Nadim Milham, an Israeli
Arab, while reportedly searching for weapons in his home. A family
member reported that police beat Milham and shot him when he attempted
to escape; the Mossawa Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens of Israel
(Mossawa) claimed to have evidence that Milham was shot twice from
behind. On November 21, the State Prosecutor's Office indicted the
policeman for manslaughter; however, there was no further action by
year's end.
On July 3, a police officer killed Mahmoud Ghanim, an Israeli Arab
whom police suspected of stealing a car. According to police Ghanim was
shot while attempting to run over police officers seeking to arrest
him. Witness accounts collected by Mossawa indicated that Ghanim was
shot in the back while sitting in his father's nonfunctioning car. At
year's end the Police Investigation Department (PID) was investigating
the shooting.
On October 4, a border policeman killed Iyad Abu Aya, an illegal
Palestinian worker, in Jaffa. Abu Aya was shot during a police
operation to arrest illegal workers. According to press reports,
eyewitnesses said the shooting was not justified. The police officer
was placed under house arrest pending a PID investigation; there were
no further developments at year's end.
On January 6, the Government assigned a Deputy State Attorney to
reexamine the PID decision to close its investigation into the police
killings of 13 (12 Israeli Arabs and 1 Palestinian) protesters during
October 2000 demonstrations (see sections 2.b. and 5). Nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) and Israeli-Arab community leaders generally
welcomed the Government's decision to reexamine the PID investigation
but questioned the impartiality of the Deputy State Attorney since his
direct supervisor was among those responsible for the PID decision not
to investigate the killings initially. At year's end the Government's
review of the PID decision was ongoing.
The Orr Commission of Inquiry, established in November 2000 to
investigate the killings, recommended measures, including a Justice
Ministry investigation to determine if criminal prosecutions should be
initiated against police officials found responsible. The Government
has not implemented either the Orr Commission recommendations or those
of a follow-up interministerial committee. On May 25, the Public
Security Minister appointed an officer implicated by the Orr Commission
to a position seen by observers as a promotion. On October 25, in
response to a petition from the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights
(Adalah), the Supreme Court voided the officer's appointment.
In July 2003 a police officer killed an unarmed Bedouin, Nasser Abu
al Qia'an, in his car at a road junction, under disputed circumstances.
In September 2005 the Justice Ministry indicted the police officer, who
was subsequently tried and found not guilty on the grounds of self-
defense. An appeal filed by Mossawa was rejected during the year.
On July 12, Hizballah terrorists killed three and abducted two IDF
soldiers during a cross-border raid from Southern Lebanon, resulting in
a conflict that lasted until August 14. During the fighting Hizballah
fired 3,970 short- and medium-range rockets at Israeli population
centers, killing 43 civilians (including four who died of heart attacks
during bombardments) and no military personnel, according to government
figures.
Hizballah employed cluster munitions in these attacks on civilian
population centers. According to Israeli police data, reported by HRW,
Hizballah fired 113 cluster munitions rockets into northern Israel,
killing one civilian and injuring 12. According to local media reports,
the warheads of many of the rockets fired into northern Israel were
loaded with ball bearings.
During the year Palestinian terrorists killed 10 civilians and four
foreign citizens in the country. The terrorist organization Palestinian
Islamic Jihad carried out two suicide bomb attacks, both of them at the
same restaurant in Tel Aviv. The first attack, on January 19, wounded
31 persons. The second, on April 17, killed 11 and wounded over 60. On
February 5, a Palestinian terrorist stabbed one person to death and
injured five others in a shared taxi traveling on a highway outside Tel
Aviv.
During the year Palestinian terrorists routinely fired rockets from
the Gaza Strip into neighboring Israeli communities. According to the
Government, the number of Qassam rockets fired at Israeli targets
increased during the year to 901, as compared to 377 in 2005. The
Government reported that four civilians were killed and 83 wounded in
the attacks. Two Sderot residents were killed in Qassam rocket attacks
on November 15 and 21.
In 2005 in the wake of the Shfaram attack, after Eden Natan-Zada, a
member of the illegal right-wing Jewish movement Kach, killed four
Israeli Arabs and wounded others when he fired on a bus, then Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the amendment of existing legislation
which authorized compensation only for victims of terrorist actions
perpetrated by regular military forces or by an organization hostile to
the State of Israel or the Jewish people. On July 19, the Government
amended the 1970 Compensation Law for Victims of Hostile Acts to
include any persons victimized by violence deriving from the Israeli-
Arab conflict. Under the amended law, the Natan-Zada victims and their
families were recognized as victims of terrorism and eligible for
compensation.
In May 2005 the Haifa District Court convicted Alexander
Rabinovitch of involvement in several years of terrorist activity
against Israeli Arabs in Haifa. In September 2005 Rabinovitch was
sentenced to four years in prison for assisting in the 2004
assassination attempt of Israeli-Arab Knesset Member Isaam Makhoul.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances during the year.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, during the year
reputable NGOs filed numerous complaints with the Government alleging
that security forces tortured and abused Palestinian detainees. The
Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) filed complaints
with the Government on behalf of alleged victims of torture, who, PCATI
reported, were almost all Palestinian security detainees and prisoners
at detention facilities in Israel. According to PCATI Israel Security
Agency (ISA) agents used torture in about 20 percent of their
interrogations. ISA and State Prosecutor's Office representatives
stated that all torture complaints are examined by an ISA complaints
examiner, under supervision of the state prosecutor, and disciplinary
action or criminal charges can result if the examiner finds agents
tortured a prisoner who was not suspected of holding time-sensitive and
life-threatening information.
PCATI stated that no ISA officials had been tried on torture
charges during the past five years. PCATI claimed the Government took
insufficient action to hold accountable ISA interrogators against whom
PCATI filed complaints and failed to take any actions during the year
to investigate seriously or reprimand interrogators. According to the
Government, no ISA agents were indicted or convicted for mistreatment
or abuse of detainees during the year.
In August PCATI filed a complaint with the Attorney General on
behalf of a Palestinian resident of the West Bank village of Koud. The
complaint alleged the ISA detained the Palestinian in the Kishon
Detention Center for 25 days without access to a lawyer. During that
time he was subjected to illegal means of interrogation, including
simulated choking, painful positioning, sleep deprivation, beatings,
and threats to arrest his family or destroy his home. At year's end the
case was being examined by the State Attorney's Office.
In September 2005 PCATI notified the Israel Prison Service (IPS)
and the ISA about treatment of a Palestinian resident of Tulkarm held
in the Kishon Detention Center. The detainee alleged he was subjected
to painful positioning, beatings, long periods of interrogation,
threats, and food and sleep deprivation. On February 27, as part of a
plea bargain, he was convicted and sentenced to 26 months'
imprisonment. On May 7, the State Attorney's Office responded that the
ISA suspected the detainee was involved in life-endangering terrorist
acts to occur in the near future. Consequently, the Attorney General
decided not to initiate legal action against the ISA interrogators. The
state's response did not refute the complainant's allegations.
In December 2005 the Tel Aviv District Court rejected the state's
petition to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Lebanese citizen Mustafa Dirani,
who charged that Israeli security forces tortured and raped him during
interrogations between 1994 and 2004, while seeking information on the
whereabouts of Israeli Air Force navigator Lieutenant Colonel Ron Arad.
According to media reports, an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) doctor who
examined Dirani prior to his 2004 release--as part of a prisoner
exchange--found evidence to support Dirani's claim. The state appealed
the ruling of the Tel Aviv District Court to the Supreme Court, which
was scheduled to hear the case on January 29, 2007.
During the year IDF soldiers and Border Police officers were
indicted and convicted for abuse of Palestinians. On November 6, for
example, the PID indicted three Border Police officers for abusing a
Palestinian in Jerusalem. The three allegedly beat the Palestinian
before making him kiss the police insignia on their uniforms. The case
was ongoing at year's end.
Police and IPS officers were also disciplined for abuse or
mistreatment of detainees. According to the Government, during the year
courts convicted seven police officers and two prison officials for
unlawful use of force, while 13 criminal indictments were handed down
against police officers and IPS officials for this offense. According
to government statistics, there were over 100 additional legal and
disciplinary actions taken against police and IPS officers during the
year.
On March 8, the PID commander told the annual Border Police
convention that complaints against its officers had fallen by 36
percent in 2005, to 187. However, in a 2005 report, the State
Comptroller's Office criticized the PID for failing to investigate
cases of police abuse against foreign workers thoroughly. According to
PID data cited in the State Comptroller's Report, 6,702 complaints were
filed against the police in 2003, of which 3,916 were for improper use
of force; 64 percent of complaints for improper use of force were not
investigated.
Between January and November, the Hotline for Migrant Workers
(Hotline), an NGO foreign workers advocacy group, helped six foreign
workers to file complaints with the PID, accusing police officers of
excessive violence during apprehension. Hotline reported that foreign
workers usually decided not to file complaints or to testify, due to
fear of prolonged detention while their cases were investigated.
According to Hotline during the year, fewer migrants were arrested than
in 2005. A Knesset Committee on Foreign Workers monitored excessive
force by immigration police when detaining foreign workers.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--The law provides detainees
the right to live in conditions that do not harm their health or
dignity. However, interrogation facilities for Palestinian detainees
were overcrowded and had austere conditions. Conditions and treatment
at the Russian Compound interrogation center in Jerusalem remained
harsh.
On November 7, a Physicians for Human Rights in Israel (PHR)
representative reported medical staff in detention facilities often
failed to follow up with prisoners who refused medical treatment.
According to PHR prisoners who needed medical attention sometimes
refused treatment for reasons such as mental illness or a fear of
making the difficult journey--sometimes as long as nine hours--to a
medical facility.
On March 3, the IDF transferred control of the Ofer Military
Detention Camp to the IPS, leaving only two temporary detention centers
in the West Bank under IDF control. Conditions in IPS facilities, which
house common law criminals and convicted security prisoners (primarily
Palestinians), and in the two IDF-controlled Provisional Detention
Centers, which hold convicted Palestinian security prisoners, generally
met international standards. The International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) had access to IPS and IDF facilities.
On August 13, in response to a case dating to 2003 regarding
providing each detainee with a bed, the Government announced to the
Supreme Court that, barring unusual circumstances, a bed would be
provided for every inmate no later than July 1, 2007. In July the
Public Defender's Office reported some detention centers were so
crowded that there was no privacy for performing personal bodily
functions.
In 2005 a reputable international organization reported receiving
information that doctors examined prisoners to determine whether the
prisoners could withstand further interrogation. The organization
reported it intervened with the Government about this practice, but by
year's end, it had received no further information.
While Israeli citizen prisoners 17 years and younger were separated
from adult prisoners, Palestinian prisoners 16 years and older were
treated and housed as adults. The ICRC reported that, as of October 31,
the Government held 522 Palestinians of age 17 or younger; the youngest
was 12 years old. The ICRC reported that most Palestinian minors were
held in Hasharon and Ofek prisons; all had access to organized
education provided by the Ministry of Education. Not all minors were
separated from adults, but according to the ICRC, this situation was
designed to keep families together or for minors to be close to home.
The ICRC examined such cases on an individual basis.
The ICRC regularly monitored IPS facilities, as well as most IDF
security prisoner and detention facilities; it did not monitor
detention facility ``1391.'' Pursuant to a 1979 ICRC-Israel agreement,
it could not visit interrogation facilities but could meet detainees
who had been interrogated in designated areas of these units.
The Government permitted some NGOs to monitor some prison or
detention facilities. In addition NGOs can send lawyers and
representatives to meet prisoners in those facilities. PHR was allowed
to inspect police detention facilities and make several inspection
tours per year but was not given comparable access to IPS facilities.
The Israel Bar Association (IBA) and public defenders were permitted to
inspect IPS facilities. The IBA has arrangements with the Government
allowing selected lawyers to inspect prison, detention, and IDF
facilities within the country.
In 2004 in response to a petition by the Center for the Defense of
the Individual (HaMoked) to compel the Government to release
information on facility 1391, a secret IDF detention facility, the
Supreme Court gave the Government 60 days to respond to its undisclosed
suggestions related to the facility. The court ruled that the
Government must inform the court should any detainee be imprisoned in
that facility. On January 22, the court ruled that the facility was
legal but asked the Government to restrict its use. On August 8, the
Government informed the court that it was holding two Hizballah
detainees, captured during the summer conflict, in the facility.
Details of the court's ruling remain classified.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions for citizens. Palestinian security internees fell under
the jurisdiction of military law even if detained in Israel (see
annex). Non-Israeli residents of the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan
Heights are subject to the same laws as Israeli citizens.
An arrested person is considered innocent until proven guilty, has
the right to habeas corpus, to remain silent, to be represented by an
attorney, to contact family members without delay, and to a fair trial.
A bail system exists for Israelis and Palestinians; decisions denying
bail can be appealed. As a general practice, according to B'Tselem,
Palestinians detained for security violations were not granted bail. A
citizen may be held without charge for 24 hours before being brought
before a judge (96 hours for those suspected of a ``security
offense''). If the detainee is suspected of committing a security
offense, the basis on which most Palestinians are detained, the police
and courts can delay notifying legal counsel for up to 31 days. The
Government may withhold evidence from defense lawyers on security
grounds; however, the evidence must be made available to the court. In
July in its annual report, the Public Defender's Office charged that
the police often violated detainees' legal rights to meet in
appropriate conditions with counsel without delay. The IPS responded
that efforts were underway to remedy such problems; it cited budgetary
constraints as a major impediment.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The ISA (or Shin Bet),
under the authority of the Prime Minister, combats terrorism and
espionage in the country and the occupied territories. The National
Police, including the Border Police and the Immigration Police, are
under the authority of the Minister of Internal Security. An office in
the Justice Ministry reviews complaints against police officers and may
impose disciplinary charges or recommend indictments against officers.
The National Police were generally effective, but, according to the
NGO Movement for Quality in government, lacked sufficient resources to
address government corruption. Police corruption was generally not a
problem. The police utilized training programs, often in coordination
with human rights NGOs, to promote human rights awareness and cultural
sensitivity. For example, police commanders regularly were issued human
rights training kits for use in weekly seminars for subordinates; these
include modules on religious and cultural sensitivity, diversity
awareness and free speech.
Arrest and Detention.--The law provides that foreign nationals
detained for suspected violations of immigration law be afforded an
immigration hearing within four days of detention. They have the right
to, but no guarantee of, legal representation. According to Hotline
appropriate interpreters were not always present at the hearings,
despite a 2002 commitment to provide them. For example, according to
Hotline in October hearings were held without appropriate
interpretation for Chinese and Thai detainees in the Zohar detention
center. According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI),
voluntary organizations must obtain a power of attorney from the
individual they seek to represent before being permitted to work with
him. Attorneys now can meet at Ben Gurion Airport with clients denied
admission to the country and awaiting deportation; they can also meet
clients who are illegal residents scheduled for deportation, before
their clients have undergone the airport departure security check. A
lawyer can seek an injunction to delay deportation; however, the client
must subsequently wait in the Ben Gurion detention center to await the
appeal decision.
According to Hotline foreign detainees were rarely released pending
judicial determination of their status. Moreover, if the detainee's
country of origin had no diplomatic or consular representation,
detention could last months. This problem worsened during the year,
according to Hotline, which in October recorded 118 detainees from such
countries held for over six months in the Ma'asiyahu detention center
alone, including asylum seekers awaiting a UNHCR decision. During the
year Hotline documented a case of arrest and detention of an asylum
seeker carrying protection papers issued by the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR). An Administrative Tribunal later released the
person after UNHCR intervention.
During the year the country continued to be a destination for
Sudanese nationals; some were fleeing violence in Darfur and others
were leaving Egypt following problems with Egyptian authorities. The
circumstances of the approximately 280 Sudanese detainees prompted
criticism from human rights organizations. Detainees were held either
in detention centers or sent to controlled facilities, such as
kibbutzim. During the year none received refugee status in Israel (see
section 2.d.).
On May 8, responding to a petition from Hotline and the Tel Aviv
University Refugee Rights Clinic, the Supreme Court gave the Government
30 days to create a new policy to deal with Sudanese detainees. In
response the Government appointed an advisor to recommend to the
Minister of Defense whether to release individuals held under the
Infiltration Law. As of November 1, the advisor had reviewed
approximately a third of the 280 Sudanese cases and recommended
releasing seven detainees, who were paroled into the country to await
judicial determination of their status. At year's end 80 Sudanese
detainees were being held in kibbutzim and women's shelters, while
approximately 200 remained in prison facilities. The Supreme Court
scheduled a further hearing for January 2007.
Foreign embassies frequently received belated notification, or none
at all, of their citizens' arrests, especially in the cases of foreign
nationals alleged to have committed security-related offenses. Pursuant
to the 1979 Emergency Powers Law, the Defense Ministry may detain
persons without charge or trial for up to six months, renewable
indefinitely, subject to district court review. Such detainees are
permitted legal representation, but the court may rely on confidential
information denied to detainees and their lawyers. Detainees can appeal
their cases to the Supreme Court. As of December 23, according to
B'Tselem there were 782 administrative detainees in IPS detention
centers, while the IDF held two administrative detainees as of November
1.
On January 11, a PCATI field researcher from Hebron, Hassan Zaga,
was imprisoned in the Ketziot Detention Center under an administrative
detention order. In May a court extended the order for four months. In
September a court refused a government request for further detention,
and Zaga was released on November 15. According to PCATI Zaga had no
opportunity to deny or refute the charges brought against him.
The Illegal Combatant Law allows the IDF to detain persons
suspected of ``taking part in hostile activity against Israel, directly
or indirectly'' or who ``belong to a force engaged in hostile activity
against the State of Israel.'' Under this law persons may be held for
up to 14 days without access to an attorney. In the past human rights
groups alleged abuse of administrative security detention orders and
claimed such orders were used even when the accused posed no clear
danger.
In 2005 the Government reported that it had detained Hassin Makded
in facility 1391 for over 18 months under ``extraordinary circumstances
and exceptional grounds.'' He was subsequently released. The Government
did not identify the period during which he was detained. On January
22, the Supreme Court upheld the legality of this secret facility but
asked the Government to minimize its use (see section 1.c.). On August
8, the Government informed the court that it was holding two Hizballah
detainees in the facility.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The Judicial Branch is organized into three levels: magistrate
courts, six district courts, and the Supreme or High Court of Justice.
District courts prosecute felonies and adjudicate civil disputes, and
magistrate courts prosecute misdemeanors and adjudicate lesser civil
disputes. There are military, religious, labor relations, and
administrative courts, with the High Court of Justice as the ultimate
judicial authority. The High Court of Justice is both a court of first
instance and acts as an appellate court when it sits as the Supreme
Court. Religious courts, representing the main recognized religious
groups, including Christian communities, have jurisdiction over matters
of personal status for their adherents (see section 2.c.).
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. The
country's criminal justice system is adversarial, and professional
judges decide all cases.
Trials are public except when, in the opinion of the court, the
interests of the parties are determined to be best served by privacy.
The legal justifications for holding a closed trial include potential
risk to state security, damage to foreign relations of the state,
violation of a party's or witness's right to privacy, and to protect a
sexual offense victim. Security or military trials are open to
independent observers at the discretion of the court, but not to the
general public. The law provides for a hearing with legal
representation, and authorities generally observed this right in
practice. In cases of serious felonies--crimes subject to penalties of
10 years imprisonment or more--indigent defendants receive mandatory
legal representation. According to the Government, counsel represented
approximately 60 to 70 percent of defendants in lesser cases brought
before the Magistrate Courts.
Military courts provide a number, but not all, of the rights
granted in civil criminal courts. The 1970 evidentiary rules governing
trials under military law of Palestinians and others applicable in the
occupied territories are the same as evidentiary rules in criminal
cases. Convictions may not be based solely on confessions; however,
according to PCATI in practice security prisoners have been sentenced
on the basis of their coerced confessions, coerced testimony of others,
or both. Counsel may assist the accused in such trials, and a judge may
assign counsel to those defendants. Indigent detainees do not
automatically receive free legal counsel for military trials, although
they do in most civilian criminal trials. The defendant and the public
receive the charges in Hebrew, and the court can order an Arabic
translation. Military and criminal court sentencing procedures were
consistent. Defendants in military trials can appeal through the
Military High Court and also petition the civilian High Court in cases
in which they believe there were procedural or evidentiary
irregularities.
There are also custodial courts and four deportation courts to
address the removal of illegal immigrants. These courts handle
thousands of cases annually.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees. (See annex for discussion of
Palestinian political prisoners and detainees.)
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--An independent and
impartial judiciary functions for civil issues in lawsuits seeking
damages for, or cessation of, a human rights violation. Administrative
remedies also exist; domestic court orders are enforced.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--Laws and regulations provide for protection of privacy
of the individual and the home. In criminal cases the law permits
wiretapping under court order; in security cases the Defense Ministry
must issue the order. Under emergency regulations authorities may open
and destroy mail based on security considerations.
Separate religious court systems adjudicate personal status
matters, such as marriage and divorce, for the Jewish, Muslim,
Christian, and Druze communities. Jews can marry only in Orthodox
Jewish services. Jews and members of other religious communities who
wish to have civil marriages, Jews who wish to marry according to
Reform or Conservative Judaism, those not recognized by Orthodox
authorities as being Jewish, and those marrying someone from another
faith must marry abroad to gain government recognition.
In July the Knesset extended the 2003 law that prohibits citizens'
Palestinian spouses from the occupied territories from residing in the
country. The extension applied also to the 2005 amendment allowing
Palestinian men aged 35 and older and women aged 25 and older to apply
for temporary visit permits (see sections 2.d. and 5). Civil rights
groups criticized the amended law for continuing to deny citizenship
and residency status to spouses of Israeli Arabs, who constitute the
majority of those who marry Palestinians from the occupied territories.
On May 14, the Supreme Court rejected petitions brought by Adalah,
ACRI, and others challenging the law and its amendments. In its ruling
the court observed that the law was within the bounds of
proportionality with regard to the balance between individual rights
and state security.
The authority to grant status to a non-Israeli spouse, including
Palestinian and other non-Jewish foreign spouses, resides with the
Minister of the Interior. An ACRI report indicated that the ministry
refused to register children in the population registry born to an
Israeli father and foreign national mother without detailed proof of
the father's Israeli citizenship; the child would receive a birth
certificate but not be eligible for certain state benefits. At year's
end an ACRI petition against this policy was pending with the Supreme
Court.
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, subject to restrictions concerning security issues.
The law prohibits hate speech and incitement to violence, and the 1948
Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance prohibits expressing support for
illegal or terrorist organizations.
On November 23, according to a report from Adalah, the State
Prosecutor's Office announced it would open a criminal investigation
for racial incitement over an article in the Hassidic World magazine
critically describing Arab Muslims and Christians in insulting terms
(see section 2.c.).
Nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, released in 2004 after
serving 18 years in prison for treason and espionage, continued to be
subjected to detailed restrictions on speech and movement (see section
2.d.). In April and October, the IDF renewed the prohibition on
contacts with the foreign press. In November the Supreme Court
continued to consider Vanunu's third petition to annul his
restrictions. According to his lawyer, at year's end Vanunu's criminal
trial on charges that he violated his restrictions in 2005 was ongoing.
In 2001 Arab Knesset Member (MK) Azmi Bishara was indicted, after
the Knesset lifted his immunity, for making allegedly pro-Hizballah
statements in 2000 in Syria and later in the city of Umm al-Fahm (see
section 2.d.). In January after four years of legal proceedings, the
Supreme Court dismissed all criminal charges and ruled Bishara's
speeches were protected by parliamentary immunity.
The country has 12 daily newspapers, 90 weekly newspapers, more
than 250 periodical publications, and a number of Internet news sites.
All newspapers in the country were privately owned and managed.
Political parties and religious bodies owned three minor dailies
designed for Orthodox Jewish readers. The 1933 Journalism Ordinance and
the British Mandate Defense Regulation for the Emergency Time Period
were adopted upon establishment of the state; subsequently, the
ordinance was never amended. The Ministry of Interior has no authority
over the military censor. According to the Journalism Ordinance, anyone
wishing to publish a newspaper must apply for a license from the
locality where the newspaper will be published. The ordinance also
allows the Minister of Interior, under certain conditions, to close a
newspaper. In 2004 the High Court heard a petition filed by ACRI
challenging the ordinance. ACRI withdrew its petition after the
Interior Ministry pledged to prepare legislation effectively canceling
the ordinance. At year's end legislation had not been enacted.
The Israel Broadcast Authority, the country's state broadcasting
network, controls the Hebrew-language Israel Television (Channel 1) and
an Arabic-language channel, as well as Kol Israel (Voice of Israel)
radio, which airs news and other programming in Hebrew, Arabic, and
many other languages. Both Israel Television and Israel Radio are major
sources of news and information. The Second Television and Radio
Authority, a public body, supervises the two privately owned commercial
television channels and 14 privately owned radio stations. In February
2005 the authority prohibited advertisements for the so-called Geneva
Accords in which Palestinian public figures told Israelis, among other
points, ``You have a partner for a peace agreement.'' The authority
claimed that its regulations on television commercial ethics prohibited
it from airing commercials on ``controversial issues.'' A consolidated
cable company and one satellite television company carried
international networks and programs produced for domestic audiences.
The law authorizes the Government to censor on national security
grounds any material reported from the country or the occupied
territories regarded as sensitive. An agreement between the Government
and media representatives provides for military censorship only in
cases involving issues that the armed forces believe could likely harm
the country's security interests. All media organizations must submit
materials covered by the agreement to the censor for approval. This
agreement deals with specific military issues as well as strategic
infrastructure issues such as oil and water supplies. Media
organizations may appeal the censor's decision to the High Court, and
they cannot be closed by the military censor for censorship violations.
The military censor cannot appeal a court judgment. Foreign journalists
must agree to submit sensitive articles and photographs to the military
censor. In practice they rarely complied.
Following an intensive public debate on the role of the media
during wartime, as a consequence of censorship concerning, for example,
specific locations of Katyusha rocket strikes, the Israeli Press
Council established a Special Committee to Examine Journalistic Ethics
and Conduct During War. Its conclusions were scheduled for publication
following the final committee meeting on February 2, 2007.
On July 16, Walid al-Omary, the Jerusalem bureau chief of Al-
Jazeera, was detained by police in the northern coastal city of Acre
for six hours. Police accused him of providing information to the enemy
by giving specific information on Katyusha rockets landing in Haifa; he
was released on bail, and no charges were subsequently filed.
All journalists operating in the country must be accredited by the
Israeli government Press Office (GPO). On September 20, ACRI appealed
to the Supreme Court on behalf of a journalist residing in the Golan
Heights who alleged that he had been denied a GPO card since 2003 based
on political and security considerations.
News printed or broadcast abroad may be reported without
censorship. There were no recent reports that the Government fined
newspapers for violating censorship regulations.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on
Internet access or reports of the Government monitoring e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups engaged in peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Approximately 3.7 million persons had Internet access through dial-up,
broadband, and mobile services.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government respected
academic freedom. There were no government restrictions on 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.
Freedom of Assembly.--In April according to press reports, the
Ministry of Internal Security released a study criticizing the police
for lacking a clear, explicit policy on appropriate use of force to
disperse riots and demonstrations. According to the study, violent
confrontations between police and demonstrators occurred in 70 percent
of major cases examined during recent years. On November 5, the
Attorney General authorized a gay pride parade scheduled for November
10 in Jerusalem, and the Supreme Court rejected several petitions to
cancel the parade (see section 5).
In December 2005 Adalah filed complaints with the PID against
border policemen for allegedly using excessive force against a
demonstration in the Bedouin community of Al-Mashash in November 2005.
The demonstration and ensuing police raid were prompted when government
officials arrived in the Negev village to deliver demolition orders for
illegally constructed buildings. According to Adalah 12 protesters,
including a pregnant woman, were injured during the clashes. At year's
end the PID had not responded to the allegations.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for the right of
association, and the Government generally respected this provision in
practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. The
Basic Law and Declaration of Independence recognize the country as a
``Jewish and democratic state,'' establishing Judaism as the country's
dominant religion. Consequently, the Government implements certain
policies based on Orthodox Jewish interpretation of religious law,
including marriage, burial, and work on the Sabbath. Government
allocations of state resources favor Orthodox Jewish institutions.
The law confers recognition on some religious communities, granting
them legal authority over their members in personal status matters,
such as marriage and divorce. These communities include: Eastern
Orthodox; Latin (Roman Catholic); Gregorian-Armenian; Armenian-
Catholic; Syrian (Catholic); Chaldean (Uniate); Greek Catholic Melkite;
Maronite; Syrian Orthodox; and Orthodox Jewish (both Ashkenazic and
Sephardic rites). Since the founding of the country, the Government has
recognized three additional religious communities--the Druze in 1957,
the Evangelical Episcopal Church in 1970, and the Baha'i faith in 1971.
The Government has defined the status of several other Christian
denominations by means of individual arrangements with government
agencies.
Several religious communities were not recognized, including
Protestant groups; however, unrecognized communities practiced their
religion freely and maintained communal institutions, but were
ineligible to receive government funding for religious services.
According to government figures, during the year the budget for
religious services and religious structures for the Jewish population
was approximately $326 million (1.4 billion NIS). Religious minorities,
which comprised approximately 20 percent of the population, received
about $26 million (112 million NIS), or just over 7 percent of total
funding.
The Government does not explicitly codify recognition of a Muslim
community. Lack of codified recognition did not affect the religious
rights of Muslims. Legislation enacted in 1961 afforded Muslim courts
exclusive jurisdiction in matters of personal status concerning
Muslims, although the state regulates judicial appointments to these
courts. Secular courts have primacy over questions of inheritance, but
parties, by mutual agreement, may bring cases to religious courts.
Muslims also can bring alimony and property division matters associated
with divorce to civil courts.
Under the Law of Return, the Government grants citizenship and
residence rights to Jewish immigrants and their immediate family
members. In March 2005 the High Court ruled that, for the purpose of
conferring citizenship rights, the Government must recognize non-
Orthodox conversions of noncitizen legal residents that were begun in
Israel but formalized abroad by acknowledged Jewish religious
authorities, even if not Orthodox. In 2004 the High Court held that
non-Jews who immigrate to the country and convert according to Orthodox
requirements can become citizens under the Law of Return. However, in
October conversion officials charged that the Interior Ministry was
obstructing such prospective immigrants who had undergone Orthodox
conversion courses in the country. The Government does not recognize
non-Orthodox conversions in the country for the purpose of immigration
under the Law of Return. In November 2005 the Israel Religious Action
Center challenged this practice in court; on November 12, the Supreme
Court held its first hearing on this petition, and the case was ongoing
at year's end.
In 2004 ACRI released a report charging that the Interior
Ministry's population authority sought to prevent non-Jews--
particularly spouses of Israeli citizens--from obtaining resident
status. ACRI charged that the Interior Ministry's population registry
subjected non-Jewish spouses and non-Jewish adopted children of Jewish
immigrants to unfair and at times arbitrary requirements for residency,
including having to leave the country before filing a residency
application. On March 16, in response to an ACRI petition, the Supreme
Court ordered the Interior Ministry to process residency applications
for common-law spouses of citizens, without requiring them to leave the
country. Most cases involved persons who immigrated under the Law of
Return from the former Soviet republics and their non-Jewish spouses
and non-Jewish adopted children.
In April 2005 then Prime Minister Sharon established an
interministerial committee to draft legislation outlining guidelines by
which foreigners might become citizens. At year's end the
interministerial committee had not taken action.
Many Jewish citizens objected to exclusive Orthodox control over
aspects of their personal lives. Approximately 300,000 citizens who
immigrated either as Jews or as family members of Jews are not
considered Jewish by the Orthodox Rabbinate. They cannot be married,
divorced, or buried in Jewish cemeteries within the country. Jews who
wish to marry in Reform, Conservative, or secular ceremonies must do so
abroad. According to Central Bureau of Statistics figures, more than
32,000 citizens married outside the country between 2000-04; almost
half were couples in which both husband and wife were Jews. In 1995 the
Government asked foreign consular officials to stop performing
marriages in the country, citing potential legal problems for its
citizens who marry in consular services. In April 2005 the High Court
instructed the Government to inform it within three months of its
position on recognizing marriages performed by officials of foreign
embassies in the country; at year's end the Government reportedly
continued to review its policy. On November 21, the High Court issued a
ruling requiring the Government to recognize same-sex marriages legally
performed in foreign jurisdictions (see section 5). A 1996 law
requiring the Government to establish civil cemeteries has not been
implemented adequately.
The 1967 Protection of Holy Sites Law protects all holy sites, but
the Government has issued implementing regulations only for Jewish
sites. In 2004 Adalah petitioned the Supreme Court to compel the
Government to protect Muslim sites; it charged that all of the
locations designated as holy sites were Jewish, and the Government's
failure to implement regulations had resulted in desecration and
conversion of individual Muslim sites. Responding to a 2004 Supreme
Court order to respond within 60 days, the Government said on January 1
that it had appointed an interministerial committee to examine the
administrative and budgetary management of holy sites. The Supreme
Court, which repeatedly rescheduled the initial hearing since 2004, set
it for May 2007. At year's end there were 135 designated holy sites in
the country, all of which were Jewish.
According to representatives of Christian institutions, visa
issuance rates for some of their religious workers significantly
declined from rates in previous years. Religious workers based in
Jerusalem or the occupied territories were denied entry or re-entry
under a general tightening of government criteria for foreign nationals
(see section 2.d.). At year's end the Government's stricter entry
policies were unclear.
The Knesset has not ratified the Fundamental Agreement establishing
relations between the Holy See and Israel negotiated in 1993.
Government negotiations with the Holy See addressed the continuation of
tax exemptions for Roman Catholic institutions and property (churches,
monasteries, convents, educational, and social welfare organizations)
and the access of the institutions to Israeli courts. Under current
law, property disputes involving religious institutions are handled by
the executive branch of the Government. On November 27, the Government
and the Holy See agreed to hold further negotiations of the Bilateral
Permanent Working Commission. Further discussions were held on December
12.
Missionaries were allowed to proselytize, although offering or
receiving material inducements for conversion, as well as converting
persons under 18 years old remained illegal unless one parent was of
the religion to which the minor wished to convert. The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints voluntarily refrained from proselytizing
under a longstanding agreement with the Government.
In July 2005 the Messianic congregation in Arad published a letter
in Iton HaTzvi that reported harassment by members of an ultra-Orthodox
community. In September 2005 the High Court heard a petition by ultra-
Orthodox Jews seeking the right to demonstrate at the house of a family
of Messianic Jews and reversal of a police decision prohibiting such a
demonstration. At year's end there was no further information on a
court ruling. According to Messianic Jews resident there, since 2004
the Gur Hassidim have demonstrated regularly in front of the homes of
Christians and Messianic Jews in Arad to protest alleged Christian
proselytizing by this group. In interviews with Ha'aretz newspaper on
November 14, the mayor and several officials of Arad objected to
Messianic Jews in their city, but acknowledged having no legal basis to
expel them.
In December 2005 approximately 200 ultra-Orthodox Jews disrupted
the religious service of a Messianic congregation in Be'er Sheva,
assaulting the congregation's pastor, damaging property, and harassing
members of the congregation. In June a Be'er Sheva magistrate's court
rejected an appeal by the congregation for a restraining order against
ultra-Orthodox protesters. At year's end there were no further
developments.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--According to a spring poll
conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute, some 62 percent of Jewish
citizens believed that the Government should encourage Arab citizens to
emigrate.
During the campaign for the parliamentary elections in March, the
Herut party used campaign posters depicting a traditionally veiled Arab
woman in campaign posters captioned ``This demographic will poison
us.''
On March 3, during a prayer service, three members of a mixed
Jewish-Christian family from Jerusalem attacked the Basilica of the
Annunciation in Nazareth. According to the police and witnesses, after
barricading themselves inside, the attackers ignited firecrackers, 19
flammable canisters, and a number of bottles filled with flammable
liquid. The attack resulted in a local riot, during which several
police and protesters suffered minor injuries and police cars were
burned. On September 13, two attackers were convicted of conspiracy to
commit a crime, arson, rioting, and disorderly conduct.
In May vandals spray painted approximately 20 swastikas on the Ark,
Torah scroll, and walls of the Great Synagogue in the city of Petah
Tikva. Neo-Nazi graffiti was also sprayed on monuments honoring, and
actual gravesites of, several well-known historical figures, including
the grave of the country's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion. On
December 1, vandals destroyed property and painted swastikas on an
ultra-Orthodox Jewish school in Acre.
In May Israeli youths celebrating Lag Ba'Omer, a holiday
traditionally marked by lighting bonfires, allegedly attempted to burn
an abandoned mosque in the northern city of Acre. According to press
reports, they also spray painted ``Death to Arabs'' on neighboring
buildings. The individuals claimed they were simply preparing a
bonfire, but police found indications of attempted arson. The case was
closed at year's end with none of the individuals publicly identified.
On June 28, approximately 100 ultra-Orthodox Jews assaulted
approximately 50 Christian tourists in a Jerusalem neighborhood,
injuring three of them. Police arrested two attackers, and in October
the case was being prepared for indictment.
The national public bus service operated sex-segregated
transportation in and between cities for ultra-Orthodox Jews. On
November 24, a group of ultra-Orthodox men reportedly attacked and beat
a woman for refusing to move to the rear of a Jerusalem bus that was
not officially sex-segregated. None of the attackers was arrested;
however, at year's end the case was under investigation.
There were also incidents throughout the year in which ultra-
Orthodox Jews threw rocks at motorists to protest their driving on the
Sabbath.
On November 23, according to a report from Adalah, the State
Prosecutor's Office announced it would open a criminal investigation
for racial incitement over an article in the Hassidic World magazine
critically describing Muslims and Christians in insulting terms (see
section 2.a.).
In August 2005 police arrested Shimon Ben Haim and Victoria
Shteinman for desecrating a Muslim holy site by throwing a pig's head,
wrapped in a Keffiyeh with ``Mohammed'' written on it, into the
courtyard of a mosque near Tel Aviv. Ben Haim and Shteinman were
subsequently convicted of insulting a religion. On December 6, Ben Haim
was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment and Shteinman was sentenced
to two months' community service.
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 for citizens. (See
annex for discussion of restrictions on movement within the occupied
territories, between the territories and Israel, and the construction
of a security barrier.)
Citizens generally were free to travel abroad and to emigrate,
provided they had no outstanding military obligations and no
administrative restrictions. The Government may bar citizens from
leaving the country based on security considerations. Citizens,
including dual nationals, must enter and leave the country using their
Israeli passports only. In addition no citizen is permitted to travel
to states officially at war with the country without government
permission.
Pursuant to the terms of his release after having served 18 years
in prison on espionage and treason charges (see section 2. a.),
Mordechai Vanunu continued to be prohibited from obtaining a passport,
traveling outside the country, going within 500 meters of airports and
overland border crossings, and entering any foreign diplomatic offices.
On April 20, the Interior Minister extended these prohibitions for
another year. At year's end Vanunu's criminal trial on charges that he
violated these restrictions in 2005 continued.
In December 2005 the Interior Minister imposed a 12-month travel
ban on Israeli journalist and literary critic, Antwan Shalhat. In
January Adalah petitioned the High Court to revoke the ban, arguing it
violated Shalhat's basic rights. In March on the recommendation of the
court, which reviewed secret evidence in a meeting with government
representatives, Adalah withdrew the petition but protested using
secret evidence in the case.
In 2001 the Knesset forbade parliamentarians from visiting enemy
states without permission from the Interior Minister. In February the
Attorney General ordered police to investigate Israeli-Arab MKs Azmi
Bishara and Taleb a-Sanaa for their separate trips to Syria and Lebanon
at the end of 2005. In early September following the conflict with
Lebanon, Bishara and fellow Israeli-Arab MKs, Wasal Taha and Jamak
Zahalka, plus two former Israeli-Arab MKs, visited Syria and Lebanon
again, prompting the Attorney General to order a new criminal
investigation. The Interior Minister also called on the Foreign
Minister to revoke their passports and asked the Attorney General for
authority to restrict their international travel. At year's end police
investigations continued, but there was no action to bar them from
leaving the country.
The 2003 Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law bars Palestinians
from the occupied territories from acquiring residence or citizenship
rights through marriage to Israelis or to Palestinian residents of
Jerusalem. In July 2005 the Knesset amended the law so that Palestinian
men aged 35 and older and women aged 25 and older were eligible for
temporary visitor permits to visit spouses and family in Israel. The
Mossawa Center, citing Ministry of Interior statistics, claimed that
the law affected ``at least 21,298 families,'' including couples with
long-standing marriages whose requests for residence permits were
pending. Advocacy groups claimed that, despite the amendment, the law
discriminated against Arab citizens and residents. In November 2005
during ongoing Supreme Court hearings on a petition by civil rights
NGOs challenging this law, the Government informed the court that since
2001, 25 Palestinian spouses of Israeli Arabs had been involved in
terrorist activity. In May the Supreme Court upheld the legality of the
law, and in July the Knesset extended it for another six months (see
sections 1.f. and 5).
During the year there were numerous credible reports of foreign
nationals arbitrarily denied entry into the country or the occupied
territories and subjected to harsh and abusive treatment. Most, but not
all, were foreign nationals of Palestinian heritage, who sought to
visit family or pursue business interests in the West Bank; previously
such visits had occurred freely on ``tourist'' visas. During the year
hundreds of foreign nationals attempting to renew visas were denied.
Religious workers were also denied entry (see section 2.c.). By year's
end the Government had not clarified its policies on West Bank entry
for foreign nationals.
The law prohibits forced exile of citizens, and the Government
generally respected this prohibition in practice.
Protection of Refugees.--The Government provides some refugees the
protections available under the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and had established a system
whereby persons can apply for refugee status. According to the Refugee
Rights Clinic at Tel Aviv University, the Government receives
approximately 1,000 asylum applications annually. Palestinians were
registered by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
and, therefore, not eligible for refugee status.
According to UNHCR's local office, the Government received
approximately 1,600 asylum applications during the year, of which 250
received temporary protection, with a total of 700 individuals in
temporary protection at year's end. UNHCR reported that 100 asylum
seekers left the country during the year after UNHCR declared their
countries safe for return.
The Government cooperated with UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting Jewish refugees. The Government also
provided temporary protection to individuals who may not qualify as
refugees under the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol. The
Government provided temporary humanitarian protection to persons from
``conflict countries'' in Africa.
During the year the Government continued to detain approximately
200 Sudanese asylum seekers under the 1954 Infiltration Prevention Law,
which does not provide for judicial oversight (see section 1.d.). Of
the detained Sudanese, 88 were previously recognized as refugees by the
UNHCR in Cairo, and another 137 had been registered by the UNHCR in
Cairo but not granted refugee status. According to the Tel Aviv
University Refugee Clinic, a UNHCR representative visited the country
in the spring and determined the threat posed by a return to Sudan
qualified all 280 Sudanese in the country as refugees ``sur place.''
The UNHCR referred eligible refugee applicants to the National
Status Granting Body (NSGB), and the Interior Ministry made final
adjudication. The Tel Aviv University Refugee Rights Clinic charged
that the NSGB's procedures were not transparent, that the NSBG did not
publish data on its activities, and applicants were not permitted legal
counsel during hearings. During the year the NSGB modified guidelines
and provided detailed explanation for individual denials. According to
the Refugee Rights Clinic, this new procedure aided rejected applicants
in petitions for NSGB reconsideration.
The Government did not generally return those denied refugee status
to their home countries against their will, and they reportedly could
remain in detention facilities for months. For asylum seekers from
states with which the country was at war, the Government attempted to
find a third country to accept them. The Government provided asylum
seekers with temporary work permits but not social or medical benefits.
Children of asylum seekers could enroll in the public education system,
according to the Refugee Rights Clinic. Persons granted refugee status
received six month visas that can be extended until procedures are
complete.
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 is a
parliamentary democracy with an active multiparty system. Relatively
small parties, including those primarily supported by Israeli Arabs,
regularly win Knesset seats. On March 28, the Kadima Party, founded in
2005 by former Likud leader Ariel Sharon, won a plurality of Knesset
seats, and Kadima leader Ehud Olmert formed a coalition government in
which he became Prime Minister. In October the Government added a fifth
party, Yisrael Beiteinu, to the governing coalition.
The Basic Law prohibits the candidacy of any party or individual
that denies either the existence of the State of Israel as the state of
the Jewish people or the democratic character of the state, or that
incites racism.
The law requires that a party obtain 2 percent of the vote to win
Knesset seats.
At year's end the 120-member Knesset had 17 female members, and its
speaker was a woman. The 24-member cabinet included two women. The
President and six members of the 15-member High Court were women. The
Knesset included 11 Arabs and one Druze. Nine of the 11 Arabs
represented parties supported largely or entirely by the Arab
community. In 2004 for the first time since the establishment of the
state, an Arab Christian was appointed as a permanent justice to the
High Court. No Muslim or Druze citizens have served on the court.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Investigations of numerous
allegations of corruption and misconduct among senior political figures
and government ministries occurred during the year.
In August President Moshe Katsav was placed under investigation for
sexual harassment, illegal wiretapping, and fraud, after he complained
to police about an alleged extortion attempt. During the investigation
several women presented complaints against Katsav, spanning many years,
while they worked on his staff. The investigation was ongoing at year's
end (see section 5).
In October Tzachi Hanegbi, Chair of the Knesset's Foreign and
Defense Committee, was put on trial for allegedly appointing political
associates to positions in the public sector when he was Environment
Minister in a previous government. Hanegbi's trial was ongoing at
year's end.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was investigated during the year by the
State Comptroller and Attorney-General for alleged irregularities in
political appointments and bank and real estate actions in previous
years. The investigations were ongoing at year's end.
Criminal investigations of other politicians, including Minister
for Strategic Threats Avigdor Lieberman, MK Omri Sharon, and Opposition
Leader Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu, continued throughout the year. On
March 14, former Likud MK Naomi Blumenthal was sentenced to eight
months in prison for bribery and obstructing legal proceedings during
the 2002 Likud party primaries. On April 27, former Likud MK Yair Hazan
was sentenced to four months community service and a two month
suspended sentence for his role in a 2003 double voting incident.
The law affords the public access to government information, and
citizens could petition for such access. According to ACRI the
Government does not effectively implement its Freedom of Information
Law. ACRI charged that many government bodies do not disclose their
internal regulations, as the Freedom of Information Law requires, and
that others failed to publish annual reports. During the year ACRI won
a legal case to ensure public disclosure of documentation relating to
the Government's first prison privatization tender.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Numerous 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. A Foreign Affairs Ministry
liaison unit develops and maintains relations with international and
domestic NGOs.
NGOs must register with the Government by submitting an application
and paying registration and annual fees. They operated under the laws
covering nonprofit organizations. Some registered NGOs were eligible to
receive state funding. According to Mossawa Israeli-Arab NGOs received
only approximately 1 percent of the nearly $580 million (NIS 2.5
billion) spent annually by the Government on NGOs. Mossawa alleged the
Government discriminated when determining NGO eligibility for state
funds.
During the year the Interior Ministry, operating under a 2002
order, barred entry to all foreign nationals affiliated with certain
Palestinian human rights NGOs and solidarity organizations.
According to media reports, at year's end the Government held six
Hizballah detainees from the July-August conflict in Lebanon, but had
barred the ICRC from visiting them after allowing two initial visits.
(See annex regarding NGOs in the occupied territories.)
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender,
marital status, political beliefs, or age. These laws sometimes were
not enforced, either due to institutionalized discrimination or to lack
of resources. In September 2005 then Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz
termed the country's policy toward its Arab citizens ``institutional
discrimination'' and called for affirmative action.
Women.--The Equality of Women Law provides for equal rights for
women and protection from violence, sexual harassment, sexual
exploitation, and trafficking; however, violence against women was a
problem. The Government reported that between January 1 and November
30, some 18,280 cases of spousal violence were filed with the police.
Approximately 78 percent of these were complaints by women against
their husbands. The Government reported that in 2004 it convicted 1,297
persons of spousal abuse. The Social Affairs Ministry provided battered
women with shelter care and operated a national hot line for battered
women. The police operated a nationwide computerized call center to
inform victims about their cases and employed a computerized database
to link sex crime cases and to assist in identifying and locating
offenders. A wide variety of women's organizations and hot lines
provided services, such as counseling, telephone crisis intervention,
legal assistance, and shelters for abused women.
In April two cases of husbands killing their wives and then
committing suicide and the conviction of a man for murdering his wife
by stabbing her repeatedly drew national attention to the problem of
spousal abuse. The director of the Hotline for Battered Women reported
spousal violence against women was a growing problem among new
immigrants, especially those from Ethiopia and Russia.
Rape is illegal; nevertheless, NGOs considered the incidence of
rape a concern. The number of rape and gang rape cases rose by 28
percent from 2004 to 2005, according to a report issued in March by an
association of victim assistance NGOs. NGOs noted that a culture of
blaming the victim contributed to underreporting rape.
In past years women's organizations reported instances of Arab
women killed by male relatives in ``honor'' cases, although there was
no accurate estimate of the number. In 2005 the Women Against Violence
Organization reported that annually an average of 10 Israeli-Arab women
were victims of family honor killings. According to Israeli-Arab
women's rights group Kayan, there were seven or eight honor killings in
the country during the year.
For example, on April 6, police arrested five Israeli-Arab brothers
from the town of Lod for murdering their 19-year-old sister. Police
suspected the oldest brother, a local pediatrician, of helping to plan
the murder and providing anesthetics; the young woman's drugged and
strangled body was found in late March in a well near the town of
Rehovot. At year's end the five brothers were indicted and pending
trial.
On May 23, the brother of a 26-year-old Israeli-Arab woman from the
town of Ramle stabbed and killed her in a bank parking lot. The crime
was witnessed by numerous passersby and recorded on a bank security
camera. On June 6, police arrested the brother on murder charges; he
reportedly confessed to police, claiming his sister had disgraced the
family by raising her daughter in an ``improper'' way. At year's end,
the case was pending trial.
On August 18, Justice Minister Chaim Ramon resigned after charges
that he forcibly kissed a female soldier at a party. Ramon's trial was
ongoing at year's end.
Prostitution is not illegal. The law prohibits operation of
brothels and organized sex enterprises, but brothels operated in
several major cities.
The Prevention of Stalking Law and the Prevention of Family
Violence Law require that suspected victims be informed of their right
to assistance. During the year 7,324 restraining orders were issued in
cases involving allegations of family violence. In a March 2005 report
to the UN Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, several
women's NGOs stated that approximately 130,000 women in the country
between the ages 25 and 40 had been sexually harassed in the workplace.
During the period between January 1 and November 30, the police opened
215 cases involving sexual harassment and forwarded 40 cases for
prosecution.
The law provides for class action suits and requires employers to
provide equal pay for equal work; however, significant wage gaps
remained. According to a report released in July by the College of
Management, women earned 66 percent as much as men. The study, which
only examined Jewish workers, also found that Orthodox and ultra-
Orthodox women received salaries 10 to 20 percent lower than their
secular counterparts.
Religious courts adjudicate personal status law, and these courts
restricted the rights of Jewish and Muslim women. Jewish women are not
allowed to initiate divorce proceedings without their husbands'
consent. Consequently, thousands of so-called agunot--literally
``chained women"--may not remarry or have legitimate children because
their husbands either disappeared or refused to grant divorces.
Rabbinical tribunals may sanction husbands who refuse to divorce wives,
but may not grant a divorce without his consent.
On November 3, the country's Chief Sephardi Rabbi cancelled without
explanation an international conference on the agunot scheduled for the
following week in Jerusalem. The conference had been organized in part
by Jewish women's organizations, which expressed disgust and
disappointment, calling the cancellation a ``tragedy.''
A Muslim woman may petition for and receive a divorce through the
Shari'a courts without her husband's consent under certain conditions,
and may, through a marriage contract, provide for certain cases where
she may obtain a divorce without her husband's consent. A Muslim man
may divorce his wife without her consent and without petitioning the
court.
Children.--The law provides for the overall protection of
children's rights and welfare, and the Government was generally
committed to ensuring enforcement of these laws. The Government has
continued to legislate against sexual, physical, and psychological
abuse of children and has mandated comprehensive reporting. In 2005
there were five shelters for children at risk of abuse.
According to the 2005 report issued by the National Council for the
Child, the number of reported cases of child abuse and neglect totaled
39,000 for 2004 and had risen by 130 percent in the previous decade.
The police reported to a Knesset committee in December 2005 that
children constituted more than 50 percent of the victims of sexual
offenses each year.
In May the written comments of a tribunal of Nazareth judges
prompted controversy. After sentencing a man to 16 years in prison for
raping his stepdaughter over a 10-year period, the judges wrote that
since the plaintiff had not complained sooner, she might have ``enjoyed
and wanted'' the sexual relations.
In June researchers at a Hebrew University conference reported that
approximately one-sixth of Israeli-Arab children were in ``danger and
crisis.'' Researchers also found that the poverty rate for Israeli-Arab
children was 2.5 times higher than for Jewish children, and their
infant mortality rate was double that of Jewish infants. Infant
mortality among Bedouin Israelis was highest, at 15 percent of all
births. A report released by the Van Leer Institute of Jerusalem
reported that 54 percent of Israeli Arabs lived below the poverty line
in 2005, compared to 18 percent of Israeli Jews. Among the Bedouin
communities of the Negev, the poverty rate in legal villages was 66
percent, while in the unrecognized villages it was 79 percent.
Education is compulsory through the ninth grade. The Government
operated separate school systems for Hebrew-speaking children, Arabic-
speaking children, and Orthodox Jews. However, per capita government
spending on and services for children was significantly less in Arab
areas than in Jewish areas. According to a 2005 study at Hebrew
University, three times as much money was invested in Jewish children
as in Arab children.
Ultra-Orthodox political parties, such as United Torah Judaism,
continued to oppose government interference in its school system. The
only nonpublic schools receiving government funding were ultra-Orthodox
Jewish schools.
Jewish children attended schools where the language of instruction
was Hebrew and the curriculum included Jewish history. Israeli-Arab
children, almost without exception, chose schools with instruction in
Arabic in which the curriculum had a less Jewish focus. Israeli-Arab
advocacy groups charged that the education of Arab children was
inferior to that of Jewish children in the secular system. According to
an Education Ministry report released in May, only 54 percent of 12th
graders passed their matriculation exams in 2005, a drop of 2.4 percent
from 2004. The decline was sharpest in the Arab sector, where the
number of students passing the exams dropped by 6.6 percent; the
decline for Jewish students was 1.3 percent. The NGO Sikkuy stated in
its 2004-05 report that the high school dropout rate in Arab schools
was twice as high as in Jewish schools. A separate, credible NGO report
suggested that the Israeli-Arab dropout rate was three times that of
the Jewish dropout level. In September 2005 the Education Ministry
informed the Knesset Education Committee there was a shortage of 1,800
classrooms in the Arab sector.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), 43 percent of
Jews between the ages of 25 and 34 had attended an institution of
higher education, while only 15 percent of Arabs had done so. More than
a quarter of all Arab citizens in the same age range left school before
the ninth grade. While 90 percent of Jewish three- and four-year-old
children attended preschool, only 56 percent of Arab three- and four-
year olds did so, according to CBS figures. In June the Follow Up
Committee for Arab Education for Toddlers said that there was a
shortage of 2,250 preschools in the Arab sector. Preschool attendance
for Bedouin children was the lowest in the country, and the dropout
rate for Bedouin high school students was the highest. Arab Knesset
members have criticized the lower academic achievements of Arab
students and charged that it indicated discrimination in the system.
The minimum legal age of marriage is 17 for both boys and girls.
Trafficking in Persons.--During the year the Government gave the
problem of trafficking higher priority. The trafficking law was amended
to criminalize trafficking offenses not only for the purpose of sexual
exploitation but also for slavery, forced labor, prostitution,
pornography, and sexual abuse. Trafficking, for the purpose of labor as
well as for prostitution, remained a serious problem, although the
estimates of the extent of these problems varied greatly between the
Government and some NGOs. The penal code stipulates that coercion to
engage in prostitution is a criminal offense, punishable by between
four and 20 years' imprisonment.
The law guarantees foreign laborers legal status, decent working
conditions, health insurance, and a written employment contract;
however, some employers forced individual laborers who entered the
country, both legally and illegally, to live under conditions that
constituted involuntary servitude. The country did not severely
penalize labor agencies for trafficking because then current law did
not criminalize trafficking for purposes other than prostitution. While
law enforcement agencies have successfully prosecuted employers for
labor law violations, including for violations that were tantamount to
trafficking, the sentences applied did not meet minimum standards for
sufficient penalties. There were numerous documented cases of foreign
laborers living in harsh conditions, subjected to debt bondage, and
restricted in their movements. The new amendments to the trafficking
law went into force on October 29; no information on enforcement was
available at year's end.
The NGO Hotline stated that it knew of only one case of a
government investigation and prosecution of trafficking for purposes
other than prostitution.
Organized crime groups trafficked women, primarily from Eastern
Europe, sometimes luring them by offering service sector jobs. NGOs and
the Government reported that traffickers generally transported victims
across the Egyptian border. Some traffickers reportedly sold foreign-
origin women to brothels. According to the police, the number of women
trafficked into the country for the purpose of commercial sexual
exploitation declined from a high of approximately 3,000 in 2003 to ``a
few hundred'' during the year. The NGO Isha L'Isha reported providing
direct assistance to 141 victims in detention centers or shelters
during the year. Under a policy enacted in July, the Government placed
women suspected of being victims of trafficking for prostitution in the
Maggan shelter directly, without first holding them in detention
centers.
During raids on brothels, police reported finding fewer foreign
nationals than in previous years; they attributed this to heightened
antitrafficking activity during 2005-06.
Between January 1 and October 1, the courts convicted or upheld the
convictions of 12 persons for trafficking in women. Sentences ranged
from one to 12 years, with the average sentence being 4.4 years.
However, most sentences were suspended. Under the amended law, the
maximum allowable prison sentence is 16 years, or 20 years if the
offense is committed against a minor.
The Justice Ministry has a guideline that investigations of
complaints by foreign workers should be concluded within 45 days. When
prosecutors gathered sufficient evidence for indictment, they filed the
indictment through an accelerated procedure to ensure that the
proceedings would continue even if the foreign worker left the country.
The government-run shelter with a 50-person capacity for victims of
trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation was often completely
filled; NGOs claimed additional shelters were needed.
On May 31, the Government officially appointed an interministerial
coordinator to combat trafficking in persons. Concurrently with its new
antitrafficking legislation, the Government drafted an antitrafficking
plan. On December 11, the coordinator met with the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and an institute for judges' training to arrange training
classes.
The Government worked closely with officials in source countries,
especially in Eastern Europe, to investigate and extradite individuals
on charges of trafficking in persons.
In May 2005 Sergey Matotov reached a plea bargain resulting in 33
months' imprisonment and 18 months' suspended sentence. Matatov was not
convicted of trafficking but of aiding a person to engage in
prostitution. Shota Shamelashvili was sentenced to seven years
imprisonment (suspended) and $590 (2,500 NIS) compensation to each
complainant. The Government appealed the sentence's leniency, and
Shamelashvili appealed its severity. The appeal was scheduled to be
heard in February 2007.
Persons With Disabilities.--The Government provided a broad range
of basic benefits for persons with disabilities. The law provides for
protection and equality of the rights of persons with disabilities.
Persons with disabilities continued, however, to encounter difficulties
in areas such as employment and housing. According to the Government,
the Commission for Equal Rights of People with Disabilities, within the
Justice Ministry, took legal action in 98 discrimination cases during
the year, mainly in the areas of accessibility and employment.
Additionally, the commission intervened in 175 cases involving
complaints by persons with disabilities. In March 2005 the Government
enacted a law to require greater building and public area access for
persons with disabilities. Other laws passed in 2005 required
television stations to include subtitles and sign language for the
hearing impaired and directed the courts to accommodate testimony from
persons with intellectual disabilities or mental illness. During the
year these laws were in the process of implementation. Accessibility to
public transportation was not mandated by law.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The 2003 report of the Orr
Commission, which the Government established following the police
killing of 12 Israeli-Arab demonstrators and a Palestinian in October
2000 (see sections 1.a. and 2.b.), stated that government handling of
the Arab sector was ``primarily neglectful and discriminatory,'' was
not sufficiently sensitive to Arab needs, and that the Government did
not allocate state resources equally.
In 2004 the Government adopted an interministerial committee's
proposals to act on some of the Orr Commission's findings, including:
establishment of a government body to promote the Arab sector; creation
of a volunteer, national civilian service program for Arab youth; and
the creation of a day of national tolerance. At year's end the
Government implemented neither these proposals nor the original Orr
Commission recommendations. On January 6, the Government directed a
Deputy State Attorney to reexamine the 2005 decision by the PID to
close its investigation into the 2000 killings (see sections 1.a. and
2.b.). At year's end there had been no further action.
The Knesset subcommittee, chaired by an Israeli-Arab member to
monitor Israeli-Arab sector needs and advocate alterations in the
budget to benefit that sector, was disbanded following the March
elections.
Advocacy groups charged government officials with making racist
statements. Yisrael Beitenu party chairman Avigdor Lieberman repeatedly
called for removing citizenship of some Israeli Arabs and exchanging
some Arab towns in the country for Jewish settlements in the occupied
territories. In February Supreme Court Vice President Mishael Cheshin
said during a hearing on the 2003 Citizenship Law that if Israelis
wanted to marry Palestinians, they should move to the West Bank rather
than seek permits for their spouses to join them.
Although Arabic is an official language of the country, the
National Insurance Institute (NII) required documents submitted for
claim be translated into Hebrew. On November 28, Adalah protested this
policy in a letter to NII, noting that the Shari'a courts are also
government courts and should have their Arabic rulings accepted by
other government organizations.
In September MK Effie Eitam called for expulsion of most
Palestinians from the West Bank and removal of Israeli Arabs, whom he
called ``traitors in the first degree,'' from the political system.
According to the Israel Democracy Institute's annual Democracy Index,
released on May 9, 62 percent of Jewish citizens believed the
Government should encourage Arab citizens to emigrate.
Figures for 2005 showed approximately 93 percent of land in the
country is public domain, the majority of which is owned by the state,
with approximately 12.5 percent owned by the Jewish National Fund
(JNF). All public lands and that owned by the JNF are administered by
the Governmental body, the Israel Lands Administration (ILA). By law
public land may only be leased, and the JNF's statutes prohibit land
sale or lease to non-Jews. In January 2005 the Attorney General ruled
the Government cannot discriminate against Israeli Arabs in marketing
and allocation of lands it manages, including lands the ILA manages for
the JNF. The Attorney General also decided that the Government should
compensate the JNF with land equal in size to any plots of JNF land won
by non-Jewish citizens in government tenders.
Israeli-Arab advocacy organizations have challenged the
Government's policy of demolishing illegal buildings in the Arab
sector. They claimed that the Government restricted issuance of
building permits for Arab communities, thereby limiting Arab natural
growth. According to statistics published by the Arab Center for
Alternative Planning, the Government issued tenders for the
construction of 1,820 housing units in northern Israel, which has an
Arab majority, during a five month period in 2004. Only 140 of these
were designated for Arab communities, despite a shortage of housing in
the Arab sector. In October 2005 the Government also launched a
development program for all 104 communities in the north, both Jewish
and Arab, to attract new residents and investment.
In February 2004 security forces demolished several homes in the
Arab village of Beineh, claiming that they were built illegally. In
April 2005 Adalah appealed to the Attorney General requesting that he
reverse a decision not to indict police officers for alleged assault
and property damage involved in the house demolition operation. Adalah
claimed the police investigation was negligent and that it was
unreasonable not to indict the police officers. At year's end the
appeal remained pending.
The Orr Commission found that ``suitable planning should be carried
out [in the Arab sector] as soon as possible to prevent illegal
construction.'' An interministerial committee, created to advise the
Government on implementing the Orr Commission recommendations, called
on the ILA to complete master plans for Arab towns. In 2004 the Supreme
Court ruled that omitting Arab towns from specific government social
and economic plans is discriminatory. At year's end according to the
Government, master plans had been completed for 23 of the country's 128
Arab communities; another 81 communities were being planned. New
construction is illegal in towns that do not have master plans or in
the country's 37 unrecognized Bedouin villages.
On August 30, according to a Bedouin advocacy group, the Regional
Council for Unrecognized Villages in the Negev (RCUV), security forces
demolished all Bedouin homes in the unrecognized village of Twiel Abu-
Jarwal. During September according to RCUV, security forces demolished
several homes in the unrecognized villages of Um Nmaila, Um Mitnan, Um
Ratam, and Al-For'a.
On February 27, the Supreme Court ruled that a 1998 government
development policy illegally discriminated against Israeli Arabs. The
policy designated certain areas to receive special funding for
projects, including education; however, it included only four of more
than 500 Arab communities. The court agreed with the petitioners,
Adalah and the Arab Higher Follow Up Committee, that the policy was
discriminatory and could not be continued without Knesset legislation.
The court gave the Government a year to cancel the program.
During and after the July-August conflict involving Israel and
Lebanon, Arab municipalities and advocacy groups complained that unlike
Jewish communities, Arab communities in the north had no bomb shelters
or warning sirens to protect from rocket attacks. In August according
to media, the government-supervised Small Business Development Center
created an expedited loan program to help businesses damaged by the
conflict, but announced that only Jewish businesses were eligible.
Under longstanding government policy, ``front line'' communities in the
north were eligible to receive full compensation for economic losses
from armed conflict. All northern communities except four Arab towns
along the Lebanese border were so designated. During the conflict the
Finance Minister listed five additional Jewish towns, but still omitted
the four Arab towns. On September 13, Adalah petitioned the Supreme
Court to include these towns, all of which were damaged during the
conflict. At year's end the case was pending.
On September 26, the Finance Minister established a work team to
develop a five-year plan to narrow the economic gap between Jewish and
Arab communities. The minister also announced that one-quarter of the
$930 million (NIS four billion) allocated for post-conflict
rehabilitation would be for the Arab sector.
Israeli Arabs were underrepresented in most universities,
professions, and businesses. In June a researcher from Haifa University
and Sikkuy reported only 2.8 percent of the country's high technology
workers were Arab. The Haifa University researcher also noted 70
percent of Arabs with college degrees in high technology fields failed
to find work in the country between 2001 and 2005.
Well educated Israeli Arabs often were unable to find jobs
commensurate with their qualifications. According to a Civil Service
Commission report on Israeli-Arab representation in government, in 2004
only three of 809 Finance Ministry employees were Israeli Arabs, while
the Foreign Ministry, with 933 employees, employed seven. Approximately
56 percent of all Israeli-Arab government workers were employed by the
Health Ministry, including government hospitals.
In 2003 the Government approved an affirmative action program to
promote hiring Israeli Arabs in the civil service. However, according
to current government figures, only 5.5 percent of civil service
employees were from the Arab sector. On March 12, the Government
ordered the Civil Service Commission to allocate 37.5 new positions
annually through 2008 to government offices that employ qualified
Arabs, Druze, and Circassians.
A 2000 law requires minorities have ``appropriate representation''
in the civil service and on the boards of government corporations. As
of November according to the Government, Arabs filled 54 out of
approximately 550 board seats of 105 state-run companies. In April
media reported that approximately 1 percent of employees in state-run
companies were Arabs.
Israeli Arabs complained during the year of discriminatory
treatment by airlines and airport security officials. On December 11,
the Arab Association for Human Rights and the Center Against Racism
published a joint report detailing degrading treatment of Arabs by
security officials at airports and airlines. It alleged security
officials regularly subjected Israeli-Arab travelers to humiliating,
abusive inspections and interrogations. In June the newspaper Ha'aretz
reported a policy of accepting only Jewish passengers for flights by
Tamir airlines between Tel Aviv and the northern town of Kiryat Shmona.
According to Ha'aretz the Transportation Ministry, acting on guidance
from the ISA, barred Israeli Arabs from these flights as the northern
airport lacked sufficient luggage screening equipment. Subsequently, in
June the ministry installed a temporary screening device at Kiryat
Shmona airport and resumed allowing Israeli-Arab travelers on Tamir
flights.
The law exempts Israeli Arabs from mandatory military service, and
in practice only a small percentage of Israeli Arabs so served.
Citizens who did not perform military service enjoyed less access to
social and economic benefits for which military service was either a
prerequisite or an advantage. Israeli Arabs generally were restricted
from working in companies with defense contracts or in security-related
fields. In 2004 the Ivry Committee on National Service recommended
Israeli Arabs be given an opportunity to perform national service. On
December 13, the Government announced procedures to offer a civilian
service program to citizens not drafted for military service. Beginning
in June 2007, Israeli Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews would have the
opportunity to serve for one to two years as volunteers in health,
education, or welfare sectors. After completing service volunteers
would be eligible for the same national benefits accorded military
veterans.
The Israeli Druze community numbered approximately 100,000 and the
Circassian community numbered some 3,000. Males were subject to the
military draft, and the overwhelming majority accepted service
willingly. Some Bedouin and other Arab citizens not subject to the
draft also served voluntarily.
The Bedouin sector of the population was the country's most
disadvantaged. The Orr Commission report called for ``special
attention'' to the living conditions of the Bedouin community.
Approximately 140,000 Bedouin lived in the Negev, half in seven state-
planned communities and eight recognized communities, and the rest in
37 unrecognized villages. Recognized Bedouin villages received basic
services but remained among the poorest communities in the country.
Unrecognized villages paid taxes to the Government but were not
connected to the national water and electricity infrastructure and not
eligible for government educational, health, and welfare services. On
August 23, PHR reported that 80,000 Bedouin citizens lacked running
water. On September 13, the Water Tribunal decided not to connect
unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev to the national water
system. On November 18, Adalah petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn
the decision; the case was ongoing at year's end.
In 2004 the Supreme Court issued a temporary injunction to prevent
the ILA from spraying herbicide on Bedouin crops on state-owned land.
In February 2005 the ILA admitted to the court that it sprayed Bedouin
agricultural fields with chemicals not approved by the Agriculture
Ministry and banned from aerial spraying. As of November 1, according
to Adalah the injunction remained in force, but the court had not ruled
on the case.
Government planners noted there were insufficient funds to relocate
Bedouin living in unrecognized villages to new townships, and the
average Bedouin family could not afford to purchase a home there.
Clashes between authorities and residents of unrecognized villages
continued during the year.
In July the Knesset extended for six months the 2003 law
prohibiting citizens' Palestinian spouses from the occupied territories
from residing in the country. The extension applied also to the 2005
amendment allowing Palestinian men aged 35 and older and women aged 25
and older to apply for temporary visit permits (see section 2.d.). On
May 14, the Supreme Court ruled the law legal and rejected all
petitions challenging it.
There are approximately 20,000 non-Israelis living in the Golan
Heights; they have been subject to Israeli military authority since
1967 and to Israeli civil law since Israel annexed this Syrian
territory in 1981. They are primarily ethnic Druze; however, Syria
regards them as its citizens, and they largely have refused Israeli
citizenship. Israel accords them permanent resident status; they
receive Israeli travel documents and hold identity cards that entitle
them to the same social benefits as Israeli citizens. Israeli-Druze,
like all citizens, were prohibited from visiting Syria, including
making pilgrimages to Druze holy sites in Syria; noncitizen Druze
(approximately 95 percent of the Druze population) were not so
prohibited. During the year the Government allowed Druze pilgrims to
stay in Syria for 72 hours rather than 24, as was the previous limit.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In October and November,
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious leaders protested plans for a
gay pride march in Jerusalem on November 10. On November 5, the
Attorney General refused a police recommendation to cancel the parade,
and the Supreme Court subsequently rejected several petitions to cancel
it. Members of Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox community threatened to
attack parade participants. On November 9, the organizers cancelled the
parade and instead held a peaceful rally in a university stadium the
following day (see section 2.b.).
During the June 2005 gay pride parade, an ultra-Orthodox Jew
stabbed three participants. Police arrested Yishai Shlisel and charged
him with three counts of attempted murder. On January 31, Shlisel was
convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
On November 21, the High Court required the Government to recognize
same-sex marriages legally performed in foreign jurisdictions (see
section 2.c.). In April 2005 the Government announced a policy of
recognizing same-sex couples with children as a family for purposes of
receiving housing aid.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Citizens may join and establish labor
organizations. Most unions belong to Histadrut (the General Federation
of Labor in Israel) or to a much smaller rival federation, the
Histadrut Haovdim Haleumit (National Federation of Labor), both of
which are independent of the Government.
The law permits legal foreign workers and nonresident Palestinians
to join Israeli trade unions and organize their own unions in Israel,
according to the Government and Histadrut. Benefits and protections in
Histadrut work contracts and grievance procedures extend to legal
nonresident workers in the organized sector, but they cannot vote in
Histadrut elections.
Labor laws apply to noncitizens. Documented foreign workers are
entitled to many of the same benefits as citizens, such as vacation,
maternity leave, severance pay, and compensation for injuries, although
not national health care. (Employers are legally required to provide
insurance.) However, undocumented foreign workers receive no benefits.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Citizens
exercised their legal rights to organize and bargain collectively. The
law specifically prohibits antiunion discrimination. No antiunion
discrimination was reported.
According to the Government and Histadrut, nonresident workers
could organize unions and engage in collective bargaining. Foreign
workers must pay an agency fee, and they can also pay union dues,
entitling them to employment protection and some entitlements won by
collective bargaining agreements. Collective bargaining agreements are
extended to nonunionized workplaces in the same industrial sector.
Unions have the right to strike, and workers exercised this right.
If essential public services are affected by a strike, the Government
may appeal to labor courts for back-to-work orders during continued
negotiations. Worker dismissals and the terms of severance arrangements
have traditionally been the central issues of disputes.
There are no Export Processing Zones. In 2004 the Government
established a Qualified Industrial Zone (QIZ) with Egypt, creating
duty-exempt zones for joint Israel-Egypt manufacturing for exports. The
Government established a comparable QIZ with Jordan in 1998. Since the
factories are located in Egypt and Jordan respectively, Egyptian and
Jordanian labor laws apply.
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. Civil rights groups charged that
unscrupulous employers exploited adult non-Palestinian foreign workers,
both legal and illegal, and held them in conditions that amounted to
involuntary servitude (see section 6.e.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--Laws
protect children from exploitation in the workplace and prohibit forced
or compulsory labor; the Government effectively implemented these laws.
Children at least 15 years old who have completed their education
through grade nine may be employed only as apprentices. Children who
are 14 years old may be employed during official school holidays in
light work that will not harm their health. Working hours for those
between the ages of 16 and 18 are restricted to ensure time for rest
and education.
There was no reliable data regarding the incidence of child labor,
although NGOs suspected in 2005 that it occurred to a limited degree.
In December Histadrut estimated the number of illegal child workers in
the country at between 5,000 and 10,000. At year's end Histadrut
reported that child labor occurred primarily in restaurants, markets,
cleaning, and as apprentices in small factories. During the year
Hotline reported no cases of children under the age of 15 working year-
around in agriculture. Although in previous years, the Government,
Histadrut, and NGOs received reports of illegal child labor in the
undocumented Palestinian population, they did not report instances of
Palestinian child labor during the year.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage was
approximately 45.6 percent of the average wage, approximately $835
(3,585 NIS) per month for a 40-hour week. The Government considered the
minimum wage, often supplemented by special allowances for citizens, to
provide a citizen worker and family with a decent standard of living.
Some union officials, NGOs, and social commentators disputed this
claim. However, during the year Histadrut reported that a noncitizen
worker, who was paid the minimum wage, even absent the special
allowances for citizens, received a decent standard of living.
By law the maximum hours of work at regular pay are 42.5 hours per
week.
Employers are required to obtain a government permit to hire
Palestinian workers from the occupied territories. Most Palestinians
from the occupied territories working legally in the country were
employed on a daily basis and, unless employed on shift work, were not
authorized to spend the night in the country. However, according to
Histadrut there were very few legal Palestinians working in the country
on a regular basis during the year.
Palestinian employees whose local employers recruited them through
the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor received their wages and
benefits through that ministry. Palestinian workers were not eligible
for all National Insurance Institute (NII) benefits although the
ministry deducted a union fee and required contributions to the NII.
For example, they did not receive unemployment insurance, disability
payments, or low-income supplements although their contributions
covered such benefits. Histadrut reported that a legal mechanism
established in 2005 for non-Palestinian migrant workers employed in the
construction sector assures workers' rights and social benefits such as
convalescence pay, severance pay, and annual leave). When a migrant
construction worker leaves the country, he receives all his payment at
a bank in Ben Gurion airport after presenting his passport. In other
sectors such as agriculture and care giving, there was no comparable
mechanism. Israeli employers paid Palestinian employees not employed
through the ministry directly after deducting the union fee and NII
contribution; workers paid by employers received the same benefits as
workers paid through the ministry.
According to agreement between the Government and the Palestinian
Authority (PA), employers paid an ``equalization fee'' to the Israeli
Treasury, in the amount of the difference in cost between employing a
(lower paid) foreign worker and an Israeli worker. The Government
stated that these sums would be forwarded to the PA when it established
a national insurance institute.
Government officials continued to withhold all of the PA payments
pending its creation of a social security department to distribute the
fees.
Since 2000 the Government's closure policy on the occupied
territories prevented nearly all Palestinians from getting to
employment in the country (see section 2.d. and annex). Closures have
continued periodically for the past six years. During periods of
nonclosure, Palestinians required Israeli-issued permits to enter the
country. Permits may be issued for a single day or for periods of
several months. Frequently during closures government authorities
invalidated some or all existing valid permits, requiring even long-
established travelers to secure new permits, often multiple times
during the year. Accordingly, statistics on permit issuance and use do
not reflect actual numbers of individual travelers allowed into the
country. Many Palestinian laborers may have used the permits to make
numerous entries; the Government did not provide data as to how many
different individual Palestinian laborers received work permits.
The Labor Inspection Service, along with union representatives,
enforced labor, health, and safety standards in the workplace, although
resource constraints affected overall enforcement. A November media
report cited more than 2,000 complaints and reports had been filed at
the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor against employers that have
violated labor laws, but there were only 18 inspectors to enforce labor
laws that affected approximately 2.5 million workers.
Foreign workers could not legally remove themselves from dangerous
work situations without jeopardy to continued employment. Additionally,
illegal foreign workers risked immediate deportation. On March 30, in
response to a petition filed by Hotline, Kav LaOved (an Israeli NGO for
protecting worker rights), and other NGOs, the Supreme Court ruled the
policy of employer-dependent status for foreign workers leads to abuse.
The court ordered the Government to create a new legal mechanism for
employing foreign workers; however, the Government had not complied by
year's end.
All workers could challenge unsafe work practices through
government oversight and legal agencies, although according to Hotline,
employees in sectors other than construction were not provided
information on how to contact the authorities. Hotline also reported
that most agencies lacked interpreters. Between March 1 and September
1, the Enforcement Division of the Foreign Workers Department opened
2,087 investigations of employers for suspected violations and issued
1,567 fines for abuses of the rights of foreign workers. Prosecutors
filed 35 criminal indictments against employers during the same period.
Brokers and employers are permitted to collect hiring fees from
migrant workers. The Government limited such fees to about $710 (3,050
NIS) per worker, but NGOs charged that many foreign workers continued
to pay more, up to $15,000 (63,000 NIS). In a significant number of
cases according to NGOs, employers dismissed workers shortly after
arriving. Between March 1 and September 1, the Ministry of Industry,
Trade, and Labor investigated approximately 85 complaints against
agencies licensed to recruit foreign workers and revoked 25 licenses.
Dismissed foreign workers who were not deported often sought illegal
employment.
Public debate continued regarding non-Palestinian foreign workers.
According to the Government, between January 1 and October 1, the
Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor issued 86,072 permits for
foreigners to work in the country. CBS figures released in September
showed that at the end of 2005 there were 178,000 legal migrant
workers. During the year according to the Government, non-Palestinian
foreign workers, both legal and illegal, constituted approximately 7 to
8 percent of the labor force. The Immigration Authority estimated that
there were about 70,000 to 80,000 illegal foreign workers in the
country. According to Hotline, most legal foreign workers came from the
Philippines, Thailand, China, Turkey, and Romania, while most illegal
foreign workers were from African countries. Many foreign workers came
from India and Nepal, some legally, others not.
The law does not permit foreign workers to obtain citizenship or
permanent residence status unless they are Jewish. In May responding to
a Supreme Court order, the Interior Minister announced plans to broaden
a provisional 2005 program under which the children of foreign workers
would be eligible for citizenship under certain conditions. Under the
revised program, a child of at least six years of age who had spent at
least five years in the country and whose parents entered the country
legally would be eligible for citizenship. In December 2005 responding
to a petition filed by ACRI, the Supreme Court ordered the Government
to lower the minimum naturalization age to six. The Supreme Court also
ordered the Government not to deport parents of such children eligible
for citizenship.
Workers may contest deportation orders in a special court, but
often lacked fluency in Hebrew, placing them at a considerable
disadvantage. According to Hotline, appropriate interpreters were not
always present at the hearings, despite a 2002 commitment to provide
them (see section 1.d.).
In 2004 in response to judicial criticism concerning protracted
detention of foreign workers, the Attorney General ordered that they be
brought before the court within four days of arrest. The Government
generally honored the Attorney General's directive. Advocacy groups
generally were allowed to assist workers facing deportation (see
section 1.d.).
THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES (INCLUDING AREAS SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION
OF THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY)
Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, and East
Jerusalem during the 1967 War. In 2006 the population of Gaza was
approximately 1.4 million, of the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem)
approximately 2.4 million, and of East Jerusalem about 415,000,
including approximately 177,000 Israelis. Approximately 250,000
Israelis resided in the West Bank. Various agreements transferred civil
responsibility to the Palestinian Authority (PA) for Gaza and parts of
the West Bank and divided the territories into three types of areas
denoting different levels of PA and Israeli control. However, after
Palestinian extremist groups resumed violence in 2000, Israeli forces
resumed control over a number of these areas, citing the PA's failure
to abide by its security responsibilities. During the year both
violence and Israeli-imposed internal and external access restrictions
increased.
The PA has a democratically elected President and legislative
council, which select and endorse a prime minister and cabinet. In
January 2005 Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Mahmud
Abbas won approximately 62 percent of the popular vote in a
Presidential election regarded as generally free and fair. Palestinian
Legislative Council (PLC) elections were held on January 25;
international observers concluded the elections generally met
democratic standards, despite some irregularities.
Israel exercised occupation authority through the Ministry of
Defense's Office of Coordination and Liaison.
During the year 660 Palestinians were killed during Israeli
military operations. On December 28, the Israeli nongovernmental
organization (NGO) B'Tselem claimed that of the 660 Palestinians
killed, at least 322 were not engaged in hostilities when killed and
141 were minors. A total of 23 Israelis, including six Israeli Defense
Force (IDF) soldiers, and six foreigners were killed by Palestinians in
terrorist attacks in both Israel and the occupied territories.
Since formation of the Hamas government in March, the Preventive
Security Organization (PSO), Civil Police, and Civil Defense came under
the authority of the Minister of Interior. The National Security Forces
(NSF) and General Intelligence Services (GI) remained under the
authority of President Abbas. President Abbas and his subordinates
maintained control of security forces in the West Bank and over some
forces in Gaza. The Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry created a new
security branch, the ``Executive Force,'' in Gaza, over which President
Abbas had no authority. The Executive Force killed or injured several
Palestinians affiliated with security forces loyal to President Abbas
or the Fatah movement. Neither the President nor the Interior Ministry
maintained effective control over security forces under their
respective authorities, and there were reports that members of security
forces committed numerous, serious abuses. The Israeli government
maintained effective control of its security forces; however, there
were reports that Israeli security forces used excessive force, abused,
and tortured Palestinian detainees.
In September 2005 the Israeli Supreme Court reaffirmed its earlier
decision that the separation barrier is permissible under both
international law and Israeli law, however, the Israeli Supreme Court
questioned whether the segment of the barrier at issue (in the West
Bank, near Jerusalem) utilized the least intrusive route available, and
it asked the Government to consider whether there was an alternative
route. In a 2004 advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice
concluded that the barrier was contrary to international law in a
number of respects.
Regarding the PA there were reports of torture, arbitrary and
prolonged detention, poor prison conditions, insufficient measures to
prevent attacks by terrorist groups either within the occupied
territories or within Israel, corruption and lack of transparency,
domestic abuse of women, societal discrimination against women and
persons with disabilities, and child labor.
Regarding the Israeli occupying forces, there were reports of death
and injuries to civilians in the conduct of military operations,
numerous serious abuses of civilians and detainees, failure to take
disciplinary action in cases of abuse, improper application of security
internment procedures, temporary detention facilities that were austere
and overcrowded, and limited cooperation with NGOs.
Regarding Palestinian terrorist organizations, there were several
instances of terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians, resulting in
deaths and injuries in the West Bank and Israel.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Killings by
Palestinian and Israeli security forces and by Israeli settlers and
Palestinian militant groups remained a serious problem.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), as of June 2005, the IDF
reported 131 ongoing criminal investigations into the use of weapons
that resulted in injury or death, resulting in 28 indictments and seven
convictions, with the remaining cases still in process. In the same
time frame, the IDF also reported that 611 investigations had been
opened in response to complaints of physical abuse, such as beatings,
and complaints of property destruction. These investigations have led
to 77 indictments. There was no further IDF reporting during the year.
According to B'Tselem Israeli security forces killed 22
Palestinians in targeted killings during the year and an undetermined
number of bystanders. On December 14, the High Court ruled that
targeted killings are not per se illegal; however, the legality of a
particular case must be meticulously examined. Other Palestinians were
killed by IDF at security check points or during military operations
(see section 1.g.).
On February 13, IDF soldiers shot and killed Nafia Abu Musaid, a
25-year-old Palestinian shepherdess, near the Kissufim checkpoint in
Gaza. On March 29, the IDF Military Advocate General began an
investigation into her death; at year's end there were no results.
On August 9, an IDF helicopter attacked and killed two Palestinian
men (20 and 27 years old) in the Jenin Refugee Camp. The men were
sought by Israeli security forces and found hiding in a home with other
wanted men.
On November 8, IDF artillery shelled the Gazan town of Beit Hanoun,
killing 19 Palestinians and injuring others. Israeli authorities
announced an investigation, stating that the shells missed the intended
target. In a November letter to the Judge Advocate General, B'Tselem
claimed that the action should be investigated as a possible war crime;
however, at year's end no investigation results had been released.
In August 2005 Asher Weisgan, from the settlement of Shvut Rachel,
shot and killed four Palestinian workers and wounded two others. On
September 28, the Jerusalem District Court convicted him of murder and
sentenced him to four consecutive life sentences plus an additional 12
years in prison.
In July 2005 an Israeli security guard at the separation barrier
shot and killed a 15-year-old boy. According to Palestinian witnesses,
he was working in his family's fields in the West Bank. Israeli
authorities placed the guard under house arrest pending police
investigation. At year's end there were no results from the
investigation.
There were no developments in the September 2005 case of IDF
soldiers who shot and killed an unarmed 13-year-old Palestinian boy
during a predawn raid on the Askar refugee camp, near Nablus. An
initial IDF inquiry concluded the soldiers violated rules of
engagement. At year's end the findings of a military police
investigation had been forwarded to the Military Attorney General.
In November 2005 an Israeli border police officer killed Samir
Ribhi Da'ari, a Palestinian from East Jerusalem. Israeli authorities
initially claimed Da'ari attempted to drive his vehicle over the
officer. An autopsy revealed Da'ari was shot in the back; at year's end
court action against the police officer was scheduled for closing
arguments on January 2, 2007.
On March 29, an Israeli motorist picked up a hitchhiker who
detonated a bomb concealed in a suitcase at the entrance of the Kedumim
settlement south of Nablus killing the four Israelis in the car. The
Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility.
On March 31, Abu Yusif, Popular Resistance Committees (PRC)
military leader, was killed by a bomb as he walked past a parked car.
The PA created a committee to investigate the killing although it was
believed to be the result of factional rivalry. At year's end the
investigation had not concluded.
On June 25, Eliyahu Asheri, an 18-year-old Israeli resident of the
Itamar West Bank settlement, was kidnapped and subsequently killed; the
Palestinian PRC admitted responsibility.
On September 15, unknown assailants shot and killed Brigadier
General Jad al-Tayeh of the Palestinian GI and his four bodyguards in
Gaza. On October 10, media published the names of five Palestinian
suspects. The PA Interior Ministry confirmed the names, but stated that
the suspects had not yet been indicted, and at year's end no one had
been arrested.
In early October Palestinians clashed in Gaza and West Bank cities
over unpaid public sector wages. Public buildings were damaged, 12
persons were reportedly killed, and over 130 injured.
On October 14, members of the Hamas-led Ministry of Interior's
Executive Force (EF) shot and killed Ali Shikshik, a GI officer, while
traveling in his car in Gaza City.
On December 11, unknown assailants fired on a car carrying the
school children of the senior intelligence officer in the PA; three
boys and their driver were killed, and a number of bystanders injured.
At year's end the attackers had not been individually identified or
arrested.
There were no developments in the February 2005 case of Palestinian
gunmen that attacked the Gaza Central Prison and killed three
prisoners. The gunmen took one individual from the prison to the al-
Burayj refugee camp and killed him publicly. At year's end there had
been no arrests.
In October 2005 Israeli security forces arrested Abed Al-Muaz Div
Joaba, a Palestinian from Hebron, who confessed to stabbing two yeshiva
students and killing one in August 2005. He was indicted by the
Jerusalem Magistrate's Court later that month. On July 10, Joaba was
sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and an additional 20-year
imprisonment for attempted murder.
There were no developments in the September 2005 killing of Musa
Arafat, former PA Gaza National Security Forces chief. At year's end
the PA had issued but not served an arrest warrant for one PRC member.
There were no developments in the December 2005 case of a
Palestinian on trial for stabbing and killing an Israeli soldier at the
Qalandiya checkpoint north of Jerusalem.
In 2004 an Israeli settler, Boaz Albert, killed Salman Yussuf
Safadi; Albert claimed self defense. On January 31, the case was
dismissed for lack of evidence; however, on June 22, Albert was
prohibited from living in the West Bank. After violating this order,
Israel detained him administratively in Ramla at year's end.
In 2004 an Israeli settler, Yehoshua Elitzur, shot and killed Sa'al
Jabara near Nablus. Witnesses stated Elitzur shot Jabara at close range
after he slowed his car to ask whether Elitzur needed assistance. In
June 2005 an Israeli court convicted Elitzur of manslaughter.
Subsequently, Elitzur fled and therefore had not been sentenced at
year's end.
In 2004 unidentified assailants threw grenades into a room holding
suspected Palestinian ``collaborators'' (providing potential
information to Israel), killing two prisoners. Palestinian security
officials arrested two policemen, who allegedly carried out the attack
on behalf of Hamas. At year's end the officers had been released and no
legal action taken.
Three U.S. security personnel in a diplomatic convoy were killed in
an attack in Gaza in October 2003. At year's end there was no progress
by the PA, and the case remained unsolved. During the year the U.S.
government continued to press the PA to resolve the case.
b. Disappearance.--There were several reports of politically
motivated disappearances during the year (see section 1.g.).
On February 9, in Gaza City two masked gunmen fired at a diplomatic
vehicle and kidnapped Egypt's military attache to the PA. He was
released on February 11. A previously unknown Palestinian militant
group ``the al-Ahrar Brigades'' claimed responsibility.
On March 14, unknown militants kidnapped over a dozen international
workers in Gaza to protest an Israeli arrest operation at Jericho
prison. They were released several hours later. On the same day,
unidentified gunmen kidnapped a Western citizen in Jenin and held him
hostage for several hours.
On June 19, a Western student was kidnapped in Nablus and released
to the IDF on June 20. He told police that he was forced to videotape
an appeal to release Palestinian prisoners.
On June 25, PRC and HAMAS militants tunneled from Gaza to Israel
and attacked an IDF outpost. They killed two soldiers and abducted a
third, Gilad Shalit. By year's end Shalit had not been released.
On December 28, the NGO Reporters Without Borders issued a report
that 10 foreign journalists had been kidnapped in the occupied
territories since August 2005. It also noted that during the year six
foreign journalists were kidnapped in Gaza. For example, on August 14,
in Gaza City armed Palestinians kidnapped two FOX News journalists (see
section 2.a.). After PA official intervention, the kidnappers released
their victims, but the kidnappers were not apprehended. On October 24,
an unidentified armed group kidnapped an Associated Press
photojournalist but released him on the same day.
The PA neither prevented nor adequately investigated kidnappings of
Palestinians or foreign nationals in the West Bank and Gaza.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--PA Basic Law prohibits torture or use of force against
detainees; however, international human rights groups stated that
torture was a significant problem, and its use was not restricted to
persons detained on security charges.
Torture by PA security forces reportedly was widespread.
Documentation of abuses by PA security forces was very limited, due
partly to hesitancy by alleged victims to make public claims of torture
or abuse against PA authorities. Palestinian security officers have no
formal guidelines regarding legal interrogation conduct; most
convictions were based largely on confessions.
Israeli law, as interpreted by an Israeli High Court decision,
prohibits torture and several interrogation techniques but allows
``moderate physical pressure'' against detainees considered to possess
information about an imminent terrorist attack.
During the year the Israeli NGO the Public Committee Against
Torture in Israel (PCATI) noted it submitted more than 40 cases of
torture to the Attorney General (AG); however, in every case the AG
responded that these persons had information deemed vital for state
security and no further action would be taken. Specifically, PCATI
noted the case of Rafah resident Mustafa Abu Ma'amar who was arrested
in June and reportedly extensively abused by Israeli security
officials. Israeli human rights organizations reported that during the
year Israeli security forces used psychological abuse more frequently,
including threats of house demolition or of questioning elderly
parents, and kept prisoners in harsh conditions, including solitary
confinement for long periods, instead of subjecting them to direct
physical abuse. Israeli law prohibits forced confessions, but most
security case convictions were based on confessions made before
defendants had legal representation.
A detainee by Israel may not have legal representation until after
interrogation, a process that may last weeks. The International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is notified of arrests 12 days after
they occur, and the ICRC is allowed to visit detainees 14 days after
arrest. Detainees sometimes stated in court that their confessions were
coerced, but there were no instances in which judges excluded such
confessions.
During the year there were a number of claims of abuse by IDF
soldiers. For example, on February 9, according to Palestinian
statements given to B'Tselem, two IDF soldiers at the al-Fawwar
checkpoint in the southern Hebron area blindfolded, beat, and
threatened two Palestinian men. B'Tselem requested an IDF
investigation; however, at year's end the IDF had not replied.
In July and August, B'Tselem gathered testimony from Palestinians
who detailed beatings and other abuse by IDF soldiers in the West Bank
area of the Ramin Plain. B'Tselem petitioned the Judge Advocate
General, and on September 13, the IDF Central Command informed B'Tselem
the military police would investigate eight of the incidents. At year's
end there was no further information.
On August 11, an Israeli Border Police soldier fired a rubber
bullet at the head of Lymor Goldstein, an Israeli demonstrator
protesting construction of the separation barrier in the West Bank
village of Bil'in, injuring him and requiring surgery to remove the
bullet. No action was taken against the police.
There were no developments in the September 2005 case in which IDF
soldiers forced residents of a home in Tulkarm to undress in the street
or the November 2005 report that IDF soldiers assaulted Palestinian
students in Hebron.
There were numerous credible reports of violence by settlers
against Palestinians, particularly by residents of the Ma'on settlement
in the southern Hebron Hills. On May 9, more than 30 Israeli artists
and intellectuals sent a letter to the Israeli prime minister urging
IDF protection for Palestinian children in the area. According to
Ha'aretz, on May 10, the defense minister reportedly instructed IDF and
police to increase the security for these Palestinian children on their
way to and from school. However, settler harassment of the children
continued without police response. On May 31, the Ma'on farm settlers
reportedly were ordered to evacuate due to their attacks on
schoolchildren; however, at year's end the Ma'on settlement remained.
On April 1, four settlers reportedly attacked and severely beat 72-
year-old Palestinian Saber Shtiyeh as he was working in his field near
the West Bank village of Salem, near Nablus. On April 7,
representatives from Rabbis for Human Rights and the Kibbutz Movement
requested IDF protection for the Palestinian farmers; however, the
request reportedly was refused.
A June report by the Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din
stated there was a ``general phenomenon of absence of adequate law
enforcement by the authorities upon settlers who commit offenses
against Palestinians.'' For example, on November 19, settlers attacked
a group of escorts for Palestinian school children in Hebron, seriously
injuring a Western woman. At year's end, none of the attackers was
charged (see section 2.d.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--PA prison conditions were
poor; most were destroyed during the Intifada and have not been
reconstructed; prisoners were kept informally incarcerated and subject
to intrusions by outsiders. The PA generally permitted the ICRC access
to detainees and allowed regular inspections of prison conditions;
however, the PA denied access to some detainees for 14 days following
their arrests. The PA permitted monitoring of its prisons, but human
rights groups, humanitarian organizations, and lawyers reported
difficulties gaining access to specific detainees. Human rights
organizations stated their ability to visit PA prisons and detention
centers varied depending on which organization ran the facility, and
they rarely could see inmates being interrogated.
Conditions of Israeli permanent prison facilities generally met
international standards. Provisional detention centers were less likely
to meet standards. According to the 2004 Israel Public Defender's
Office report on detention facilities of the Prison Service and Police,
detainees in the Jerusalem Russian Compound facility endured
overcrowded cells and suffocating conditions. Detention and
interrogation facilities for Palestinian detainees, including the four
interrogation centers (Shikma, Kishon, Petah Tikva, and the Jerusalem
Internment Center), were austere, overcrowded, and provisional.
According to the Mandela Institute, in December Israel held 93
Palestinian prisoners in some form of solitary confinement. Israel
permitted monitoring of prison conditions by the ICRC and other groups,
although human rights groups reported delays and difficulties in
gaining access to specific detainees. Human rights groups reported
frequent, unnotified transfers of detainees and significantly limited
ability by families of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel to visit.
According to the Israeli Prison Service, its regulations require
separation of minors and adults; however, at year's end at least one
person, age 16, was kept with adults in Ofer Prison.
In November the NGO Palestinian Prisoners Club reported that there
were approximately 1,259 medical cases in Israeli prisons. Since 2004
Israeli authorities increased medical attention and authorized several
private doctors to visit prisoners; however, prisoners continued to
claim that medical attention was inadequate.
There was no official response to the July 2005 PCATI demand for an
investigation of the death in detention of Jawab Abu Maghasib.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Palestinian law prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, it allows police to hold
detainees without charges for 24 hours. Courts may approve detention
without charges for up to 45 days. A trial must start within six months
of arrest or the detainee must be released. In practice the PA detained
many Palestinians without charge for months.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Israeli security forces
in the West Bank and Gaza consisted of the IDF, the Israel Security
Agency (Shin Bet), the Israeli National Police (INP), and the Border
Police, an operational arm of the INP that is under IDF command when
operating in the occupied territories. Israeli military courts tried
Palestinians accused of security offenses.
Operational control over Palestinian security forces was divided
between President Abbas and the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry.
Palestinian police were normally responsible for security and law
enforcement for Palestinians and other non Israelis in PA-controlled
areas of the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinian security forces included
the National Security Forces (NSF), the Preventive Security
Organization (PSO), the General Intelligence Service (GI, or
Mukhabarat), the Presidential Guard (PG), and the Coastal Police. Other
quasi-military security organizations, such as the Military
Intelligence Organization, exercised the equivalent of law enforcement
powers. The 2005 General Intelligence Law placed the Mukhabarat under
President Abbas's authority.
The PSO, the civil police, and the civil defense fall under the
legal control of the Interior Minister. Subordinates of President Abbas
retained operational control over all security branches in the West
Bank and some forces in Gaza. Armed militias played a major role in
both local security and abuses of human rights. For example, Hamas
Executive Force members attacked PA government installations in Gaza on
several occasions and killed opponents in the Fatah movement or
Palestinian security forces.
PA security forces detained persons without informing judicial
authorities and often ignored laws protecting detainee rights and court
decisions calling for release of alleged security criminals. At year's
end Palestinian sources estimated the PA imprisoned approximately 263
suspected of collaboration with Israel. Alleged collaborators often
were held without evidence and denied access to lawyers, their
families, or doctors.
Arrest and Detention.--Under applicable occupation orders, Israeli
security personnel may arrest without warrant or hold for questioning a
person suspected of having committed or being likely to commit a
security-related offense. Israeli Military Order 1507 permits Israeli
security forces to detain persons for 10 days, during which period they
cannot see a lawyer or appear before court. Administrative security
detention orders could be issued for up to six-month periods and
renewed indefinitely by judges. The law expressly authorizes an appeal
of the circumstances of each security detention order to the Israeli
Supreme Court. No detainee has ever successfully appealed a detention
order under this process.
Israeli Military Order 1369 provides for a seven year prison term
for anyone not responding to a summons in security cases. Suspects are
entitled to an attorney, but this right can be deferred during
interrogation, which can last up to 90 days. Israeli authorities stated
that they attempted to post notification of arrests within 48 hours,
but senior officers may delay notification for up to 12 days.
Additionally, a military commander may request a judge to extend
this period in security cases indefinitely. On June 26, the Knesset
passed a law permitting detention and arraignment of a security suspect
to be held without the individual present and that a person can be
interrogated without judicial oversight for 96 hours. The Israeli
military orders required notification of family members of specific
cases of detention; however, many families reported serious problems in
learning of the status and whereabouts of prisoners. Evidence for
administrative detentions in security cases was often unavailable to
the detainee or his attorneys due to security classification, but it
was made available to the court.
Palestinians claimed that security detainees held under Israeli
security detention military orders were in fact political prisoners. At
year's end the Mandela Institute estimated Israel held 10,633
Palestinian security prisoners. B'Tselem's end of year report said
there were 9,075 Palestinians in custody as of November, 738 of whom
were in administrative detention. One illustrative case reportedly was
Ziyad Hmeidan, an employee of Al-Haq, a Palestinian NGO, arrested in
May 2005 and subsequently detained without charge. His petition for
release in September was rejected by the High Court; at year's end Al-
Haq planned further petitions in Hmeidan's behalf. Also, Hassan Zaga,
field worker for PCATI, was released on November 15 after his January
11 arrest and detention without charge.
During the year Israel conducted some mass arrests in the West
Bank; however, most arrests targeted specific persons. On June 29, the
IDF arrested approximately 90 Hamas members in the West Bank, including
eight PA cabinet ministers and more than 29 PLC members. At year's end
four ministers and 32 PLC Hamas members remained in jail in Israel.
Palestinians transferred to prisons in Israel had difficulty
obtaining legal representation because only Israeli citizens or
Palestinian lawyers with Jerusalem identification cards were permitted
to visit them. Lawyers said they had better access to clients than in
previous years. Israeli authorities in some instances scheduled
appointments but then moved the prisoners to other prisons to delay
lawyer client meetings for as long as 90 days.
The Israeli government frequently failed to notify foreign consular
officials in a timely manner after detaining their citizens.
During the year Israel transferred two Palestinian from the West
Bank to Gaza. On June 21, the IDF deported Hamas activist Rasmi Sbeih
to Gaza after having held him for two years as an administrative
detainee. On December 26, the IDF deported Abdullah Saadi, a Fatah
activist from Jenin, to the Gaza strip after releasing him following
six months of administrative detention. At year's end approximately 40
other persons awaited permission to return to the West Bank from Gaza.
These are previous West Bank residents deported to Gaza and not
permitted to return.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The PA court system is based on PA
legal codes as well as Israeli military orders and Jordanian and
Ottoman Law that predate the 1967 occupation. A High Judicial Council
maintained authority over most court operations. In June 2005 PA
President Abbas ordered retrials for those sentenced to death by the
state security courts; no retrials were held during the year, but the
security courts were abolished. Military courts, established in 1995,
have jurisdiction over police and security force personnel as well as
crimes by civilians against security forces. In November 2005 President
Abbas established a court for election issues composed of nine judges.
Following the January elections, it examined petitions; however, it
took no action that changed election results.
PA courts were inefficient, lacked staff and resources, and often
did not ensure fair and expeditious trials. A severe shortage of funds
and judges and an absence of lawyers and witnesses, due to check points
and other travel restrictions, resulted in one estimate of a 70,000
misdemeanor and felony case backload in Gaza and the West Bank.
Although these problems predated PA jurisdiction, they were aggravated
by continued lack of PA attention. PA executive and security services
frequently failed to implement court decisions and otherwise inhibited
judicial independence.
Continued violence adversely affected PA administration of justice.
Many police stations and incarceration facilities were damaged or
destroyed, including the Jericho Prison on March 14 following an
Israeli raid. Travel restrictions, curfews, and closures significantly
impeded administration of justice.
Israeli law provides for an independent judiciary, and the
Government generally respected this in practice. The IDF usually tried
Palestinians accused of security offenses in the occupied territories
in military courts in the West Bank. The law comprehensively defined
security offenses and may include charges as varied as rock throwing or
membership in terrorist organizations. Military prosecutors brought
charges. Israeli military courts rarely acquitted Palestinians charged
with security offenses; sentences occasionally were reduced on appeal.
Trial Procedures.--Trials of Palestinians before Israeli military
tribunals follow the same evidentiary rules as in regular criminal
cases. The accused is entitled to counsel, and a judge may assign
counsel. Charges are made available to the defendant and the public in
Hebrew, but the court may order an Arabic translation. The court may
hear evidence in security cases denied to the defendant or his
attorney; however, a conviction may not be based solely on such
evidence. Convictions may not be based solely on the defendant's
confession, although in practice some security prisoners were convicted
on the basis of allegedly coerced confessions by themselves and others.
Defendants can appeal through the Military High Court or to the
civilian high court in certain instances.
The Israeli government sometimes delayed trials for very extended
periods, occasionally for years, because Israeli security force
witnesses did not appear, the defendant was not brought to court, files
were lost, or travel restrictions delayed attorneys (see section 2.d.).
Palestinian legal advocates alleged that delays were designed to
pressure defendants to settle their cases.
Crowded facilities, poor arrangements for scheduling and holding
attorney client consultations, and confessions prepared in Hebrew
hindered defense efforts.
Israeli settlers were tried under Israeli law in the nearest
Israeli district court. Civilian judges presided; Israeli law (not
military orders) governed the standards of due process and
admissibility of evidence. The Israeli government rarely prosecuted
settlers for crimes against Palestinians and, in the rare instances
when convicted, they regularly received lighter punishment than
Palestinians convicted in Israeli courts (see section 1.a.). According
to B'Tselem during 2005 the Israeli police claimed that it had
conducted 299 investigations into reported settler attacks on
Palestinians; indictments were filed in 65 of these investigations.
According to a June study by Yesh Din, for investigations relating to
offenses committed by Israeli civilians against Palestinians in 2005-
06, more than 90 percent of complaints and investigations were closed
without indictments. Of the files on trespassing (including all the
cases of damaging or destroying trees) in which the investigation was
completed, 96 percent were closed without indictments as were 100
percent of the property offenses and 79 percent of assault files. Yesh
Din determined that approximately 5 percent of the complaints filed
were lost and apparently never investigated.
In 2004 a Tel Aviv District Court convicted West Bank Fatah leader
and PLC member, Marwan Barghuti, of murder and attempted murder
involving terror attacks. Barghuti rejected the court's jurisdiction,
did not mount a legal defense, and did not appeal his five consecutive
life sentences. There was no further legal action during the year.
Pursuant to law the PA can impose the death penalty on a person
convicted of any of 42 offenses. Military courts and state security
courts have imposed most death sentences attributed to the PA. There is
no judicial procedure to appeal these sentences, and only the PA
President has the authority to ratify or alter the sentence. If he does
not act, the individual remains in jail; the President took no action
during the year.
In June 2005 the PA executed four men; the state security courts,
established by the Presidential decree in 1995 but terminated by the PA
Justice Ministry in 2003, convicted one of the four. There have been no
subsequent executions.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Palestinian sources estimated
the PA imprisoned approximately 263 persons suspected of collaboration
with Israel. Palestinians claimed that security detainees held under
Israeli security detention military orders were in fact political
prisoners (see section 1.d.).
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Civil lawsuits are handled
by the PA civil and magistrate courts. Any citizen can file a petition
or a lawsuit against the Government and, in some cases, the President
personally. However, because of general problems in the judicial
system, the execution of court orders was not systematic.
Palestinians were not permitted to file cases in the Israeli court
system; however, Israeli NGOs have done so for them.
Property Restitution.--The Palestinian Authority sometimes enforced
court orders with respect to restitution or compensation for taking
private property under domestic law. Individuals reported that their
property was taken by government officials without compensation. At
year's end some cases were being tried in the PA judiciary.
The Israeli government confiscated Palestinian property for
construction of the separation barrier or military installations; it
offered some compensation to landowners, however, Palestinians largely
declined to accept compensation out of concern that this would
legitimize the Israeli land confiscations. Specific cases document the
exceptional difficulty Palestinians have in attempting to prove their
land ownership to the standards demanded in Israeli courts.
In an October study, the Israeli NGO Peace Now concluded that 38.7
percent of the land occupied by Israeli settlements, outposts, and
settler industrial zones in the West Bank, comprising 15,271 acres, is
privately owned Palestinian property. The study, reportedly based on
official government data, contended that West Bank settlements violated
Israeli law and juridical decisions. The Israeli Yesha settlement
council condemned the report on technical and substantive grounds.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The PA required the Attorney General to issue warrants
for entry and searches of private property; however, Palestinian
security services frequently ignored these requirements. Police
searched homes without the consent of their owners. In some cases
police forcibly entered premises.
Under occupation orders an IDF officer of the rank of lieutenant
colonel or above could authorize entry of private homes and
institutions without a warrant, based upon military necessity. On some
occasions IDF personnel beat occupants and destroyed or looted
property. Israeli authorities stated these were punishable violations
of military regulations with compensation due.
There was no change in Israeli policy regarding punitive home
demolitions. Since February 2005 there have been no punitive home
demolitions. Previously, Israel demolished and sealed homes of
Palestinians suspected of terrorism or their relatives. Under this
policy according to B'Tselem, 666 homes were demolished between October
2001 and January 2005 as punishment.
Following the withdrawal from Gaza in August 2005, Israel directed
air strikes against homes in Gaza suspected of concealing tunnels or
weapons. According to human rights groups and media, the Israeli
government notified residents and warned them to evacuate prior to
impending air attack. Israeli forces reoccupied portions of northern
Gaza between June 28 and November 25. On September 6, the UN
Development Program estimated damage to the Gaza infrastructure between
June 28 and August 27 to be approximately $46 million (197 million
NIS).
Israeli authorities limited Palestinian home construction, notably
in East Jerusalem. Israeli authorities generally restricted Palestinian
home building elsewhere in the West Bank and near Israeli settlements.
According to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions,
approximately 12,000 structures in East Jerusalem were defined by the
Israeli government as illegal. Consequently, during the year Jerusalem
municipal authorities and the Interior Ministry systematically
demolished such structures including 81 buildings (63 residential) in
East Jerusalem.
During the year the IDF destroyed numerous citrus, olive, and date
groves and irrigation systems in Gaza, stating that Palestinians had
been firing Qassam rockets from those areas. Human rights groups
reported that over the past five years, Israeli settlers and the IDF
destroyed thousands of Palestinian olive trees.
According to media reports, Israeli human rights groups praised a
September announcement by Minister of Defense Amir Peretz promising
action against anyone interfering or harassing farmers during
harvesting. The announcement followed a two-year legal effort by the
Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and Rabbis for Human
Rights. Still, Palestinians complained that the IDF measures gave
insufficient time to complete the harvest and that they were limited in
their ability to protect their property by curfews and travel
restrictions. According to Yesh Din, settlers committed 18 major
instances of olive theft and violent disruptions of the harvest during
the year.
The IDF also cleared and took permanent control of privately owned
Palestinian land to construct the separation barrier. According to the
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the
separation barrier route has been extended from 670 kilometers (416
miles) to 703 kilometers (437 miles) upon completion. OCHA noted as of
July the Israeli authorities, through military orders, had confiscated
approximately 8,887 acres of West Bank land to construct the separation
barrier. According to Israel it sought to build the barrier on public
lands where possible, and where private land was used, provided
opportunities for compensation. Palestinians largely declined to seek
compensation out of concern that this would legitimize the Israeli land
confiscations. Additionally, numerous cases were filed in Israeli
courts challenging the route of the fence.
On December 13, the High Court rejected the petition filed by ACRI
and the human rights organization Bimkom against the section of the
separation barrier that severs the Palestinian community a-Ram from
East Jerusalem. On November 26, the High Court approved a barrier route
around five Palestinian villages northwest of Jerusalem, creating an
enclave that will separate them from East Jerusalem and neighboring
Palestinian villages. The five villages in the enclave have a total
population of more than 15,000 persons.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal and External
Conflicts.--Palestinian members of Hamas, Fatah-affiliated militant
groups, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad attacked and killed Israeli
civilians, foreign nationals, and soldiers, both in Israel and in the
occupied territories. They inflicted casualties on noncombatants by
suicide bombs, rockets, and mortars. In addition they often fired at
Israeli security forces from civilian population areas, increasing the
risk that Israeli return fire would harm noncombatants. PA President
Abbas made repeated public statements calling for an end to violence,
but these steps did not prevent numerous attacks.
During the year Palestinian militants repeatedly fired rockets from
northern Gaza into Israel, killing two and wounding a number of
persons, and destroying property. For example, on November 15, a Qassam
rocket killed an Israeli woman in Sderot and wounded two other Israeli
civilians. Palestinian militants claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to the PA Health Ministry, the Palestine Red Crescent
Society (PRCS), and Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups, at
least 660 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel
during Israeli military and police operations through year's end. The
IDF stated that the majority of Palestinians killed were armed fighters
or persons engaged in planning or carrying out violence against Israeli
civilian and military targets. On December 28, B'Tselem contended that
``at least 322 of those killed did not take part in the hostilities at
the time they were killed.'' According to the PRCS, IDF operations and
clashes with Palestinians resulted in injuries to approximately 1,805
Palestinians.
During the year according to B'Tselem, 22 Palestinians directly
died in targeted killings. According to Palestinian security and media
reports, IDF forces killed at least 60 bystanders in these operations.
Some were civilians; others were affiliated with terrorist
organizations.
According to a June 2005 HRW report, Israeli military investigative
practices were not ``impartial, thorough, or timely.'' The report
charged the IDF had criminally investigated less than 5 percent of
civilian deaths between September 2000 and November 2004, fostering a
climate of impunity within the IDF. In response in 2005, IDF stated it
conducted 130 investigations and issued 28 indictments, with seven
convictions and one acquittal; the remaining 20 court cases were
ongoing. The other incidents were still under investigation.
The IDF conducted numerous military incursions into Palestinian
population centers in response to Palestinian mortar and antitank fire
from the centers. These actions often resulted in civilian casualties.
Israeli forces fired tank shells, heavy machine-gun rounds, and rockets
from aircraft at targets in residential and business neighborhoods
where they believed Palestinian gunfire originated. Palestinian gunmen
fired upon Israeli forces and booby-trapped homes and apartment
buildings. In response throughout the year, the IDF usually raided and
often destroyed these buildings and raided other locations allegedly
harboring militants. In February the IDF launched a large-scale
military operation into the city of Nablus and the UN Relief and Works
Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)-run Balata
refugee camp; five Palestinians were killed and more than 24 injured.
During this operation the IDF and Border Police entered an UNRWA-run
girls' school in Balata Camp and used it for three days as a detention
center and firing position, causing extensive damage. UNRWA staff
sought compensation and assurances of nonrepetition of similar conduct
from the Israeli government; however, the Government had not responded
as of year's end.
From June 28 until August 21, the IDF undertook operation ``Summer
Rains'' in Gaza, following the PRC kidnapping of an Israeli soldier,
Gilad Shalit, on June 25. Summer Rains involved numerous Israeli air
and ground attacks and incursions throughout Gaza. The attacks killed
over 200 Palestinians, including civilians; four IDF soldiers also were
killed. Subsequently, operation ``Autumn Clouds'' between November 1
and 7, according to PA medical sources, killed at least 56 Palestinians
and injured approximately 220. On November 26, a ceasefire was agreed
in Gaza whereby militant factions halted firing rockets towards Israel
and the IDF withdrew from northern Gaza. Despite nearly 70 rockets
fired from northern Gaza into Israel by year's end, the IDF did not
resume operations in Gaza. The ceasefire was not extended to the West
Bank by year's end.
On April 10, IDF artillery fire killed an eight-year-old
Palestinian girl in the northern Gaza suburb of Beit Lahiya.
On June 9, an explosion on a Gaza beach killed eight Palestinians.
Palestinian witnesses claimed the explosion resulted from Israeli naval
artillery fire. An IDF investigation denied the charge; however, a
senior IDF officer said on June 13 that IDF forces fired 17 artillery
shells into an area approximately 700 meters from the incident. HRW
described the IDF investigation as ``incomplete'' and called for an
independent investigation.
On June 20, the Israeli Air Force killed three Palestinian children
and injured others in an air strike in Gaza City.
On July 8, missiles from an Israeli aircraft struck a Palestinian
home in the al-Muntar area east of Gaza City, killing three and
injuring four family members.
On November 6, a minibus at the Jabaliya-Beit Lahia intersection
north of Gaza City was struck by Israeli shelling; three Palestinians
were killed and seven others wounded.
At year's end there were no results from the IDF investigation of
the July 2005 incident in which the IDF fired in the direction of
Palestinians waiting to cross the Abu Holi checkpoint in Gaza, killing
a 14-year-old boy.
In January 2005 IDF gunfire killed a 10-year-old Palestinian girl
and injured a second inside their UNRWA school in Rafah. The IDF opened
an investigation into the shooting; however, at year's end there was no
public report of the investigation results.
IDF soldiers reportedly fired without warning on trespassers in or
near restricted areas. Israeli security personnel operating checkpoints
also killed a number of Palestinians. On January 26, IDF soldiers shot
and killed a Palestinian girl, Aya al-Astal, near the Kissufim
checkpoint in Gaza.
There was no resolution of the April 2005 case in which IDF
soldiers killed three Palestinian teenagers near the border fence
separating Gaza from Egypt or the August 2005 case in which an IDF raid
of the Tulkam refugee camp killed five unarmed Palestinians.
Investigations remained incomplete at year's end.
In 2004 IDF soldiers shot and killed Iman al-Hams, a 13-year-old
schoolgirl, as she approached an IDF outpost in southern Gaza carrying
a bag of schoolbooks that troops suspected contained explosives. After
the girl had been shot from a distance, the IDF company commander
allegedly repeatedly fired his automatic weapon into her at close
range. In February 2005 a military court released the company commander
after soldiers who witnessed the incident recanted testimony. On
December 14, the High Court accepted the petition of the girl's parents
and PCATI and ordered an investigation to determine whether illegal
open fire orders were given in the area of the military post which led
to the killing.
While protecting construction of the separation barrier, Israeli
security personnel killed a number of Palestinians. In May 2005 Jamal
Jaber Ibrahim Assi, age 15, and Odai Mufid Mahmud Assi, age 14, were
shot and killed near Bayt Liqya, west of Ramallah, during clashes
between protesters and soldiers. According to Palestinian witnesses,
IDF soldiers initially used nonlethal weapons, but subsequently fired
live ammunition. The IDF ordered a military police investigation and
suspended the deputy company commander from operational duty until the
completion of the investigation. At year's end there were no
conclusions from the investigation. Weekly clashes continued in Bil'in
village in the West Bank; there were injuries but no fatalities.
On June 28, as part of the Summer Rains operation, the Israeli Air
Force destroyed three bridges and the transformers of the only
electricity plant in Gaza. After several months the plant was repaired.
During the year Israeli forces delayed the movement of, and
occasionally fired upon, medical personnel and ambulances. HRW claimed
that between May 30 and June 20, IDF forces attacked Palestinian
medical emergency personnel on at least six separate occasions in Gaza,
including two attacks by missile-firing drone aircraft.
The IDF abuse of Palestinians or their vehicles at checkpoints
continued. In its monthly reports during the year, Machsom Watch (an
Israeli women's organization that monitors checkpoints in the West Bank
and Jerusalem) alleged a series of abuses. On January 3, a Machsom
Watch volunteer observed IDF soldiers strip and search Palestinians,
including an ambulance-attending doctor, at the Jubara checkpoint.
Israeli forces continued to use Palestinians as ``human shields''
in violation of Israeli law despite High Court rulings in 2002 and 2005
and an IDF Chief of Staff order in 2005.
On July 20, B'Tselem announced its initial investigation into a
July 17 incursion by Israeli forces into Beit Hanun in northern Gaza
indicated that soldiers seized control of two buildings in the town and
used six residents as human shields. The Military Police Investigation
Unit informed B'Tselem it was investigating the case; however, at
year's end there were no developments.
Media reported that in a series of incidents in November, local
officials from Fatah, Hamas, the Popular Front for Liberation of
Palestine, and other groups urged civilians to surround homes of
militants targeted for attack by Israeli forces, which resulted in them
acting as human shields.
In a December 12 ruling, the High Court struck down part of a 2005
amendment to the Civil Wrongs Law prohibiting Palestinians residing in
the occupied territories from seeking compensation for death, injury,
or property damage at the hands of the IDF, even for acts that were not
part of combat action. The ruling held that section 5c, which almost
totally prevented Palestinians injured by actions of security forces in
the occupied territories from suing for compensation, was illegal.
Palestinians frequently threw stones and Molotov cocktails, and on
occasion fired live ammunition at Israeli security forces. Israeli
security forces on various occasions responded with tear gas, rubber
bullets, and live fire, including tank fire.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The PA does not have laws
providing for freedom of press; however, the law permits every person
the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and expression, and the
right to express opinions orally, in writing, or through any other
form. However, a 1995 Presidential decree included injunctions against
writing anything critical of the PA or the President. Although the PA
did not restrict freedom of speech or press, members of the ruling
Hamas faction restricted freedoms of speech and press.
Working conditions for journalists in the West Bank and Gaza
deteriorated noticeably during the year. Following the January
Palestinian legislative elections, tension between the Hamas-led
government and the Fatah movement resulted in polarization of the
Palestinian press, with reduced press freedom, notably for local-level
journalists. Numerous incidents against journalists, particularly those
working in Gaza, included assaults, intimidation, and abduction in
retaliation for reporting perceived as biased by one faction or the
other.
In April several Palestinian journalists, including Muwafaq Matar,
a reporter for the pro-Fatah al-Hurriya radio station in Gaza, received
death threats for their critical coverage of Hamas. Reuters reported
the Palestinian Journalists' Union received complaints from seven
journalists in Gaza who had been threatened by e-mail, telephone, or
fax for their writings.
On May 20, masked arsonists burned three cars belonging to the Al-
Jazeera satellite station in Ramallah. According to an Associated Press
report, the attack was carried out by Fatah supporters against the
station for not reporting an anti-Hamas demonstration in Ramallah.
On September 19, unknown assailants attacked three journalists,
including a photographer for the pro-Fatah Al-Hayat Al-Jadida daily
newspaper, during a Hamas demonstration in Gaza. Also on September 19,
masked men attacked the offices of the official pro-Fatah news agency
WAFA in Khan Younis in Gaza, assaulting journalist Amr Al Farra and
destroying the contents and furniture of the outlet.
There were three Palestinian daily and several Palestinian weekly
newspapers. There also were several monthly magazines and three
tabloids. The PA operated one television station and one radio station.
There were approximately 30 independently owned television stations and
approximately 25 such radio stations.
In 2005 the PA took steps to end incitement to violence in
Palestinian media; however, no additional action was taken during the
year. During 2005 the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation reduced its
inflammatory material, including incitement to violence.
The Israeli occupation authorities limited freedom of expression.
In East Jerusalem Israeli authorities prohibited display of Palestinian
political symbols; displays were punishable by fines or prison, as were
public expressions of anti-Israeli sentiment and of support for Islamic
extremist groups. Israeli authorities censored press coverage of the
Intifada and reviewed Arabic publications for security-related
material.
As a general rule, Israeli media covered the occupied territories,
except for combat zones where the IDF temporarily restricted access.
The Government claimed such restrictions were necessary for
journalists' security.
Closures and curfews limited the ability of Palestinian and foreign
journalists to do their jobs. Journalists complained of area closures,
long waits at the Gaza border crossing, and the Government's inadequate
transportation provisions.
During the year IDF soldiers beat journalists on several occasions,
detained others, and confiscated their press cards in Bil'in village
where there were weekly protests over construction of the separation
barrier (see section 1.g.).
There were reports by foreign and Israeli media that the IDF fired
upon journalists.
On July 12, media reported that Ibrahim Atla, a cameraman with
Palestinian public television broadcasting, was seriously injured by
shrapnel from a tank shell, and two other journalists were also
injured.
On July 19, Al-Hurra reporter Fatin Elwan was struck by two rubber
bullets fired by an Israeli soldier while covering the Israeli siege of
the Presidential compound in Nablus. Reporters Without Borders also
noted that three other journalists, including Al-Jazeera television
technician Wael Tantous, were injured when Israeli soldiers fired
rubber bullets at local reporters covering the event.
On August 27, according to press reports, Israeli aircraft fired
two missiles at an armored Reuters vehicle, wounding five persons,
including two cameramen. A spokesman stated the Israeli Air Force did
not realize journalists were in the car and attacked because it was
being driven in a suspicious manner.
On November 3, Hamza Al Attar, a cameraman for Palestinian news
agency Ramattan, reportedly while wearing an orange vest marked
``Press'' was shot in the back and critically wounded while filming a
protest by Palestinian women in Beit Hanun, Gaza.
In January 2005 Majdi al-Arabid, a journalist working for Israeli
Channel 10 TV in the Gaza Strip, was shot near Bayt Lahia while
reporting on IDF operations against Palestinians suspected of firing
rockets into Israel. An IDF spokesperson stated soldiers were unaware
journalists were in the area and fired only on Palestinian gunmen. The
IDF reportedly opened an investigation; however, at year's end there
was no information on the status of an investigation.
In 2003 James Miller, a British national, was killed by the IDF
while filming a documentary in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. In April 2005 a
disciplinary military court acquitted an IDF officer on charges of
illegal use of firearms; subsequently, he was cleared of all charges.
On April 6, a coroner's court in London ruled Miller's death was an
``unlawful killing.'' Miller's family urged the British government to
seek extradition of the IDF officer who killed him.
On May 24, Israeli authorities released Awad Rajoub, a reporter for
the Arabic language Web site of Al Jazeera, reportedly after being
detained since November 2005; no reason was given for his detention.
On October 6, IDF officials arrested Reuters cameraman Emad
Mohammad Bornat in the West Bank village of Bil'in and detained him for
two weeks. Bornat was charged with ``attacking an officer''; however,
according to Reuters he was subsequently found innocent by an Israeli
court.
Rising levels of lawlessness in the Gaza Strip subjected
journalists to harassment and kidnappings.
On March 15, three foreign journalists (Caroline Laurent, Alfred
Yaghobzadeh, and Yong Tae-young) were taken at the Al-Dira hotel in
Gaza by unidentified gunmen. On March 16, according to news reports,
all three were released.
On August 14, unidentified gunmen in the Gaza Strip kidnapped two
Fox News journalists. They were released on August 27.
On October 24, photojournalist Emilio Morenatti of AP was abducted
by unidentified Palestinian gunmen in Gaza City; he was later released.
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 a poll conducted by the Ramallah-based Near East
Consulting public opinion firm, approximately 50 percent of
Palestinians reported using the Internet.
On November 29, four Internet cafes in Gaza City were bombed, and
reportedly other Internet cafes were threatened. The Islamic militant
group ``Swords of Right'' claimed responsibility.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were government
restrictions on academic freedom and cultural events. During the year
the PA did not interfere with education; however, the violence and
restrictions on the movement of Palestinians by Israeli security forces
adversely affected academic institutions. Israeli closures, curfews,
and the separation barrier restricted access to Palestinian academic
institutions. The separation barrier also prevented some students from
taking examinations. Israeli shelling and gunfire during military
operations damaged a number of schools and, in some cases, killed
schoolchildren (see section 1.g.). According to the UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF), 269 school buildings were damaged between 2000 and the end of
2005. The PA Education Ministry calculated physical damage to schools
and universities at more than $10.7 million (46 million NIS). In some
instances Israeli authorities entered campuses to arrest students.
The PA did not restrict cultural events; however, the separation
barrier limited access to some such events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--PA law permits public meetings, processions, and assemblies,
within legal limits; however, the PA imposed some formal limits on
freedom of assembly. While it required permits for rallies,
demonstrations, and large cultural events, it rarely denied these
permits. In Gaza police approval was required for political meetings at
specific halls and for buses to transport passengers to attend such
meetings. The PA prohibited calls for violence, displays of arms, and
racist slogans, although it rarely enforced these provisions.
Israeli military orders banned public gatherings of 10 or more
persons without a permit. Although previously Palestinians could ignore
this order without punishment, during the January PLC election
campaign, Israeli authorities arrested candidates and broke up
meetings.
Israeli security forces used force against Palestinians involved in
demonstrations (see section 1.c.). Israeli and Palestinian authorities
disputed whether Palestinians attacked security forces during such
demonstrations. In 2001 the IDF authorized gunfire to suppress rock-
throwing.
Since February 2005 Palestinians and Israelis nonviolently
demonstrated each week in the village of Bil'in, west of Ramallah,
against construction of the separation barrier. During the past two
years, confrontations between the IDF and protesters resulted in
numerous injuries. Since 2005 soldiers beat, injured with rubber
bullets, or tear gassed at least 187 protesters.
Freedom of Association.--PA law allows for the freedom of
association. In practice the PA limited freedom of association;
however, charitable, community, professional, and self-help
organizations operated.
In 2001-03 Israeli officials closed prominent Palestinian centers
and offices in East Jerusalem, claiming they operated under PA
supervision in violation of signed agreements. At year's end all
remained closed.
c. Freedom of Religion.--Palestinian law provides for religious
freedom, and the PA generally respected this right in practice.
Islam is the official religion of the PA. Religion must be declared
on identification papers, and personal status legal matters must be
handled in ecclesiastical courts. The PA's Ministry of Waqf and
Religious Affairs constructed and maintained mosques and paid salaries
of imams. Christian clergymen and charitable organizations received
limited financial support. The PA did not provide financial support to
any Jewish institutions or holy sites in the occupied territories;
these areas were generally under Israeli control.
The PA judiciary failed to adjudicate numerous past cases of
seizures of Christian-owned land in the Bethlehem area by criminal
gangs. There were credible reports that PA security forces and judicial
officials colluded with gang members to extort property from
Christians. During the year several attacks against Christians in
Bethlehem remained unaddressed by the PA, but authorities investigated
attacks against Muslims in the same area.
On September 14, following Pope Benedict's remarks on Islam,
Palestinians attacked five churches in the West Bank and Gaza with
firebombs and gunfire. Damage was minor; however, after investigation
no one was charged with the attacks.
The PA required that religion be taught in PA schools and provided
separate instruction for Muslims and Christians.
Israeli authorities generally respected religious freedom and
permitted all faiths to operate schools and institutions. There were
reports that the Israeli government seized land belonging to several
religious institutions to build its separation barrier. According to
the Israeli government, where private land was used, it provided
opportunities for compensation; however, Palestinians generally refused
compensation, arguing that acceptance would recognize Israeli right to
take the land.
Religious workers from Christian organizations in Jerusalem, the
West Bank, and Gaza found it increasingly difficult to obtain or renew
visas from the Israeli government. The shortage of foreign clergy
impeded the functioning of Christian congregations and other religious
and educational institutions.
Internal and external closures prevented tens of thousands of
Palestinians from reaching places of worship in Jerusalem and the West
Bank, particularly during religious holidays. Citing security reasons
the Israeli government frequently prevented nearly all West Bank
Palestinians and most male Muslim worshippers with Jerusalem blue
identification cards under the age of 45 from attending Friday prayers
inside the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount, the third holiest site in
Islam. Israeli authorities restricted most West Bank residents and
virtually all Gaza residents from entering Jerusalem during Ramadan.
Israeli police continued to escort tourists to the Haram al-Sharif/
Temple Mount to assert the right of non-Muslims to visit the shrine.
Non-Muslims were not permitted to worship publicly at the shrine;
however, Waqf officials accused Israeli police of permitting Jewish
groups to worship publicly.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Palestinian media frequently
published and broadcast material about the Israeli occupation that
included anti-Semitic content. Rhetoric by Palestinian terrorist groups
included expressions of anti-Semitism. Some Muslim religious leaders
preached sermons on the official PA television station that included
expressions of anti-Semitism. Some Palestinian religious leaders
rejected the right of Israel to exist. Observers interpreted such
attitudes as de facto anti-Semitism. Conversely, in October 2005
Israeli media quoted PLO Chief Negotiator Sa'eb Erekat's statement that
the Iranian President's declaration that Israel should be wiped off the
map was ``unacceptable.''
The PA Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) continued
to revise its primary and secondary school textbooks. International
academics concluded Palestinian textbooks did not cross the line into
incitement; however, critics noted the new textbooks did not recognize
Israel on its maps and often ignored historical Jewish connections to
Israel and Jerusalem.
For more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International Religious
Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Occupied Territories, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation.--The PA generally did not
restrict freedom of movement. The Israeli occupation authorities
restricted the daily movement of Palestinians and frequently heightened
these restrictions citing military necessity.
The Israeli government continued construction of a security barrier
along parts of the Green Line (the 1949 Armistice line) and in the West
Bank. Palestinians filed a number of cases with the Israeli Supreme
Court challenging the routing of the barrier. In June 2004 the court
ruled that a section of the barrier must be rerouted; determining that
the injury caused by the routing of the barrier did not stand in proper
proportion to the security benefits; various portions of the barrier
route were rerouted. In July 2004 the International Court of Justice
issued an advisory opinion, concluding that the construction of the
barrier was in a number of aspects contrary to international law.
In September 2005 the Israeli Supreme court reaffirmed its earlier
decision that the separation barrier is permissible under both
international law and Israeli law; however, it questioned whether the
segment of the barrier at issue (near Jerusalem in the West Bank)
utilized the least intrusive route available, and it asked the
Government to consider whether there was an alternative route.
On March 22, the Tel-Aviv Magistrate Court voided a section of the
barrier that would have cut off the residents of Sheikh Sa'ed from East
Jerusalem. On June 15, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the Israeli
government to dismantle the eastern portion of the barrier surrounding
the Zufin settlement. The court ruled that an earlier petition on the
issue was rejected after ``the complete picture was not presented to
the court'' and ``the court rejected the petition on the basis of
information, only part of which was well-founded.'' On July 17, the
High Court rejected a petition by Palestinian residents of villages
around the Ariel settlement opposing the section of the separation
barrier that surrounds the settlement. On November 26, the High Court
approved the plan to construct a barrier around five Palestinian
villages northwest of Jerusalem, enclosing them in a ``Bir Nabalah''
enclave that will separate them from East Jerusalem and neighboring
Palestinian villages. On December 13, the High Court rejected a
petition filed by ACRI and the human rights NGO Bimkom against the
section of the barrier that severs the Palestinian community al-Ram
from East Jerusalem.
At year's end over 40 petitions remained active.
By year's end the route of the barrier divided approximately
142,130 acres with a population of 60,500 Palestinians from the rest of
the West Bank. According to OCHA the barrier impeded Palestinians from
reaching their land to harvest crops and graze animals. Residents'
access to schools, medical care, and other services was also impeded.
Israeli military orders require the approximately 5,000 Palestinians
residing in ``seam zones'' between the separation barrier and the Green
Line to obtain residency permits to remain in these areas. Permits are
valid for up to a year for residents and only for one gate.
Areas near the barrier or its projected route have been designated
as military zones; Palestinians had no expectation they could obtain
permits to build near Israeli communities or the barrier.
During periods of unrest (in the aftermath of terrorist attacks or
during military exercises), Israeli authorities prohibited travel
between some or all towns within the West Bank. Such ``internal
closures'' were supplemented, during periods of potential unrest and
during major Israeli and Muslim holidays, by ``comprehensive, external
closures,'' which precluded Palestinians from leaving the West Bank.
During the year there were more comprehensive closures than in 2005. A
B'Tselm report through July identified 78 days of closure versus 44 in
the same period of 2005. During the year there were blanket closures
during Israeli religious holidays, and several Gaza crossing points
were simultaneously closed for extended periods, completely closing off
Gaza. During the year Israeli authorities prohibited passage between
Gaza and the West Bank except for a very limited number of Palestinians
holding permits issued by Israel. Palestinian travel from Jericho and
in the Jordan valley was extensively limited in early April and
remained restricted by ad hoc checkpoints throughout the year. In
February B'Tselem claimed that Israel in effect had annexed the Jordan
Valley thru residency restrictions and road closures.
In December 2005 Israeli authorities, in response to Qassam rocket
fire, implemented a ``buffer zone'' in the northern Gaza Strip
encompassing former Israeli settlements. Palestinian militants had used
the area to fire rockets at Israeli communities.
West Bank Palestinians can enter Jerusalem only with an Israeli-
issued travel permit. Israel also imposed curfews in some areas, which
confined Palestinians to their homes in areas where the IDF conducted
military operations. During the year the frequency of curfews remained
the same but their duration lessened. The IDF imposed temporary curfews
during almost all of its arrest operations--which were conducted
virtually daily in the West Bank. However, in contrast to previous
years, there were fewer extended curfews.
Beginning in September Israeli authorities required thousands of
Palestinian schoolchildren, who resided on the eastern side of the
separation barrier around Jerusalem, to transit gated checkpoints to
attend school in East Jerusalem.
In 2004 a terrorist attack extensively damaged the Rafah terminal
and killed five Israeli soldiers. The IDF closed the terminal and the
crossing until February 2005. Following the kidnapping of IDF soldier
Shalit on June 25, the Rafah terminal was closed 127 of the next 149
days. In a report on the first year of operation of the Agreement on
Movement and Access (AMA), OCHA reported Israel did not act
consistently with its provisions, severely restricting movement of
persons and goods in and out of Gaza. Since June the Rafah crossing was
open only 14 percent of the time. The Karni/al-Mintar crossing opened
erratically and at significantly reduced capacity for most of the year.
Exports from Gaza averaged less than 20 truckloads per day. Exports in
December averaged 44 truckloads a day, in comparison with the AMA goal
of 400 per day.
The PA issued passports for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Because there are no commercial flights from the territories, travelers
must depart by land into Jordan or Egypt. Transit passes for travelers
using Ben Gurion airport were not available, except for a few
humanitarian cases. NGOs claimed that Israeli authorities harassed
their representatives who were attempting to enter via Ben Gurion
airport. In repeated incidents throughout the year, Western citizens of
Palestinian ethnicity had difficulty obtaining or renewing visas
permitting them to enter the West Bank and Israel both from Ben Gurion
airport and land entry points.
Palestinians with Jerusalem identification cards issued by the
Israeli government needed special documents to travel abroad. Israeli
Arabs required a special permit to enter area A (the area, according to
the Interim Agreement, in which the PA exercises security
responsibility). However, they could travel abroad using their Israeli
passports without restrictions. Upon request the Jordanian government
issued passports to Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Palestinians in East Jerusalem who wish to travel to Jordan must leave
their Israeli identification documents with Israeli authorities at the
Allenby Bridge. Travelers could obtain applications for bridge-crossing
permits to Jordan at East Jerusalem post offices. Israeli officials
conducted screening at Allenby Bridge.
External and internal closures contributed to increased
unemployment and poverty. According to World Bank figures,
approximately 61,000 West Bank and Gaza workers, representing
approximately 9 percent of the Palestinian work force, depended on
daily employment in Israel, the settlements, and Jerusalem in the first
quarter of the year. Closures also impeded Palestinians from reaching
jobs or markets in the occupied territories and disrupted internal and
external trade. In December UNICEF reported that there was a 31 percent
unemployment rate in the Palestinian territories. In December UNRWA
reported that 87 percent of Gaza and 56 percent of West Bank residents
lived below the official poverty line and were unable to support
themselves and their families without international assistance. In
addition Israel's strict closure policies frequently restricted the
ability of Palestinians to reach places of worship.
Since 2000 many of the 350 Gazans enrolled in Birzeit University
returned home after West Bank permits expired. During the year there
were approximately 35 Gazans studying at the university, many of whom
had not seen their families in five years. According to Haaretz on
September 8, the IDF stated it would continue to ban Palestinian
students from Gaza from studying in the West Bank. Hundreds of
Palestinian students petitioned the Israeli High Court to instruct the
state to allow them to complete their studies. At year's end the IDF
was preparing its response to the petition. Media reported that Israeli
authorities also limited West Bank Palestinians from university study
in East Jerusalem; dozens of students had difficulty obtaining permits
to attend schools in Israel.
Apart from closures, delays at checkpoints and roadblocks affected
all aspects of life, particularly emergency health care. According to
OCHA approximately 1,661 kilometers (1,000 miles) of roads and sections
of roads (including military roads) are used primarily for Israelis in
the West Bank. Most Palestinians were not permitted to use these roads.
According to OCHA in the West Bank at year's end, there were 527
obstacles to movement, including 71 fully manned checkpoints, 11
occasionally manned checkpoints, 207 earth mounds blocking roads, 62
cement roadblocks, 83 road gates, 14 earthen walls, 12 trenches, and 67
road protection fences. In addition there were 73 gates along the
separation barrier. Of the gates along the separation barrier, 38 were
accessible to Palestinians in possession of permits. Some gates were
not opened even during the harvest season. The operating hours of the
accessible gates to Palestinians were short and sometimes irregular;
although schedules were announced in advance, openings and closings
were erratic and different for every region.
According to OCHA the 527 obstacles to movement in the West Bank
compared with 463 at the end of 2005. Ambulances continued to have
difficulty attempting to reach remote West Bank villages.
For example, villagers from Jayyus in the West Bank had difficulty
exiting the village to tend fields or graze sheep. In April 2005 the
IDF confiscated eight dunums (approximately three acres) of their
farmland along the Palestinian side of the separation barrier to create
a security road. There were two operational gates in the barrier
between their village and their fields. One gate was open for 35
minutes, three times per day. The other gate was open 12 hours per day,
but the IDF announced that this gate would close once another gate is
opened. Palestinians said the confiscation and closures would bar them
from land they own and rely on for income. Approximately 500
Palestinian farmers have land on the west side of the barrier. Only
those farmers with valid permits from the civil administration could
access Jayyus lands west of the barrier; during the year Israeli
authorities rejected between 115 and 120 applications for access
permits.
Israeli settlers abused Palestinians. According to B'Tselem on
March 26, settlers attacked Palestinian shepherds sleeping in tents in
the southern Hebron hills. Also in March settlers beat Jamal al
Nawaja'a and his wife in Susiya. In October settlers attacked olive
pickers in front of IDF soldiers in the Bethlehem District. Israeli
authorities have not implemented effective measures to prevent such
abuses. A June study by Yesh Din noted that more than 90 percent of
complaints submitted against settlers were closed without an indictment
being filed. There was no resolution of the cases in March 2005 in
which Israeli settlers beat and shot at Palestinian shepherds.
Palestinians residing in the Israeli-controlled section of Hebron
(H2), which includes the Old Arab Market and areas adjacent to four
Israeli settlements, faced extensive restrictions on movement.
According to OCHA there were 87 significant obstacles to movement in
H2. Access for Palestinians to the Old City was limited to six IDF-
controlled gates. IDF closures of businesses, prolonged curfews, and
settler harassment forced Palestinian shopkeepers to relocate. Of the
1,610 shops officially licensed in H2 before September 2000, more than
a thousand closed, one-third by military order. In November the IDF
Civil Administration extended the closure of nearly 650 Palestinian
shops in the center of the city for an additional six months. Hebron-
based companies attempting to send products to Gaza through the Karni/
al-Mintar crossing reportedly faced extended delays.
Attendance at three Palestinian schools near four Israeli
settlements in Hebron has declined by almost 50 percent. Settlers
harassed children when they attempted to walk to school. In April
according to a human rights worker, there were at least eight attacks
by settlers on Palestinians, including school children. On November 19,
Israeli settlers attacked a group of human rights workers escorting
school children, seriously injuring a 19-year-old Western woman. IDF
soldiers intervened after the attack; however, by year's end none of
the attackers was charged (see section 1.c.).
In the early 1970s and again in the early 1990s, Israel offered
Palestinian residents citizenship following its 1967 occupation of East
Jerusalem. Most chose not to accept Israeli citizenship but instead
sought a residence permit, known as a Jerusalem identification card.
Under the law such residents risk loss of status if their ties with
Jerusalem lapse, although human rights groups reported that such
revocations were infrequent and selectively enforced. In July 2004 an
Israeli ministerial committee reportedly adopted an unpublished
resolution calling for the application of the 1950 Absentee Property
Law to East Jerusalem. In February 2005 the Israeli Attorney General
ordered the Government not to apply the Absentee Property Law to land
and buildings in East Jerusalem owned by Palestinians living in the
West Bank. The Government apparently had not attempted to implement
that law in East Jerusalem.
The Israeli government, under the Interior Ministry, and the
Jerusalem municipality continued to demolish Palestinian houses and
other structures in East Jerusalem constructed without building
permits. It was a slow and expensive process for Palestinians to
receive permits to build in East Jerusalem; 120 permits were issued
during the year compared with 100 in 2005.
Residency restrictions affected family reunification. Israeli
authorities did not permit Palestinians who were abroad during the 1967
War, or who subsequently lost residence permits, to reside permanently
with their families in the occupied territories. It was difficult for
foreign-born spouses and children of Palestinian residents to obtain
residency. Palestinian spouses of Jerusalem residents must obtain a
residency permit and reported delays of several years before being
granted residency. According to B'Tselem there were 120,000 outstanding
family reunification requests to permit Palestinians to live with
foreign spouses in the occupied territories; some have been outstanding
for years. The Israeli government occasionally issued limited-duration
permits, but renewing the permits could take up to eight months, which
resulted in many Palestinians falling out of status. Palestinians in
East Jerusalem also reported extensive delays in registering newborn
children with Israeli authorities.
Neither the Israeli government nor the PA used forced exile or
forcibly deported anyone from the occupied territories during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
Elections and Political Participation.--On January 25, the 132-
member PLC was elected in a process that international observers
concluded generally met democratic standards, despite some
irregularities. On February 19, Hamas formed a new government with
Ismael Hanniyah as the Prime Minister.
In November 2005 violence and reported fraud disrupted voting in
primary elections to determine Fatah candidates for the January 25 PLC
elections; primary elections were suspended in Gaza and the West Bank.
They were completed in the West Bank in December 2005, amidst
allegations of fraud and irregularities, but never completed in Gaza.
Efforts to organize the electoral system, candidate and party lists,
and campaign rules continued until the January election. Israeli
authorities restricted campaigning for the PLC elections in Jerusalem.
Hamas candidates participated in the January PLC elections, but only
under the name ``Reform and Change Movement'' not ``Hamas.''
In January 2005 Palestinians elected Mahmud Abbas as PA President.
Seven candidates competed in a vigorous election campaign. In both the
2005 Presidential election and the PLC election, the Israeli government
and the PA followed the 1996 parameters for Palestinians residing in
East Jerusalem to vote, but inadequate arrangements kept turnout in
Jerusalem low.
Three Hamas PLC members and one Hamas minister have been jailed
since January 28; all hold Jerusalem residency. They have petitioned
the High Court regarding their imprisonment on charges of membership in
an illegal organization (Hamas); at year's end a threatened Israeli
revocation of their Jerusalem residency was pending a court decision.
While Palestinians with residency permits were eligible to vote in
Jerusalem municipal elections, most did not recognize Israeli
jurisdiction in Jerusalem and did not participate. There were no
Palestinians on the Jerusalem City Council.
During the year there were 17 women in the 132-member PLC, and a
woman served in a ministerial-level position. There were seven
Palestinian Christians in the PLC.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
public perception of PA corruption, notably within the security forces.
Many social and political elements called for reform. The PA security
forces made little progress in rationalizing the security forces'
payroll and rooting out corruption in the services. In September 2005
President Abbas appointed a new attorney general to focus on
corruption. Local NGOs praised the appointment and hoped he would
effectively address PA corruption. The Attorney General had announced
investigations into several corruption cases; however, there was little
progress on the cases. At year's end there were no proceedings at any
of the PA courts on corruption charges. PA members and the general
Palestinian public widely criticized the growing lawlessness inside the
West Bank and Gaza and the failure by PA security forces to provide
security.
On April 13, Fatah-associated militants briefly seized government
offices in Ramallah; media reported the action was prompted by corrupt
practices associated with distribution of taxi permits. On June 13,
gunmen attacked the PLC building in Gaza, damaging and setting ablaze
the third floor of the building.
The law requires official PA institutions to ``facilitate''
acquisition of requested documents or information to any Palestinian;
however, the law does not require any PA agency to provide such
information. Many Palestinians cited the law when seeking to acquire
information; however, there were no PA court cases. NGOs sought to make
it mandatory to provide information to Palestinians; however, there was
no action during the year.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Local Palestinian human rights groups and several international
organizations monitored the PA's human rights practices. By the end of
2005, approximately 305 NGOs were registered; another 45 remained in
processing. In May the PA Ministry of Interior froze new NGO
registration, reflecting general government paralysis.
PA officials usually met NGO representatives. Since the beginning
of the Intifada, several NGOs voluntarily decided to defer criticism of
the PA's human rights performance. Observers noted documentation of
abuses was very limited. NGOs, however, criticized the PA's inadequate
security performance.
At year's end the killers and their motives remained unknown in the
2004 Gaza City shooting death of Khalil al-Zaban, a journalist and
advisor on human rights and the media to then PA President Arafat. Al-
Zaban headed the PA's government-appointed NGO Council and published
its monthly newsletter.
Some PA security organizations, including the General Intelligence
Service in the West Bank and the police, appointed officials as
liaisons with human rights groups. These officers met human rights
organizations and diplomats to discuss human rights cases.
Israeli, Palestinian, and international humanitarian and human
rights NGOs monitored the Israeli government's practices in the
occupied territories. The Israeli government permitted human rights
groups to publish and hold press conferences and provided the ICRC and
other groups with access to detainees (see section 1.c.). Some
organizations criticized Israeli government practices and cooperation.
During the year Israel established direct contact with NGOs and human
rights groups. Human rights groups, however, continued to report that
Israeli closures impeded and, at times, completely prevented their
work.
At year's end the assailants in the 2004 attack on members of the
Christian Peacemakers Teams, Amnesty International, and an Italian NGO
(``Operation Dove'') remained unidentified and had not been
apprehended. The group escorted Palestinian children from the village
of Tuwani to a nearby school. While walking past the settlement of
Ma'on, masked settlers attacked the escorts, seriously injuring a
volunteer.
On April 10, a London coroner's court concluded that Thomas
Hurndall was unlawfully killed. In 2004 Hurndall, a British
International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activist, died from injuries
sustained in 2003 when an IDF soldier shot him as he attempted to move
Palestinian children to safety during clashes in Rafah. In August 2005
an IDF court sentenced Sergeant Wahid Taysir, earlier convicted of
manslaughter and obstruction of justice in Hurndall's killing, to eight
years in prison. On February 7, the military prosecution appealed
Taysir's sentence, requesting a 20-year sentence instead; at year's end
there was no decision on the appeal.
In 2003 gunfire from an undetermined source struck ISM activist
Brian Avery, while he was walking during curfew in Jenin. The IDF
denied responsibility for the incident. Following a 2004 legal petition
to investigate Avery's shooting, in February 2005 the High Court
ordered the IDF to investigate the incident further; however, the Judge
Advocate General, after interviewing civilian eyewitnesses, decided not
to launch a criminal investigation. On September 20, the High Court
instructed the Government to explain why it opposed an investigation of
the shooting. On November 23, the Government stated the chief military
prosecutor saw no reason to change the previous decision; however, ``to
remove any doubt,'' he ordered a military police criminal
investigation. The Government agreed to pay Avery's court costs of
$3,495 (15,000 NIS).
UNRWA and other groups reported increased difficulties transporting
goods to Palestinian refugees in Gaza due to frequent closures of
Karni, the main commercial crossing between Israel and Gaza, as well as
the inability of local staff to acquire border crossing permits. UNRWA
also reported experiencing frequent delays at checkpoints and
roadblocks throughout the West Bank. UNRWA estimated that during the
year, it incurred over $2 million (8.582 million NIS) in excess charges
because of an inability to transport humanitarian supplies through
during border closures as well as substantial staff delays at
checkpoints and roadblocks throughout the West Bank and exiting Gaza at
the Erez Crossing. For example, in December UNRWA international staff
was delayed for approximately 97 hours at estimated cost of more than
$70,000 (300,000 NIS).
UNRWA staff in the West Bank and Gaza, and refugees receiving
assistance were harassed by Palestinians. On October 19, seven
Palestinian gunmen broke into the UNRWA Relief Office in Rafah and
fired shots in the air and inside the building, demanding assistance to
reconstruct their family's home, which was destroyed by an Israeli Air
Force attack five days earlier.
On September 4, reportedly for the first time in six years, a
delegation from the Israeli human rights organization, Physicians for
Human Rights was permitted to travel to Gaza to meet with Palestinian
counterparts.
The Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights serves
as the PA's ombudsman and human rights commission. It enjoys the
cooperation of the PA and issues an annual report detailing violations
of citizens' rights in the occupied territories by both Palestinian and
Israeli authorities. The report documents complaints the organization
has received and the recommendations it makes to the appropriate
Palestinian authorities.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law states that all Palestinians are equal without
discrimination because of race, gender, color, religion, political
views, or disability. However, the law does not cover a number of
areas, and there was societal discrimination against women, persons
with disabilities, and homosexuals; child abuse also persisted.
Women.--There were no reliable data on the incidence of violence
against women. PA law does not explicitly prohibit domestic violence,
but assault and battery are crimes; however, according to HRW few cases
were successfully prosecuted. Rape is illegal, but its legal definition
does not address spousal rape.
There were reports that Palestinian domestic violence had increased
since 2000. Human rights groups reported continued family ``honor''
killings during the year.
During the year family members killed three women in so-called
honor crimes, according to human rights groups. On August 10, PA police
discovered the bodies of two Palestinian women in their twenties in the
Gaza Strip. The police stated the women had been shot and killed. The
police noted that they were investigating the incident and that the
women were victims of honor killings. At year's end there were no
arrests.
On August 21, the body of an unidentified woman was found in an
abandoned water well near Qalqilia. PA police investigated, and initial
findings indicated it was an honor killing. On August 21, the police
arrested and briefly questioned the woman's brother; however, at year's
end there was no further legal action.
On November 3, according to media and HRW reporting, civilian women
were human shields for Hamas militants as they exited a mosque in Gaza
where they had been cornered by IDF forces.
Prostitution is illegal. There was no openly practiced
prostitution.
There were no special laws regarding women's rights in the
workplace. Before 2000 women increasingly worked outside the home,
often encountering discrimination and, occasionally, sexual harassment.
Women were underrepresented in professional life, although a small
group was prominent in politics, medicine, law, teaching, and NGOs.
There were a handful of NGO-funded women's shelters in the West
Bank; there were no shelters in Gaza. Women generally approached
village or religious leaders for assistance.
Palestinian women endured social prejudice and repression.
Education and cultural restrictions associated with marriage
occasionally prevented women from completing mandatory schooling or
attending college. Families often disowned Muslim and Christian women
who married outside their faith. Local officials sometimes advised such
women to leave their communities to prevent harassment. Media reported
sporadic instances of women being attacked in Gaza for not wearing
Islamic dress.
For Muslims personal status law is derived from Shari'a (Islamic
law). Ecclesiastical courts rule on personal status issues for
Christians. Shari'a pertaining to women is part of the 1976 Jordanian
Status Law, which includes inheritance and marriage laws. Women can
inherit under Shari'a but not an equal share. Legally, men may take
more than one wife; the practice was rare. Women may make
``stipulations'' in marriage contracts to protect their interests in
divorce and child custody; however, only an estimated 1 percent did so.
Children often stayed with the mother after divorce. Until a child
reached legal maturity, men paid child support and alimony, depending
on the man's income.
Children.--Although MOEHE's stated commitment is to provide
children access to educational facilities and ensure their welfare, it
must rely on the international community for assistance to build
capacity for child protection and development.
The September World Bank Education Sector Report stated that in
2005, 88.4 percent of girls age 16 to 17 and 81 percent of boys of the
same age were enrolled in school for an average increase of 13.2
percent from 2000. According to the same report, student enrollment for
five- and six-year-olds decreased by 7.7 percent from 2000-06. Girls
who married before the ninth grade left school at the behest of
husbands, and in rural areas and refugee camps, boys left school to
help support their families.
In September 90 percent of West Bank PA public school teachers went
on strike, and most Palestinian students were unable to attend classes.
In some districts teachers who taught the final year of high school
held classes despite the strikes. West Bank teachers returned to work
in November, following agreement with the Government concerning
immediate payment of salaries. In Gaza most PA teachers also struck in
September but returned to work within a month.
Internal closures, checkpoints, and the separation barrier
significantly impeded students and teachers in reaching educational
facilities (see sections 2.a. and 2.d.).
Also according to the September World Bank Education Sector Report,
in 2005 the average student-teacher ratio in government schools was 26
to one. According to that report, class sizes in the West Bank were
much smaller than in Gaza where 56 percent of elementary school classes
had more than 40 students, in contrast to 18 percent of classes in the
West Bank. In 2005 UNRWA schools' average student-teacher ratio was 33
to one.
Education and health care professionals judged that the violence
produced lack of focus, nightmares, and behavioral problems. OCHA
reported during 2005 that 42 percent of students in Gaza recorded lower
school achievement since 2000. One-third of Palestinian children have
had their education disrupted.
According to a 2003 report by the Jerusalem Center for Social and
Economic Rights, Palestinians constituted 33 percent of the city's
total population, but the municipal budget accorded only 10.9 percent
to East Jerusalem.
In 2001 the Israeli High Court ordered the municipality to build
245 new classrooms within the next four years. According to a September
report by the Jerusalem-based NGO Ir Amim, 48 new classrooms were built
in East Jerusalem between 2001-06.
The PA Health Ministry immunized children, and PA insurance
provided basic children's medical care for a small monthly fee. The
latest available figures showed a slight improvement in nutrition from
2003 when 3.4 percent of Palestinian children suffered from acute
malnutrition and 10.7 percent suffered from chronic malnutrition.
Unlike in previous years, child abuse was reported to be a
widespread problem. A November study by HRW cited the preliminary
findings of a PA statistics bureau survey of domestic violence
indicating high levels of violence perpetrated by family members,
aggravated during times of political violence. The Basic Law prohibits
violence against children and sanctions parents who failed to protect
children from abuse; however, PA authorities rarely punished familial
violence. PA courts may protect children in cases of neglect or abuse.
The law provides that no one under 14 can work. Those between 15
and 18 can be employed under limited conditions (see section 6.d.).
There is no juvenile court system, but certain judges specialized in
juvenile cases.
International and domestic NGOs promoted educational, medical, and
cultural services for children, and other groups specialized in the
needs of children with disabilities.
The IDF allegedly used minors as human shields; Palestinian
terrorist groups used minors to conduct attacks, smuggle weapons, or
act as human shields. On July 17, according to B'Tselem, during an
incursion by Israeli forces into Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip,
IDF soldiers seized control of two buildings and used six residents,
two of whom were minors (ages 14 and 16) as human shields (see section
1.g.). On February 2, the IDF arrested a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old
Palestinian boy at the Huwwara checkpoint, near Nablus, as they
attempted to smuggle 11 pipe bombs into Israel.
Trafficking in Persons.--Palestinian law does not specifically
prohibit trafficking in persons; however, there were no reports that
persons were trafficked to, from, or within the occupied territories.
Persons With Disabilities.--The Basic Law states all Palestinians
are equal under the law and before the judiciary, without
discrimination because of race, sex, color, religion, political views,
or disability. Access to public facilities was not mandated in the
occupied territories. There was societal discrimination against
Palestinians with disabilities in most spheres, including education,
employment, transportation, and access to public facilities. In 2005
the Health, Development, Information, and Policy Institute estimated
that 10 percent of the approximately 29,000 Palestinians injured in the
past five years would have permanent disabilities.
Poor quality care for Palestinians with disabilities was a problem.
Some underfunded institutions cared for persons with disabilities. The
PA depended on NGOs to care for persons with physical disabilities and
offered substandard care for those with mental disabilities.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no legal
discrimination against homosexuals, and there were no specific reports
of abuse because of sexual orientation. However, cultural traditions
and religion reject homosexuality, and Palestinians alleged that public
and PA security officers harassed, abused, and sometimes arrested
homosexuals because of their sexual orientation.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law permits workers to form and
join unions of their choice without previous authorization. Birzeit
University conducted a project to disseminate the 2001 labor law and to
draft bylaws. By the end of 2005, the PA approved all the bylaws, which
were published in the Palestinian Gazette.
Workers may establish unions without government authorization. The
two most active union organizers were the General Union for Palestinian
Workers and the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU).
The PGFTU was a member of the International Trade Union Confederation.
Both were registered with the Labor Ministry.
Workers in Jerusalem may establish unions but may not join West
Bank federations; however, this restriction was not enforced. Workers
holding Jerusalem identity cards may belong simultaneously to West Bank
unions and the General Federation of Labor (Histadrut).
Palestinians working in Israel or Jerusalem prior to 2000 were
partial members of Histadrut; 1 percent of their wages was withheld.
Partial membership entitled them to limited benefits. Histadrut and
West Bank union officials negotiated an agreement in 1995 to transfer
half of this fee to the PGFTU, which claimed it was owed $6.96 million
(29.9 million NIS). One Palestinian official, however, claimed
Histadrut owed Palestinians $2.35 million (10.1 million NIS) over the
same period. At year's end no money had been transferred.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The labor law
provides for the right to strike. Prospective strikers must provide
written warning to the other party and the Ministry of Labor two weeks
in advance of the basis for the strike. (Strikes affecting public
utilities require four weeks notice.) In practice strikers had little
protection from retribution. Unions seeking to strike must accept Labor
Ministry arbitration and are subject to disciplinary action if they
reject the result. If the ministry cannot resolve a dispute, it can be
referred to a special committee and, eventually, to a special court.
Accordingly, in practice the right to strike remained questionable.
On September 2, PA employees launched a general strike to protest
the PA's failure to pay salaries. On November 11, teachers returned to
work after the PA agreed on partial salary payments. Health sector
workers secured a similar agreement in early December. Although
receiving partial salary payments, most West Bank PA employees remained
on strike at year's end. The general strike was not strictly observed
in Gaza.
There were no functioning Export Processing Zones in the occupied
territories.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law states that
work is a right, duty, and honor and that the PA will strive to provide
it to any individual capable of performing it. According to a Labor
Ministry official, the PA also interpreted this law to mean that forced
and compulsory labor is prohibited.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age of Employment.--The
minimum employment age is 15, and there are special conditions for
employment between 15 and 18. The law states that children shall not be
exploited or allowed to perform work which might damage their safety,
health, or education. The law also prohibits minors from working at
night, hard labor, and travel beyond their domicile. However, many
underage children worked in family farms and shops, as street vendors,
or in small manufacturing enterprises. Representatives from the PA
Ministries of Labor and Social Affairs stated that Palestinian children
working in Israeli settlements faced security problems, exploitation,
and harassment since there was no enforceable law to monitor and
protect child laborers. The Israeli government estimated that 16,800
Palestinians worked in Israeli West Bank settlements and industrial
areas; however, it was unclear how many were minors. Officials stated
Palestinian child workers illegally entered green-line Israel where
they could be exploited.
In 2005 the PA had 10 child labor inspectors for the West Bank and
Gaza. Although generally Palestinian students continued their
education, thousands who left school sought work and were potentially
subject to exploitation.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no minimum wage. Prior
to 2000 average wages for full-time workers provided a decent living
standard; however, the living standard dropped significantly over the
past six years.
The normal workweek was 45 to 48 hours, but maximum workweek laws
were not effectively enforced. The PA observed religious holidays, but
they were not formally incorporated in labor law. Although it is not
obligatory for an employer to provide Christians with Sunday off,
employers are required to allow Christians to attend church on Sunday
if the employee desires. In some establishments employers offered
Christians the option of taking Sunday off, rather than Friday.
The PA Labor Ministry was responsible for safety standards, but its
enforcement ability was limited. The ministry stated new factories and
workplaces met international health and safety standards, but older
ones did not. Palestinians who worked in Israel must contribute to the
National Insurance Institute and received limited benefits.
__________
JORDAN
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a constitutional monarchy ruled
by King Abdullah II bin Hussein, with a population of approximately 5.9
million. The constitution concentrates executive and legislative
authority in the King. The parliament consists of the 55-member House
of Notables (Majlis al-Ayan), appointed by the King, and a 110-member
elected lower house, the Chamber of Deputies (Majlis al-Nuwwab). The
2003 multiparty parliamentary elections were generally considered to be
free and fair; however, the election law significantly underrepresented
urban areas. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control over the security forces, although there were some instances in
which members of the police and security forces were accused of
committing human rights abuses.
While the Government respected human rights in some areas, its
overall record continued to reflect problems. The following human
rights problems were reported: Restrictions on the right of citizens to
change their government; torture, arbitrary arrest, and prolonged
detention; impunity; denial of due process of law; limited judicial
independence; infringement on citizen's privacy rights; harassment of
members of opposition political parties; restrictions on freedom of
speech, press, assembly, association, movement, and on some religious
practices; legal and societal discrimination against women,
discrimination against persons of Palestinian origin; restrictions on
labor rights; and 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.--During the year,
there were no reports that the Government or its agents committed any
politically motivated killings; however, on April 13, one prisoner died
in a prison riot at Gafgafa (see section 1.c.).
In 2004 five men accused in the 2002 killing of an American
diplomat were convicted, some in absentia. One suspect, Muammar al-
Jaghbir, convicted and sentenced to death in absentia, was in custody
as of year's end and was retried in accordance with the law, which
provides for a new trial in such circumstances. At his retrial, he was
also charged with the 2003 bombing of Jordan's embassy in Baghdad.
In November 2005 a group of Iraqis carried out suicide bombings at
three hotels in Amman, killing 60 and injuring over one hundred. On
September 20, one attacker in custody was sentenced to be hanged, along
with six others who were tried in absentia and convicted of plotting
terrorist acts and possessing explosives with illicit intent. Her
sentence was under review by the Court of Cassation; at year's end she
has refused to appeal.
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. Following his July visit
Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel and
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, described police and
security forces practices using torture as ``widespread.'' He stated
there were many ``consistent and credible'' allegations of torture,
which Nowak claimed were substantiated by forensic medical evidence. He
noted that a number were difficult to verify because of incommunicado
detention (see section 1.d.) by the Criminal Investigation Department
(CID) of the Public Security Directorate (PSD) and the General
Intelligence Directorate (GID).
Additionally, the Special Rapporteur reported that detainees at the
Al Jafr Correctional and Rehabilitation Center were routinely subjected
to corporal punishment. The Special Rapporteur also received many
allegations of torture at various local police stations.
In a July 24 report, Amnesty International (AI), an international
nongovernmental organization (NGO), alleged the systematic torture of
political suspects. The most frequently alleged methods of torture
included severe and prolonged beating with sticks, plastic pipes, ropes
or whips, on the soles of the feet and elsewhere, sleep deprivation,
extended solitary confinement, forced standing in painful positions for
prolonged periods, threats of extreme violence or sexual or physical
abuse of family members, and physical suspension. In the AI
publication, Your Confessions are Ready for You to Sign, defendants
charged with security-related offenses before the State Security Court
claimed that they were tortured to obtain confessions and subjected to
physical and psychological abuse while in detention.
According to AI, suspected Islamists and Palestinian-origin
citizens were more likely to be tortured.
Government officials denied many allegations of detainee abuse,
pointing out that many defendants claimed abuse in order to shift the
focus away from their crimes.
During the year defendants in nearly every case before the State
Security Court claimed that they were tortured while in custody. At
times the courts requested that prison administrators treat inmates in
accordance with the law. A May 21 report issued by government-funded
National Center for Human Rights (NCHR) covering 2005 reported 70
mistreatment or torture complaints at prisons and detention centers
administered by the PSD; there were 250 reported in 2004. The NCHR
report did not specifically provide information on complaints regarding
GID facilities.
NCHR's May report covering 2005, The State of Human Rights in the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, stated that the court system does not
provide sufficient guarantees to prevent torture and other forms of
abuse at the hands of authorities.
In December 2005 NCHR sent a memorandum to Prime Minister Bakhit
calling for the adoption of a series of legislative and procedural
arrangements to combat torture. In response, the Government formed a
committee to study the report and consider its recommendations.
During a June 29 press conference, UN Special Rapporteur Manfred
Nowak, visiting at the Government's invitation, stated he had observed
indications that torture had taken place, and urged the Government to
criminalize torture, dissolve private police and intelligence courts,
investigate torture allegations and create mechanisms to prevent
torture. The Government responded publicly by highlighting its
invitation to Nowak as evidence of its commitment to addressing human
rights issues.
During the year human rights activists alleged a number of cases of
beatings and other abuses of individuals in police custody.
On January 10, three men were arrested entering a mosque during the
'Eid al-'Adha holiday, according to AI. Their families learned that
they were being detained by the GID in the Gafgafa prison and were
permitted to visit them eight days after their arrest. The three men
alleged they had been beaten and forced to sign confession statements.
The men were charged with ``belonging to an illegal organization",
namely the Hizb al-Tahrir al-Islami, which openly calls for the
overthrow of the Hashemite monarchy. On December 6, the State Security
Court sentenced two of the men to one year in prison and the third to
six months.
On March 23, the State Security Court sentenced nine men to death
in connection with an uprising that took place in Ma'an in 2002. They
were charged with possessing weapons and making explosives for illegal
use. The defendants alleged that they were beaten, kept naked in cold
cells, and forced to sign pre-written testimonies.
On September 19, Human Rights Watch (HRW), an international NGO,
published Suspicious Sweeps: The General Intelligence Directorate and
Jordan's Rule of Law Problem. The report states that the GID arrests
``radical Islamists who support use of violence and who consider others
to be infidels and therefore legitimate targets of violent attacks,''
and documents cases of 16 detainees. Some of the detainees alleged that
the GID abused and tortured them.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prisons were overcrowded
and understaffed with poor sanitary conditions and inadequate food and
health care, according to the NCHR. The Government permitted visits,
with private interviews by independent local and international human
rights observers, except to some GID detainees. There were instances of
torture and harsh and inhumane treatment, according to the UN special
rapporteur and human rights organizations.
On November 1 NCHR, a quasi-governmental body with educational,
protective, and reporting responsibilities, issued its fourth report on
the condition of the country's prisons. The report noted that although
the Government has improved some facilities, more needed to be done,
particularly with regard to health and safety conditions at the
prisons. NCHR recommended that the Government close Al Jafer prison,
located in the desert 155 miles south of Amman. Since the prison is
geographically isolated, NCHR contended that the inmates have limited
access to lawyers. The report also mentioned high illiteracy rates
among inmates overall in the country, which contributed to their
ignorance of their rights to seek legal assistance. On December 17, the
King announced the immediate closing of the facility and its conversion
to a vocational training school.
The Government generally held men, women, and juveniles in separate
prison and detention facilities. The GID held some persons, detained on
national security grounds, in separate detention facilities, and the
Government held other security detainees and prisoners in regular
prisons. While security prisoners often were separated from common
criminals, conditions for such prisoners did not differ significantly.
The police regularly placed potential victims of honor crimes in
protective custody (see section 5).
Local human rights monitors were allowed to visit prisons. NCHR
made 19 visits to prisons in the 12 month period beginning in October
2005. During the year the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) was permitted access to prisoners and detainees in all prisons.
In March and April disturbances erupted at prisons in Jweideh,
Swaqa, and Gafgafa. On April 13, riots occurred in Gafgafa prison,
which resulted in the death of one prisoner and 35 injured inmates as
well as some prison guards (see section 1.a.).
In August and September inmates in Swaqa and Jweida prisons staged
hunger strikes. These strikes attracted a great deal of media attention
but ended peacefully.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Criminal laws generally require
warrants; however, in most cases, suspects may be detained for up to 48
hours in the absence of a warrant. Police made several arrests during
the year prior to obtaining warrants. The penal code allows for a
functional bail system of conditional release. Detainees were not
always allowed prompt access to a lawyer of their choice. There were
allegations of incommunicado detention (see section 1.c).
The law prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the
Government did not always observe these prohibitions. The law provides
that citizens are subject to arrest, trial, and punishment for the
defamation of heads of state or public officials and dissemination of
``false or exaggerated information outside the country that attacks
state dignity.''
After approval by parliament on August 27, the Prevention of
Terrorism Act was published in the official gazette. Some Jordanian
commentators and human rights groups complained that its definition of
terrorism might lead nonviolent critics of the Government to be
arrested or detained indefinitely under the provisions of the act. At
year's end, the Government had not made use of the new act.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Public Security
Directorate (PSD) controlled general police functions. The PSD, GID,
and the military shared responsibility for maintaining internal
security and maintained authority to monitor security threats. The PSD
reports to the interior minister with direct access to the King when
necessary, and the GID in practice reports directly to the King.
Security and policing activities were effective.
Corruption within the PSD was not a significant issue, and there
were mechanisms in place to investigate police abuses. There were
allegations of police impunity for both the PSD and GID. In 2005 28
police officers were tried in courts on torture charges. Of them, 14
were convicted and 14 were acquitted. During the year, eight police
officers were tried, three were convicted, two acquitted, and two were
awaiting verdict at year's end. The PSD's preventative security office
investigated officers' performance. Incidents of poor officer
performance ultimately were reported to the PSD director's office (see
section 1.c.). Citizens may file a complaint about police abuse or
corruption to the office of complaints and human rights. During the
year citizens filed 425 complaints (see section 4). The head of this
office reported directly to the PSD director. New officers in training
received special instruction on preventing corruption.
Arrest and Detention.--The criminal code requires that police
notify legal authorities within 48 hours of an arrest and that legal
authorities file formal charges within 10 days of an arrest; however,
the courts routinely granted requests from prosecutors for 15-day
extensions as provided by law. This practice generally extended
pretrial detention for protracted periods.
The State Security Court gives the judicial police authority to
arrest and keep persons in custody for a period of seven days, when
necessary, in any crimes under the jurisdiction of the court, which
includes many misdemeanors. In cases involving state security, the
security forces arrested and detained citizens without warrants or
judicial review. The authorities frequently held defendants in lengthy
pretrial detention, did not provide defendants with the written charges
against them, and did not allow defendants to meet with their lawyers,
at times until shortly before trial. Defendants before the State
Security Court usually met with their attorneys only one or two days
before their trial. The criminal code prohibits pretrial detentions for
certain categories of misdemeanors. At years end, according to the
NCHR, 590 inmates were in detention without charge.
In June 2005 extremist Issam al-Barqawi, also known as Abu Mohammad
al-Maqdisi, was released after having been held for six months
following his acquittal on charges of plotting subversive acts and
possessing explosives as part of an alleged terrorism plot. In July
2005, he was rearrested and charged for allegedly contacting terrorist
groups and charged with plotting subversive acts. At year's end he was
awaiting trial by the State Security Court. On December 12, a jihadist
website posted a letter claiming that Maqdisi was ``physically abused''
by an officer and six prison guards in Jordan (see section 1.c).
In the past human rights activists reported that the Government
detained journalists (see section 2.a.) and Islamists for varying
amounts of time for what appeared to be political reasons. Detainees
were kept in solitary confinement and were denied access to lawyers.
Local governors have the authority to invoke the Crime Prevention
Law, which allows them to place citizens under house arrest for up to
one year without formally charging them (see section 2.d.). House
arrest may require persons to report daily to a local police station
and impose a curfew. Persons who violate the terms of their house
arrest may be imprisoned for up to 14 days.
The Government used the threat of detention to intimidate
journalists into practicing self-censorship, according to the Center
for Protecting the Freedom of Journalists (see section 2.a.).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary. In practice there was an independent decision-
making body; however, the judiciary was subject to family and tribal
influence. The higher judiciary council, a committee led by the
President of the Court of Cassation, and comprised of other high-
ranking officials from the various courts and the Ministry of Justice,
determines judicial appointments, assignments, and evaluations. The
higher judiciary council remains under the administration of the
Ministry of Justice.
Unlike in previous years, there were no allegations that judges
were ``reassigned'' in order to remove them from particular
proceedings.
The judicial system consists of civil, criminal, commercial,
security, and religious courts. Most criminal cases are tried in
civilian courts, which include the Court of Appeal, the High Court of
Justice, and the Court of Cassation. The State Security Court, composed
of both military and civilian judges, has jurisdiction over offenses
against the state and drug-related crimes. Penal laws grant the same
rights to defendants arrested by the security agencies as others who
are arrested. The religious courts are subdivided into Shari'a (Islamic
law) courts and tribunals for non-Muslim religious communities. Shari'a
courts have jurisdiction over all matters relating to the personal
status of Muslims, including marriage, divorce, and inheritance.
Christian courts have jurisdiction over marriage and divorce cases
among Christians, but Shari'a law is applied in inheritance cases (see
section 5).
Trial Procedures.--The law provides that all civilian court trials
are open to the public unless the court determines otherwise.
Defendants were entitled to legal counsel, may challenge witnesses, and
had the right to appeal. Defendants who faced the death penalty or life
imprisonment were represented by legal counsel. Public defenders were
provided if the defendant was unable to hire legal counsel. All
citizens were accorded these rights. Civil, criminal, and commercial
courts accord equal weight to the testimony of men and women; however,
in Shari'a courts the testimony of two women was equal to that of a man
in most circumstances (see section 5). Defense attorneys were
guaranteed access to government-held evidence relevant to their
clients' cases.
The State Security Court consisted of a panel of three judges, two
military officers and one civilian. Approximately two dozen cases were
tried or were ongoing in the State Security Court during the year. Like
the civilian courts, proceedings of the court were open to the public.
Defendants tried in this court were often held in lengthy pretrial
detention and refused access to legal council until just before the
trial. State security court judges inquired into allegations that
defendants were tortured and allowed the testimony of physicians
regarding such allegations (see section 1.c.). The Court of Cassation
ruled that the State Security Court may not issue a death sentence on
the basis of a confession obtained as a result of torture. Defendants
in this court have the right to appeal their sentences to the Court of
Cassation, which is authorized to review issues of both fact and law,
although defendants convicted of misdemeanors in the State Security
Court had no right of appeal. Appeals were automatic for cases
involving the death penalty.
The press and publications law permits journalists to cover state
security court proceedings unless the court rules otherwise. The press
routinely reported on cases before the court, including all cases heard
during the year. Such reporting routinely covered defense arguments and
allegations of torture.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--During the year, there were
reports of political detainees (see section 1.d.). On June 11, four
Islamic Action Front (IAF) members of Parliament were arrested and
charged with violating Article 150 of Jordan's Penal Code, which
prohibits writing or speech that is ``intended to, or results in,
stirring up sectarian or racial tension or strife among different
elements of the nation,'' after visiting the condolence tent of the
family of Abu Musab al- Zarqawi (see section 2.a.).
In August four men were arrested while distributing leaflets
condemning the July to August conflict between Israel and Lebanon. The
leaflets were prepared by the outlawed Hizb al-Tahrir, a political
party dedicated to restoring the Islamic Caliphate and ending the
Hashemite monarchy. Charged with membership in an illegal group and
distributing illegal material, on December 6, two of the four men were
sentenced to one year prison terms. One man was sentenced to 6 months
for distributing illegal material only and the fourth man was acquitted
on both charges.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
judiciary in civil matters. The Supreme Court of Justice hears
administrative complaints. The courts are open to all residents. Courts
also have jurisdiction over any person in a civil or criminal matter,
including in lawsuits where the Government is a plaintiff or a
defendant.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits arbitrary interference; however, in
practice the Government restricted the rights to be free of arbitrary
interference. The law requires that security forces obtain a warrant
from the prosecutor general or a judge before conducting searches or
otherwise interfering with these rights; however, in security cases,
authorities obtained pre-approved warrants. Security officers monitored
telephone conversations and Internet communication, read private
correspondence, and engaged in surveillance of persons considered to
pose a threat to the Government or national security. The law permits
these practices if the Government obtains a court order.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and press; however, the Government imposed
significant restrictions on these rights in practice.
The 1998 Press and Publications Law is foremost among the laws that
impose restrictions on the operation of newspapers. Government
intimidation also led to self-censorship of journalists. The Penal Code
provides that ``insulting the King and stirring sectarian strife and
sedition,'' could be invoked to punish journalists. According to the
Penal Code the punishment for defamation of the King or royal family is
three years in prison and a fine not exceeding $700 (500 dinars).
Additionally, citizens may be prosecuted for slandering the Government,
or foreign leaders, and for offending religious beliefs. Citizens
generally did not hesitate to criticize the Government openly.
Allegedly government officials delayed publications at the printer.
However, journalists exercised caution with regard to the King, the
royal family, and the GID. Membership in the Jordan Press Association
(JPA) is required for persons to be considered journalists or editors;
the JPA can exercise control over content or threaten disciplinary
measures. The law gives the association the authority to hold
disciplinary councils against any journalists that violate the rules or
ethics of the profession.
The Press and Publications Law provides the Government with limited
ability to issue fines, transfers the power to withdraw licenses to the
judiciary, limits significantly the Government's power to order
shutdowns of printing presses, allows journalists to cover court
proceedings unless the court ruled otherwise, and requires publications
to be licensed. Article 35 of the Press and Publications Law gives the
Prime Ministry the right to withhold publishing any printed material.
The law imposes strict limits on publications, which gave the
Government broad leeway to impose sanctions. During the year the
Government used informants and censors at printing presses to inform it
if particularly objectionable material was slated for print.
Journalists also may be prosecuted before the State Security Court
for criminal and security violations. There were no cases during the
year. Although historically some past cases were dismissed before
trial, in the past some cases lingered in the courts for years.
According to the National Center for Defending the Freedom of
Journalists, the Government used detention and prosecution or the
threat of prosecution to generate journalistic self-censorship (see
section 1.d.).
The Prevention of Terrorism Act enacted on November 1 was
criticized as limiting free speech. Some human rights groups alleged
that the broad definition of terrorist speech and opinion under the Act
could lead to arrest and detention of government critics. However, the
Government has not to date used the Act.
During the year there were several reported instances of arrest and
government harassment of journalists. On May 30, Amman's conciliation
court sentenced two editors, Jihad Momani and Hashem al-Khalidi, to two
months imprisonment for ``attacking religious sentiment'' over their
publication of the controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet
Muhammad. The court immediately released the editors on bail pending
their appeals. Following the death in Iraq of terrorist Abu Musab al-
Zarqawi, on June 8, the Government interrupted a live interview with
Zarqawi's brother-in-law, broadcast on Al-Jazeera satellite television.
Police briefly detained the station's Amman bureau chief, Yasir Abu
Hilalah.
On June 11, four members of parliament were arrested after visiting
the condolence tent of the family of Abu Musab al- Zarqawi. The four
men were Muhammad Abu Faris, Ali Abu Sukkar, Ja`far al-Hurani, and
Ibrahim al-Mashukhi, all members of the IAF. They were charged with
violating Article 150 of the penal code, which prohibits writing or
speech that is ``intended to, or results in, stirring up sectarian or
racial tension or strife among different elements of the nation.'' Abu
Faris praised al-Zarqawi as a martyr in a television interview and
disparaged the victims of the November 2005 Amman suicide bombings, in
which 60 died and over 100 were injured. In August Abu Faris and Abu
Sukkar were sentenced to 13 months in prison and fines of 100 JD. The
others arrested were released in July and August. King Abdullah
pardoned Abu Faris and Abu Sukkar on September 30 and all fines were
dropped.
During the year, several journalists interviewed by the Committee
to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an international NGO, reported that
authorities pressured printers to delay publication of several
newspapers until editors agreed to remove critical articles. Editors
reportedly received telephone calls from security officials instructing
them how to cover certain events.
In April Tammer Smadi, a reporter for the Islamist weekly As-
Sabeel, and a photojournalist from the same publication were detained
for several hours for covering a street protest organized by an
Islamist organization. They were interrogated, and the reporter alleged
he was beaten. The photojournalist's camera was taken from him and
later returned. Later in the month the GID allegedly arrested another
journalist from As-Sabeel and detained him for three days after he
returned for an interview with Mousa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas leader living
in Damascus.
On April 4, Ahmad Ali Abdullah al-Yamani, a bookshop owner in
Aqaba, claimed he was harassed by the GID, who confiscated newspapers
and books from his shop. They allegedly detained his son for several
hours for questioning and instructed him not to keep newspapers in the
glass window of his shop before releasing him.
In May Fahd Rimawi, editor of the weekly Al-Majd, was held by GID
for over eight hours the day after he printed a story quoting Prime
Minister Bakhit as saying accusations that Hamas was smuggling weapons
through Jordan lacked credibility. He was also allegedly called by the
Prime Minister's office and asked to issue a retraction.
On November 1, former royal advisor Adnan Abu Odeh was sued by a
group of private citizens for saying in an October 28 interview with Al
Jazeera that Palestinians are underrepresented in Jordan. The complaint
included allegations Abu Odeh had ``stirred unrest'' and ``insulted the
King". On November 5, the State Security court dismissed the suit.
The Press and Publications Department continued to enforce bans on
the publication of selected books. Books were banned for religious,
moral, and political reasons.
In January authorities banned the distribution of A. S. Bishtawi's
book, History of Injustice in the Arab World.
During the year, the Government passed a law that requires sermons
and classes in mosques to be under government control. Muslim imams and
teachers required written approval from the Ministry of Religious
Affairs (See section 2.c.).
In September the Press and Publications Department, a government
censorship office, withdrew a number of books from Amman's 11th annual
International Book Fair. Among these was The English in Faisal's Life,
a book about King Faisal of Iraq, Exposed Secrets dealing with Israel
and nuclear weapons, and A Feast for Seaweeds, a novel banned for
containing themes contrary to Islamic laws.
High taxes on media and tariffs on paper caused journalists to
reduce the size of their publications. Journalists also criticized the
Government for advertising predominantly in newspapers in which the
Government owned shares.
The law provides foreign media operations freedom of expression.
Radio and television news broadcasts, more restricted than the print
media, underwent limited liberalization during the year. Jordan
Television reported only the Government's position on controversial
matters. International satellite television and Israeli and Syrian
television broadcasts were available and unrestricted.
In July King Hussein Bin Talal University signed an agreement to
begin broadcasting on an FM frequency. Its license excludes news and
political content.
On October 1, Yarmouk University began broadcasting Yarmouk FM,
with support from Internews, an international NGO. The licensed format
is that of a community-radio station; while social issues are
discussed, news and political content are not allowed.
Internet Freedom.--During the year, the Government allowed Internet
news sites to operate in the country, including those that presented
news critical of the Government.
In the past the Government opened investigations attempting to
determine who was responsible for Internet sites that allegedly libeled
the King; however, no one was known to have been prosecuted in such
cases during the year. In the past there were reports of government
interference with Internet access, including several Web sites that
appear to have been blocked.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government limited
academic freedom. Some academics claimed that they received frequent
threats of dismissal. During the year members of the academic community
claimed that there was an ongoing intelligence presence in academic
institutions. During the year the University of Jordan continued to
grant its President authority to appoint half of its 80-member student
council, including the chair. This measure was viewed widely as an
effort to curb the influence of campus Islamists. Many students,
including non-Islamists, continued to object to the university's
policy.
On May 16, 700 students at the University of Jordan demonstrated to
oppose the university administration's appointment of the head of the
Student Union. A counter-demonstration supporting the administration
took place on the same day.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly; however,
the Government restricted this right. Citizens must obtain permits for
public gatherings. The Government generally granted permits for
protests it finds objectionable only after extensive negotiations with
the organizers. The law requires that the organizers of rallies and
demonstrations request permission from provincial governors at least
three days prior to any event. Under the law no protest may be held
without the governor's consent, and violators face imprisonment from
one to six months and a fine not to exceed $4,230 (3000 dinars). In
some cases the Government granted approval at the last moment, making
it difficult for organizers to plan the demonstrations. Other requests
were denied outright.
The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), Law No 5520, provides for
punishment of those involved in peaceful demonstrations which could be
interpreted as ``disrupting of public order,'' or ``endangering public
safety", both of which fall under the definition of ``terrorist acts''
in the newly promulgated law.
On March 7, the Government banned a planned demonstration of
professional unions against a draft law barring professional
associations from engaging in politics and deployed security forces to
prevent the protest.
On April 9, the security services briefly detained several dozen
IAF activists for promoting an unsanctioned general strike opposing
cuts in fuel subsidies. Although reports differ on the number of
activists detained and the length of their detentions, authorities
released all of the activists within days.
On August 19, approximately 1000 citizens marched to protest
alleged threats to the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The governor of
Amman initially refused the event organizers a permit on technical
grounds, but a second request was approved the day before the march was
scheduled to occur.
On September 19, the IAF requested the Governor of Amman's
permission to organize a demonstration to protest statements by Pope
Benedict XVI. Permission was denied.
On November 14, the acting Governor of Irbid Walid Abda rejected a
request by the National Opposition Parties Coordination Committee to
organize a demonstration in Irbid to express solidarity with the
Palestinian people.
In 2004 the Government detained protestors at the al-Wihdat refugee
camp in the southern suburbs of Amman, claiming that the demonstration
was not licensed. According to media reports, more than 60 persons were
detained for burning the national flag and destroying property. Human
rights activists claimed more than 200 demonstrators were detained in
the demonstration following the killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed
Yassin. The Government claimed it filed formal charges against some of
the detainees while releasing those under 18.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for the right of
association; however, the Government limited freedom of association by
law. The law prohibits the use of associations for the benefit of any
partisan organization. The Government required and routinely granted
approval for nonpolitical conferences, workshops, and seminars.
The Government prohibits membership in unlicensed political parties
but routinely licensed political parties and other associations. During
the year there were 33 licensed political parties. The Government may
deny licenses to parties that it decides do not meet the political and
other criteria contained in the Political Parties Law (see section 3).
In practice, the Government sometimes rejected applications by
political parties to organize rallies and demonstrations. The High
Court of Justice may dissolve a party if it violates the constitution
or the law.
The Labor Law prohibits some groups from joining labor unions, such
as noncitizens and agricultural and domestic workers. (see section 6)
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom to
practice the rites of one's religion, provided that religious practices
are consistent with ``public order and morality''; however, the
Government continued to impose some restrictions on freedom of
religion. The state religion is Islam. The Government does not
officially recognize all religious groups. Groups obtain recognition
with the approval of the Prime Minister. In order to be recognized, the
group must have citizens among its constituency, and the Ministry of
the Interior must also conduct a background investigation. Recognition
allows a religious group to purchase land with a tax exemption.
During the year the parliament approved a law that required
preachers and teachers in mosques to have licenses issued by the
Ministry of Religious Affairs (see section 2.a.).
Members of unrecognized religious groups and converts from Islam
faced legal discrimination and bureaucratic difficulties in personal
status cases. The Government prohibits non-Muslims from proselytizing
Muslims.
Persons enjoy freedom of belief, and there were no reports that the
practice of any faith was prohibited. Some religious groups, while
allowed to meet and practice their faith, complained of societal and
official discrimination. In addition not all Christian denominations
have been accorded legal status.
Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are the religions formally
recognized by the Government. The Government did not accord the Druze
or Baha'i faiths the status of officially recognized religions but did
not prohibit the practice of these faiths. The Government did not
record the bearer's religion on national identity cards issued to Druze
or Baha'is.
The Government did not recognize Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of
Christ, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but each of
these denominations conducted religious services and activities without
interference.
The Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary (JETS), a training
school for pastors and missionaries, had not been accredited as an
educational institution by year's end, although the Government granted
it ``registration,'' allowing it to operate as a cultural center.
During the reporting year, the Government confiscated a shipment of
approximately one hundred books ordered by JETS. The Ministry of
Foreign Affairs intervened and secured the release of the books to
JETS.
Conversion to Islam by Christians was allowed; however, a Muslim
may not convert to another religion. Muslims who convert to other
faiths complained of social and government discrimination. Under
Shari'a converts are regarded as apostates and legally may be denied
their property and other rights.
Converts from Islam to Christianity faced possible loss of civil
rights, loss of child custody, and economic hardship. However, courts
have shown a willingness to decide mixed religion child custody cases
in the best interests of the child.
On January 20, a Shari'a court received a complaint against Mahmoud
Abdel Rahman Mohammad Eleker for apostasy, following his conversion
from Islam to Christianity. On April 14, the complainant, the convert's
brother-in-law, dropped the case after the convert's wife renounced in
the presence of a lawyer any claims she might have to an inheritance
from her own parents.
Converts from Islam are still considered Muslims under Shari'a in
matters of personal status. The constitution provides that religious
community trusts, or awqaf, and matters of personal status fall within
the exclusive jurisdiction of the Shari'a courts for Muslims, and
separate non-Muslim tribunals exist for each religious community
recognized by the Government. Civil marriage is not recognized by the
Government. The head of the department that manages Shari'a court
affairs (a cabinet-level position) appoints Shari'a judges, while each
recognized non-Muslim religious community selects the structure and
members for its own tribunal. All judicial nominations are approved by
the Prime Minister and commissioned officially by royal decree. The
Protestant denominations registered as ``societies'' come under the
jurisdiction of one of the recognized Protestant church tribunals.
There are no tribunals assigned for atheists or adherents of
unrecognized religions. These persons must request one of the
recognized courts to hear their personal status cases.
Men may divorce their spouses more easily than women; however,
since 2004 Shari'a courts have granted over 239 divorces sought by
women (see section 5). Some Christians are unable to divorce under the
legal system because they are subject to their denomination's religious
court system, which does not allow divorce. Such individuals sometimes
convert to another Christian denomination or to Islam to divorce
legally.
The legal system regards minor children of a male Muslim who
converts to another religion to be Muslims. Adult children of a male
Christian who has converted to Islam become ineligible to inherit from
their father if they do not themselves convert to Islam. Muslim
converts to Christianity and minor children of male converts to
Christianity are not recognized legally as Christians and continue to
be treated as Muslims in matters of family and property law.
The Government noted individuals' religions (except for Druze,
Baha'is, and other unrecognized religious groups) on the national
identity card and ``family book'' (a national registration record
issued to the head of every family that serves as proof of citizenship)
of all citizens. Atheists must associate themselves with a recognized
religion for official identification purposes.
Government policy requires that foreign missionary groups refrain
from public proselytizing. The Government has taken action against some
Christian proselytizers in response to the complaints of recognized
Christian groups, who charge that the activities of these missionaries
are disruptive to society.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Anti-Semitism.--Relations
between Muslims and Christians generally were amicable.
Anti-Semitism in the media was present and editorial cartoons,
articles, and opinion pieces critical of Israel sometimes depicted
negative images of Jews throughout the year in the newspapers Al-Rai,
Al-Dustur, and Al-Ghad. There was no government response to these
pieces.
Aside from expatriates and diplomats, there was no resident Jewish
community in the country.
Muslims who convert to other religions often faced social
ostracism, threats, and abuse from their families and Muslim religious
leaders. Families usually strongly discouraged interfaith romantic
relationships. Such relationships may lead to ostracism and, in some
cases, violence against the couple or feuds between members of the
couple's families. Baha'is faced some societal 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;
however, there were some restrictions. The law requires that all minors
obtain written permission from a guardian to apply for a passport.
Unlike in previous years, there were no cases of mothers reporting they
were prevented from departing with their children because authorities
enforced requests from fathers to prevent their children from leaving
the country (see section 5). The GID sometimes withheld passports from
citizens on security grounds.
Local governors may use the Preventing Crimes Law to place citizens
under house arrest for up to one year without formally charging them
(see section 1.d.). House arrest may involve requiring persons to
report daily to a local police station while under curfew. Persons who
violate the terms of house arrest may be imprisoned for up to 14 days.
Citizens receive passports that are valid for five years. Most
persons of Palestinian origin living in the country were citizens and
received passports; however, the Government estimated that there were
150,000 Palestinian refugees, mostly of Gazan origin, who do not
qualify for citizenship. They received two-year passports valid for
travel but which do not connote citizenship. West Bank residents
without other travel documentation are eligible to receive five-year
passports which do not connote citizenship.
Human rights activists continued to charge that the Government did
not consistently apply citizenship laws, especially in cases in which
passports were taken from citizens of Palestinian origin. The
Government maintained this policy was in line with its efforts to
implement the Government's disengagement from its former claims to the
West Bank. However, activists complained that the process is not
transparent and the appeal process virtually nonexistent. Claimants or
families filed appeals with the Ministry of Interior, which were not
resolved to their satisfaction. The Government asserted that all cases
it closed involved persons without valid claims to citizenship or
travel documents.
Human rights activists claimed that approximately 10,000 to 12,000
former residents of Palestinian origin remained outside the country,
and that the Government refused to renew their passports at embassies
overseas. The Government asserted that only nonresident Palestinians
who sought to renew travel documents, which required proof of residence
in the country, have been refused.
The law prohibits internal and external forced exile, and the
Government did not use forced exile in practice.
Protection of Refugees.--The Government is not a party to the 1951
UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol
and does not have any national legislation pertaining to the status and
treatment of refugees. It generally cooperated with the office of the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Relief and Works
Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in assisting
refugees and asylum seekers. The Government respected the UNHCR's
eligibility determinations regarding asylum seekers, including those
who entered the country clandestinely. An April 1998 Memorandum of
Understanding between the Government and the UNHCR contains the
definition of a refugee, confirms the principle of non-refoulement, and
allows recognized refugees a maximum stay of six months during which
period a durable solution must be found. In practice the Government
provided protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a
country where they feared persecution. However, during the year some
Iraqis detained for alleged criminal offenses were returned to Iraq
before UNHCR could determine their refugee status.
The UNHCR continued to train law enforcement officials and judges
in international refugee law, including instructors from the NCHR,
which conducted a course for entry-level government officials during
the year. However, in March the UNHCR reported that approximately 200
Palestinians formerly residents of Baghdad were refused entry. In July
the UNHCR reported that approximately 200 Iranian refugees formerly
resident in a UNHCR camp in Ramadi, Iraq, who had been refused entry in
2005 were again refused entry. It also reported in several instances
that it intervened to prevent the deportation of persons issued UNHCR
asylum seeker cards.
As of December 31, approximately 1.86 million Palestinian refugees
were registered with the UNRWA. The UNRWA and the Government continued
to provide assistance to these Palestinian refugees during the year.
Approximately 700,000 persons displaced from former Jordanian
territories during the 1967 war have been granted nationality. An
additional 120,000 persons displaced during the 1967 war hold temporary
residency permits. A further 200,000 Palestinian refugees were also
estimated to be living in the country without any direct assistance.
Since 1991 many Iraqis have applied for refugee status and received
legal and material assistance from the UNHCR. An estimated 500,000 to
700,000 Iraqis were living in the country. Most had not requested
refugee status. The Government has tolerated the prolonged stay of many
Iraqis beyond the expiration of the visit permits, under which they
entered the country.
The Government generally recognized UNHCR's requests that states
continue to grant temporary protection for all Iraqi asylum seekers,
including new arrivals, rejected cases, and recognized refugees whose
cases had been suspended by resettlement countries. In April 2005,
however, the Ministry of Interior formally declined UNHCR's request to
renew an expired informal Temporary Protection Regime (TPR), which had
committed the Government to continue tolerating Iraqis in the country
illegally. The lapsed TPR had no basis in the law and conferred no
rights on recognized refugees. Despite expiration of the TPR, with few
exceptions the Government has continued to tolerate the large number of
illegal Iraqis residing in the country. Thousands continued to enter
the country each month; however, UNHCR reported that some Iraqis were
refused entry into the country. UNHCR also reported that it intervened
to prevent the deportation of persons issued UNHCR asylum seeker cards
in several instances. Access of Iraqi children to Jordanian public
schools varied from cases to case; many schools ran second shifts in
order to accommodate Iraqis, while some school administrators declined
to admit the children of Iraqis residing in the country illegally.
According to UNHCR figures, during the year, 822 persons, primarily
from Iraq, Russia, and Syria, recognized as refugees awaited
resettlement. An additional 90 Chechens were allowed to remain
indefinitely pending repatriation. By year's end approximately 20,850
persons, primarily Iraqis, were seeking asylum.
The Government also continued to provide temporary protection to
recognized refugees formerly resident in a UNHCR camp in Ramadi, Iraq,
who fled Iraq in 2003. By mid-December 97 Palestinians, 16 Iraqis and 4
Iranians remained in a UNHCR-managed camp in Ruweished, having
relocated there following the Government's closure in May 2005 of a
UNHCR reception camp in the ``no man's land'' between Jordanian and
Iraqi frontier posts at the Trebil/Karama crossing. Most Palestinians
at the Ruweished camp were expected to depart for resettlement
countries by year's end.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM)
statistics, between January 1 and December 7, the Government granted
temporary protection to 340 third country nationals fleeing Iraq en
route to Sudan and Nigeria. The Government also facilitated the transit
of 692 Iraqis voluntarily returning to Iraq from third-countries,
primarily from Europe. IOM verified that all repatriations to Iraq and
to third countries were voluntary.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law does not provide citizens the right to change their
government peacefully. Citizens may participate in the political system
through their elected representatives in parliament; however, the King
may use his discretion to appoint and dismiss the Prime Minister,
cabinet, and upper house of parliament; dissolve or extend parliament;
establish public policy; and approve the appointment of all mayors.
Elections and Political Participation.--After being appointed by
the King, a prime minister is required to submit his cabinet to a
parliamentary vote of confidence, if there is a seated parliament.
Executive power is vested in the King (or, in his absence, in the
regent), who exercised his power through his ministers in accordance
with the provisions of the constitution. The June 2003 multiparty
parliamentary elections were generally considered to be free and fair;
however, the election law significantly underrepresented urban areas
and some observers considered electoral districting unfair, claiming
that it was intended to reduce the representation of areas heavily
populated by citizens of Palestinian origin. There were some
speculations of fraud. Many observers considered electoral districting
unfair because of a lack of balance between the population and the
number of seats per district, and claimed that it was intended to
reduce the representation of areas heavily populated by Jordanians of
Palestinian origin. The law allows voters to choose one candidate in
multiple-seat districts. In the largely tribal society, citizens tended
to cast their vote for family members. In practice, candidates who
lacked tribal credentials generally received fewer votes in tribal
districts. The Islamic Action Front boycotted the 2003 municipal
elections in all districts outside greater Amman to protest the
provisional law on appointing municipal officials.
The election law requires judiciary verification of polling
results, and establishes the number of lower house seats at 110 with
six reserved for women. The voting age is set at 18 years for all
citizens.
Citizens may freely nominate themselves and register as candidates
if they have a ``certificate of good conduct'' issued by the GID.
Persons who have been sentenced to over one year in prison are
ineligible for election. The King proposes and dismisses extraordinary
sessions of parliament and may postpone regular sessions for up to 60
days. If the Government amends or enacts a law when parliament is not
in session, it must submit the law to parliament for consideration
during the next session; however, such ``provisional'' laws do not
expire and, while technically subject to action by parliament when it
returns to session, in practice remain in force without legislative
approval.
Women have the right to vote and were encouraged to vote and be
active in the political process. Seven women serve in the senate, six
in the Chamber of Deputies, and one in the cabinet. Of the 110 seats in
the lower house, the quota provisions reserve nine for Christians and
three for either the Circassian or Chechen ethnic minorities.
Citizens of Palestinian origin, estimated to be more than half of
the total population, comprised four of the 26 ministers. In
parliament, 9 of 55 senators and 18 of 110 lower house deputies were of
Palestinian origin. There were no Palestinians in any of the country's
12 governorships. The electoral system gives greater representation to
areas that have a majority of inhabitants of non-Palestinian origin.
Four women have been elected to the councils of the country's 11
professional associations. Of these women, three sit on the Nurses and
Registered Midwives Syndicate and one on the Jordan Press Association
Council. An estimated 31,000 women are registered as members of these
associations, representing approximately 23 percent of the membership.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption is a crime.
There was a public perception of corruption in the executive and
legislative branches. Influence peddling and a lack of transparency
have been alleged in government procurement and dispute settlement. The
use of family, business, and other personal connections to advance
personal business interests was widespread. The GID has an
anticorruption department.
On November 1, the Financial Disclosure law was published in the
official gazette. Under this law, specified government officials must
declare their assets in a sealed envelop to the newly formed Financial
Disclosure Department of the Ministry of Justice. This envelope will be
opened by the Chief Justice in the event of a complaint.
In November the parliament brought charges against former Minister
of Municipalities Abdul Razzaaq Thbeshat for corruption. The case
involves a 2002 purchase of waste-management vehicles from Germany,
which an Audit Bureau later found to be faulty. On December 3, a
special committee in Parliament was formed to investigate the
allegations. As Thbeshat was an acting minister when the alleged felony
took place, he cannot be tried in a regular court. However, four other
men implicated in the case were being tried in the Court of First
Instance at year's end.
In January 2005 Haider Mahmoud, a respected poet, wrote a thinly-
veiled poem to the King warning him of the corruption surrounding him.
Mahmoud was vilified in the press as a traitor, and then-prime minister
Faisel al-Fayez called for the mayor of Amman to fire Mahmoud from his
position as head of the Al Hussein cultural center; Mahmoud resigned.
Mahmoud's son also resigned from his job with the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.
In May 2005 MP Ghazi Zaben opened an investigation into awqaf
(religious endowments) funding, and into allegations that a former
minister of awqaf and Islamic affairs, Ahmad Hilayel, was illegally
profiting from travel packages to Mecca for the annual Muslim
pilgrimage.
Under a December 4 law an official committee will be established
entrusted with combating corruption. The committee will have a free
mandate to pursue current and former officials who are suspected of
being involved in corrupt activities. The law also states that this
body will be autonomous and its officials immune from prosecution.
The law provides for public access to government information once
it becomes a matter of legal record, and the Government enforced this
law in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Several domestic and international human rights groups generally
operated with restricted permission from the Government, investigating
and publishing their findings on human rights cases alleging torture
and other abuses committed by the security forces. Within these limits
government officials were cooperative and responsive to their views.
The Press and Publications Law removed restrictions on the publication
of information about the military and security forces, which had
prevented the publication by domestic groups of reports alleging
torture and other abuses committed by the security forces; however,
similar restrictions still exist in the penal code and other laws (see
section 2.a.).
The NCHR's activities, which began in 2003, included training
government and international organization personnel on human rights
standards and conditions in the country and collection and analysis of
citizens' complaints. The Government cooperated with and funded the
center; some human rights activists complained that it was too
influenced by the Government. On May 21, the NCHR issued its second
annual report on the state of human rights in the country, covering
2005. According to the NCHR, it continued to face legal hindrances
which impinge on the Center's ``moral and financial privileges''
necessary for its work. The 2005 report also stated that the
Government's response to the 2004 discussion of legislation on the
right to associate and the freedom of expression was negative. In the
2005 57-page report, the NCHR ranked the country ``good'' at the
planning and policy level; ``acceptable'' in economic, social, and
cultural rights; and ``poor'' in civil and political rights. A
ministerial committee was formed after the report's release to study
the report and formulate a response. At year's end the committee had
met but had not yet produced a response.
There were eight PSD human rights complaints offices in each of its
eight regional directorates. Persons charging police misconduct may
submit complaints to the relevant office. Plaintiffs may file
compensation claims for damages, and convicted officers reportedly also
were subject to disciplinary action. During the year citizens filed 425
complaints against PSD personnel.
The Government generally cooperated with international NGOs, but
human rights observers claimed that they were unable to meet with some
security detainees because they were held incommunicado. The ICRC was
permitted full access to all detainees and prisoners, including those
held by the GID and the military intelligence directorate (see section
1.c.). The Government did not respond to HRW requests to allow its
researcher to investigate torture. Some high level officials did meet
with HRW after the release of their report, Suspicious Sweeps.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution does not distinguish between citizens on the basis
of race, disability, language, or social status; however, the law
treats women unequally and some minorities faced discrimination in
employment, housing, and other areas.
Women.--Women experienced legal discrimination in pension and
social security benefits, inheritance, divorce, ability to travel,
child custody, citizenship, and in certain limited circumstances, the
value of their Shari'a court testimony (see section 1.e.). Violence and
abuse against women continued, although the full extent of the problem
was difficult to determine. In rural areas violence against women was
reported more frequently than in major cities; however, women's rights
activists speculated that many incidents in cities went unreported.
Although in recent years the Government has taken steps to increase the
resources available to help abused women including opening a safe house
for women, cultural norms continued to discourage victims from seeking
medical or legal assistance.
Abused women have the right to file a complaint in court against
their spouses for physical abuse; however, in practice familial and
societal pressures discouraged them from seeking legal remedies.
Marital rape is not illegal. NGOs such as the Jordanian Women's Union,
which had a telephone hotline for victims of domestic violence,
provided assistance in such matters. The Family Protection Unit of the
Public Security Directorate also offered a comprehensive support
program for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. During the
year the PSD reported 644 cases of sexual assault and 141 cases of
domestic violence. Spousal abuse is technically grounds for divorce,
but a husband may seek to demonstrate that he has religious authority
to strike his wife.
On May 30, the Communication Partnership for Family Health (CPFH),
in coordination with the Ministry of Health and Tulane University,
published results of a survey of 1,847 households regarding attitudes
towards domestic violence. The study revealed that 40 percent of men
and 53 percent of women believed that wife beating was acceptable under
certain circumstances.
Authorities prosecuted all 18 reported instances of honor crimes
that resulted in death of the victim. These killings derive from
customary notions of family honor among some communities, both Muslim
and Christian. According to women's rights activists, there was
evidence of a societal trend toward condemnation of honor crimes. The
police regularly placed potential victims of honor crimes in protective
custody. Activists estimated that at year's end more than 25 women were
in protective custody. At least one NGO was working in conjunction with
the Government to establish a shelter where the women could live in
relative anonymity as an alternate to protective custody.
In ordinary cases the maximum penalty for first-degree murder is
death, and the maximum penalty for second-degree murder is 15 years in
prison. Article 340 of the penal code provides for lenient treatment in
cases where the accused personally witnessed the victim of an honor
crime engaging in sexual relations or in bed with a nonspouse. Article
98 of the penal code specifically states that ``an extenuating
justification can be invoked by anyone who commits a crime in a fit of
rage as a result of an unrightful and dangerous act carried out by
[the] victim,'' and, as a result, may significantly reduce penalties
for murder. Although the defendants are almost universally found
guilty, a successful article 98 defense results in the defendants
receiving token sentences.
For example, on January 4, a woman was allegedly shot by her
brother after her family threatened her life for reasons of family
honor. The woman survived and her brother was taken into custody and
charged with attempted murder.
In June a brother allegedly shot his sister to death after an
argument over her alleged ``immoral behavior". He was charged with
premeditated murder and detained for 14 days before being released on
bail. His case is still pending.
On October 24 in Madaba, a man allegedly shot and stabbed his 31
year old sister because of her ``bad conduct". He turned himself into
the police, who arrested and detained him.
In a widely reported case, two brothers were convicted of murdering
their pregnant sister. The woman had become pregnant out of wedlock
with an Egyptian man. She confronted her family with the pregnancy and
received her father's blessing to marry in Egypt. Upon her return to
the country to give birth, her brothers killed her and her unborn
child.
By invoking Article 98, the charges for honor crimes are often
reduced from premeditated murder to manslaughter. Most men convicted of
an 'honor crimes' were given no more than 6 month prison sentences. The
most common perpetrator is often a father or brother of a woman who
acquires a gun and shoots the women to death to restore the family
honor. Pregnant women have been killed, along with unborn children. The
perpetrators may receive minimal punishments.
According to the law, sexual harassment is strictly prohibited and
subject to criminal penalties including fines and imprisonment.
Prostitution is illegal. The Government provided men with more generous
social security benefits than women. The Government continued pension
payments of deceased male civil servants but discontinued payments of
deceased female civil servants to their heirs. Laws and regulations
governing health insurance for civil servants do not permit women to
extend their health insurance coverage to dependents or spouses.
However, divorced and widowed women may extend coverage to their
children.
Under Shari'a as applied in the country, female heirs receive half
the amount that male heirs receive, and non-Muslim widows of Muslim
spouses have no inheritance rights. A sole female heir receives half of
her parents' estate; the balance goes to designated male relatives. A
sole male heir inherits both of his parents' property. Male Muslim
heirs have the duty to provide for all family members who need
assistance. Men were able to divorce their spouses more easily than
women, although a provisional law introduced in 2002, which was in
effect at year's end, permitted women to initiate divorce on any
grounds, provided they give up the financial settlement normally
granted in divorce cases. The existing permanent divorce law allows
women to seek divorces and retain their financial rights only under
specific circumstances, such as spousal abuse. In these cases there is
a burden of proof that the women must overcome (see section 2.c.).
Special courts for each denomination adjudicate marriage and divorce
matters for Christians (see section 2.c.). During the year, there were
25 female judges, an increase of six from 2004.
The 2003 Passport Law states that women and their minor children
have the right to obtain passports without the written permission of
their husbands (see section 2.d.). Married women do not have the legal
right to transmit citizenship to their children; however, female
citizens married to noncitizen men can pass citizenship to their
children upon the permission of the council of ministers. In practice
this permission was usually granted, except in cases where the father
was Palestinian origin. Furthermore women may not petition for
citizenship for their noncitizen husbands. The husbands themselves must
apply for citizenship after fulfilling a requirement of 15 years of
continuous residency. Once the husbands have obtained citizenship, they
may apply to transmit the citizenship to their children. However, in
practice such an application may take years, and in many cases
citizenship still may be denied to the husband and children. Such
children become stateless and, if they do not hold legal residency,
lose the right to attend public school or seek other government
services.
Civil law grants women equal pay for equal work; however, in
practice this was not consistently enforced.
Traditional social pressures discouraged many women from pursuing
professional careers, especially after marriage. Nonetheless, women had
employment opportunities in many professions, including government,
engineering, medicine, education, the military, and law. Women's groups
stressed that the problem of discrimination was not only one of law but
also of women's lack of awareness of their rights or unwillingness to
assert them. A professional women's association, the royal family, and
the Government promoted improvements for women's civil and economic
life. Official figures at year's end show that 48 percent of students
enrolled in higher education institutions were female, and in some
disciplines, women comprised 80 percent of the student body.
At year's end, while unemployment for the population as a whole
reached 15.4 percent, for women the number was 31.4 percent.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare in the areas of education and health; however, government
efforts in these areas were constrained by limited financial resources.
Education is compulsory from ages six through 16; however, no
legislation exists to enforce the law or punish guardians for violating
it, and absence from school goes without penalty. A student may be
absent from school for up to two years and the Ministry of Education
will still allow the student to return to school. Public education was
free from age six through completion of high school (age 18). The
overall school attendance and total secondary school attendance rates
remained at 92 percent. Several domestic and foreign religious groups
operated private schools throughout the country. Since 1999 the
Government denied Iraqi children admittance to public schools unless
they were legal residents of the country or recognized as refugees by
the UNHCR. In September the MOI decided to bar enrollment of Iraqi
children at private schools in the country unless their parents have
residency permits; however, in practice most are allowed to attend.
(see section 2.d.).
The Government attempted to address the issues of educational
development and quality and the relevance of education to job-market
demand. The Government did not charge tuition for public education, and
it granted food and transportation supplements to families with many
children and to very poor families.
Students must obtain a good behavior certificate from the GID to be
admitted under the university quota system. Activists reported that the
GID sometimes withheld these certificates from deserving students due
to a family member's allegedly problematic record.
The Government provided free inoculation programs typically
administered through the school system for children. In addition
children had access to government-subsidized public clinics, which
offer reduced fees for most services.
The National Council for Family Affairs coordinated all issues
concerning family safety. Since 2005 the government-funded ``Dar al
Amman,'' the country's first child protection center, provided
temporary shelter, medical care, and rehabilitation for abused children
age six to 12. At year's end, approximately 25 children were residing
temporarily in the shelter.
During the year authorities received complaints of 59 cases of
physical abuse and 475 cases of sexual abuse of children (a decrease
from 2005). The law specifies punishment for abuses against children.
Conviction for rape or sodomy of a child under 15 years of age
potentially carries the death penalty.
The current minimum age for marriage is 18 years. However, with the
consent of a judge and a guardian, children as young as 15 may be
married. In most cases the guardian made the decision that the child
should be married, and it was not the child's choice. One partner,
almost exclusively the male, is most times significantly older than the
15-year-old. The Government attempted to safeguard some other
children's rights, especially regarding child labor (see section 6.d.).
Although the law prohibits most children under the age of 16 from
working, child vendors worked on the streets of Amman. Economic
conditions and social disruption have caused the number of these
children to increase over the last 10 years.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in children;
however, it does not specifically prohibit trafficking in other persons
and there were reports that persons were trafficked to Jordan primarily
from Bangladesh, China, India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan to work in the
Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZs), according to a report released by
the National Labor Committee, an American NGO (see section 6.e.) Other
criminal statutes prohibit slavery and indentured servitude.
Since August the Government has undertaken a cooperative program
with the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) to raise foreign
domestic workers'(FDW) awareness of protections and rights under the
law.
On May 14 the Ministry of Labor (MOL) opened a new directorate
specifically to address the needs of the approximately 70,000 FDWs. In
addition to sponsoring stricter legislation regulating the recruitment
and hiring measures used by the recruitment agencies, the MOL also
established a 24-hour telephone hotline that FDWs could call to report
abuses. Further, the Ministry produced booklets on the FDWs' rights,
published in their own languages and distributed them to the workers
when they arrived in Jordan. Regular announcements in local newspapers
advise employers of their responsibilities towards their domestic help.
In the past, reports have alleged that workers suffered abuses that
amounted to human trafficking, including nonpayment of wages, excessive
hours, and withholding of passports. In 2005 the Human Rights
Directorate of the Foreign Ministry created the position of Deputy
Director of Trafficking issues.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law provides persons with
disabilities equal rights and there were no reports of discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services.
The law mandates that companies reserve 2 percent of their
positions for people with disabilities. According to education
officials, there are 4,000 blind teachers currently employed. The law
further focuses on accessibility measures and individual support. This
includes infrastructure modifications on new buildings and roads. The
Government generally enforced these provisions, although many private
and public office buildings still have limited or no access for persons
with disabilities. High unemployment restricts job opportunities for
persons with disabilities, who officially numbered 220,000 although UN
estimates placed the number closer to 500,000. Thirteen percent of
citizens with disabilities received monetary assistance from the
Government. A Special Building Code Department was established in 1997,
to oversee the retrofitting of existing buildings to make them
accessible to disabled persons.
There were three groups of Palestinians residing in the country.
Those that migrated to the country and the Jordan-controlled West Bank
after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war were given full citizenship. Those
still residing in the West Bank after 1967 were no longer eligible to
claim citizenship, but were allowed to obtain temporary passports
without national numbers, provided they did not also carry a
Palestinian Authority travel document. In 1995 then-King Hussein
announced that West Bank residents without other travel documentation
would be eligible to receive full-validity passports, although still
without national numbers. Refugees who fled Gaza after 1967 were not
entitled to citizenship and were issued temporary passports without
national numbers.
Human rights activists maintained that despite the codified
passport issuance procedures, many citizens of Palestinian origin have
had their Jordanian national numbers revoked at the whim of the
interior ministry employees. Others claimed that their temporary
passports have been confiscated after spending time in the West Bank.
Human rights activists claim glass ceilings inhibit Palestinians from
receiving appointments to many senior positions in the Government and
the military, as does a quota system for admittance to public
universities and the granting of university scholarships. Citizens of
Palestinian origin complain of under-representation in parliament (see
section 2.d.).
During the year there were reports of societal discrimination
against Iraqis living in the country. According to a December 7 UN
Integrated Regional Information Networks report, the number of reports
of discrimination against Iraqis living in the country rose following
the Amman hotel suicide bomb attacks in November 2005 (see section
1.d.). The Iraqi Association for Nationals Living in Jordan received
hundreds of complaints from Iraqis living in Amman of discrimination in
the streets, in shops, and in public places. Several beatings of Iraqis
were reported in the days immediately following the bombings.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal discrimination
against homosexuals existed. There are no laws that addressed
discrimination against homosexuals.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers in the
private sector, in some state-owned companies, and in certain
professions in the public sector the right to form and join unions
without excessive requirements; in practice the Government allowed
unions in these sectors. Unions must be registered to be legal. The
labor law limits membership to citizens, effectively excluding the
country's more than 218,000 registered foreign workers. However, some
unions represented the interests of foreign workers informally.
According to official figures, more than 30 percent of the
workforce was organized into 17 unions. Although the Solidarity Center,
a global NGO, put the actual number closer to 10 to 15 percent, the
number approaches 30 percent when the professional associations are
included Unions are required by the Government to be members of the
General Federation of Jordanian Trade Unions (GFJTU), the sole trade
union federation. The Government subsidized and audited the GFJTU's
salaries and activities. Union officials are elected by secret ballot
to five-year terms, when elections actually take place. More often than
not, the number of candidates equals the number of seats. Members have
three days to file a nomination application, which is reviewed by the
union. Elections are only held if there are more candidates than seats.
In recent election cycles, when the number of candidates exceeded the
number of seats, some candidates were persuaded to withdraw. The
Government monitors the elections in the event of a complaint to ensure
compliance with the law.
The constitution prohibits anti-union discrimination, but the
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) claimed in
late 2005 that the Government did not protect adequately employees from
anti-union discrimination. Workers may lodge complaints of anti-union
discrimination with the MOL, which is authorized to order the
reinstatement of employees discharged for union activities. There were
no complaints of anti-union discrimination lodged with the MOL during
the year.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Unions have and
exercise the right to bargain collectively. Labor laws mandate that
workers must obtain government permission to strike. Unions generally
did not seek approval for a strike, but workers used the threat of a
strike as a negotiating tactic. Strikes are prohibited if a labor
dispute is under mediation or arbitration. If a settlement is not
reached through mediation, the MOL may refer the dispute to an
industrial tribunal with agreement of both parties. The tribunal is an
independent arbitration panel of judges appointed by the MOL. The
decisions of the panel are legally binding. If only one party agrees,
the MOL refers the dispute to the council of ministers and then to
parliament. Labor law prohibits employers from dismissing a worker
during a labor dispute. There are no special laws or exemptions from
regular labor laws in export processing zones.
Many of the workers in the QIZs are non-Jordanians. As a result,
under the current labor law, they are not permitted to form or
participate in unions.
On February 16, 230 employees from Magnesia Jordan held a sit-in
before the MOL to protest the fact that they were not transferred to
the Arab Potash Company after Magnesia Jordan halted production. On
March 9, the employees held another sit-in before the Prime Ministry to
protest nonreceipt of wages for over three months.
On March 10, over 3,500 workers at the Jordan Petroleum Refinery
Company went on strike demanding the resignation of the JPRC Board of
Directors. They also demanded improved working conditions. Their
salaries were raised but the Board of Directors remained in place.
On September 28, 1,000 Bengali workers in a textile factory in ad-
Dulayl staged a strike over the imposition of long and unpaid overtime
hours by the factory manager. On October 1, 1,400 workers at two other
factories also went on strike over unpaid wages.
On October 1, workers at the Rainbow Textile Factory in ad-Dulayl
went on strike to protest an MOL decision to deport six workers who
were thought to be ``troublemakers". On October 5, the MOL reversed its
decision and let the workers stay in the country.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, except in a state of emergency
such as war or natural disaster; however, there were reports throughout
the year that such practices occurred. Foreign domestic servants,
almost exclusively female, were subject to coercion and abuse and, in
some cases, worked under conditions that amounted to forced labor (see
section 6.e.). Also, some workers in the QIZs were allegedly forced to
work without wages, amounting to indentured servitude. The law does not
prohibit specifically forced or compulsory labor by children; however,
such practices were not known to occur.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Labor law forbids children under the age of 16 from being employed,
except as apprentices; however, there were reports of child labor
throughout the country, mostly in urbanized areas. Children under the
age of 18 may not work for more than six hours continuously between the
hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., or during weekends, religious celebrations,
or national holidays. Children under 18 may not work in hazardous
occupations. Provisions in the labor laws do not extend to children in
the informal sector, which consists of agriculture, domestic labor, and
small family businesses.
The law provides that employers who hire a child under the age of
16 must pay a fine ranging from $140 to $710 (100 to 500 dinars). The
fine is doubled if the offense is repeated. The Government, however,
provided little training on child labor to the 72 MOL inspectors
responsible for enforcing the relevant laws. When investigating child
labor, inspectors generally acted to ameliorate the situation of the
involved families, including directing some adult family members toward
job training programs. In the past some government officials claimed
that if children were barred from working, they would lose important
income, on which their families depended, and might turn to more
serious activities, such as drug trafficking and prostitution, for
income.
The MOL's Child Labor Unit (CLU) received, investigated, and
addressed child labor complaints (although it has no formal mechanism
for doing so) and coordinated government action regarding child labor.
The CLU received less than 40 complaints this year. Anecdotal evidence
suggested that child labor, especially of street vendors, was more
prevalent during the year than it was 10 years ago. Despite the
difficulty in accurately measuring the extent of child labor, child
labor was particularly noticeable in big cities, where children work in
mechanical workshops or as peddlers at traffic lights. A 2002 official
study estimated that 32 thousand children were working.
The law does not specifically prohibit forced or bonded labor by
children; however, such practices were not known to occur (see section
6.c.).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--On June 1, the Government
increased the national minimum wage by 5.7 percent, from $127 to $154
(95 to 110 dinars) per month, to become effective July, 2007. The
minimum wage applies to all workers except domestic servants, those
working in small family businesses, those in the agricultural sector,
and those in the QIZs. Inspectors from the MOL enforced the minimum
wage, but due to limited resources were unable to ensure 100 percent
compliance. The national minimum wage did not provide a decent standard
of living for a worker and family. The Government estimated that the
poverty level was at a monthly wage of approximately $47 (33 dinars)
per month per capita.
The law requires overtime pay for hours worked in excess of the
standard work week, which generally is 48 hours. Workers may not work
more than 10 hours in any continuous period or more than 60 hours of
overtime per month. Employees are entitled to one day off per week.
Labor law does not apply to small family businesses, domestic servants,
and nonprofessional and non-technical workers in the agriculture
sector. However, it does apply to citizens and noncitizen workers in
other sectors. There is a separate civil service law. The law specifies
a number of health and safety requirements for workers, which the MOL
is authorized to enforce. The law requires employers to report
industrial accidents to the ministry within 48 hours. Although
employers are not required to report occupational diseases to the
ministry, the law stipulates that if the medical authority determines
that a worker suffers an occupational accident or disease as a result
of his work, the employer is liable for compensation. The ministry
mediates disputed amounts of compensation in cases of occupational
disease. Workers do not have a statutory right to remove themselves
from hazardous conditions without risking the loss of their jobs.
According to the MOL, there were approximately 200,000 registered
noncitizen workers in the country, the majority of whom were engaged in
low-wage, low-skill activities in the textile, agriculture,
construction, and industrial sectors. According to the Government and
independent surveys, approximately 30,000 of these workers were
employed in the QIZs. Foreign workers in the QIZs were recruited
through a vetted process involving registered recruitment agencies.
The May report by the American NGO, the National Labor Committee
(NLC), brought the QIZs under international scrutiny, as the NLC
claimed that foreign workers were subject to conditions that amounted
to human trafficking (see section 5). In response the Government
conducted immediate inspections and closed some factories that were
found to be in violation of internationally recognized labor standards.
Workers from these factories were moved to factories with standards
that met the guidelines set forth by the ILO. At year's end 10
factories had been closed, of which 2 were subsequently re-opened after
complying with updated government standards. Many workers were moved
from non-compliant factories to factories that the Government had
recently identified as complying with updated standards. However, at
year's end a number of factories continued to violate international
standards. Additionally, on September 17, the Cabinet exempted 2,300
QIZ workers who had been moved from one factory to another from the
fines associated with that move, as well as the fines that accumulated
for remaining in the country after their work permits have expired. The
total estimated value of these fines is 1.2 million Jordanian Dinars.
Abuse of domestic servants, most of whom were foreign, was
widespread, although not thoroughly documented. Employers routinely
limited their domestic employees' freedom of movement, and often
illegally confiscated travel documents. Victims, who feared losing
their employment and being returned to their home country, generally
did not report complaints to government officials. In May in
cooperation with UNIFEM and several source country embassies, the
Government also introduced a new standard work contract with greater
protections that applied to all FDWs arriving since July 2003.
__________
KUWAIT
Kuwait is a constitutional, hereditary emirate ruled by the Al-
Sabah family, with a population of approximately three million, of whom
approximately one million are citizens. On January 29, Sheikh Sabah Al-
Ahmad Al-Sabah became the emir following the January 15 death of Sheikh
Jabir Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. The 1962 constitution grants the emir
executive authority and authorizes the emir to appoint a Crown Prince
as well as a Prime Minister who selects a cabinet for emiri approval.
The Government and an elected National Assembly share legislative
authority. According to the constitution, the emir may dissolve the
elected National Assembly by decree, but must call elections within two
months. While not technically illegal, the Government effectively
barred political parties in practice. Although there were reports of
vote-buying by the Government and certain candidates, the June 29
parliamentary elections were considered generally free and fair by
local observers and the press. Unlike in previous years, civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
During the year the main human rights abuses included: no right to
change the Government or to form political parties; unlawful
deprivation of life; maltreatment in prisons, including abuse of
detainees; incomplete independence of the judiciary; restricted
freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association, and religion; limits
on freedom of movement for certain groups of people; corruption; and
trafficking in persons. Serious human rights problems also included the
difficult conditions faced by expatriate workers in the domestic and
unskilled service sectors, the unresolved status of stateless Arab
residents (bidoon), and the unequal rights of women.
During the year, women voted and ran for office for the first time
in the country's history. The Government also passed a new press and
publications law that may enhance freedom of speech.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--As in 2005, there
were reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings. In November a Pakistani who was taken into custody
reportedly called his family to say that he was being beaten. He died
in police custody shortly thereafter. In October an Asian man arrested
on drug charges died in police custody. The Ministry of Interior (MOI)
ordered an investigation into the incident.
There were no updates on the February 2005 case of Amer Khlaif al-
Enezi, who died in custody after his group, the Peninsula Lions,
carried out a violent attack.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
The fate of 544 citizens and 61 other residents taken prisoner
during Iraq's occupation of the country in 1990-91 remained a highly
emotional issue. Of the 605 missing persons, the remains of 227 have
been identified by DNA tests, the majority exhumed from mass graves in
Iraq after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime. Since 2003 Iraqi
authorities have participated in the Tripartite Commission on Gulf War
Prisoners of War and Missing Persons.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, some police and
members of the security forces reportedly abused detainees. Police and
security forces were more likely to inflict such abuse on noncitizens,
particularly non-Gulf Arabs and Asians, than on citizens. The
Government stated that it investigated all allegations of abuse and
punished at least some of the offenders; however, in most cases the
Government did not make either the findings of its investigations or
punishments it imposed public.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of alleged torture
during interrogation during the year.
In February 2005 a citizen journalist claimed security officers
beat him with sticks after he was arrested in January 2005 on charges
of spreading news that harmed the national interest (see section 2.a.).
In May 2005 six Islamic militants, whose leader died in custody (see
section 1.a.), suspected of engaging in deadly gun battles with
security forces, alleged they had been tortured and abused, including
beatings to their backs and on their feet, while in police custody. In
September 2005, a court-appointed, independent medical commission
confirmed that the suspects had scars from beatings; however, it did
not indicate the presumed cause or estimated date of the injuries.
There were no public developments in the case by year's end.
In March news sources reported that a police sergeant raped a
Filipina woman, and that the policeman was remanded into custody
pending results of an investigation.
In 2004 three policemen were arrested for allegedly raping a female
domestic employee of Asian origin at a police station and at another
location. Police launched an investigation; however, there were no
public developments at year's end.
Defendants have the right to present evidence in court that they
were mistreated during interrogation; however, the courts frequently
dismissed abuse complaints because defendants were unable to provide
physical evidence of abuse. Members of the security forces routinely
concealed their identities during interrogation, complicating
confirmation of abuse.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions varied,
and some were poor.
In its April 2005 report, the National Assembly's Human Rights
Defense Committee (HRDC) reported severe overcrowding, poor sanitation,
inadequate containment of infectious diseases, and lack of sufficient
medical staff as common problems in the old prison complex.
A new men's prison building reduced previously severe overcrowding
conditions. The new facility met all international standards for
prisons.
There were reports that authorities mistreated prisoners and failed
to prevent inmate-on-inmate violence. During the year foreigners at the
deportation facility in Shuwaikh were incarcerated between 10 days and
two months, on average, awaiting deportation. Some were held there for
much longer periods, often due to delays in the court system or
bureaucracy.
The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs (MAIA) offered job skills
and societal values training to inmates, and the Social Reform Society,
an Islamist nongovernmental organization (NGO), provided drug
rehabilitation programs for incarcerated Muslim addicts. Other NGOs,
such as the Social Work Society, and religious leaders were allowed to
run programs and visit prisoners.
The Government permitted visits by independent human rights
observers. In previous years, the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) had standard access to inmates in some categories, such
as: Iraqi prisoners of war, bidoon (Arabic for ``without'' meaning
``without citizenship'') (see section 5), citizens of states without
diplomatic relations with the country, and a returned citizen detainee
from Guantanamo (see section 4). During the year the Government did not
prevent the ICRC, which maintains an office in the country, access to
inmates. However, due to internal problems, the ICRC did not carry out
prisoner monitoring during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions. In general police officers must obtain an arrest warrant
from state prosecutors or a judge before making an arrest (see section
1.f.), although in misdemeanor cases or if the police are in hot
pursuit the arresting officer may issue them. There were credible
reports of police arresting and detaining foreigners without a warrant,
based on accusation by a third party.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police have sole
responsibility for the enforcement of laws not related to national
security. The Kuwait State Security oversees intelligence and national
security-related matters. Both are under the purview of civilian
authorities of the MOI. The military is responsible for external
security.
Overall, the police are effective in carrying out their core
responsibilities. For instance, in October and November, they carried
out a series of highly publicized raids to crack down on prostitution
rings. However, there were reports that some police stations did not
take the requests of complainants, especially foreigners, seriously and
obstructed their access to the justice system.
During the year there were credible reports of police corruption
and abuse of detainees during interrogation (see section 1.c.). In
April the HRDC demanded an answer from the interior minister as to what
action had been taken against Criminal Investigation Department
employees who allegedly tortured another MOI employee to pressure him
to drop a case against a police officer. Unlike in the past, no
security officials were relieved of their duties as a result of
credible allegations of abuse of detainees during interrogation. In
cases of alleged police abuse, the district chief investigator examines
abuse allegations and refers worthy cases to the courts for trial.
There were no reported government efforts during the year to reform the
police or security forces.
Arrest and Detention.--According to the penal code, suspected
criminals may be held at a police station for up to four days without
charge, during which time security officers may prevent lawyers and
family members from visiting them. In such cases lawyers are permitted
to attend legal proceedings but are not allowed to have direct contact
with their clients. If charges are filed, prosecutors may remand a
suspect to detention for an additional 21 days. Prosecutors also may
obtain court orders for further detention pending trial. There is a
functioning bail system for defendants awaiting trial. Detainees were
allowed prompt access to a lawyer of their choice after the initial
four-day waiting period.
Of the approximately 3,500 persons serving sentences or detained
pending trial, approximately 150 were held in the ``state security
ward'' on security grounds, including some held for collaborating with
Iraq during the 1990-91 occupation. Arbitrarily lengthy detention
before trial was a problem, and approximately 10 percent of the prison
population consisted of pretrial detainees.
Amnesty.--The emir issued an amnesty to 850 prisoners in February,
some of whom were freed outright while others had their sentences
reduced. The prisoners consisted of men and women, both citizens and
noncitizens.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary and the right to a fair trial and states that
``judges shall not be subject to any authority''; however, the emir
appoints all judges, and the renewal of judicial appointments is
subject to government approval. Judges who are citizens have lifetime
appointments; however, many of the judges were noncitizens who held
one- to three-year renewable contracts. The Ministry of Justice (MOJ)
may remove judges for cause but rarely does so. Foreign residents
involved in legal disputes with citizens frequently claimed that the
courts showed bias in favor of citizens.
The secular court system tries both civil and criminal cases, all
of which originate with the court of first instance, composed of a
three-judge panel. Both defendants and plaintiffs may appeal a verdict
to the high court of appeals, with a three-judge panel, which may rule
on whether the law was applied properly as well as on the guilt or
innocence of the defendant. High court of appeals decisions may be
presented to the Court of Cassation, which conducts a limited, formal
review of cases by five judges to determine only whether the law was
applied properly. The emir has the constitutional authority to pardon
or commute all sentences.
Sunni and Shi'a Shari'a (Islamic law) courts have jurisdiction over
family law cases for Muslims. Secular courts allow anyone to testify
and consider male and female testimony equally; however, in the family
courts the testimony of a man is equal to that of two women. The
constitutional court has the authority to issue binding rulings
concerning the constitutionality of laws and regulations. The court,
whose members are senior judges from the civil judiciary, also rules in
election disputes. The martial court convenes in the event the emir
declares martial law. The law does not specifically provide for a
military court or provide any guidelines for how such a court would
operate. The military operates tribunals that can impose punishments
for offenses within the military.
Trial Procedures.--By law criminal trials are public unless a court
or the Government decides that ``maintenance of public order'' or
``preservation of public morals'' necessitates closed proceedings.
There is no trial by jury.
Defendants, who enjoy a presumption of innocence, have the right to
confront their accusers and appeal verdicts. Defendants in felony cases
are required by law to be represented in court by legal counsel, which
the courts provide in criminal cases. The bar association is obligated
upon court request to appoint an attorney without charge for indigent
defendants in civil, commercial, and criminal cases. Virtually all
indigent criminal defendants asked for and received free counsel,
totaling approximately 15 referrals per day. Very few indigent civil
and commercial plaintiffs requested this service. The law affords these
protections to all citizens. Once the case went to trial, defendants
and their attorneys had access to government-held evidence relevant to
their cases.
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; however,
enforcement of rulings has been a significant problem. Individuals can
bring suits against other individuals for a wide array of offenses.
Administrative punishments in civil matters are available, such as bans
on sponsoring foreign workers if the Government has evidence that a
sponsor has violated the law. However, there were widespread, reliable
reports that it was extremely difficult for those who have been awarded
monetary compensation in courts to collect their awards.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law provides for individual privacy and the
sanctity of the home, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice. The law generally requires police to obtain a
warrant to search both public and private property; however, it permits
searches without warrant if alcohol or narcotics are suspected on the
premises or if police are in pursuit of a suspect fleeing the scene of
a crime. A warrant may be obtained from the state prosecutor or, in the
case of searches of private property, from a judge (see section 1.d.).
The security forces occasionally monitored the activities of persons
and their communications.
The law forbids marriage between Muslim women and non-Muslim men
and requires male citizens serving in the military to obtain government
approval to marry foreign nationals. In practice the Government only
offered nonbinding advice in such matters (see section 2.c.).
When a bidoon resident applied for citizenship, the Government
generally considered any security or criminal violations committed by
his or her family members as a barrier to that resident getting
citizenship.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and the press ``in accordance with the conditions and
in the circumstances defined by law''; however, the Government
restricted these rights in practice, and journalists and publishers
practiced self-censorship.
Individuals were able to criticize the Government freely in private
and in informal gatherings. Individuals were able to criticize the
Government in public gatherings as well, as long as they did not attack
Islam, the emir, or the Crown Prince. Pointed criticism of ministers
and other high-ranking government officials was widespread, and
individuals were not subjected to punishments as a result.
The country had five Arabic and three English-language daily
newspapers, all of which were privately owned. The Government owned
nine local radio and four television stations. A private satellite
television news channel, Al-Rai, was affiliated with its sister
company, Al-Rai Al-Aam newspaper. International media outlets operated
bureaus in the country. In May 2005 the Government permitted Qatar-
based Al-Jazeera to reopen its office after having closed the operation
in 2002 for the channel's ``hostile'' stance toward the country and for
security reasons.
A large contingent of international media representatives generally
covered the June parliamentary elections without restriction. During
the elections the Government attempted to shut down several satellite
channels that started broadcasting election-related programming in
support of particular political blocs.
Unlike in 2005 there were no reports of security forces arresting
journalists during the year. Journalists practiced self-censorship,
although the Government ended legal prepublication censorship in 1992.
On March 6, parliament passed a new press and publications law,
which most observers predicted would ease the process of licensing new
newspapers and which moved some of the regulatory control of print
media from the Ministry of Information to the courts. At the same time,
the law kept many of the old law's prohibitions.
The law prohibits the publication of material that criticizes
Islam, the emir, the constitution, or the neutrality of the courts or
public prosecution. It also forbids incitement to acts that will offend
public morality. Revealing information about classified information or
secret government communications is illegal, as is trying to undermine
the country's currency, economic stability, or external relations
through the media. Slandering or revealing the secrets of people or
groups is also against the press and publications law. Depending on
which provision of the law is broken, punishments range from one year
imprisonment and a fine of $69,000 (20,000 dinars) for criticizing
Islam to $1,725 (500 dinars) for less serious offenses. The law widened
the scope of protection and strengthened the punishments for criticism
of Islam. The court can impose administrative punishments also,
including confiscation, closure, and withdrawal of licenses. Previously
the minister of information imposed these punishments. The criminal law
also contains an array of press-related charges, such as offense to
religious sensibilities, public morality, and the ``basic convictions
of the nation.''
The law requires jail terms for journalists who defame religion
(see section 2.c.). The law provides that any Muslim citizen may file
criminal charges against an author whom a citizen believes to have
defamed Islam, the ruling family, or public morals. Citizens often
filed such charges for political reasons.
Two journalists were jailed because of articles they wrote in daily
newspapers. On May 15, Hamid Buyabis was imprisoned for having quoted
direct criticism of the emir. On November 20, Khalid Obaysan al-Mutairi
was imprisoned for writing an article that seemed to support Saddam
Hussein as the legitimate leader of Iraq. Both journalists were
released after only a day in jail. On November 18, a journalist was
found guilty under the new press and publications law of questioning
the independence of the jury. She was given a three-month suspended
sentence and three years' probation. Numerous law suits were filed by
citizens and government officials against local newspapers. The courts
frequently ruled in favor of the newspapers.
Satellite dishes were widely available and operated without
restriction. However, the MOI censored all books, films, periodicals,
videotapes, and other imported publications deemed morally offensive.
The MOI censored media for political content and did not grant licenses
to political magazines. The MOI controlled the publication and
distribution of all informational materials.
According to the new press and publications law, publishers must
obtain an operating license from the MOI to begin publishing a
newspaper. If the MOI refuses to grant the license, the publisher may
appeal to the courts. Publishers may lose their license if their
publications do not appear for three months in the case of a daily
newspaper or six months in the case of a less-frequent publication, a
stipulation preventing publishers from publishing sporadically.
Individuals also must obtain permission from the MOI before publishing
any printed material, including brochures and wall posters.
The MOI's Technical Compilations Department-Cinema Censorship
Section censored movies shown in theaters based on objectionable
content such as sexual scenes, including kissing; extreme violence; and
profanity.
Internet Freedom.--Ministry of Communications officials reported in
October that there were some 200,000 Internet subscribers and that the
total number of users was approximately 700,000. Since 2005 the
Ministry of Communications (MOC) has blocked Web sites that the
Government considered to ``incite terrorism and instability.'' The
Government required Internet service providers to block some political
sites and Web pages deemed immoral. Internet cafe owners were obligated
to obtain the names and civil identification numbers of customers and
to submit the information to the MOC upon request.
During the year the Government blocked several Web sites. For
example, it closed down a citizen's website that had criticized the
emir.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The law provides for freedom
of opinion and of research; however, academic freedom was limited by
self censorship, and academics were legally prohibited from criticizing
the emir or Islam. On April 24, an opposition journalist was prevented
by the Government from delivering a talk on a university campus with no
explanation.
The Ministry of Information reserved the right to approve or reject
public events. It rejected events if it deems the political or moral
character of the event inappropriate. The ministry reported that it
rejected many applications for events, but did not release the names of
these events. Some hotels and performance halls displayed increased
hesitance to host musical functions because of what they perceived as a
rise in the power of cultural conservatives. The Ministry of Education
(MOE) canceled all graduation parties and high school dances because it
deemed a singer's performance at one such party inappropriate.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly. A 1979 law on
public gatherings restricted this right in practice, however, by
requiring groups to apply for a permit from the MOI in order to hold a
public gathering of more than 20 people. The Government issued such
permits routinely. On May 1, the Court of Cassation struck down the
public gatherings law as unconstitutional in reviewing a case in which
two lawyers held a meeting to criticize the Government. Gathering
organizers still must inform the ministry of their plans, but they no
longer need permission. The law also protects diwaniyas (informal
weekly social and political gatherings). Many adult male citizens,
including members of the Government and of the National Assembly, and
increasing numbers of female citizens hosted or attended diwaniyas to
discuss current events. The diwaniya system provided an important forum
for public debate on economic, political, and social issues. Women also
held diwaniyas of their own, but such diwaniyas were uncommon; a few
diwaniyas were open to both sexes.
There were orderly public demonstrations during the year, and the
police either did not intervene or acted appropriately to contain the
demonstrations. In July and August, several demonstrations protested
Israel's actions in Lebanon. The police maintained order and responded
appropriately, including during one incident when protesters crossed
police barriers. Throughout the year numerous peaceful demonstrations
took place in front of the National Assembly and in other prominent
places to support reducing the number of electoral districts. There
were no serious violent incidents or cases of inappropriate
intervention by the police during these events.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association; however, the Government restricted this right in practice.
The law prohibits associations from engaging in political activities.
The Government refused to recognize political parties; however, several
unofficial parliamentary blocs existed and were active in the National
Assembly (see section 3).
The Government used its power to license associations as a means of
political control. There were 72 officially licensed NGOs in the
country, including a bar association, professional groups, and
scientific bodies. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MOSAL)
licensed seven NGOs during the year compared with 19 the year before
and only one in 2004. There were 149 NGOs pending licensing by the
MOSAL; many had been waiting years for approval.
The 45 NGOs licensed prior to 2004 continued to receive an annual
government subsidy of $41,400 (12,000 dinars) for their operating
expenses, including travel to international conferences. Newly licensed
NGOs, however, do not receive financial assistance. MOSAL rejected some
license requests on the grounds that established NGOs already provided
services similar to those proposed by the petitioners. MOSAL also can
reject an NGO's application if it deems that the NGO does not provide a
public service. The minister has discretion to change a proposed NGO's
name prior to licensing, and sometimes did so on the grounds that the
name was too close to that of an already existing NGO. Members of
licensed NGOs must obtain permission from MOSAL to attend international
conferences as official representatives of licensed NGOs (see sections
2.d. and 4).
There were hundreds of unlicensed civic groups, clubs, and
unofficial NGOs in the country. These unofficial associations did not
receive government subsidies and had no legal status.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion; however, the Government limited this right. The constitution
protects the freedom to practice religion in accordance with
established customs, provided that it does not conflict with public
policy or morals. The constitution declares that Islam is the state
religion and that Shari'a is ``a main source of legislation.'' Non-
Muslim religious groups unanimously reported that freedom of belief is
respected, but non-Muslim religious organizations had much more
difficulty operating than Muslim ones. Shi'a faced some disadvantages
in comparison with Sunnis.
The MAIA has official responsibility for overseeing religious
affairs. Many religious groups gathered informally for worship without
societal or governmental interference. Officially recognized Christian
churches must deal with a variety of governmental entities, including
MOSAL (for visas and residence permits for clergy and other staff) and
the local municipality (for building permits). While reportedly there
was no official government ``list'' of recognized churches, seven
Christian churches had some type of official recognition enabling them
to operate openly. These churches--Anglican, Armenian Orthodox, Coptic
Orthodox, Greek Catholic (Melkite), Greek Orthodox, National
Evangelical (Protestant), and Roman Catholic--were allowed by MOSAL to
have resident visas for expatriate staff.
Four denominations were widely understood to benefit from full
government recognition and were allowed to operate compounds officially
designated as churches: Anglican, Coptic Orthodox, National
Evangelical, and Roman Catholic (including Latin Catholic, Maronite,
and other groups). However, there were quotas on the number of clergy
and staff they could bring into the country, which some churches found
sufficient and others found insufficient. Most existing facilities were
inadequate to serve their respective communities.
Members of religions not sanctioned in the Koran, such as Baha'is,
Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs, may not operate official places of
worship, but they were allowed to worship in their homes without
government interference.
Most Christian groups have found it impossible to build new
churches to serve the ever-growing community of expatriate Christians
in the country--who number over 300,000. The Greek Catholic (Melkite)
Church went through a protracted struggle with the Municipal Council to
secure a piece of land on which to build a new church. After it
received an initial offer in December 2005, the Municipal Council
eventually denied its request on July 8. The debate within the
Council's technical committee left little doubt that the problem was
more religious than technical. The issue caused a number of prominent
parliamentarians and religious figures to vociferously condemn the idea
of building more churches in the country.
Shi'a complained of the difficulty of obtaining licenses for
mosques. Whereas Shi'as were estimated at approximately 30 percent of
the population, there were fewer than 40 Shi'a mosques and over 1,000
Sunni mosques. The MAIA said that it will license and pay for Shi'a
mosques, but also wants to control the religious donations paid by
Shi'as. Shi'as have resisted this requirement. According to the MAIA,
the Shi'a preferred to practice their religion in their husseiniyas
(religious meeting places for Shi'a) in order to avoid government
interference. The MAIA also said that new residential areas in the
country will all be allocated Shi'a mosques. Shi'a Muslims have not
been able to set up an institution for training clergy.
Muslims who wished to convert from Islam to another religion faced
intense societal pressure and generally had to hide their new religious
affiliation.
The Government prohibited non-Muslim missionaries from
proselytizing to Muslims, although they may serve non-Muslim
congregations. The Islamic Presentation Committee, under the authority
of the MAIA, actively proselytized to non-Muslims.
Islamic religious instruction is mandatory in all government
schools and in any private school that has one or more Muslim students.
The law prohibits organized religious education other than Islam;
however, in practice the Government allowed non-Muslim religious
instruction as long as it was assured that no Muslim students were
taking part in the education. The Government did not try to interfere
with religious instruction inside private homes. Government inspectors
reportedly visited public and private schools outside church compounds
periodically to ensure that no religious teaching other than Islam took
place. Government inspectors monitored religious worship services for
possible antigovernment, extremist, or proselytizing rhetoric.
One church petitioned the Government to license its school. After
going through a two-year process in which the school passed all the
technical requirements for licensing, the Municipal Council blocked its
request on April 5. Credible reports of the Committee's discussion of
the school made clear that the decision not to accredit the school was
religiously based.
The Government does not permit the establishment of non-Islamic
religious publishing companies. A private company, the Book House
Company Ltd., was permitted to import a significant number of Bibles
and other Christian religious materials, including videotapes and
compact discs, for use solely by government-recognized church
congregations. The Book House Company Ltd. was the only company that
had an import license to bring in such materials, which requires
approval by government censors. The company supplied only bookstores
operated within the Christian compounds.
In April the Government banned 18 books from being displayed at an
Islamic book festival organized by the Social Reform Society, a
religiously conservative NGO affiliated with the Kuwaiti Muslim
Brotherhood. The banned books were authored by or contained the
writings of individuals associated with the Wahhabi/Salafi movement in
Islam.
Bidoon Arabs faced difficulty in obtaining travel documents, which
made it difficult for them to participate in the hajj (pilgrimage). The
Government declared that it would facilitate the obtaining of travel
documents by bidoon, but whether these declarations had a tangible
effect remained unclear. The Government announced it would allow 1,250
bidoon to make the hajj, but in November it declared that Saudi Arabia
had reduced the number it would allow to 500.
A 1980 law prohibits the naturalization of non-Muslims; however,
citizens who were Christians before 1980 were allowed to transmit their
citizenship to their descendents.
By law a non-Muslim man must convert to Islam when he marries a
Muslim woman. The law forbids marriage between Muslim women and non
Muslim men (see section 1.f.). A non-Muslim woman is not required by
law to convert to Islam to marry a Muslim man. In practice, however,
many non-Muslim women faced tremendous economic and societal pressure
to convert. Failure to convert may mean that, should the couple later
divorce, the Muslim father would be granted custody of any children.
Failure to convert may also result in a wife not being eligible to
inherit her husband's property or to be naturalized.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Shi'a were free to worship
without government interference; however, the Shi'a minority remained
disadvantaged in the provision of mosques, access to Shi'a religious
education, and representation in higher levels of the Government.
There were no facilities in the country to educate Shi'a imams. The
MOE reviewed a Shi'a proposal to establish a private college to train
Shi'a clerics in the country rather than in Iran, Iraq, or Syria;
however, no action had been taken by year's end. In January 2005 a
Shi'a leader called on the MOE to remove references declaring Shi'a as
nonbelievers from high school Islamic education textbooks, which are
based on the Sunni interpretation of Islam. A parliamentary committee
was formed to look into the issue but no action was taken by year's
end.
During the year the Government did not provide permits for Shi'a to
reenact the martyrdom of Husayn, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, on
the occasion of Ashura. However, the Government did not interfere with
reenactments and provided police protection for Shi'a celebrations and
marches. This was a change from the previous year when the Government
provided police protection for Ashura celebrations but did not permit
martyrdom reenactments. In 2004, the Government allowed Shi'a to
reenact the martyrdom of Husayn and provided police protection.
While discrimination based on religion reportedly occurred on a
personal level, most observers agreed that it was not widespread.
Sunni-Shi'a relations are good overall and while tensions from regional
conflicts led to increased attention to the issue, few if any tangible
problems resulted. However, there was institutionalized discrimination
against Shi'a. Some Shi'a reported that they had been passed over for
promotions and suspected their religious affiliation was the reason.
Shi'a were underrepresented in certain branches of the military and
security apparatuses.
A few Muslim converts to Christianity reported harassment and
discrimination by employers. There was a perception among some domestic
employees and members of the unskilled labor force that there would be
better treatment from employers as well as from society as a whole if
they converted to Islam; however, others did not see conversion to
Islam as a factor in this regard.
The law prohibits organized religious education for religious
groups other than Islam, although this law was not enforced rigidly.
Informal religious instruction occurred inside private homes and on
church compounds without government interference; however, there were
reports that government inspectors from the Ministry of Awqaf and
Islamic Affairs periodically visited public and private schools outside
of church compounds to ensure that religious teaching other than Islam
did not take place.
There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts sponsored by or endorsed
by the Government. Unofficial anti-Semitic commentary from
parliamentarians, the media, and from mosque preachers did occur. The
Government took no action to enact laws relating to the protection of
the rights to religious freedom of Jews. There were no known Jewish
citizens and very few expatriates. There had been past examples of
anti-Semitic rhetoric in government-sponsored education curricula,
specifically in reference to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The MAIA promoted its ``moderation'' project, which aims to
discourage extremism among Muslims and improve the image of Muslims
among non-Muslims. The moderation project's activities during the year
included conferences in the country and abroad, as well as training
throughout the year for imams. Special moderation activities were also
carried out by the Government in some secondary 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 law provides for these rights;
however, the Government placed some limits on freedom of movement in
practice. Citizens have the right to travel freely within the country
and to change their residence and workplace as desired.
Unmarried women must be 21 years of age or older to obtain a
passport and travel abroad without permission of a male relative.
Married women must obtain their husbands' permission to apply for a
passport. A married woman with a passport does not need her husband's
permission to travel. Immigration authorities, at the husband's
request, may prevent her departure from the country by a 24-hour travel
ban, after which a court order is required to prevent the wife from
leaving the country. In practice, however, many travel bans were issued
without court order, effectively preventing citizens and foreigners
from departing.
All minor children under 21 years of age require their father's
permission to travel outside the country.
The law permits the Government to place a travel ban on any citizen
or foreigner who has a legal case pending before the courts. The law
also permits any citizen to petition authorities to place a travel ban
against any other person suspected of violating local law. In practice
this resulted in citizens and foreigners being prevented from departing
the country without investigation or a legal case going before a court
of law. Persons who believe a travel ban has been issued against them
can bring a civil suit against the person who initiated the travel ban
request.
Although illegal, many citizen employers routinely confiscated the
travel documents of foreign employees, forcing them to remain in the
country against their will. No government effort prevented employers
from engaging in this practice.
Members of licensed NGOs must obtain government approval to attend
international conferences as NGO representatives (see sections 2.b. and
4). The Government severely restricted the ability of its bidoon
population to travel abroad (see section 5). However, the Government
permitted some bidoon to travel to Saudi Arabia during the year for the
annual hajj. In accordance with the law, the MOI issued limited numbers
of bidoon a single-use passport for hajj travel.
The law prohibits the deportation or forced exile of citizens, and
there were no reports of such practices during the year. The penal code
stipulates that noncitizens convicted of felonies be deported after
finishing their jail terms. Under this provision, citizens can lose
their citizenship if sentenced for a felony during the first 10 years
of obtaining citizenship, discharged from a public job for ``acts
against integrity'' during the first 10 years after obtaining
citizenship, or determined to have established residence in a foreign
country and have joined an authority designed to undermine the country.
Bidoon residents who were able to obtain travel documents
surrendered these documents on their return to the country from abroad.
Once they wished to travel again outside the country, they had to
obtain permission from the MOI to collect their passports.
The law says that the state ``grants'' citizenship, rather than
citizens inherently having a right to it. Therefore, the state can
revoke citizenship as well. Furthermore, the law states that issues of
citizenship cannot be appealed to a court of law. In practice
revocation did not occur during the year and in the past occurred very
infrequently, and only in political cases.
Protection of Refugees.--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. 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. The law prohibits the extradition of
political refugees. The Government stated that it did not deport
persons who claimed to fear persecution in their home countries;
however, it often kept such persons in detention rather than grant them
permission to live and work 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 Government did not permit the ICRC to verify whether deportees
objected to returning to their countries of origin and detained those
with objections until they either changed their minds or made
alternative travel arrangements.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution states that ``The System of government in Kuwait
shall be democratic, under which sovereignty resides in the people, the
source of all powers.'' However, citizens did not have the right to
change their government. The constitution stipulates that the country
is a hereditary emirate, and that the emir will be a descendant of
Mubarak Al-Sabah, the country's ruler from 1896 to 1915. The elected
National Assembly must approve the emir's choice of crown prince (the
future emir). If the assembly rejects the emir's nominee, the emir then
submits three names from which the assembly must choose. The assembly
may remove the emir from power if it declares him unfit. On January 24,
the National Assembly exercised this power for the first time in the
country's history.
Under the law the emir holds executive power and shares legislative
authority with the elected National Assembly. The emir appoints the
Prime Minister who presides over a 16-member cabinet (Council of
Ministers), whom the Prime Minister chooses in consultation with the
emir. At least one of the cabinet members must be an elected member of
parliament.
The law empowers the emir to suspend the National Assembly's
provisions and rule by decree in a state of emergency when martial law
is declared. The constitution provides that cabinet members sit in the
National Assembly and vote on legislation. There are 50 elected
National Assembly members, each of whom serves a four-year term. The
appointed cabinet members also serve as ex-officio members. The
National Assembly must approve all legislation. If the emir promulgates
a law while the assembly is not in session, it must be approved when
the assembly returns to work.
Members regularly require ministers to appear before the full
National Assembly for formal inquiries, known as ``grillings,'' when
MPs are dissatisfied with a ministry's performance. In the past
pressure exerted by the National Assembly, including through votes of
no confidence, led to the resignation or removal of ministers. On
December 18, the parliament was scheduled to grill the Minister of
Information, who resigned at the last minute rather than enduring the
ordeal.
Elections and Political Participation.--On May 21, the emir
exercised his constitutional right to dissolve the National Assembly.
The move came after the assembly reached an impasse over reducing the
number of electoral districts from 25 to five. According to the
constitution, the emir must call elections within two months of the
dissolution, and he set elections for June 29.
In order to vote in National Assembly elections, citizens must be
at least 21 years of age, have been citizens for at least 20 years, and
not be members of the armed forces, police, or other MOI uniformed
personnel with the exception of the National Guard. Candidates must be
citizens who read and write Arabic and who are at least 30 years old.
The June 29 parliamentary elections were the first national
elections in which women had the right to vote and run for office. The
2005 law granting women full political rights requires women to conduct
themselves according to the stipulations of Shari'a when participating
in political activities. This formulation was not used to limit women's
rights to vote or run in elections during the year. There were no
political parties, and there were reports of vote-buying by the
Government and the opposition. Nonetheless, local observers and the
press considered the elections generally free and fair since there was
genuine competition for seats and no significant reports of
irregularities in voting procedures or counting. The political blocs
opposing the Government increased their representation from 29 to 34
seats.
Approximately 30,000 citizens were not allowed to vote because they
lived outside of the official boundaries of the electoral districts.
Citizens from most branches of the military and police were also barred
from voting, a primary reason for the large discrepancy between the
number of male and female voters. The electorate consisted of 340,248
citizens, 57 percent of whom were women. A total 249 candidates,
including 27 women, competed for the 50 seats. Media sources reported
that 66 percent of registered voters voted, including 58 percent of
eligible female voters. Women were registered to vote automatically,
therefore all eligible women voters were registered.
Thirty-two female candidates entered the race. A number withdrew
for various reasons (as did many male candidates), but 27 remained on
the ballot. None won a seat in parliament. Elections had been
previously scheduled for the fall of 2007. The change in dates meant
candidates had one month to organize their campaigns. Many cited this
as a factor that disadvantaged women's chances since they had less
experience campaigning than men. Several women faced harassment. One
candidate's campaign posters were defaced. Another candidate withdrew
as a result of death threats, reportedly from members of her own tribe.
Some female candidates complained that election officials treated them
dismissively. Overall, however, women were able to compete freely.
Female voters also influenced the campaign process. Male
candidates, even those who had voted against female suffrage, held
special rallies for female voters. Issues perceived as important to
women, such as education and the bidoon, received more attention than
they might otherwise have received. Women volunteered as campaign
workers at all levels for both male and female candidates. Some men
reportedly instructed their female relatives to vote for particular
candidates, although voting was by secret ballot.
In a special April 4 election for a seat on the Municipal Council,
women voted and ran for the first time in the country's electoral
history. The council, with a four-year term, is composed of 16 members,
10 popularly elected and six appointed by the Government. It wields
extensive power in the country because it controls land allocation for
public and private uses. Two female candidates ran, with one placing
second. Media reports put female turnout at 29 percent, compared with
the overall turnout of 38 percent. Women faced some difficulty in
breaking social taboos, but there were no direct barriers to their
participation in the election. The winning candidate was criticized for
holding a pre-election primary, which is illegal; however, according to
local observers and the press, the election was considered free and
fair.
There is an informal ban on political parties, though there is no
law permitting or prohibiting their formation. Nevertheless, several
well-organized and unofficial blocs, acting much like political
parties, existed and were active in the National Assembly elections.
Assembly candidates must nominate themselves as individuals and may run
for election in any of the country's electoral districts. During the
June elections, there were 25 electoral districts and the top two
finishers in each constituency were elected in single-round balloting.
On July 17, the National Assembly passed a law to reduce the number of
electoral districts from 25 to five in order to reduce the opportunity
for vote-buying. Under the new law each voter will choose up to four
candidates and the top 10 vote getters from each district will win
seats in parliament.
In January 2005, Salafi Islamist leaders, an opposition faction,
held a press conference announcing the establishment of a political
party, Hizb al-Ummah (The Nation's Party). In February 2005 in response
to the group's pronouncement, the public prosecutor charged all the
party's leaders with plotting to overthrow the Government and violating
association and press laws, crimes carrying a maximum sentence of 15
years in prison. On May 1, the Court of Cassation nullified the public
gatherings law, and the party's leaders were acquitted of the charges
stemming from that law.
The two women on the Municipal Council were appointed in June 2005.
On July 10, the Prime Minister appointed Maasouma al-Mubarak as
minister of communications. She became the first female minister in
June 2005 when she was appointed minister of planning and minister of
state for administrative development. Women also held some relatively
senior nonpolitical positions within certain ministries.
Minister of Communications al-Mubarak is one of two Shi'as
represented in the 16-member cabinet appointed in July, which is the
same number as in the previous cabinet. Of 50 elected National Assembly
members, four were Shi'a, as opposed to five in the previous assembly.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--During the year corruption
at the national level by citizens and noncitizens was a problem. There
was widespread perception of corruption in the executive, legislative,
and, to a lesser extent, judicial branches. Combating corruption was
the main theme of the June parliamentary elections.
MOSAL, which issues permits necessary for many business projects
such as importing foreign workers, forbade candidates from getting
permits, fearing that they would be used as favors to be distributed in
exchange for votes. On July 17, the National Assembly reduced the
number of electoral districts because the large number of small
districts led to widespread complaints that MPs were able to buy enough
votes to stay in parliament and that their positions in parliament
allowed them access to lucrative financial opportunities. MOSAL and the
MOI discovered numerous cases during the year of ministry employees
forging documents enabling the importation of foreign workers. Police
arrested numerous individuals, launched investigations, and announced
they would strengthen measures to prohibit further occurrences of
document fraud. MOSAL also closed down companies who were illegally
importing workers.
In March the Government granted a license to the Kuwait
Transparency Society, an NGO focused on combating corruption. In
February, a coalition of 11 local NGOs formed the Transparency and
Reform Alliance, which promised to fight corruption.
The law provides for public access to unclassified government
information by citizens and noncitizens alike. The Government enforced
this law.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The law permits the existence of NGOs; however, the Government
continued to deny licenses to some NGOs. NGOs may not engage in overtly
political activity, and are prohibited from encouraging sectarianism.
They must also demonstrate that their existence is in the public
interest. The only local independent NGOs dedicated specifically to
human rights were the Kuwait Human Rights Society (KHRS) and the
Kuwaiti Society for Fundamental Human Rights (KSFHR). The KHRS, which
operated since the early 1990s and received its official license in
2004, produced an annual report on human rights in the country in the
past, sporadically published a magazine, and met with senior government
officials. The KSFHR came into existence in 2005. It aims to approach
human rights from an Islamic perspective. Its leaders have spoken out
on human rights issues such as the treatment of foreign workers and the
bidoon, but it had not published anything other than a booklet
describing the organization and had not conducted any activities. Other
local licensed NGOs devoted to specific groups of people--such as
women, children, foreign workers, prisoners, persons with
disabilities--are permitted to work without government interference.
Also, an unknown number of local unlicensed human rights groups
operated without government restriction during the year.
The Government permits international human rights organizations to
visit the country and establish offices, although none operated in the
country.
The Government has cooperated fully in the work of the UN Special
Rapporteurs for Iran and Iraq and the high-level representative of the
secretary general on the issue of its citizens missing in Iraq since
the end of the Gulf War. The Government permitted visits by
international governmental organizations, but none visited during the
year except the International Labor Organization's (ILO) Regional
Director for Arab States. The ILO operated a local office in the
country. In July the Arab Labor Organization visited the country and
criticized the Government for insufficient protection of child workers,
noting concerns about working hours, safety, and remuneration.
The National Assembly's Human Rights Defense Committee is an
advisory body. Its work was disrupted by other political events during
the year. However, on July 15, it established for the first time an
expatriate workers' affairs subcommittee.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, origin, disability,
or language; however, in practice the Government did not uniformly or
consistently enforce laws against discrimination. A number of laws and
regulations discriminated against women, noncitizens, and domestic
workers.
Women.--Violence against women continued to be a serious and
overlooked problem. The law does not specifically prohibit domestic
violence, although cases are tried as assault. Each of the country's 83
police stations reportedly received weekly complaints of domestic
abuse. The courts have found husbands guilty of spousal abuse; however,
most domestic abuse cases were not reported, especially outside of the
capital. Abusive husbands, if convicted, rarely faced severe penalties,
and there was no criminalization of spousal rape.
There are no shelters or hot lines for victims of domestic
violence. Some noncitizen women married to citizens reported domestic
abuse and inaction or discrimination by police during the year. By law
a victim of domestic violence may file a complaint with the police and
request that formal charges be brought against the abuser. In practice,
however, even with documented evidence of the abuse such as eyewitness
accounts, hospital reports, and social worker testimony, police
officials rarely took into custody perpetrators of domestic violence.
An abused woman may petition for divorce based on injury, but the law
does not provide clear legal standard as to what constitutes injury. In
addition a woman must provide at least two male witnesses (or a male
witness and two female witnesses) to attest to the injury suffered.
Individuals reportedly bribed police officials to ignore charges of
domestic abuse.
The law provides that citizens found guilty of crimes that violate
moral integrity, such as rape or incest, are forbidden from public
employment. However, rape and sexual assault remained serious problems,
particularly for domestic servants and other foreign workers. Local
newspapers highlighted numerous rape and sexual assault incidents
during the year, mostly against female expatriates.
The police occasionally arrested rapists, and several were tried
and convicted during the year; however, laws against rape were not
always enforced effectively. Victims reported that some police stations
and hospitals handled their cases in a professional way, but that many
did not. No new developments in the 2005 cases of alleged rape of two
female medical personnel and a foreign maid were made public.
Honor crimes are prohibited; however, article 153 of the penal code
reduces penalties for these crimes to misdemeanors. The maximum
sentence is three years in prison. During the year there were at least
three reported cases of honor crimes. The perpetrators of two of the
three crimes were convicted and given prison sentences. The criminal
court pursued a case during the year against three brothers who were
charged several years previously with killing their sister because of
their suspicions about her behavior. The case was still pending at
year's end. The courts sentenced two men to seven and 10 years,
respectively, for killing their daughters.
The police actively enforced laws against pandering and
prostitution, with arrests reported regularly. Prostitutes generally
were deported to their countries of origin; some, however, were
released after signing a pledge of good conduct. Pimps received stiff
jail terms. Some unemployed, runaway foreign domestic workers were
recruited or kidnapped into prostitution (see section 5, Trafficking).
The country is a destination for trafficked women, and instances of
trafficking were reported during the year (see section 5, Trafficking).
There is no specific law that addresses sexual harassment. Human
rights groups characterized sexual harassment against women in the
workplace as a pervasive but unreported problem.
Women continued to experience legal, economic, and social
discrimination. Shari'a discriminates against women in judicial
proceedings, freedom of movement, and marriage (see sections 1.e.,
1.f., 2.d., and 2.c.). Inheritance is governed by Shari'a, which
differs according to the branch of Islam. In the absence of a direct
male heir, Shi'a women may inherit all property, while Sunni women
inherit only a portion, with the balance divided among brothers,
uncles, and male cousins of the deceased. Citizen families (a
``family'' must always include a male) are entitled to receive either a
house or a plot of land and a $240,400 (70,000 dinars) interest-free
government loan (``housing allowance'') to purchase a house. The
Government registers the house in the names of both the husband and the
wife. However, in case of divorce, a female citizen loses her right to
the house regardless of any payments she may have made on the loan. She
may continue to reside in the house if she has custody of any minor
children resulting from the marriage, but she must move once the
children reach age 18. A divorced single mother and her minor children
or a female citizen married to a noncitizen cannot, by law, qualify for
the Government housing allowance.
The law provides for female ``remuneration equal to that of a man
provided she does the same work.'' The law prohibits women from working
in ``dangerous industries'' and trades ``harmful'' to health. Educated
women maintained that the conservative nature of society limited career
opportunities. An estimated 40 percent of female citizens of working
age were employed. A few women have been appointed to senior positions
in the Government and the state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation,
including one female minister and two municipal council members.
The law discriminates against female citizens married to noncitizen
men. These women, unlike male citizens, are not entitled to government
housing subsidies and are required by law to pay annual residence fees
of $684 (200 dinars) for their husbands and children. The law does not
recognize marriage as the basis for granting residency to noncitizen
husbands. Instead the law grants residency only if the husband is
employed. By contrast, male citizens married to noncitizen women do not
have to pay residency fees for their spouses, and their spouses' right
to residency derives from marriage. Noncitizen women can obtain
citizenship from their husbands, but citizen women cannot pass
citizenship to their noncitizen husbands or their children.
The law requires that classes at all universities, private and
public, be segregated by gender. Public universities enforced this law
more rigorously than private universities.
Polygamy is legal but more common among tribal elements of the
population.
Children.--The Government is generally committed to the rights and
welfare of citizen children for whom education is free through the
university level. Primary and secondary education are compulsory and
universal. The MOE estimated primary enrollment at 89 percent for the
2004-05 academic year. Both boys and girls had equal access to the same
quality of education.
The Government provides free healthcare and a variety of other
services to citizen children; noncitizen children must pay a small fee
to be admitted into a health facility and pay additional fees for
specialized care. Government hospitals made certain medicines available
to citizens but would not dispense them to noncitizens. Both boys and
girls had access to the same quality of medical treatment.
There was no societal pattern of child abuse, although there were
isolated instances.
Citizen girls younger than 15, the legal age, continued to marry
within some tribal groups. The MOJ estimated the incidence of underage
marriage ranged from 2 to 3 percent of total marriages. The Government
attempted to educate the rural community via the MAIA and through imams
in local mosques.
Underage Asian girls worked as domestic servants (see section
6.d.).
In October 2005, the Government banned the use of underage camel
jockeys. Unlike in the previous year, there were no credible reports of
underage camel jockeys during the year.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons, and there were reports that persons were
trafficked to the country. Laws against coercion, forced labor,
kidnapping, prostitution, rape, slavery, and other acts can be used to
prosecute trafficking crimes. In March the parliament ratified the UN
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons. On
October 1, the MOI put into effect a standardized domestic labor
contract. The contract, which specifies a minimum wage and forbids
passing fees on to workers, must be signed by the worker, the Kuwaiti
recruitment agency, and the employer. Violators can be prosecuted in a
court of law and the Domestic Workers Agency (DWA) can also apply
administrative punishments--such as a ban on employment of domestic
workers--on those who violate the contract.
Trafficking is a serious problem. Victims were trafficked primarily
from South and East Asia--especially India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka,
Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Indonesia--although smaller numbers
from other countries such as Ethiopia and Eritrea also reportedly were
trafficked.
The primary purpose of trafficking was to provide cheap labor. Some
foreign workers were abused by their employers or coerced into
situations of debt bondage or involuntary servitude. Instances of
laborers associated with visa trading schemes were reported during the
year. Some women were trafficked into prostitution. The most prevalent
cases involved female domestic laborers, but uneducated workers in
unskilled service jobs were also victims of trafficking. There were
reports of foreign workers under age 18 being employed in homes in the
country, but most victims were adults. Those at highest risk for
trafficking tended to be less educated, to come from countries with a
relatively undeveloped set of controls for monitoring the flow of
workers from the country, and to work in domestic or menial labor.
Many domestic workers reported that they were compelled to work
more than their agreement provided for, or that they were not allowed
to leave their houses. One of the most common complaints was lack of
payment.
The physical or sexual abuse of foreign women working as domestic
servants was a problem. Some employers physically abused foreign women
working as domestic servants, and despite economic and social
difficulties for a domestic servant to lodge a complaint, these women
continued to report such abuse. The local press devoted considerable
attention to the problem, and both the police and courts took action
against employers when presented with evidence of serious abuse.
Occasionally domestic workers were charged with assaulting or otherwise
harming their employers; in such cases the workers claimed that they
acted in response to physical abuse or poor working conditions.
There were dozens of reports of domestic workers allegedly
committing or attempting suicide because of desperation over poor
working conditions or abuse. Numerous prostitution rings were uncovered
by police, in which women were being held captive. In some cases women
were working illegally because the working conditions with their legal
sponsors were unacceptable. They were then vulnerable to resorting to
or being coerced into prostitution.
The principal traffickers were labor recruitment agencies and
sponsors (employers) of foreign workers. Both citizens and noncitizens
were involved in trafficking. Officials reported that foreign embassies
were involved in hiring out the workers who came to embassy shelters
because they were being harassed or were not receiving their salaries.
The primary method used to obtain and transport victims was
employers offering valid contracts to workers and then not honoring
those contracts. There were reports that workers were given new
contracts at lower salaries than the ones they signed in their
countries, or that multiple fees were deducted from their salaries.
Nondomestic laborers had their salaries automatically deposited in
their bank accounts. Some companies reportedly kept workers' cash cards
and withdrew part of the money so that the salary deposit looked
sufficient but the worker actually received a smaller amount. The
workers found it difficult to leave these situations for several
reasons: employers frequently withheld the passports of their workers,
making it difficult for them to travel; employees often paid exorbitant
sums to come to the country and were in so much debt that they could
not afford to return home; employers could file or threaten to file
criminal charges against workers for absconding if the worker tried to
leave a bad work situation. Workers had only limited ability to
transfer from the sponsorship of one employer to another.
Many traffickers, some citizens and some noncitizens, ``sold''
visas, often via ``sham'' companies. The trafficker would set up a
business and get permission to import a certain number of foreign
workers for that business. He or she would have an agent in a foreign
country collect high fees from workers for the right to come to the
country to work. When the workers arrived, they often found there was
no work for them. In some cases, the employer would file an absconding
charge or simply report that the employee was no longer employed.
Victims were left without means of support and were thus vulnerable to
trafficking, while the employer could then import more workers and
charge them the same fees. In other cases, the workers knew that they
were merely paying for sponsorship and that it was up to them to find
work.
Penalties for trafficking-related crimes range from fines and
incarceration for assault and battery to life sentences for rape.
During the year the courts made a number of convictions for crimes
clearly related to trafficking: 258 people were convicted of importing
workers without providing them with work, and there were 276
convictions for illegal selling of residence permits to foreigners. The
Government also took legal action in cases where trafficking may have
been a factor: it reported 19,908 convictions during the year for
violations of workers' rights, and MOSAL closed down 1,818 companies
for violating the terms of their business licenses. Companies who trade
in visas or otherwise abuse their privileges to import workers can be
temporarily or permanently closed. Companies are required to keep a
deposit with MOSAL so that if they are found to have not paid salaries,
MOSAL can use the deposit to remunerate the worker.
The Government put more emphasis on trying to resolve conflicts
through mediation rather than prosecution. The DWA, which has perhaps
the most direct role in rectifying cases of trafficking of domestic
workers, has little enforcement power and therefore tries to convince
the employer and employee to come to an informal agreement. The DWA is
often able to broker solutions. As of October 1, with the
implementation of the new standardized domestic labor contract, the DWA
can blacklist employers to prevent them from importing more workers.
Employees often feel pressured to accept less than what they are owed
because they know that it can take a year or more to pursue their cases
in court, and they generally will not be permitted to stay and work in
the country during that time. Although domestic workers avoid courts
due to the length of time cases take and due to their lack of knowledge
of local legal structures, the courts have frequently ruled in favor of
domestic workers who brought cases.
The Government announced in August that it would forbid the
transferring of a domestic worker from one sponsor to another, a policy
designed to prevent the ``selling'' of domestic workers. The policy was
cancelled almost immediately for further study in response to an outcry
from employers and the huge increases in the fees paid for employment
agencies to procure a domestic worker.
The Government has an interministerial committee to deal with
expatriate worker issues. The committee met several times during the
year but did not take any actions that would have an effect on
trafficking.
During the year the Government was not asked to cooperate with
international investigations nor to extradite citizens for trafficking-
related crimes.
During the year, there were no specific reports of government or
police involvement in trafficking.
Runaway servants, including those alleging physical or sexual
abuse, often sought shelter at their country's embassy pending
repatriation or a change in employer (see sections 6.c. and 6.e.). Of
an estimated 450--540,000 domestic servants in the country, an
estimated 800 women were reported to be in informal shelters run by
source country embassies on any given day during the year. One source
country embassy reported that during the first 10 months of the year,
2,600 domestic workers had stayed for one or more nights in the embassy
shelter.
The Government and NGOs took steps to assist trafficking victims.
In December 2005 police arrested a bidoon on charges of enslaving a
domestic worker. The man reportedly confessed to the crime, although
the case had not been resolved at year's end. The Government
occasionally paid for airline tickets or chartered planes to repatriate
runaway or abused domestic servants when their employers refused to
repatriate them. In 2004 some NGOs, such as KHRS and the Kuwait
Friendship Society, also paid for return airline tickets or legal fees
on behalf of runaway or abused domestics. An NGO and a legal firm
offered free legal aid to domestic workers in embassy shelters.
Employers often accused their runaway domestics of theft or other
crimes to avoid furnishing tickets. In such cases the domestics often
were deported without the compensation. The MOI blacklisted some
delinquent employers from sponsoring new domestics, but some used
personal connections to circumvent the prohibition.
The MAIA initiated a public awareness project to inform domestic
workers and their employers of the rights and responsibilities of both
parties. The project's first public activity was a community meeting on
May 15 to hear employers' and employees' ideas about problems relating
to domestic workers. At year's end the program was in the information-
gathering stage, having nearly completed several studies on problems in
the domestic labor sector.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities and imposes penalties against
employers who refrain from hiring persons with disabilities without
reasonable cause. The law also mandates access to buildings for persons
with disabilities. The Government generally enforced these provisions.
There was no reported discrimination against persons with disabilities;
however, noncitizens did not have access to government-operated
shelters or receive stipends paid to citizens with disabilities, which
covered transportation, housing, job training, and social welfare.
Representatives from ministries, other governmental bodies, Kuwait
University, and several NGOs constitute the Government's Higher Council
for Handicapped Affairs, which makes policy recommendations, provides
financial aid to the disabled, and facilitates the integration of the
handicapped into schools, jobs, and other social institutions. The
Government supervised and contributed to schools, and job and training
programs that catered to people with special needs.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The legal status of tens of
thousands of bidoon residents remained unresolved. The bidoon are
people who have residency ties to the country, some persisting for
generations and others for briefer periods, but who either lack or
conceal documentation of their true nationality. The exact number of
bidoon residents was unknown. The Executive Committee on Illegal
Residents, an administrative body that is part of the MOI, is charged
with dealing with bidoon affairs. It has files on 90,000 bidoon, but
the total numbers are over 100,000, according to most estimates. A 2004
government census, for instance, estimated 107,000 persons to be
bidoon. Since the mid-1980s, the Government actively discriminated
against the bidoon in areas such as education, employment, medical
care, and mobility.
A member of the royal family initiated a charitable fund in 2004 to
pay for bidoon children to attend private schools; however, according
to bidoon informants and activists, the fund was insufficient to cover
the needs of many bidoon children. The bidoon also began to receive
free health care. A partially government-funded program concluded
contracts with several insurance companies to pay the fees for bidoon
health services.
Beginning in the mid-1980s, and especially after the country's
liberation in 1991, the Government did not allow bidoon to work in most
government jobs. The bidoon had freely worked in all government
ministries before that period, with especially high concentrations in
the Ministries of Interior and Defense. Some served in the nonofficer
ranks of the armed forces, although bidoon enlistees are now barred
from joining. The Government made it very difficult for bidoon to
obtain official documents such as birth certificates, civil
identification, driving licenses and marriage certificates, which made
it difficult for many unregistered bidoon, particularly younger bidoon,
to find employment. In March the Government allowed bidoon to renew
their identity documents. Many bidoon had not been able to renew these
cards in five or more years. Some bidoon complained that the card in
itself did not allow the bidoon to work or obtain other documents and
that issuing of the cards was simply a way for the Government to track
them. Reports circulated early in the year that the Prime Minister
ordered the easing of the difficult situation many bidoon face. By
year's end it was not clear what effect these orders may have had. The
Government did not issue travel documents to bidoon routinely, and if
bidoon traveled abroad without documentation, they risked being barred
from returning to the country without advance permission from
immigration authorities. The children of male bidoon inherit their
father's undetermined legal status, even if born to citizen mothers.
Only bidoon registered by June 27, 2000, could begin the process
under which they could be documented as citizens. According to this
law, bidoon who were able to prove sufficient ties to the country (that
is, their presence, or the presence of their forebears, in the country
prior to 1965) were eligible to apply for citizenship directly. The
Government maintained that the vast majority of the bidoon were
concealing their true identities, and that most were citizens of Iraq,
Saudi Arabia, and Iran who wanted to enjoy the generous social benefits
offered to its citizens. The Government granted citizenship to
approximately 1,769 bidoon during 2005, but only about 400 gained
citizenship during the year. In recent years a total of 10,600 bidoon
received citizenship. There were 89,779 bidoon citizenship requests
pending.
Many bidoon were unable to provide documentation proving sufficient
ties to the country or present evidence of their original nationality,
as they were truly stateless. Others--the Government claims 26 thousand
over the past several years--disclosed their true nationalities and
obtained passports from their countries of origin: Iraq, Iran, Syria,
Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Once documented, bidoon are able to obtain
residency permits and other official papers. However, bidoon who
declare another nationality lose their chance for citizenship, as do
their family members. During the year many bidoon were caught with
forged passports from countries such as the Dominican Republic and
Nigeria. They claimed they were from countries they had no connection
to in order to facilitate getting documents and work.
The political, economic, and long-term budgetary implications
associated with extending citizenship, and the generous welfare
benefits that come with it, to the equivalent of roughly 10 percent of
the citizen population rendered the issue highly divisive. Some
observers also note that tribal rivalries may also explain why some
citizens oppose naturalization of the bidoon.
There were no reports during the year of the Government deciding
the nationality of any bidoon without a hearing. There continued to be
reports of bidoon obtaining false documents in order to apply for
citizenship.
On July 12, the National Assembly formed a committee for bidoon
affairs to address the bidoon issue. The committee did not take any
specific actions although it issued recommendations in November to
issue driving licenses, improve education and housing conditions, and
increase employment rights for bidoon.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was discrimination
against homosexuals in societal attitudes and legal issues. In February
2005 police charged a group of 28 alleged homosexuals with creating a
public disturbance after they met outside a fast-food restaurant. On
October 27, police raided a party where homosexuals were allegedly
celebrating a wedding. On December 10, the legislative committee of the
National Assembly unanimously approved a law to impose a fine of $3,450
(1,000 dinars) and/or one year's imprisonment for those imitating the
opposite sex.
Unmarried men faced housing discrimination based solely on marital
status. Emiri decree 125 of 1992 prohibits single men from obtaining
accommodation in many urban residential areas as determined by the
Municipal Council. In September 2005 the Council of Ministers approved
a plan to construct housing for noncitizen single males on the
outskirts of the capital and remove them from urban residential areas.
At year's end the Government had not completed the project. In April
the Municipal Council sent teams to warn bachelors that they must move
out of areas where families lived.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--With the notable exceptions of the
country's approximately 450-540,000 domestic servants and an unknown
number of maritime employees, the labor law provides that most workers
have the right to join unions without previous authorization. Foreign
laborers employed as domestics constitute one-third of the noncitizen
workforce and are specifically excluded from the right to associate and
organize. An estimated 80,000 persons, or 5 percent, of a total
workforce of 1.6 million were organized into unions.
For those workers who may join unions, the Government restricts the
right of freedom of association to only one union per occupational
trade and permits unions to establish only one federation, the Kuwait
Trade Union Federation (KTUF), which is composed of 15 unions. The Bank
Workers Union and the Kuwait Airways Workers Union were independent of
the KTUF. The law stipulates that any new union must include at least
100 workers, 15 of them citizens. Both the ILO and the International
Trade Union Confederation have criticized this requirement because it
discourages unions in sectors that employ few citizens, such as the
construction industry and much of the private sector.
The Government essentially treated workers' unions as parastatal
organizations. After vetting and approval, MOSAL provides as much as 90
percent of their budgets and may inspect the financial records of any
union. The expanded unions mainly benefited citizen laborers employed
in the public sector, while expatriate workers continued to face
restrictions.
The Government licensed no new unions during the year, compared
with three during 2005 and 20 in 2004, including the Central Bank of
Kuwait Laborers Union, Public Authority for Applied Education and
Training Labor Union, and Public Environment Authority Laborers Union.
At year's end there were 47 officially sanctioned workers' unions.
June 30 statistics cited 1,534 million noncitizen laborers in the
country, comprising 82 percent of the total workforce of 1,870 million.
However, foreign workers constituted approximately 20 percent of KTUF
members. The labor law discriminates against foreign workers by denying
them union voting rights, barring them from leadership positions, and
permitting them to join unions only after five years of residence,
although the KTUF stated that this requirement was not widely enforced
in practice.
The law empowers the courts to dissolve any union for violating
labor laws or for threatening ``public order and morals,'' although
such a court decision may be appealed. The emir also may dissolve a
union by decree. By law the MOSAL is authorized to seize the assets of
any dissolved union. The law subordinates the legal existence of the
unions to the power of the state; however, no union was dissolved
during the year. Several unions' applications for official recognition
were denied.
Unions may affiliate with international bodies. The KTUF applied
for membership in the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
in 2005 (the International Trade Union Confederation), and was accepted
on June 26. Unions maintained their established relationships with the
ILO.
The labor law prohibits antiunion discrimination. Any worker
alleging antiunion discrimination has the right to appeal to the
judiciary. Employers found guilty of such discrimination must reinstate
workers fired for union activities. There were no reports of
discrimination against employees based on their affiliation with a
union.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The labor law
provides workers, with the important exception of domestic servants and
maritime workers, with the right to organize and bargain collectively,
subject to certain restrictions; the Government generally respected in
practice the rights of those workers covered by the law. The law limits
the right of workers to strike. There were numerous strikes during the
year, but they were organized by workers outside the framework of
unions. Workers frequently held sit-ins as well. Security forces
responded to these strikes; they tried to mediate the dispute and did
not resort to violence. There are no export processing zones.
The law provides for direct negotiations between employers and
``laborers or their representatives'' in the private sector. Most
disagreements were resolved in such negotiations; if not, either party
may petition the MOSAL for mediation. If mediation fails, the dispute
is referred to a labor arbitration board composed of officials from the
Court of Appeals, the office of the Attorney General, and the MOSAL.
The civil service law makes no provision for collective bargaining
between government workers and their employers. Technically, the
Government is responsible for establishing wages and employment
conditions for civil service workers, but it generally determined
benefits in consultation with civil service unions, such as the
Government Workers Union. Union officials resolved most issues at the
working level and had regular access to senior officials.
The law requires all labor disputes to be referred to compulsory
arbitration if labor and management are unable to reach a solution. The
law does not contain any provision ensuring strikers' freedom from
legal or administrative action taken against them by the state.
However, the MOSAL was responsive to sit-ins or protests by workers who
faced obvious wrongdoing by their employers. On November 5, civilian
employees of the MOI staged a sit-in to protest work conditions. The
Federation of governmental Unions undertook an information campaign and
a sit-in that resulted in the Civil Service Council acceding to its
labor demands.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor ``except in cases specified by law for
national emergency and with just remuneration''; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
The law prohibits forced and compulsory labor by children younger
than 18; however, there were credible reports of underage girls working
as domestic servants (see sections 5 and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
labor law prohibits child labor, forced or compulsory labor, and
exploitation of workers; however, there were credible reports of some
underage domestic servants.
The legal minimum age is 18 years for all forms of work, both full-
and part-time. Employers may obtain permits from the MOSAL to employ
juveniles between the ages of 14 and 18 in nonhazardous trades.
Juveniles may work a maximum of six hours a day on the condition that
they work no more than four consecutive hours followed by a one-hour
rest period.
Some underage workers reportedly falsified their ages in order to
enter the country. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of
underage boys used as camel jockeys during the year.
During the year underage Asian girls reportedly worked as domestic
servants after entering the country on false travel documents obtained
in source countries.
The Labor Inspection Department monitored private firms routinely
for labor law compliance, including laws against child labor. MOSAL
claimed that it carried out an extensive campaign in January and
February to ensure that children were not working in industrial jobs
but did not provide evidence of having taken any action to solve the
problem.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--An institutionalized, two-tiered
labor market ensured high wages for citizen employees, most of whom
were in government white collar or executive positions, while
noncitizen workers, even those in skilled positions, received
substantially lower wages. A national minimum wage was in effect for
public sector employees. Citizens were guaranteed at least $690 (200
dinars) per month, while the noncitizens' wage was $310 (90 dinars).
The public sector minimum wage provided a decent standard of living for
a worker and family. There was no legal minimum wage in the private
sector. The MOSAL is responsible for implementing the minimum wage,
which was effectively enforced.
Private sector wages ranged from $17,250 (5,000 dinars) per month
for top managers of large companies to an average of $1,380 (400
dinars) to $3,450 (1,000 dinars) for other skilled professionals and
workers. Wages of unskilled workers in the private sector did not
always provide a decent standard of living, with housemaids often
making less than $138 (40 dinars) monthly, which was stipulated in the
MOI's standard contract for domestic workers set the minimum wage. Some
foreign countries would not let their workers travel to the country
unless they had signed a contract for at least a minimum wage the
country found reasonable. To be eligible to sponsor family members for
residency, workers must receive a minimum wage of $863 (250 dinars) per
month, reduced from $1,380 (400 dinars) in 2004 for both government and
private sector employees. Many foreign workers who met the minimum
income threshold often waited months for government approval to sponsor
their immediate family members to the country. The Government exempted
public school teachers from the minimum salary threshold for sponsoring
family members.
The law establishes general conditions of work for the private
sector, with the oil industry regulated separately. The law limits the
standard workweek to 48 hours with one full day of rest per week, one
hour of rest after every five consecutive hours of work, provides for a
minimum of 14 workdays of leave each year, and establishes a
compensation schedule for industrial accidents. The Government had
amended the law to extend the weekly one-day rest period to temporary
workers employed less than six months and to workers in enterprises
employing fewer than five persons. Domestic servants and other
unskilled foreign workers in the private sector frequently worked in
excess of 48 hours, often with no day of rest and no annual leave.
The law pertaining to the oil industry provides for a 40 hour
workweek, 30 days of annual leave, and sick leave. Laws establishing
working conditions were not applied uniformly to foreign workers. The
civil service law also prescribes additional working conditions for the
public sector, which consisted almost entirely of citizen workers.
The Government has issued occupational health and safety standards;
however, compliance and enforcement appeared poor, especially with
respect to unskilled foreign laborers. To decrease accident rates, the
Government periodically inspected enterprises to raise awareness among
workers and employers and to ensure that they abided by safety rules,
controlled the pollution resulting from certain dangerous industries,
trained workers who used new machines in specialized institutes, and
reported violations. Workers have the right to remove themselves from
dangerous work situations without jeopardizing their continued
employment, and legal protection existed for both citizen and foreign
workers who filed complaints about such conditions. However, government
attention to worker safety issues remained insufficient, resulting in
poor training of inspectors, inadequate injury reports, and no link
between insurance payments and accident reports.
The law provides that all outdoor work stop when the temperature
rises above 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit); however, media sources
alleged that the Government falsified official readings to allow work
to proceed. The Meteorological Division consistently denied these
allegations. In the past recorded temperatures reached 122 degrees
Fahrenheit, but work reportedly continued at many outdoor locations.
Although there were fewer complaints than in past years, the MOSAL
announced that it had conducted at least 208 inspections and found 61
companies were employing 580 laborers in the sun. Reinspections of 116
of these companies found that four companies, employing 30 workers,
continued to violate the law.
The law provides for employer-provided medical care and
compensation to both citizen and foreign workers disabled by injury or
disease due to job-related causes. Once a worker files a claim, the
courts decide the amount of compensation, typically paid in a lump sum.
Workers, especially noncitizens, had difficulty enforcing such
decisions. The law also requires that employers provide periodic
medical examinations for workers exposed to environmental hazards on
the job, such as chemicals and asbestos. Adequate and affordable health
care was a serious problem for many foreign workers. The best medicines
and certain kinds of specialized treatment officially were reserved for
citizens. Noncitizens must pay an annual, government-mandated medical
coverage premium to the Ministry of Health, required to obtain
residency, and additional user fees for medical care, medication,
required tests, or specialized procedures. Many employers deducted the
medical fees from employees' salaries.
Employers often exploited workers' willingness to accept
substandard conditions. Noncitizen workers, especially less-skilled
South Asian laborers, lived and worked much like indentured servants,
were unaware of their legal rights, and generally lacked the means to
pursue legal remedies. They faced contractual disputes, poor working
conditions, and at times physical and sexual abuse (see sections 5 and
6.c.). Most were in debt to their employers or to recruiters before
they arrived in the country, and they had little choice but to accept
the employer's conditions, even if they breached the contractual terms.
It was common for wages to be withheld for a period of months or to be
decreased substantially in violation of their labor contracts. Many
foreign workers were forced to live in ``housing camps,'' which
generally were overcrowded and lacked adequate cooking and bathroom
facilities. Laborers were housed 10 or more to a room in squalid
conditions, a number without access to adequate running water. These
workers were allowed off the camp compound only on company transport or
by permission of the employer. Many foreign workers went heavily into
debt and could not afford to return home.
Any foreign worker covered under the law, which excluded maritime
workers and an estimated 450,000 domestic servants, could submit a
grievance to the Labor Office in the governorate where he worked
regardless of union status; however, such services were not utilized
widely. The KTUF administered an Expatriate Labor Office, which was
authorized to investigate complaints of foreign laborers and provide
them with free legal advice. However, these services were not utilized
widely.
The courts ruled in favor of employees in an estimated 90 percent
of the labor disputes they heard; however, no legal mechanism existed
to enforce judgments. There was no compulsion for employers to obey
court rulings, and workers often did not receive court ordered
compensation. Employers also reportedly used illegal methods to
pressure foreign employees to drop cases against them, such as
withholding their passports, encouraging police intimidation and
brutality, threatening deportation, and filing criminal charges against
workers for fabricated crimes, such as theft.
In 2005 the Government implemented measures designed to protect the
welfare of workers. The MOSAL implemented a 24-hour hot line for
nondomestic laborers to file complaints if their companies were more
than 15 days delinquent in salary payments. The law requires companies
to make a bank deposit for each (nondomestic) expatriate worker hired,
which the Government could confiscate to reimburse employees for unpaid
wages. The Government compensated Bangladeshi workers by this method in
at least one dispute over unpaid back wages during the year.
Recruitment agencies are responsible for resolving labor disputes
between employers and domestic laborers that occur within six months of
the worker's hiring date. If problems continue, the sponsor and worker
must resolve them.
The MOI investigates and resolves labor disputes in cooperation
with the laborers' representative embassies. The DWA assigned officers
to liaise with the Indian, Indonesian, Philippine, and Sri Lankan
embassies on domestic labor problems.
__________
LEBANON
Lebanon, with a population of approximately 4 million, is a
parliamentary republic in which the President is a Maronite Christian,
the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of the chamber of
deputies a Shi'a Muslim. President Emile Lahoud, who is the head of
state, was elected in 1998 for a six year term; however, in September
2004 the Syrian regime pressured parliamentarians to pass a
constitutional amendment that extended President Lahoud's term until
November 2007. The latest legislative elections took place in four
phases between May 29 and June 19, 2005. According to international
observers, the elections were considered generally free and fair,
although most political observers considered the boundaries of the
electoral districts to be unfair. The elections resulted in a new
majority in the parliament opposed to Syrian interference in the
country.
The July-August conflict involving Israel and the terrorist
organization Hizballah erupted on July 12, when Hizballah entered
Israel from Lebanese territory and kidnapped and killed Israeli
soldiers. Israeli military forces responded by entering Lebanese
territory. Both Hizballah fighters and Lebanese civilians died during
the conflict. The conflict ended with a UN-sponsored cessation of
hostilities on August 14.
Despite the cessation in hostilities and the deployment of Lebanon
Armed Forces (LAF) and United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon
(UNIFIL) in the south, Hizballah retained significant influence over
parts of the country, and Palestinian militias retained control of
refugee camps, beyond the reach of state authorities. UN Security
Council (UNSC) resolutions 1559, 1614, and 1701 call upon the
Government to take effective control of all Lebanese territory and
disarm militia groups operating in Lebanese territory. Due to several
factors, including internal political differences and lack of capacity
on the part of its security forces, the Government has not taken the
necessary steps to disarm extralegal armed groups, including Hizballah.
There were limitations on the right of citizens to peacefully
change their government. In a climate of impunity, there were instances
of arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life, torture, and other abuse.
Security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained individuals, while
poor prison conditions, lengthy pretrial detention and long delays in
trials remained serious problems. The Government violated citizens'
privacy rights in an atmosphere of government corruption and lack of
transparency. There were some restrictions on freedoms of speech and
press, including intimidation of journalists. There were limitations on
freedom of movement for unregistered refugees, while widespread,
systematic discrimination against Palestinian refugees continued.
Domestic violence and societal discrimination against women continued.
Violence against children and child labor were also problems.
During the year before the conflict broke out, the Government took
significant steps to increase freedom of assembly and association at
mass demonstrations and by facilitating the formation of new political
associations and parties. The Government also took concrete measures to
prevent unauthorized eavesdropping on private citizens.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Excluding the period
of conflict between Hizballah and Israel, there were no reports of
arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life by the Government or its
agents.
On July 12, Hizballah killed three and abducted two Israeli Defense
Force (IDF) soldiers during a cross-border attack from southern
Lebanon, resulting in a conflict that lasted until August 14. According
to the UN, Israel's air and ground operations in Lebanon killed 1,191
persons, and injured 4,409 persons. Hizballah group leaders
unofficially indicated that more than 250 of their fighters were killed
during the conflict.
During the year the UN International Independent Investigation
Commission (UNIIIC), established under U.S. resolution 1595, continued
its investigation into the February 2005 assassination of former Prime
Minister Rafiq Hariri. While preliminary reports over the last year
have pointed to possible linkages to Syrian intelligence services, no
firm conclusion was reached by year's end.
The following deaths by car bombings were reported during the year:
On May 26, Islamic Jihad member Mahmoud Majzoub and his brother were
killed in Sidon by a bomb placed in his car. The cabinet condemned the
killing asserting that it had ``the fingerprints of the Israeli
occupation.''
On September 5, two roadside bombs exploded in Rmeileh injuring
Internal Security Forces (ISF) Lieutenant Colonel Samir Shehade and
killing four of his bodyguards. Shehade was deputy head of the
information department in the ISF; Shehade handled many sensitive cases
including the investigation into the late Prime Minister Hariri's
assassination. The explosion came on the eve of the arrival of UN
Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Michel to Beirut to discuss the
formation of an international tribunal to try suspects in the Hariri
assassination. Investigations into the incident continued at year's
end.
On November 21, a team of gunmen killed industry minister and
prominent anti-Syrian Christian politician Pierre Gemayel while driving
his car in a northern suburb of Beirut. Although a group called the
``Fighters for the Unity of Al-Sham (Greater Syria) and its Liberty''
claimed responsibility, the identity of the gunmen remained unknown at
year's end. The UN approved the expansion of the UNIIIC probe to
include Gemayel's murder. Investigations into the incident continued at
year's end.
Investigation into 2005 bombings continued, but there were no
further developments in the following cases: The June 2005 killings of
Samir Kassir, a prominent anti-Syrian journalist, and George Hawi,
former head of the Lebanese Communist Party, who were killed in Beirut
when bombs placed under their cars exploded; the July 2005 car bomb
which blasted the motorcade of Lebanon's defense minister and incoming
Deputy Prime Minister, Elias Murr, injuring him and killing one person;
the September 2005 explosive planted under the car of proreform
journalist May Chidiac which seriously injured her; and the December
2005 car bomb that killed the popular prodemocracy journalist and
politician Gibran Tueni, along with a bodyguard and a bystander.
There were no developments in the 2004 car bombing that killed
Hizballah member Ghalib Awwali in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
During the year violent cross-border attacks by Hizballah,
Palestinian, and other unidentified armed elements against the IDF
continued.
Before the July-August conflict, the country's landmine and
unexploded ordinance (UXO) problem was estimated by the National
Demining Office (NDO) at more than 550,000 landmines and UXO throughout
the country. During the portion of the year prior to the conflict there
were seven deaths attributable to landmines, and after the conflict an
additional 19. Eight of those killed were deminers. After the conflict
an additional 800 cluster bomb strike locations had been identified in
the south. The United Nations Mine Action Coordination Center in
Southern Lebanon estimated in November that 40 percent of Israeli
cluster munitions fired during the conflict failed to explode, leaving
an estimated 560,000 to 1.1 million unexploded submunitions in southern
Lebanon. According to UN figures, between August 14 and December 19, 18
Lebanese civilians were killed and 145 were wounded by unexploded
submunitions.
After further investigation, the potential mass grave discovered in
December 2005 at the site of a former Syrian Intelligence headquarters
in the town of Anjar turned out to be a 600-year-old communal burial
site.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances caused by government forces.
On July 12, Hizballah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers on Israeli
territory. Hizballah had yet to allow access or communications with the
two soldiers at years end.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law does not specifically prohibit torture, and
security forces abused detainees and in some instances used torture.
Human rights groups, including Amnesty International (AI) and Human
Rights Watch (HRW), reported that torture was a common practice.
The Government acknowledged that violent abuse of detainees usually
occurred during preliminary investigations conducted at police stations
or military installations, in which suspects were interrogated without
an attorney. Such abuse occurred despite national laws that prevent
judges from accepting confessions extracted under duress. For example,
on February 5, according to international human rights organizations,
authorities arrested 42 Syrian nationals in the wake of violent
protests outside the Danish Embassy in Beirut (see section 2.b.) and
allegedly beat some of them in an apparent attempt to force confessions
about their involvement in the protests. On February 10, a military
court in Beirut ordered their release. No investigations into the abuse
were carried out by year's end.
In its October 2005 report, the UNIIIC investigation of the
assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri noted that some
unidentified security personnel had abused witnesses in the aftermath
of Hariri's assassination.
Abuses also occurred in areas outside the Government's control,
including in Palestinian refugee camps. During the year, there were
reports that members of the various groups that controlled specific
camps detained their Palestinian rivals (see section 1.d.). Rival
groups, such as Fatah and Asbat al-Nur, regularly clashed over
territorial control in the various camps, sometimes leading to
exchanges of gunfire and the detention of rival members.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
poor and did not meet minimum international standards. Prisons were
overcrowded, and sanitary conditions in the women's prison, in
particular, were very poor. There were no serious threats to health,
but indirect threats were noted, such as physical and mental stress;
the latter were especially noteworthy in Yarze prison, southeast of
Beirut. The Government did not consider prison reform a high priority.
The number of inmates was estimated to be 5,971, including pretrial
detainees and remand prisoners. The Government made a modest effort to
rehabilitate some inmates through education and training programs.
During the year there were no reports of men and women being held
together in the same prison facility. While there were no government
reports on juveniles being held in the same prison facilities as adults
during the year, it could not be confirmed that the situation did not
occasionally happen due to limited prison facilities.
Although there was some effort to keep pretrial detainees separate
from convicted prisoners, overcrowding often prevented such separation.
Unlike in the previous year there were no reports of political
detainees or prisoners held in regular prisons.
The police institution in charge of border posts and internal
security, the Surete Generale (SG), operated a detention facility for
detainees pending deportation. Detention was supposed to be for one to
two months, pending the regularization of their status. However, some
persons, primarily asylum seekers, were detained for more than a year
and eventually deported.
The Government permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions by local and international human rights groups and the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). However, due to the
July-August conflict, many human rights groups focused their priorities
on providing humanitarian assistance rather than monitoring prison
conditions.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Although the law requires
judicial warrants before arrests, except in immediate pursuit
situations, the Government arbitrarily arrested and detained persons.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security forces
consist of the LAF under the Ministry of Defense, which may arrest and
detain suspects on national security grounds; ISF under the Ministry of
the Interior (MOI), which enforces laws, conducts searches and arrests,
and refers cases to the judiciary; the State Security Apparatus, which
reports to the Prime Minister; and the SG under the MOI. Both of the
latter two collect information on groups deemed a possible threat to
state security.
Laws against bribery and extortion by government security officials
and agencies also apply to the police force. In practice, however, due
to a lack of strong enforcement, their effectiveness was limited. The
Government acknowledged the need to reform law enforcement, but
security issues and lack of political stability hampered these efforts.
The ISF maintained a hotline for complaints.
Arrest and Detention.--Military intelligence personnel made arrests
without warrants in cases involving military personnel and those
involving espionage, treason, weapons possession, and draft evasion
(see section 1.e.). The 2004 report by the Parliamentary Commission for
Human Rights estimated that of the over 5,000 persons being held in
prison, one third had not been convicted of crime.
The law provides the right to a lawyer, to a medical examination,
and referral to a prosecutor within 48 hours of arrest. If a detainee
is held more than 48 hours without formal charges, the arrest is
considered arbitrary and the detainee must be released. In such cases
officials responsible for the prolonged arrest may be prosecuted on
charges of depriving personal freedom. A suspect caught in hot pursuit
must be referred to an examining judge, who decides whether to issue an
indictment or order the release of the suspect. Bail is available in
all cases regardless of the charges. Many provisions of the code were
not observed in practice.
While there was no state-funded public defender's office, the bar
association operated an office for those who could not afford a lawyer,
and a lawyer was often provided for indigent defendants.
Security forces continued the practice of arbitrary arrest and
detention.
There were no new developments in the 2005 arrest of four security
chiefs. In August 2005 authorities arrested four Lebanese security
chiefs with the rank of general after the UNIIIC declared them suspects
in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri. In April
President Lahoud called for their release unless they are formally
charged with involvement in the assassination in a timely manner. The
suspects remained imprisoned at year's end.
Protesters were also arbitrarily detained and arrested. On February
5 and 6, according to an international human rights organization,
authorities arrested and detained more than 400 individuals in the wake
of violent protests outside the Danish Embassy in Beirut (see section
2.b.). Six days following their arrest, approximately 250 of these
individuals were brought before the Military Court in Beirut and were
ordered released. The whereabouts of the remaining detainees was
unknown at year's end.
Since the withdrawal of Syrian forces in April 2005, there appeared
to be no indication that the Government detained, interrogated, or
harassed journalists (see section 2.a.).
Palestinian refugees were subject to arrest, detention, and
harassment by state security forces and rival Palestinian factions (see
section 2.d.).
Unlike in previous years there were no allegations that the
Government transferred citizens to Syria. Human rights activists
believed that there were numerous Lebanese, Palestinians, and
Jordanians in prolonged and often secret detention in Syria. In 2005 a
number of human rights organizations estimated that there were between
25 and 250 remaining Lebanese prisoners in Syria. Unlike in the
previous year there were no reports of Syrian forces operating in the
country carrying out searches, arrests, or detentions of citizens
outside any legal framework.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--While the constitution provides
for an independent judiciary, in practice the judiciary was subject to
political pressure, particularly in the appointments of key prosecutors
and investigating magistrates. With the support of the UNIIIC, however,
the judiciary began judicial proceedings against once-powerful security
and intelligence chiefs who had cooperated with Syria's occupation. The
law provides for a fair public trial and for an independent judiciary;
however, influential politicians as well as Syrian and Lebanese
intelligence officers at times intervened and protected their
supporters from prosecution. The judiciary still suffered from
intimidation generated by a series of unresolved political
assassinations committed by unidentified assailants beginning in 2004.
Despite this intimidation, the aftermath of the February 2005
assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri led to significant progress in
eliminating political and security influence over the judiciary. Unlike
in the previous year authorities did not harass critics of the judicial
system.
The judicial system consists of a Constitutional Council to
determine the constitutionality of newly adopted laws upon the request
of 10 members of parliament; the regular civilian courts; the Military
Court, which tries cases involving military personnel and civilians in
security-related issues; and the Judicial Council, which tries national
security cases. There are also tribunals of the various religious
affiliations, which adjudicate matters of personal status, including
marriage, divorce, inheritance, and child custody (see section 5). The
religious Shari'a courts are often used by both the Shi'a and Sunni
religious communities to resolve family legal matters. There are also
religious courts in the various Christian sects and Druze communities;
these tribunals were also restricted to family legal matters.
The Judicial Council is a permanent tribunal of five senior judges
that adjudicates threats to national security. Upon the recommendation
of the minister of justice, the cabinet decides whether to try a case
before this tribunal. In 2005 the cabinet referred several high-profile
cases to this tribunal, including the 2005 assassination of former
Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri and the 2004 attempt on the life of then
telecommunications minister Marwan Hamadeh. Verdicts from this tribunal
may not be appealed.
The Ministry of Justice appoints all other judges, taking into
account the sectarian affiliation of the prospective judge. A shortage
of qualified judges impeded efforts to adjudicate cases backlogged
during the years of internal conflict. Trial delays were aggravated by
the Government's inability to conduct investigations in areas outside
of its control, specifically in the Hizballah-controlled areas in the
south and in the 12 Palestinian-controlled refugee camps throughout the
country.
Trial Procedures.--There is no trial by jury; trials were generally
public, but judges had the discretion to order a closed court session.
Defendants have the right to be present at trial and the right of
timely consultation with an attorney. Defendants have the right to
confront or question witnesses against them, but they must do so
through the court panel, which decides whether or not to permit the
defendant's question. Defendants and their attorneys have access to
government-held evidence relevant to their cases and the right of
appeal. These rights generally were observed.
Defendants on trial for security cases, which were heard before the
Judicial Council, have the same procedural rights as other defendants;
however, there was no right to appeal in such cases. Trials for
security cases were generally public; however, judges had the
discretion to order a closed court session.
The Military Court has jurisdiction over cases involving the
military as well as those involving civilians in espionage, treason,
weapons possession, and draft evasion cases. Civilians may be tried for
security issues, and military personnel may be tried for civil issues.
The Military Court has two tribunals--the permanent tribunal and the
cassation tribunal--the latter hears appeals from the former. A
civilian judge chairs the higher court. Defendants on trial under the
military tribunal have the same procedural rights as defendants in
ordinary courts.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that Hizballah
subjected former Southern Lebanese Army soldiers who returned to their
villages to harassment.
Palestinian groups in refugee camps operated an autonomous and
arbitrary system of justice not under the control of the state. For
example, local popular committees in the camps attempted to solve
disputes using tribal methods of reconciliation. If the case involved a
killing, the committees occasionally used their good offices to hand
over the perpetrator to Lebanese authorities for trial.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--During the year there were no
reports of political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--While there is an
independent judiciary in civil matters, in practice it was seldom used
for bringing civil lawsuits for seeking damages for human rights
violations committed by the Government. During the year there were no
examples of a civil court awarding an individual compensation for human
rights violations committed against them by the Government.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--While the law prohibits such actions, authorities
frequently interfered with the privacy of persons regarded as enemies
of the Government. The law requires that prosecutors obtain warrants
before entering homes, except when the security forces are in close
pursuit of armed attackers; these rights were generally observed.
The Army Intelligence Service monitored the movements and
activities of members of opposition groups (see section 2.b.). Despite
a law regulating eavesdropping, security services continued to
eavesdrop without prior authorization.
Militias and non-Lebanese forces operating outside the area of
central government authority frequently violated citizens' privacy
rights. Various factions also used informer networks and monitoring of
telephones to obtain information regarding their perceived adversaries.
The Siniora government took steps to roll back the violation of
privacy rights. In September 2005 the Government passed two
implementation decrees. The first decree called for creating an
independent judicial committee chaired by the chairman of the Judicial
Council. This committee would receive complaints from parties who
believed that their phones were tapped. The committee would also give
permission for security services to monitor the telephones of
criminals. The committee members were appointed by the Siniora
government in December 2005 but did not start their duties by year's
end.
The second decree concerned the operations of security intelligence
and called for the creation of a centralized unit that would have
supervision over tapping phones related to military personnel only. The
committee would report to the minister of interior and the Prime
Minister. The ministry would review the procedure regularly and
eventually bring all phone tapping into this centralized unit. This
centralized unit had not been put into effect by 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, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice. The law limited materials that can be censored to
pornography, political opinion, and religion when they are a threat to
national security. Since the 2005 withdrawal of Syrian forces from the
country, journalists operated in a more free media environment.
However, due to the tense political atmosphere and a weak judiciary,
journalists continued to exercise self-censorship, although to a far
lesser degree than in previous years. The 2005 killings of prominent
journalists and the failure to apprehend those responsible created a
climate of intimidation. There were no reported killings of journalists
during the year.
The Government arrested observers who expressed their criticism of
the judicial system. For example, on April 13, an international human
rights group reported on the 2003 detention of human rights lawyer
Mohammad Mugraby, charged in 2003 with slandering the ``military
establishment and its officers.'' The charge related to a statement he
made to the European Parliament in Brussels in 2003 in which he
criticized the military court system in Lebanon, including the
inadequate legal training of the courts' judges, and for the torture
suffered by suspects tried before military courts to extract
confessions. Mugraby was released in August 2003 and was still awaiting
trial at year's end.
The Government retained and utilized several legal mechanisms at
its disposal to control freedom of expression. The SG reviews and
censors all foreign newspapers, magazines, and books before they enter
the country. The SG must also approve all plays and films. The law
prohibits attacks on the dignity of the head of state or foreign
leaders. The Government may prosecute offending journalists and
publications in the Publications Court. The 1991 security agreement
between the Government and Syria, still in effect, contains a provision
that prohibits the publication of any information deemed harmful to the
security of either state. The withdrawal of Syrian troops and a
decrease in Syrian influence, however, encouraged Lebanese journalists
to be open in their criticism of Syrian and Lebanese authorities alike.
Dozens of newspapers and hundreds of periodicals were published
throughout the country and were financed by and reflected the views of
various local, sectarian, and foreign interest groups.
On February 28, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists
(CPJ), Beirut prosecutor Joseph Me'mari filed criminal charges against
the daily Lebanese newspaper Al-Mustaqbal, its editor in chief Tawfiq
Khattab, and staff reporter Fares Khashan for defaming President
Lahoud. The charges were filed four days after Al-Mustaqbal published
an interview with former Lebanese ambassador to France and former army
intelligence chief Johnny Abdo, who criticized Lahoud's performance.
Their cases had not yet gone to trial by year's end.
On June 1, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBCI) broadcast
an episode of weekly political satire Basmat Wattan that ridiculed
Hizballah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah. The program prompted
violent demonstrations in Beirut. On June 2, the National Media
Council, under the Ministry of Information and responsible for
monitoring television programs, ruled that LBCI was guilty of
broadcasting offensive material and forwarded the case to the cabinet.
No action was taken by the cabinet by years end.
In October the minister of justice filed a complaint in the
Publications Court against Al-Akhbar daily for alleging that two
members of the Judicial Council had met with the head of the ISF
Intelligence Department to discuss judicial appointments. The complaint
named reporter Antoine El-Khoury Harb and the Al-Akhbar director
Ibrahim Awad. The case continued at years end.
Judicial cases launched in previous years against journalists were
not pursued during the year. Investigations into the killings of Samir
Kassir in June 2005 and Gibran Tueni in December 2005, and into the
attack on May Chidiac in September 2005 continued at years end. There
were no developments in the June 2005 case against Al-Mustaqbal
reporter and Future TV anchor Zahi Wehbe. Likewise, the 2003 defamation
case against Ad-Diyar newspaper's editor in chief Charles Ayoub for
defaming President Lahoud was pending at year's end.
Films that offended religious or social sensitivities are often
blacklisted. In May the SG prohibited the film ``The Da Vinci Code''
from being shown in the country because of religious sensitivities.
Also in May the SG obliged Lebanese playwright Lina Khoury to make
numerous revisions to her adaptation of the play ``Hakeh Niswan''
(``Women's Talk'') inspired by the ``Vagina Monologues'' before it
could be performed in Beirut.
Throughout the year the film ``Naked Gun'' was prohibited from
being shown on Lebanese television because it included a brief scene
mocking Ayatollah Khomeini. There were seven television stations and 33
radio stations. The Government owned one television and one radio
station; the remaining stations were owned privately. Inexpensive
satellite television was widely available.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms, and the Government promoted Internet usage.
Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful expression of views
via the Internet, including by electronic mail and internet discussion
groups, such as Naharnet. However, Internet usage and access was
reportedly restricted by Hizballah in areas that it controlled in
southern Lebanon.
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; however, the
Government sometimes restricted this right. The prior approval of
rallies by the MOI was required, and groups opposing government
positions sometimes were not granted permits.
Demonstrations occurred during the year without government
approval, and there were instances where military personnel used force
to disperse the protesters. On February 5, in response to the September
2005 publication in a Danish newspaper of a series of cartoons that
caricatured the Prophet Muhammed, thousands of demonstrators rallied
outside Beirut's Danish embassy and set the building on fire. According
to media reports, approximately 2,000 riot police and army troops fired
tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd and fired their
weapons into the air. According to an international human rights
organization, authorities arrested and detained more than 400
individuals in the wake of the violent protests (see section 1.d.).
Beginning on December 1 and continuing to the end of the year, a
few thousand demonstrators, composed of Shiites loyal to Hizballah and
to the allied Amal movement, and Christian supporters of Michel Aoun,
maintained a ``sit-in'' punctuated by a few larger rallies in central
Beirut outside the Government office of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora,
calling for the resignation of his government. Army and police forces
closed off the Prime Minister's office and other key buildings with a
police cordon, physical obstacles, and security force vehicles.
Isolated violence between Sunnis and Shi'a occurred during the period
of the demonstration; one incident resulted in the death of protester
Ahmad Mahmoud on December 3. The opposition called for the protests in
an attempt to force the Government to resign or expand the number of
cabinet seats belonging to Amal, Hizballah, and Michel Aoun's Free
Patriotic Movement to a one-third-plus-one minority, sufficient to
block legislation or force the cabinet's dissolution.
Coinciding with the protests, a number of progovernment rallies
were held in several areas around the country. For example, on December
10, according to the press, hundreds of thousands of peaceful
demonstrators rallied in Tripoli in solidarity with the Siniora
government. There were no reports of violence, police brutality, or use
of force.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the Government did not interfere with most
organizations; however, it imposed limits on this right. The law
requires every new organization to submit a notification of formation
to the MOI, which issues a receipt. In addition to what is provided by
law, the MOI imposed on organizations further restrictions and
requirements that were not enforced consistently. The ministry in some
cases sent notification of formation papers to the security forces,
which then conducted inquiries regarding an organization's founding
members. The ministry may use the results in deciding whether to
approve the group. The ministry at times withheld the receipt,
essentially transforming a notification procedure into an approval
process.
In August 2005 the Government changed the policy such that the
formation of any association no longer required licensing. According to
civil rights organizations, the time needed for registration had in
some cases dropped to as little as 10 working days.
Organizations must invite MOI representatives to any general
assembly where votes are held for by-law amendments or elections are
held for positions on the board of directors. The ministry also
required every association to obtain its approval for any change in by-
laws; failure to do so could result in the dissolution of the
association.
The cabinet must license all political parties. The Government
scrutinized requests to establish political movements or parties and to
some extent monitored their activities. The Army Intelligence Service
monitored the movements and activities of members of some opposition
groups (see section 1.f.).
Under popular pressure, following the April 2005 withdrawal of
Syrian military and security forces, the Government ceased to monitor
groups critical of Syrian policies, and the Government stopped
harassing members of such groups.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for absolute
freedom of belief and guarantees the freedom to practice all religious
rites provided that the public order is not disturbed. The constitution
declares equality of rights and duties for all citizens without
discrimination or preference but stipulates a balance of power
distributed among the major religious groups. The Government generally
respected these rights; however, there were some restrictions. The law
does not provide for freedom to have no religion. The Government
subsidized all religions and appointed and paid the salaries of Muslim
and Druze judges.
Although there is no state religion, politics were based on the
principle of religious representation, which has been applied to nearly
every aspect of public life.
A group seeking official recognition must submit its principles for
government review to ensure that such principles did not contradict
``popular values'' and the constitution. The group must ensure the
number of its adherents is sufficient to maintain its continuity.
Alternatively, religious groups may apply for recognition through
existing religious groups. Official recognition conveys certain
benefits, such as tax-exempt status and the right to apply the
recognized religion's codes to personal status matters. Each recognized
religious group has its own courts for family law matters, such as
marriage, divorce, child custody, and inheritance (see section 1.e.).
State recognition is not a legal requirement for religious worship or
practice. For example, although Baha'i, Buddhists, Hindus, and some
protestant Christian groups were not recognized officially, they were
allowed to practice their faith without government interference;
however, their marriages, divorces, and inheritances in the country
were not recognized under the law.
Protestant evangelical churches are required to register with the
Evangelical Synod, which represents those churches to the Government.
Representatives of some churches complained that the Synod has refused
to accept new members since 1975, thereby preventing their clergy from
ministering to adherents in accordance with their beliefs. The last
group registered was the Coptic Church in 1997. The Pentecostal Church
applied for recognition from the Evangelical Sect, but the leadership
of the Evangelical Sect, in contravention of the law, refused to
register new groups. The Pentecostal Church pursued recourse through
the MOI; however, at years end, it had not been registered.
The unwritten ``National Pact'' of 1943 stipulates that the
President, the Prime Minister, and the speaker of parliament be a
Maronite Christian, a Sunni Muslim, and a Shi'a Muslim, respectively.
The 1989 Taif Accord, which ended the country's 15-year civil war,
reaffirmed this arrangement, but also codified increased Muslim
representation in parliament and reduced the power of the Maronite
President. The LAF, through universal conscription and an emphasis on
professionalism, significantly reduced the role of confessionalism (or
religious sectarianism) in the armed forces.
The Government required that religious affiliation be indicated on
civil status registry and on national identity cards, but not on
passports.
Many family and personal status laws discriminated against women.
For example, Sunni inheritance law provides a son twice the inheritance
of a daughter. Although Muslim men may divorce easily, Muslim women may
do so only with the concurrence of their husbands. The law provides
that only religious authorities may perform marriages; however, civil
marriage ceremonies performed outside the country were recognized by
the Government.
There were no legal barriers to proselytizing; however, traditional
attitudes and edicts of the clerical establishment strongly discouraged
such activity. Religious authorities appointed the clerical
establishments to which they are affiliated.
Although the law stipulates that any one who ``blasphemes God
publicly'' may face imprisonment for up to one year, no prosecutions
were reported under this law during the year.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Sectarian rhetoric increased
in intensity during the year. Lebanese media outlets regularly directed
strong rhetoric against Israel and its Jewish population and commonly
characterized events in the region as part of a Zionist conspiracy.
Moreover, anti-Semitic literature was published and distributed with
the cooperation of Hizballah. Hizballah also controlled and operated
Al-Manar TV. On October 20, Al-Manar broadcast an interview with the
head of the Lebanese Islamic Action Front in which he stated that the
resistance and Lebanon were victorious, and that defeat was the lot of
Israel and this accursed Israeli people--this accursed nation, the
offspring of apes and pigs.
In addition the pan Arab satellite station, New TV, aired several
anti-Semitic programs and interviews, including an interview on June 21
with a known Holocaust denier whose interview was introduced by the
narrator with never has there been an issue subject to as many
contradictions, lies, and exaggerations regarding the number of victims
as the issue of the Jewish Holocaust.
Writing a new curriculum for the public schools was one of the
requirements included in the Taif Accord of 1989. The new curriculum,
which began to be implemented in 2004, included antibias and tolerance
education. There is no specific reference to or designation of crimes
as hate crimes in legislation.
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 with some limitations. The law
prohibits direct travel to Israel. All men between 18 and 21 years of
age are required to obtain a travel authorization document from the
Government before leaving the country.
The Government maintained security checkpoints, primarily in
military and other restricted areas. There were few police checkpoints
on main roads or in populated areas. The security services used
checkpoints to conduct warrantless searches for smuggled goods,
weapons, narcotics, and subversive literature.
On several occasions, Hizballah operatives interfered with the
freedom of movement of UNIFIL personnel. According to the UN Secretary
General's 2004 report, no action had been taken against the 15
Hizballah operatives who injured three UNIFIL observers in 2002,
despite government assurances that the perpetrators would be arrested
and brought to trial.
The law prohibits forced exile and it was not used.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Following the August 14
cease-fire between Israel and Hizballah, the Government encouraged the
return to their homes of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced
persons. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, at
the height of the conflict, up to one million persons fled their homes;
approximately 735,000 were internally displaced while some 230,000 fled
to neighboring countries. In addition, some 16,000 Palestinian refugees
were secondarily displaced. According to the Governments Higher Relief
Council, more than 700,000 displaced persons and refugees had returned
to their homes. However, the office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that 550,000 displaced had returned to their
preconflict residences and that up to 200,000 persons remained
displaced at years end. UNHCR reported on November 1 that many of the
displaced had been unable to return because of unexploded ordinance
(see section 1.a.) and because of the lack of basic infrastructure,
such as water and electricity, in some areas.
The Government continued to encourage the return of IDPs displaced
during the 1975-90 civil war to reclaim their property and rebuild
their homes. During the year there were no substantiated reports that
the Government deliberately attacked IDPs or made efforts to obstruct
access of international humanitarian organizations from assisting IDPs
in returning to their residence. Also, there were no reports that the
Government forcibly resettled IDP's.
According to international humanitarian organizations, a
significant number of people still remain displaced from the 1975-90
civil war and as a result of the Israeli invasions and occupation of
part of south Lebanon that ended in 2000. No updated reliable survey
exists to determine the current number, and estimates varied hugely,
ranging between 16,750 and 600,000. While the Government has encouraged
the return of IDPs to their homes, many have not attempted to reclaim
and rebuild their property due to the hazardous social and economic
situation in some areas.
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, but the
Government has found mechanisms to provide assistance. In practice, the
Government provided some protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution, and granted refugee
status to a limited number of Sudanese. The Government cooperated with
the office of 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/1967 Protocol to approximately 3,000 persons
during the year. In 2003 the SG signed an agreement with the UNHCR
recognizing and granting protection to non-Palestinian refugees,
providing temporary relief for those seeking determination of refugee
status. Those wishing to claim refugee status do so within two months
of arriving in the country. The SG issues residence permits, valid for
three months, during which time UNHCR must make a refugee status
determination. The SG extended residency permits for up to 12 months
for those accorded refugee status by UNHCR. The Government granted
admission and temporary (six months) refuge to asylum seekers, but not
permanent asylum.
Most refugees were Palestinians. The UN Relief and Works Agency
(UNRWA) reported that the number of Palestinian refugees in the country
registered with the UNRWA was 394,532. This figure, which represented
refugees who arrived in 1948 and their descendants, was presumed to
include many thousands who resided outside of the country. During the
year there were 223,956 Palestinian refugees in UNRWAs 12 refugee camps
throughout the country. Credible sources estimated that the actual
number in the country was between 250,000 and 300,000. According to SG
records, the number of registered Palestinian refugees was
approximately 427,000.
Most Palestinian refugees were unable to obtain citizenship and
were subject to governmental and societal discrimination, particularly
in the area of employment; however, Palestinian women who married
Lebanese men could obtain citizenship (see section 5). According to a
credible international human rights group, Palestinian refugees faced
severe restrictions in their access to work opportunities and
diminished protection of their rights at work. Very few Palestinians
received work permits, and those who found work usually were directed
into unskilled occupations. Some Palestinian refugees worked in the
informal sector, particularly in agriculture and construction.
Palestinian incomes continued to decline. The law prohibited
Palestinian refugees from working in 72 professions. However, in June
2005 the minister of labor issued a memorandum authorizing Palestinian
nationals born in the country and duly registered with the MOI to work
in 50 (out of 72) professions banned to foreigners. However, there were
no indications that this memorandum was implemented consistently.
The law does not explicitly target Palestinian refugees, but bars
those who are not bearers of nationality of a recognized state from
owning property. Palestinians no longer may purchase property, and
those who owned property prior to 2001 are prohibited from passing it
on to their children. The parliament justified these restrictions on
the grounds that it was protecting the right of Palestinian refugees to
return to the homes they fled after the creation of the state of Israel
in 1948. Other foreigners may own a limited-size plot of land but only
after obtaining the approval of five different district offices. The
law applies to all foreigners, but it was applied in a manner
disadvantageous to the 25,000 Kurds in the country.
Most Palestinian refugees lived in overpopulated camps that
suffered repeated heavy damage as a result of fighting during the civil
war, during the 1980s Israeli invasion of the country, during
continuing camp feuds, and during the July-August conflict between
Israel and Hizballah. The Government generally prohibited the
construction of permanent structures in the camps on the grounds that
such construction encouraged refugee settlement in the country.
Refugees frequently feared that the Government might reduce the size of
the camps or eliminate them completely.
Children of Palestinian refugees faced discrimination in their
access to adequate housing, social security, education, and in their
right to be registered. The Government did not provide health services
or education to Palestinian refugees, who relied on UNRWA for these
services. Many Palestinian children reportedly had to leave school at
an early age to help earn income. Other reasons for dropouts were
marriage (especially for minor girls), frustration, and hopelessness.
Poverty, drug addiction, prostitution, and crime reportedly prevailed
in the camps, although reliable statistics were not available.
In 2003 the State Consultative Council invalidated the 1994
naturalization decree in which several thousand Palestinian nationals
were naturalized. As a result, approximately 4,000 persons, some of
which are families including several siblings, may lose their Lebanese
citizenship. The council referred the issue to the MOI to review the
files and decide their legal status. The ministry continued to review
the files, but it had not issued a decision by years end.
The Government issued travel documents to Palestinian refugees to
enable them to travel and work abroad. The Government did not issue
visitors visas to Jordanian nationals who were born in the country and
were of Palestinian origin.
In October 2005 according to the Government, a new office in the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs was established to address the Palestinian
refugee issue in a more comprehensive and just manner. One of the
principal objectives of this office was to approve and increase the
number of humanitarian projects designed to assist the Palestinian
refugee population, with an emphasis on health and education. This
office will seek additional donor assistance and cooperation from the
international community and NGOs.
According to the UNHCR there were 2,541 non-Palestinian refugees,
primarily Iraqis, Somalis, and Sudanese, registered with the UN and
residing in the country. However, this number did not include a
substantial number of refugees from Iraq who entered the country
illegally in search of jobs, education, and security. According to the
UN an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 Iraqis were living in the country.
During the year the Government provided very limited services for them
and no process for regularizing their status. At years end the
Government failed to institute a temporary protection regime for Iraqi
asylum seekers, as advocated by UNHCR, and it regularly deported Iraqis
who may well have had valid persecution claims.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens the right to change their government in
periodic, free, and fair elections; however, lack of control over parts
of the country, defects in the electoral process, and corruption in
public office significantly restricted this right.
Elections and Political Participation.--The law provides that
elections for the parliament must be held every four years. In turn the
parliament elects the President every six years. The President and the
parliament nominate the Prime Minister, who, with the President,
chooses the cabinet. According to the unwritten National Pact of 1943,
the President must be a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister a Sunni
Muslim, and the speaker of parliament a Shi'a Muslim (see section
2.c.).
During May and June 2005 parliamentary elections were held for the
first time in three decades without Syrian interference. International
observers were invited to monitor these elections and reported fewer
incidents of voter fraud and tampering with ballots than previous
elections. According to the European Union monitoring team, the
elections were well managed and took place in a peaceful manner within
the existing framework for elections. The process was flawed,
particularly because the elections were carried out according to the
2000 electoral law, which reflected Syrian government influence.
The last Presidential election was conducted in 1998. In 2004 amid
evidence of heavy Syrian manipulation and coercion, parliament voted
for a constitutional amendment extending the term of President Lahoud
to November 2007. Many citizens considered this amendment to violate
the constitution.
Individual citizens and parties can freely declare their candidacy
and stand for election. Parties may organize, seek votes, and publicize
their views with limited government restriction. The political system
is based on confessional lines, and all parliamentary seats are
primarily allotted on a sectarian basis. The smallest recognized
confessions are allotted at least one seat in parliament.
There are four major political parties and numerous smaller ones.
The largest party in the parliamentary majority is the Future Movement,
led by Saad Hariri. Its membership is predominantly Sunni, but Hariri's
parliamentary bloc includes a number of members from other sects. The
Progressive Socialist Party, led by Walid Jumblatt, predominantly
represented Druze interests and allied itself with the Future Movement.
The Free Patriotic Movement, led by Michel Aoun, represented a
significant portion of the Christian community. The party's leadership
decided to remain outside the cabinet. Two smaller Christian parties
were the Lebanese Forces, led by Samir Ja'ja', and the Phalange party,
led by former President Amin Gemeyal. The largest party representing
the Shi'a community was Hizballah, led by Hassan Nasrallah. A smaller
Shi'a party, Amal, was led by Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri. A
number of smaller parties existed, or were in the process of forming,
but the larger, sectarian-based parties still maintained the greatest
influence in the country's political system.
There were significant cultural barriers to women's participation
in politics. Prior to October 2005 no woman had held a cabinet
position; however, at years end there was one woman in the cabinet.
Palestinian refugees had no political rights. An estimated 17
Palestinian factions operated in the country and were generally
organized around prominent individuals. Most Palestinians lived in
refugee camps controlled by one or more factions. Refugee leaders were
not elected, but there were popular committees that met regularly with
UNRWA and visitors.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
perception of corruption at all levels of government. During the year
the NGO Transparency International's composite index of the degree to
which corruption is perceived to exist among a country's politicians
and public officials indicated a perception that the country had a
serious corruption problem.
There are no laws regarding public access to government documents,
either allowing or denying access. In practice the Government did not
respond to requests for documents.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of local and international human rights groups generally
operated freely without overt government restriction, including the
Lebanese Association for Human Rights, the Foundation for Human and
Humanitarian Rights-Lebanon, the National Association for the Rights of
the Disabled, ICRC, and Amnesty International, investigating and
publishing their findings. In the past, some human rights groups
reported harassment and intimidation by the Government or Hizballah.
During the year there was no known report of a concerted effort of
harassment by the Government of nongovernmental human rights
organizations working in the country.
Government officials generally were cooperative, except when some
of these groups sought to publicize the alleged detention in Syria of
hundreds of Lebanese citizens. The bar association and other private
organizations regularly held public events that included discussions of
human rights issues.
The Government cooperated with international governmental
organizations and permitted visits by UN representatives and other
organizations such as the ICRC.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides for equality among all citizens; however, in
practice, some aspects of the law and traditional beliefs discriminated
against women. Although the law reserves a percentage of private sector
and government jobs to persons with disabilities, there were few
accommodations made for them. Discrimination based on race, language,
or social status is illegal and was not widespread among citizens;
however, foreign domestic servants often were mistreated. Foreign
domestic servants sometimes suffered physical abuse, had pay withheld
or unfairly reduced, or were forced to remain locked within their
employer's home for the duration of their contracts.
Women.--The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence,
and domestic violence against women was a problem. There were no
authoritative statistics on the extent of spousal abuse; however, most
experts noted that it was a problem. Despite a law prohibiting battery
with a maximum sentence of three years in prison for those convicted,
some religious courts legally may require a battered wife to return to
her home in spite of physical abuse. Women were sometimes compelled to
remain in abusive marriages because of economic, social, and family
pressures.
The Government had no separate program to provide medical
assistance to battered women; however, it provided legal assistance to
victims who could not afford it regardless of their gender. In most
cases police ignored complaints submitted by battered or abused women.
A local NGO, the Lebanese Council to Resist Violence against Women,
worked actively to reduce violence against women by offering
counseling, legal aid, and raising awareness about domestic violence.
Foreign domestic servants often were mistreated, abused, and in
some cases, raped or placed in slavery-like conditions (see section 5,
Trafficking). Asian and African female workers had no practical legal
recourse available to them because of their low status, isolation from
society, and because labor laws did not protect them (see section
6.e.). Because of such abuse, the Government prohibited foreign women
from working if they were from countries that did not have diplomatic
representation in the country.
The law prohibits rape, and the minimum prison sentence for a
person convicted of rape is five years in prison. The minimum sentence
for a person convicted of raping a minor is seven years. The law was
effectively enforced.
The legal system was discriminatory in its handling of honor
crimes. According to the Penal Code, a man who kills his wife or other
female relative may receive a reduced sentence if he demonstrates that
he committed the crime in response to a socially unacceptable sexual
relationship conducted by the victim. For example, while the Penal Code
stipulates that murder is punishable by either a life sentence or the
death penalty, if a defendant can prove it was an honor crime, the
sentence is commuted to one to seven years imprisonment. While several
honor crimes were reported in the media, no person was convicted in a
case legally considered an honor crime.
Although the law on prostitution requires that brothels be
licensed, including regular testing for disease, government policy was
not to issue new licenses for brothels in an attempt to gradually
eliminate legal prostitution in the country. In practice most
prostitution was unlicensed and illegal. The SG reported issuing 3,744
visas in 2005 to mostly eastern European women to work in adult clubs
as artistes. Although prostitution is illegal, virtually all of these
women engaged in prostitution with the implicit consent of the
Government. The country was a destination for trafficked persons,
primarily women (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, it was a widespread
problem, and the law was not effectively enforced. Social pressure
against women pursuing careers was strong in some parts of society. Men
sometimes exercised considerable control over female relatives,
restricting their activities outside the home or their contact with
friends and relatives. Women may own property, but often ceded control
of it to male relatives for cultural reasons and because of family
pressure.
The law provides for equal pay for equal work for men and women,
but in the private sector there was some discrimination regarding the
provision of benefits.
Only men may confer citizenship on their spouses and children.
Accordingly, children born to citizen mothers and foreign fathers are
not eligible for citizenship. Citizen widows may confer citizenship on
their minor children.
Children.--Education was free in public schools and compulsory
until the completion of the elementary level at age 12. However,
implementation decrees were not issued. Public schools generally were
inadequate, lacking proper facilities, equipment and trained staff.
Although private schools were widespread in the country, the cost of
private education was a significant problem for the middle and lower
classes. In its latest report, the UN Childrens Fund reported that
approximately 91 percent of children between the ages of three and
five, and approximately 98 percent of children between the ages of six
to 11 were enrolled in school. In some families with limited incomes,
boys received more education than girls.
Boys and girls had equal access to medical care. The Government
provided vaccination and other pediatric health services in
dispensaries operated by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of
Social Affairs. Access to hospitals was provided to all free of gender
discrimination.
Children of poor families often sought employment and took jobs
that jeopardized their safety (see section 6.d.).
Children of Palestinian refugees were limited in their access to
government services (see section 2.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons, and although the Government made progress in
stemming some forms of trafficking in persons, it remained a problem.
The Penal Code stipulates that ``any person who deprives another of
freedom either by abduction or any other means shall be sentenced to
temporary hard labor.'' The country was a destination for East European
and Russian women, contracted as dancers in adult clubs. Most of these
women engaged in voluntary illegal prostitution, but some reported
facing intimidation or coercion and having their movements restricted
while others were at risk as targets of abuse.
The country was also a destination for women from Africa and Asia,
usually contracted as household workers. Women are required by law to
have good-faith work contracts and sponsors, but often found themselves
in situations of involuntary servitude with little practical legal
recourse.
If forced prostitution or forced rendering of sexual services
occurred as a result of abduction, the Penal Code stipulates that the
abductor be sentenced to at least one year in prison; however, this law
was applied inconsistently. Many women became illegal workers because
their employers did not renew their work and residency permits or
because they ran away from their employers' house, therefore becoming
subject to detention and deportation. Workers' illegal immigration
status was also used by abusive sponsors as a tactic to intimidate
employees and coerce them into labor. Unscrupulous employers sometimes
falsely accused the employee of theft to relinquish responsibility for
the employee as well as the taxes and a return airline ticket (see
section 6.e.).
Restrictions of movement and withholding of passports were common
practices. A small number of exploited foreign workers won cases
against their employers, but nonjudicial action resolved the majority
of these cases. As a result of that process, workers frequently were
repatriated without further judicial action. A few cases were referred
to the judiciary for further action, although the Government took
minimal steps to prosecute traffickers.
There were no new developments in the investigations of the 2004
deaths of Herra Olandres and Luella Montenegro, two Filipinas allegedly
attempting to flee abusive work environments when they died.
The Ministry of Labor (MOL) regulates local employment agencies
that place migrant workers with sponsors. During the year the MOL
closed 10 employment agencies for a specified period and warned a
number of others for noncompliance with MOL regulations.
The Government's 2004 decision to deny visas to workers from
Ethiopia to prevent fraud was suspended, and the Government began
issuing visas effective February 1 for a trial period.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports during the year of
any attempt to smuggle persons into the country.
The country made some progress in protecting victims of
trafficking. The Government did not provide foreign workers with relief
from deportation, shelter, or access to legal, medical, or
psychological services. The SG and Caritas/International Catholic
Migration Commission (ICMC) cooperated to create a safe house for
protection of trafficking victims. Social workers were allowed to
accompany victims during the interviews by immigration authorities. The
SG also granted out-of-visa status for workers who were victims of
abuse and permission to stay up to two months to assist in the
investigation of their cases and the prosecution of their abusers. The
SG also implemented screening and referral procedures for trafficking
cases. Social workers from Caritas Lebanon Migrants Center were also
allowed unrestricted access to the SG's holding center for foreign
persons. These social workers provided detainees with counseling,
assistance, and legal protection.
In 2005 the SG began endorsing an alternative for migrant workers
who did not wish to be repatriated to their home country to legally
change their sponsor. It started allowing migrant workers to change
employers, but only if they have a ``release paper'' from the original
employer. A court may order an abusive employer to provide such a
release paper as part of a decision, or this may be part of a
negotiated out-of-court settlement.
NGOs indicated that the Government still did not have a zero-
tolerance policy for physical abuse of domestic workers.
However, according to Caritas/ICMC, in one case, a judge awarded an
Ethiopian migrant worker financial compensation to be paid by her
abusive employer. This decision marked the first time a domestic worker
in the country was awarded compensation for physical abuse.
Two types of booklets explaining regulations governing migrant
workers, including descriptions of their rights and responsibilities,
were available upon request, or distributed as needed.
Persons With Disabilities.--Discrimination against persons with
disabilities continued. For example, the Civil Service Board, which is
in charge of recruiting government employees, refused to receive
applications from disabled persons. The law mandates disabled access to
buildings; however, the Government failed to take steps to amend
building codes to conform to this law. Approximately 100,000 persons
were disabled during the civil war. Families generally cared for their
own family members with disabilities. Most efforts to assist persons
with disabilities were made by approximately 100 private organizations.
These organizations were relatively active, although poorly funded.
The law on persons with disabilities stipulates that at least 3
percent of all government and private sector positions should be filled
by persons with disabilities, provided that such persons fulfill the
qualifications for the position. However, there was no evidence that
the law was enforced in practice.
In 2002 the Ministry of Finance informed all firms and companies
that it would not settle obligations with them unless they proved that
3 percent of their workforce was composed of persons with disabilities.
However, the ministry failed to enforce this decision.
Many persons with mental disabilities were cared for in private
institutions, many of which were subsidized by the Government.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were reports that Syrian
workers, usually employed in manual labor occupations, suffered
discrimination following the withdrawal of Syrian forces in April 2005.
Many Syrian laborers also reportedly left Lebanon out of fear of
harassment. There had been no further data collected on this situation
during the year, and the true extent of the problem was unknown.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Discrimination against
homosexuals persisted during the year. The law prohibits unnatural
sexual intercourse, which is punishable by up to one year in prison.
The law was sometimes applied to homosexuals. Citizens sexual
preferences reflected societal norms, not legal rulings. There are no
discriminatory laws against persons with HIV/AIDS.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides that all workers,
except government employees, may establish and join unions, and workers
exercised this right in practice. The General Confederation of Labor
(GCL) estimated that there were 900,000 workers in the active labor
force. Approximately 5 to 7 percent of workers were members of some 450
to 500 labor unions and associations, half of which were believed to be
inactive. Most unions belonged to federations. At year's end 43
federations were voting members of the GCL. However, some unionists
continued to claim that some of these federations were ``virtual,''
that is, created by political interest groups to offset the votes of
the 13 established labor confederations that actually represented
workers. The GCL remained the only organization recognized by the
Government as an interlocutor that represented workers.
Antiunion discrimination by private employers was a common
practice. While the Government does not have a good mechanism for
measuring such practices, it appeared prevalent in many sectors of the
economy.
Palestinian refugees may organize their own unions; however,
because of restrictions on their right to work, few Palestinians
participated actively in trade unions (see section 2.d.).
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The right of
workers to organize and to bargain collectively exists in law and
practice. Most worker groups engaged in some form of collective
bargaining with their employers. Stronger federations obtained
significant gains for their members and on occasion assisted nonunion
workers. No government mechanisms promoted voluntary labor-management
negotiations, and workers had no protection against antiunion
discrimination.
The law provides for the right to strike. On May 1, the Communist
Party held a Labor Day march to protest the deterioration of living
conditions, and on May 10 teachers protested government economic reform
policies.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law does not
specifically prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by
children; however, articles within the law prohibit behavior that
constitutes forced or compulsory labor. Nevertheless, children, foreign
domestic workers, and other foreign workers sometimes were forced to
remain in situations amounting to coerced or bonded labor (see sections
5 and 6.e.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child labor was a problem. The minimum age for child employment is 14
years. Under the law juveniles are defined as children between 14 and
18 years of age. The law prohibits the employment of juveniles before
they undergo a medical exam to ensure their fitness for the job for
which they are hired. The labor code prohibits employment of juveniles
under the age of 18 for more than six hours per day, and requires one
hour of rest if work is more than four hours. The law entitles them to
21 days of paid annual leave.
Juveniles are prohibited from working between the hours of 7 p.m.
and 7 a.m. The law prohibits juveniles under the age of 17 from working
in jobs that jeopardize their health, safety, or morals. It also
prohibits the employment of juveniles under 16 in industrial jobs or
jobs that are physically demanding or harmful to their health. The MOL
was responsible for enforcing these requirements; however, it did not
enforce the law effectively. In cooperation with the UN Office for Drug
Control and Crime Prevention, the Government inaugurated the Center for
Juvenile Victims of Physical Abuse in 2005. As such, juveniles would no
longer be interrogated at police stations but rather at the center,
which was equipped according to international norms, in the presence of
a social worker.
Children worked in predominantly trade-related jobs. The percentage
of working children between the ages of 10 and 14 was estimated at 1.8
percent. The percentage of working children between the ages of 15 and
18 was 11.3 percent. There were no recent reliable statistics on the
number of child workers.
A 2004 MOL study on working street children provided a snapshot of
the condition and nature of street children in the country. The report
showed that the average street child was a boy (9 percent were girls),
foreign (only 15 percent were citizens, the others were most often
Palestinian and Syrian), 12 years of age, and poorly educated or
illiterate. Street children were concentrated in large urban centers
where approximately 47 percent of them were forced to work long hours
on the streets by adults. The most common types of work were selling
goods, including lottery tickets; shoe polishing; and washing car
windshields. The children earned between $2 and $15 (3,000 to 25,000
pounds) per day. Only 19 percent of the children interviewed said they
kept their income.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government sets a legal
minimum wage; during the year it was approximately $200 (300,000
pounds) per month, but it was not enforced effectively in the private
sector. The minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living
for a worker and family. Trade unions attempted to ensure the payment
of minimum wages in both the public sector and the large-scale private
sector.
The law prescribes a standard 48-hour workweek, with a 24-hour rest
period per week. In practice workers in the industrial sector worked an
average of 35 hours per week, and workers in other sectors worked an
average of 30 hours per week. The law includes specific occupational
health and safety regulations. Labor regulations require employers to
take adequate precautions for employee safety. The MOL was responsible
for enforcing these regulations but did so unevenly. Labor organizers
reported that workers did not have the right to remove themselves from
hazardous conditions without jeopardizing their continued employment.
Some private sector firms failed to provide employees with family
and transport allowances as stipulated under the law and to register
them at the National Social Security Fund. Some companies also did not
respect occupational health and safety regulations stipulated by the
law. Workers are permitted to complain about violations to the GCL, an
umbrella organization for trade unions, the MOL and the National Social
Security Fund. In most cases, however, they preferred to remain silent
fearing arbitrary dismissal.
Foreign domestic workers, mostly of Asian and African origin, were
mistreated, abused, raped, or placed in situations of coerced labor or
slavery-like conditions (see section 5). Recruitment agencies and
employers are required to have signed employment contracts with the
foreign worker. According to NGOs assisting migrant workers, however,
these agreements were often undermined by second contracts signed in
the source countries that stipulated lower salaries. Employers and
agencies used these changes to pay the migrant a lower salary.
Anecdotal evidence suggested that some employers did not pay their
workers on a regular basis, and some withheld the salary until the end
of the contract, which was usually two years. Government regulations
prohibit employment agencies from withholding foreign workers'
passports for any reason. However, in practice it continued to be
common for employment agencies and household employers to withhold
maids' passports. These measures were used to control the outside
activities of the workers, specifically, to keep them from running
away.
The law does not protect foreign domestic workers. Domestic workers
often worked 18 hours per day and, in many cases did not receive
vacations or holidays. There was no minimum wage for domestic workers.
Although official contracts stipulate a wage ranging from $100 to $300
(150,000 to 450,000 pounds) per month, depending on the nationality of
the worker, the actual salary was much less. Victims of trafficking or
abusive labor situations may file civil suits or seek legal action, but
most victims, often counseled by their embassies or consulates, settled
for an administrative solution, which usually included monetary
compensation and repatriation. The Government did not release
information on legal actions filed, but NGOs indicated that fewer than
10 legal actions were undertaken during the year.
During the year the MOL, which regulates the activities of
employment agencies, closed 15 agencies for violations of workers'
rights, including physical abuse. Perpetrators of the abuses, however,
were not further prosecuted for a number of reasons, including the
victims' refusal to press charges or a lack of evidence. The MOL, which
also has jurisdiction in cases where the labor contract has been
violated, reported adjudicating 57 such cases during the year. An
unknown number of other cases of nonpayment of wages were settled
through negotiation. According to source country embassies and
consulates, many workers did not report violations of their labor
contracts until after returning to their countries.
__________
LIBYA
The Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya is an
authoritarian regime with a population of approximately six million,
ruled by Colonel Mu'ammar Al Qadhafi since 1969. The country's
governing principles are derived predominantly from Colonel Qadhafi's
Green Book ideology. In theory citizens rule the country through a
pyramid of popular congresses communes, and committees, as laid out in
the 1969 Constitutional Proclamation and the 1977 Declaration on the
Establishment of the Authority of the People. However, in practice
Qadhafi and his inner circle monopolized political power. On March 5,
Secretary of the General People's Congress (GPC) al-Baghdadi al-
Mahmoudi and the remaining delegates of the 760-member GPC began a
three-year term. Revolutionary Committees are nominally extragovern-
mental organizations that monitor adherence to revolutionary ideology,
but in practice the committees' role was unclear and increasingly
marginal. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
The Government's human rights record remained poor. Citizens did
not have the right to change their government. Reported torture,
arbitrary arrest, and incommunicado detention remained problems. The
Government restricted civil liberties and freedoms of speech, press,
assembly, and association. The Government did not fully protect the
rights of migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. Other problems
included poor prison conditions; impunity for government officials;
lengthy political detention; denial of fair public trial; infringement
of privacy rights; restrictions of freedom of religion; corruption and
lack of transparency; societal discrimination against women, ethnic
minorities, and foreign workers; trafficking in persons; and
restriction of labor rights.
The Government took a positive step during the year. On March 2,
the Government released 132 political prisoners, including 86 members
of the Muslim Brotherhood held since 1988 and journalist Abd Al Raziq
Al Mansuri.
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.
According to a September 13 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report,
witnesses interviewed in April and May 2005 claimed that abuse by
detention center guards led to the deaths of three detainees (see
section 1.c.).
The Government did not release publicly any information on its
investigation into the May 2005 abduction, abuse, and killing of Daif
Al Ghazal, a prominent opposition journalist and anticorruption
activist. According to HRW the Government stated that it could not
provide information about the case without compromising its
investigation. In August the Government stated it had detained two
suspects. Some human rights groups raised concerns that a government
autopsy in the Al Ghazal case omitted key details necessary for a
police investigation.
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, but security personnel
routinely tortured prisoners during interrogations or as punishment.
Government agents reportedly detained and tortured foreign workers,
particularly those from sub Saharan Africa. Reports of torture were
difficult to corroborate since many detainees were held incommunicado.
The reported methods of torture and abuse included chaining
prisoners to a wall for hours, clubbing, applying electric shock,
applying corkscrews to the back, pouring lemon juice in open wounds,
breaking fingers and allowing the joints to heal without medical care,
suffocating with plastic bags, prolonged deprivation of sleep, food,
and water, hanging by the wrists, suspension from a pole inserted
between the knees and elbows, cigarette burns, threats of dog attacks,
and beatings on the soles of the feet.
According to HRW the Government claimed that it prosecuted
officials who mistreated detainees in detention facilities. The
Government stated that it investigated 43 cases of alleged torture and
brought 48 defendants to trial in 2004. The Government did not specify
the outcome of the trials or provide similar statistics for 2005 or
this year.
Since 2000 six foreign medical personnel charged with deliberately
infecting children in a hospital in Benghazi with the HIV virus
testified repeatedly that they had been tortured with electric shocks
and beatings to extract confessions. The medical personnel also
testified to two cases of rape. In June 2005 a court acquitted 10
security officials accused of torture (see section 1.e.).
In March 2005 representatives of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)
and the International Federation of Health and Human Rights
Organizations visited political detainee Fathi Al Jahmi and reported
that his isolated confinement and sporadic and inadequate medical
treatment constituted cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment (see
section 1.e.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--According to foreign
diplomats and international organizations, prison and detention center
conditions ranged from poor to adequate. Pretrial detainees and
convicts were held in the same facilities. Reportedly more than half of
the prisoners in the country were pretrial detainees. Prison officials
frequently held pretrial detainees for long periods (see section 1.d.).
Security forces reportedly subjected detainees to cruel, inhuman,
or degrading conditions and denied adequate medical care, which led to
several deaths in custody.
On October 4, according to press accounts, clashes between
prisoners and guards at the Abu Salim prison killed one prisoner, Hafed
Mansour Al-Zwai, and injured 17.
For three weeks in April and May 2005, HRW visited the country
after a 15 year absence and received access to police stations,
prisons, and prisoners. According to HRW prison conditions appeared
generally adequate, but overcrowding and abuse by security forces as
punishment were problems. According to HRW witnesses reported that
physical abuse by guards led to the deaths of three detainees (see
section 1.a.); one interviewee said that he saw what he believed to be
rape, while three witnesses reported that security officials threatened
women detainees with sexual violence. HRW stated that some detention
conditions for migrants and refugees reportedly improved since some of
the interviewees were detained.
In February 2004 the Government permitted Amnesty International
(AI) to visit some prisons and speak with inmates that it considered
``prisoners of conscience.'' During its visit AI raised concerns with
the Government about the health of 86 Muslim Brotherhood prisoners in
Abu Salim prison who undertook a seven day hunger strike to protest
lengthy delays in their appeal process. On March 2, the Government
released these 86 prisoners. In March 2005 the Government also allowed
PHR representatives to examine a limited number of detention
facilities.
In May 2005 the authorities established a committee to investigate
the 1996 Abu Salim prison riot, in which a large but unknown number of
prisoners died. According to HRW the Government did not provide
information on the timing of the investigation and has not responded to
subsequent HRW requests for details on the investigation's progress.
Similarly, AI did not receive a reply from the Government to its formal
request for information. AI officials reported that they continued to
receive inquiries from family members of prisoners possibly involved in
the 1996 incident. Since 2001 according to the Switzerland-based Libyan
Human Rights Solidarity (LHRS), government officials notified 112
families that a family member died in the incident, but officials did
not provide a body or explain the cause of death. An additional 238
families have not received confirmation from the Government on the
status of their family members.
According to LHRS, Muhammad Bosadra, a prisoner who reportedly
negotiated with guards during the incident, has been held incommunicado
since 2005, when government officials moved him from Abu Salim to an
unknown facility.
Unlike in previous years, the Government allowed the United
National High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) local office regular
access to detention facilities.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, the Government did not observe these
prohibitions. There were reports that security forces arbitrarily
arrested and detained citizens during the year.
On April 19, authorities reportedly released Kamel Mas'ud Al
Kilani, who was arrested, taken to an unknown destination, and detained
for 10 months, according to the Libya Watch for Human Rights.
Authorities arrested Al Kilani despite government assurances of safety
upon his 2005 return to the country, but the Government did not bring
charges against him. At year's end authorities had not yet returned his
passport.
According to a December 4 HRW report, security forces detained an
outspoken regime critic, Idrees Mohammed Boufayed, on November 5. On
September 30, Boufayed returned after living in Switzerland for 16
years. HRW reports that security agents confiscated Boufayed's passport
upon his arrival in the country. Security agents came to Boufayed's
home and ordered him to report to the local Internal Security Agency
office where they then ordered him to report to the agency's main
office in Tripoli. On December 29, security forces subsequently
released Boufayed.
AI reported that security officials detained Mahmoud Mohammed
Boushima, a government critic resident in the UK since 1981, during a
July 2005 trip to the country. He remained in custody at year's end.
Role of Police and Security Apparatus.--The country maintains an
extensive security apparatus that includes police and military units,
multiple intelligence services, local revolutionary committees,
people's committees, and ``purification'' committees. The result is a
multilayered, pervasive surveillance system that monitors and controls
the activities of individuals. The legal basis of security service
authority is unclear; citizens have no obvious recourse if they believe
security services have exceeded their authority. Frequently cited laws
are the 1971 and 1972 ``Protection of the Revolution'' laws, which
criminalize activities based on political principles inconsistent with
revolutionary ideology. Although the law prohibits arbitrary arrest and
detention, in practice security services can detain individuals without
formal charges and hold them indefinitely without court convictions.
Security forces committed numerous, serious human rights abuses with
impunity, including the detentions of al-Kilani, Boufayed, and Boushima
(see section 1.d.).
Many citizens perceived corruption as a severe problem. Perceptions
of favoritism based on family or personal connections were widespread
(see section 3).
Arrest and Detention.--The law provides that detainees can be held
after arrest for up to 48 hours at a police station. They must then be
brought before a prosecutor, who can hold them for six days for
investigation. While the law requires that detainees be informed of the
charges against them, this law was not enforced in practice. Detainees
must then be brought before a judicial authority at regular intervals
of 30 days to renew their detention order.
By law bail must be set for pretrial detainees, detainees must have
access to counsel, and public defenders represent those who cannot
afford a private attorney. Detainees reportedly did not receive
information on their rights to legal representation during
interrogation. According to authorities detainees have access to family
members.
Incommunicado detention was a problem. The Government held many
political detainees incommunicado for unlimited periods in unofficial
detention centers controlled by members of the revolutionary
committees. The Government reportedly held hundreds of political
detainees, many associated with banned Islamic groups, in prisons
throughout the country, but mainly in the Abu Salim prison. Some human
rights organizations estimated there were approximately two thousand
political detainees, many held for years without trial. Hundreds of
other detainees may have been held for periods too brief (three to four
months) to permit confirmation by outside observers.
According to a September 13 HRW report, in 2005 migrants and
refugees in detention centers complained consistently of not being
informed of the reason for their arrest, lengthy periods of pretrial
detention, and restricted access to a lawyer.
Women and girls suspected of violating moral codes reportedly were
detained indefinitely in ``social rehabilitation'' homes (see section
5).
Amnesty.--On September 3, as part of its annual Revolution Day
commemoration, the Government reportedly pardoned 1,700 prisoners,
including foreigners, serving sentences related to civil matters. The
Government regularly pardons prisoners during the September holiday.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary; however, it was not independent in practice. The
law stipulates that every person has the right to resort to the courts;
however, security forces had the authority to pass sentences without
trial, particularly in cases involving political opposition. The legal
basis for security force authority is unclear. Some NGOs cited the 1971
and 1972 ``Protection of the Revolution'' laws (see section 1.d.).
Security services intimidated, harassed, and detained individuals
without formal charges and held them indefinitely without court
convictions, particularly in cases involving political opposition. The
Government used summary judicial proceedings to suppress domestic
dissent. Qadhafi may interfere in the administration of justice by
altering court judgments, replacing judges, or manipulating the appeal
system. The judiciary failed to incorporate international standards for
fair trials, detention, and imprisonment.
The judicial system is composed of four tiers. The summary courts
hear cases involving misdemeanors. The decisions of this court may be
appealed to the courts of first instance. These courts are composed of
chambers of three judges and have the authority to adjudicate in all
civil, criminal, and commercial cases. In addition, the jurors apply
the Shari'a principles in cases involving personal status. Cases from
the courts of first instance may be appealed to the three courts of
appeal, which are composed of panels of three judges. The Shari'a court
of appeals hears cases from the lower Shari'a court.
The final court of appeal is the Supreme Court, composed of five
separate chambers of five judges, which rules by majority decree. The
court has chambers for civil and commercial, criminal, administrative,
constitutional, and Shari'a. The GPC elects the presiding President and
other members of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Council for Judicial Authority is the administrative
authority of the judiciary that handles appointments, transfers, and
disciplinary matters.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the presumption of
innocence, informing defendants of the charges against them, and the
right to legal counsel. In practice defendants often were not informed
of the charges against them and usually had little contact, if any,
with their lawyers. Defense lawyers automatically were appointed, even
if the defendant declined to have one.
In January 2005 the GPC abolished the People's Court, a special
tribunal outside of the judicial system, which violated fair trial
standards during the prosecution of political cases. However, in the
past the revolutionary committees convened national security courts to
try political offenses. Such trials often were held in secret or in the
absence of the accused. The Government must review all past cases of
prisoners found guilty by the People's Court. Reviews were ongoing at
year's end.
In 2004 a court sentenced to death six foreign health workers
accused of deliberately infecting 426 children with HIV tainted blood
in 1999. The sentences reportedly were based on confessions that the
accused made under torture (see section 1.c.). International observers
reported serious concerns about the lack of investigation into
allegations of torture and delays in bringing the case to a conclusion.
In December 2005 the Supreme Court accepted the appeal of the medics
and ordered a retrial by the criminal court, which began on May 11.
Authorities denied the defendants and their lawyers the right to call
witnesses or present evidence while giving wide latitude to the
prosecution. Defendants and their lawyers had limited access to
government held evidence. At the December 19 conclusion of the retrial,
the court announced sentences of death for the six health workers. At
year's end the Supreme Court was reviewing the verdict.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--A large but unknown number of
individuals were convicted and imprisoned for engaging in peaceful
political activity over a number of years for belonging to an illegal
political organization. The law bans any group activity based on any
political ideology contrary to the principles of the 1969 revolution.
At year's end political activist and Qadhafi critic Fathi Al-Jahmi
remained in incommunicado detention. In 2002 security forces detained
Al-Jahmi after he called publicly for democratic reforms and released
him in March 2004. The Government detained him again two weeks later
after he gave several interviews to foreign press calling for reforms.
In May 2005 HRW visited Al Jahmi, and he stated that he faced three
charges: trying to overthrow the Government, slandering Qadhafi, and
contacting foreign authorities. According to HRW the Government
contended it arrested Al-Jahmi both for telephoning foreign officials
and ``providing them with information with the purpose of making their
countries hate the Great Jamahiriya,'' and also for conspiring to serve
the interests of a foreign country. HRW reported that Al-Jahmi's lawyer
believes these charges could carry the death penalty. According to a
May 4 HRW report, the Government had not brought formal charges against
Al-Jahmi, and the case was still under investigation.
On March 2, the Government released journalist Abd Al Razia Al
Mansuri, whom it reportedly held incommunicado after his January 2005
arrest. According to HRW Al Mansuri wrote Internet articles critical of
the Government and society. The Government claimed to have arrested and
sentenced Al Mansuri in October 2005 for illegal possession of a
handgun.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Courts of first instance
have the authority to hear civil, criminal, and commercial cases. Civil
cases, like criminal cases, may be appealed. The Supreme Court is the
court of appeals for all civil cases and has a separate chamber devoted
to civil matters. In practice citizens did not have access to courts to
seek damages for, or cessation of, a human rights violation. Security
services intimidated, harassed, and detained individuals outside of the
legal system and without judicial oversight. In practice individuals
did not have the right to seek redress for security service actions in
civil court.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions; however, the
Government did not respect these prohibitions. The security agencies
often disregarded the legal requirement to obtain warrants before
entering a private home. They routinely monitored telephone calls and
reportedly monitored the Internet.
The security agencies and the revolutionary committees oversaw an
extensive network of informants engaged in surveillance for the
Government. The Government threatened to seize and destroy property
belonging to ``enemies of the people'' or those who ``cooperate'' with
foreign powers. Exiles reported that family members of suspected
government opponents were harassed and threatened with detention.
Collective punishment was inflicted on the relatives of
individuals, particularly oppositionists convicted of certain crimes.
The law provides for punishments including the denial of access to
utilities (water, electricity, and telephone), fuels, food supplies,
official documents, participation in local assemblies, and the
termination of new economic projects and state subsidies.
There were no reports of the application of the purge law that
provides for the confiscation of private assets above a nominal amount,
describing wealth in excess of such undetermined amounts as ``the
fruits of exploitation or corruption.''
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech ``within the limits of public interest and principles of the
Revolution''; however, in practice the Government severely limited the
freedoms of speech and press, particularly any criticism of government
officials or policy. According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF),
press freedom slightly improved since 2005. The Government tolerated
some difference of opinion in people's committee meetings and at the
GPC.
The Government prohibited all unofficial political activities. By
law many forms of speech or expression may be interpreted as illegal.
Pervasive self-censorship stemmed largely from the wide reach of
security services and broad networks of informants throughout society
(see section 1.f.).
On March 2, the Government released Abd Al Raziq Al Mansuri, who
was arrested in January 2005 after publishing articles critical of the
Government and society on a foreign Web site (see section 1.e.).
At year's end the Government continued to detain political activist
Fathi Al-Jahmi after he denounced the regime to foreign media (see
section 1.e.).
In May 2005 unidentified individuals abducted and killed journalist
and out-spoken government critic Daif Al Ghazal. In June 2005
authorities found his body and later detained two men in connection
with an open investigation (see section 1.a.).
The Government owned and controlled virtually all print and
broadcast media. The official news agency, JANA, was the designated
conduit for official views. The Government did not permit the
publication of opinions inconsistent with official policy. A single
privately-owned radio station, broadcasting popular music and hourly
JANA news reports, reportedly opened with government permission. Local
revolutionary committees published several small newspapers.
Few foreign publications were available. The Government routinely
censored foreign publications and at times prohibited their
distribution. On July 1, an offshoot of the semi-official Qadhafi
International Development Foundation began distributing foreign
publications for the first time within the country. While the
publications law in theory restricts publishing rights to public
entities, in practice, private companies were able to publish.
Satellite television was widely available, although the Government
censored foreign programming at times.
Internet Freedom.--A sole service provider offered Internet access.
The number of Internet users was small but growing. According to the
United Nations Development Program (UNDP), approximately four percent
of citizens regularly used the Internet. The Government occasionally
blocked certain Internet sites, chiefly political opposition Web sites,
and reportedly monitored Internet communications.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government severely
restricted academic freedom. Professors and teachers who discussed
politically sensitive topics faced the risk of government reprisal.
The Government must approve all cultural events in advance. Any
group or individual seeking to organize a cultural event required a
government sponsor. The Government at times denied permission for
musical performances.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law stipulates that ``individuals may meet peacefully,
and no police personnel are entitled to attend their meetings;
moreover, they are not obliged to notify the police of such
gatherings.'' The law also provides for the right to hold public
meetings in accordance with the regulations set by the law. However,
the Government severely restricted these rights in practice. The
Government permitted public assembly only with its express approval and
only in support of the Government's positions.
Freedom of Association.--The Government restricted the right of
association to institutions affiliated with the Government. The
Government did not allow the formation of groups based on political
ideology (see section 3). Political activity deemed treasonous by the
Government carries the death penalty. Such an offense may include any
activity inconsistent with the principles of the 1969 revolution.
c. Freedom of Religion.--There is no explicit law addressing
religious freedom; however, the Great Green Charter on Human Rights of
the Jamahiriya Era of 1988 provides a basis for some degree of
religious freedom.
The Government regulates mosques, religious schools, and clerics
operating within the country to insure all views are in line with the
state-approved form of Islam. The Government strongly opposes militant
forms of Islam, which it views as a threat. The Government was tolerant
of other religious groups but prohibited the proselytizing of Muslims.
The World Islamic Call Society (WICS), an international education
institute headquartered in Tripoli, aimed to provide Muslims from
outside the Arab world with a broad education in literature, history,
science, and religion. In addition, WICS also organizes vocational
training programs and brings academic speakers to the country. WICS
also maintains relations with non-Muslim religious groups in the
country, including Christian churches.
Christian churches operated openly and were accepted by the
authorities; however, the Government imposed a limit of one church per
denomination per city and prohibited proselytizing of Muslims. There
were no official places of worship for minority religions such as
Hinduism, Buddhism, and the Baha'i Faith.
A noncitizen female who marries a Muslim citizen was not required
to convert to Islam; however, a noncitizen male must convert to Islam
in order to marry a Muslim woman. The Government supported the position
that all citizens are Muslim, and marriages between non Muslims were
unacceptable. Burial of non-Muslims was not possible in Tripoli.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal violence, harassment, or discrimination against members of
religious groups.
Although no current statistics were available, the country's Jewish
population was extremely small and possibly nonexistent. In 1974 the
World Jewish Congress reported no more than 20 Jews resident in the
country.
The Government renovated a former Jewish school in Tripoli, which
now serves as a city archive. In the absence of a Jewish community,
there was no functioning synagogue.
In 2004 Qadhafi called for compensation for Jews whose property was
nationalized by the Government after 1948. Discussions regarding
possible compensation for confiscated communal property have been
ongoing since 2004.
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 stipulates that ``each citizen,
during the time of peace, may move freely, choose the place where he or
she wishes to live, and may return to the country and leave whenever he
or she chooses.'' The law on travel documents provides for these
rights, and the Government generally did not restrict the freedom of
movement within the country. Authorities routinely seized the passports
of foreigners married to citizens upon their entry into the country.
The law does not allow, nor does the Government impose forced exile
as a punishment. The Government continued to encourage dissidents
resident abroad to return and publicly promised their safety; however,
HRW and AI reported two examples where the Government detained
dissidents returning from exile despite promises to the contrary (see
section 1.d.). The Government reportedly interrogated students
returning from study abroad.
Protection of Refugees.--There was no established system to protect
refugees or national legislation to determine refugee and asylum
status; therefore, the Government did not grant refugee status or
asylum. The country is not a party to the 1951 UN Convention Relating
to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol; however, it is a party
to the former Organization of African Unity's Convention Governing the
Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. In practice the
Government provided some protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution.
While the Government has not signed a formal cooperation agreement
with the UNHCR, the local UNHCR office had regular access to government
officials and facilities and was able to conduct its work without
significant restrictions.
The law prohibits the extradition of political refugees. Unlike in
previous years, the Government did not forcibly return any refugees.
According to UNHCR the Government started to differentiate between
legitimate refugees and asylum seekers and other economic migrants;
however, most Libyans failed to distinguish legitimate refugees and
asylum seekers from the large immigrant population.
During 2005 approximately 12,600 refugees were registered with the
UNHCR, although UNHCR estimates there were 30,000 refugees in the
country. During the year UNHCR reported an increase in the number of
refugee applications, which contributed to an eight month waiting
period for asylum seekers to receive an appointment with the
organization. The majority of refugees are Palestinians and Somalis,
followed by smaller numbers from Chad, Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra
Leone.
The Government stipulates that any foreigner who enters the country
illegally shall be deported. The Government maintained detention camps
to hold noncitizens pending deportation and did not inform diplomatic
representatives when their nationals were detained. There were reports
of authorities leaving noncitizens in the desert without any aid.
According to government figures, officials repatriated approximately
145,000 foreigners between 2003 and 2005.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law makes no provisions for elections, and citizens do not have
the right to change their government. The country's governing
principles stem from Qadhafi's Green Book, which combines Islamic
ideals with elements of socialism and pan Arabism. The Green Book
states that direct popular rule is the basis of the political system
and that citizens play a role in popular congresses; however, in
practice Qadhafi and his close associates monopolized government
decisions.
In August 2005 the quasigovernmental Qaddafi International
Development Foundation, headed by Qadhafi's son Saif Al-Islam, launched
an initiative calling for political reform, including greater press
freedom, the release of political prisoners, and compensation for those
who had been unfairly harmed by state actions. At year's end there were
no new developments to the foundation's initiatives.
Elections and Political Parties.--The Government prohibits the
creation of and subsequent membership in political parties. The 1977
Declaration on the Establishment of the Authority of the People
dictates how citizens exercise their political rights. The Government
is structured in a pyramid of committees, communes, and congresses,
each layer of which is involved in the selection of the next highest
level. Citizens participate through numerous organizations, which
include vocational, production, professional, and crafts congresses.
Voting for the leaders of the local congresses is mandatory for all
citizens over the age of 18.
The elected secretaries of these various congresses and committees
select the members of the highest legislative organization, the GPC,
which is composed of 760 members serving three year terms.
In theory Revolutionary Committees, composed primarily of youth,
guard against political dissent and ensure that citizens adhere to
sanctioned ideology. These committees approve candidates for the GPC.
In practice Revolutionary Committees played an unclear role in
enforcing official ideology and appeared to be increasingly
marginalized.
Elections occur every three years when the people's congresses, the
local bodies comprised of all citizens, choose their leadership
committees. The last renewal of people's congresses took place in
March. The election process continues through the hierarchy of people's
congresses, until the GPC chooses the General People's Committee, which
manages the daily affairs of the Government.
According to this year's UNDP report, women held 4.7 percent of the
760 seats in the General People's Committee. There was no reliable
information on the representation of minorities in the Government.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption was
perceived to be a severe problem and favoritism, based on family ties,
contributed to government inefficiency.
The law does not provide for public access to government
information, and the Government did not provide access in practice to
citizens or foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Numerous charitable associations approved by the Government operate
in the country; however, the Government prohibited the establishment of
independent human rights organizations. Individuals wishing to carry
out human rights work were forced to operate abroad due to restrictive
laws that impose imprisonment for forming or joining international
organizations without government authorization (see section 2.b.).
Associations engaging in unauthorized political activity are
illegal. The Government body known as the Libyan Arab Human Rights
Committee did not release any public reports. The Libyan Society for
Human Rights, operating under the sponsorship of the semiofficial
Qaddafi International Development Foundation, followed government
policy priorities rather than operating an independent entity.
The Government slowly began to allow foreign nongovernmental
organizations greater access. From April 17 to 25, a National
Democratic Institute delegation visited for the first time to assess
its political system and to gather information on the state of civil
society. RSF conducted a fact-finding mission from September 13 to 17.
The Government permitted a three week visit by a HRW delegation in May
2005 and a PHR delegation in March 2005. In 2004 AI visited after a 15
year absence.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, religion,
disability, or social status; however, the Government did not enforce
these prohibitions effectively, particularly with regard to women and
minorities.
Women.--The 1969 Constitutional Proclamation granted women total
equality; however, traditional attitudes and practices continue to
discriminate against women. Shari'a law governs inheritance, divorce,
and the right to own property.
The law prohibits domestic violence, but there was no reliable
information on the penalties for punishment. There was little detailed
information regarding the extent of violence against women; however, it
reportedly remained a problem. Abuse within the family rarely was
discussed publicly.
The law prohibits rape. The convicted rapist of a girl must marry
the girl, with her agreement, or serve a prison term of up to 25 years.
The law does not distinguish between rape inside or outside of
marriage. According to testimony by government officials before the
United Nations, spousal rape occurred and was resolved by ``social
solutions.''
The law does not prohibit female genital mutilation (FGM), which is
foreign to the culture and society; however, there were reports that
FGM occurred in remote areas of the country within African migrant
communities.
The law prohibits prostitution; however, the authorities tolerated
it.
Women and girls suspected of violating moral codes reportedly were
detained indefinitely in ``social rehabilitation'' homes, which provide
social services, including education and healthcare. Many detained in
these facilities had been raped and then ostracized by their families.
The Government also stated that a woman was free to leave the homes
when she reaches the ``legal age'' of adulthood (18 years old); if a
male relative takes custody of her; or if she consents to marriage.
According to HRW the Government routinely violated women and girls'
human rights in the home, including violations of due process, freedom
of movement, personal dignity, and privacy.
The law criminalizes sexual harassment; however, there were no
reports on how this law was enforced in practice.
The Department of Women's Affairs, under the GPC secretariat,
collects data and oversees the integration of women into all spheres of
public life. The General Union of Women's Associations, established by
the Government as a network of nongovernmental organizations, addresses
women's employment needs. Traditional restrictions discourage women
from playing an active role in the workplace and inhibit employment by
women.
In general the emancipation of women was a generational phenomenon.
Educational differences between men and women have narrowed; however, a
significant proportion of rural women did not attend school and were
inclined to instill in their children such traditional beliefs as
women's subservient role in society.
Children.--The Government generally protects children's rights and
welfare. Libya ratified the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child in
1993.
The Government subsidized primary, secondary, and university
education, and primary education was compulsory until age 15. According
to a 2003 UNDP report, 96 percent of school age children attended
primary school and most reached at least a sixth grade level. Only 53
percent of girls and 71 percent of boys attended secondary school. The
Government subsidized medical care, and improved the welfare of
children; however, general economic mismanagement led to a low standard
in medical services.
The law prohibits child abuse, and that prohibition was respected
in practice.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prescribes punishments for
trafficking in persons.
Women were believed to be trafficked through the country from
Africa to Europe. Traffickers sometimes coerced persons into commercial
sexual exploitation or forced labor in the country. Moroccan women
reportedly were trafficked to the capital for commercial sexual
exploitation. International organizations heard frequent complaints
from foreign workers whose employers confiscated their passports or
failed to pay their salaries (see section 6.e.). The Government engaged
in joint collaborations with other affected countries to combat illegal
migration but did not address trafficking. Authorities did not screen
illegal immigrants and those arrested for prostitution for evidence of
trafficking prior to deportation or prosecution.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law safeguards the rights of
persons with disabilities and provides for monetary and other types of
social care; however, the Government had limited effectiveness
implementing provisions. There are a number of government approved
societies that care for persons with disabilities. Access to
employment, education, health care, and other state services were
generally protected.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Arabic speaking Muslims of
mixed Arab Amazigh ancestry constituted 97 percent of Libyan citizens.
The principal minorities were Amazighs and sub Saharan Africans.
There were frequent allegations of discrimination based on tribal
status, particularly against Amazighs in the interior and Tuaregs in
the south.
The law, as well as the Names Correction Committee, discriminates
against non Arabic languages and does not recognize the right of
individuals to use their tribal names. The ban on the registration of
non Arabic names prevented the Amazighs from naming children in their
language.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join unions without previous authorization or excessive requirements,
and the Government respected this right in practice. Members of each
profession may form their own unions and syndicates to defend their
professional rights. Workers may join the National Trade Unions'
Federation, which is administered by the people's committee system;
however, the Government prohibited foreign workers from joining this
organization. The federation played an active role in the International
Confederation of Arab Trade Unions, the Organization of African Trade
Union Unity, and the World Federation of Trade Unions.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
circumscribes unions' conduct of their activities. For example, the
Government must approve all collective agreements made between unions
and employers to ensure that they were in line with the country's
economic rights. The law does not provide workers with the right to
strike, and there were no reports of strikes during the year. In
January the Government shortened the standard work week from six days
to five days.
There were no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
any form of 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 provides that children under the age of 18 may not be employed in
any form of work, unless it is done as a form of apprenticeship. There
was no information available on the prevalence of child labor.
There was no information regarding whether the law limits working
hours or sets occupational health and safety restrictions for children.
The Ministry of Manpower is responsible for preventing child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The labor law defines the rights
and duties of workers, including matters of compensation, pension
rights, minimum rest periods, and working hours. During the year the
Government shortened the legal work week from 48 to 40 hours. The law
stipulates the minimum wage, standard working hours, night shift
regulations, dismissal procedures, and training requirements.
Employment laws generally favor the employee. The law does not
specifically prohibit excessive compulsory overtime.
Wages are forbidden by the Green Book and paid in the form of
``entitlements,'' which frequently were in arrears. A public sector
wage freeze imposed more than a decade ago continued. The highest
salary under the wage freeze was $227 (300 dinars) per month; many
families lived on a significantly lower income. In July the World Bank
reported that the Government enforced the minimum wage of $68 (85
dinars) per month. Although there was no information available
regarding whether the average wage was sufficient to provide a worker
and family with a decent standard of living, the Government heavily
subsidized rent, utilities, and food staples.
Labor inspectors were assigned to inspect places of work for
compliance with government-defined health and safety standards, and the
law grants workers the right to court hearings regarding health and
safety standards. Certain industries, such as the petroleum sector,
attempted to maintain standards set by foreign companies. There was no
information regarding whether workers may remove themselves from an
unhealthy or unsafe work situation without jeopardizing their
employment.
Foreign workers reportedly constituted 1.6 million of the 3.2
million workforce; however, the labor law does not accord foreign
workers equal treatment. Foreign workers were permitted to reside in
the country only for the duration of their work contracts, and they
could not send more than half of their earnings to their home
countries. They were subjected to arbitrary pressures, such as changes
in work rules and contracts, and had little option other than to accept
such changes or depart the country. Many foreign workers were deported
arbitrarily for not having newly required work permits for unskilled
jobs they already held.
__________
MOROCCO
Morocco is a monarchy with a constitution, an elected parliament,
and a population of approximately 30 million. According to the
constitution, ultimate authority over all branches of government rests
with King Mohammed VI, who presides over the council of ministers and
appoints or approves members of the Government. The King may dismiss
ministers, dissolve the parliament, call for new elections, and rule by
decree. In the bicameral legislature, the lower house may dissolve the
Government through a vote of no confidence. The 2002 parliamentary
elections for the lower house were widely regarded as free, fair, and
transparent. There were 35 political parties in the country. The
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
Citizens did not have the right to change fully their form of
government. Reports of torture by various branches of the security
forces persisted. Prison conditions remained below international
standards. Reports of arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detentions, and
police and security force impunity continued. Judicial independence
from the executive branch of the Government remained a problem. The
Government restricted freedoms of speech, press, and religion.
Trafficking in persons continued, and child labor, particularly in the
unregulated informal sector, remained a problem. Security forces
disbanded, sometimes with excessive force, monthly demonstrations by
unemployed university graduates in front of the parliament.
In March the Government enacted an anti-torture law, which defines
torture as a criminal offense punishable by long prison terms. In
accordance with recommendations made by the Equity and Reconciliation
Commission (IER), the Consultative Council on Human Rights(CCDH), paid
compensation to victims of human rights abuses and identified some of
the graves of those who disappeared during the period between 1956 and
1999. During the year, the CCDH promoted adherence to human rights
laws.
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.
On July 3, 50 to 70 Africans attempted to cross illegally into
Melilla. According to press reports, three migrants were killed, and
eight were injured seriously. The Government confirmed the deaths of
only two migrants; the cause of the third migrant's death remained
unknown at year's end.
In October 2005 government border guards shot and killed four
African migrants trying to enter illegally the Spanish enclave of
Melilla. According to a government report, two other migrants later
died from multiple wounds. In November 2005 the Government stated that
11 migrants died. The Government repatriated the remains of the illegal
migrants killed in the incident.
At year's end the cases against the two policemen arrested for
being complicit in the killing of Hamdi Lembarki were being adjudicated
in the court system. In October 2005 Lembarki died in Laayoune, Western
Sahara, during a demonstration in support of Western Saharan
independence. According to media reports, eyewitnesses claimed that
police beat Lembarki to death.
In December 2005 in Casablanca the Government identified between 80
and 100 individuals in a mass grave. The individuals were some of those
who disappeared during the 1981 demonstrations against increases in
food prices. On September 14, in Er-Rachidia, the CCDH identified the
graves of the two leaders of the 1973 antigovernment riots.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
In 2004 King Mohammed VI formed the IER to investigate forced, long
term disappearances of individuals who opposed the Government and its
policies between independence in 1956 and 1999. Prior to the formation
of the IER, authorities confirmed only 100 disappearance cases.
From January 2004 to November 2005, the IER investigated egregious
human rights abuses and determined levels of compensation for specific
cases of arbitrary detention and disappearance. From December 2004 to
April 2005, victims of human rights abuses and/or their families
testified before the IER. The IER received 22,000 applications and
assessed 16,861 of these to determine appropriate compensation. Human
rights groups and families continued to claim that the IER did not
acknowledge many cases of disappearances, many from the Western Sahara
(see section 4).
The IER's final report announced that the IER resolved 742
disappearance cases and 66 outstanding cases would be investigated
further by a follow-up committee of the CCDH. In total, the IER
responded with compensation packages to 9,779 victims, and it
recommended assistance for those in need of medical attention or
rehabilitation as a result of the violations they had suffered. The
IER's mandate did not allow the names of individuals responsible for
the human rights abuses to be made public. The IER report included a
series of recommendations to advance ongoing reform, including
consolidating constitutional guarantees of human rights, combating
impunity, strengthening judicial independence, and creating follow-up
mechanisms.
On July 12, members of the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Forum
for Truth and Justice (FVJ) planned a demonstration in Rabat where some
graves of victims of forced disappearance are thought to be located.
The press reported that the police prevented the FVJ members and the
families of the victims from accessing the site (see section 2.b.).
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices and the Government denied
the use of torture; however, according to local and international human
rights organizations, lawyers, prisoners, and detainees, members of the
security forces tortured or otherwise abused detainees. The penal code
stipulates sentences up to life imprisonment for public servants who
use or allow the use of violence against others in the exercise of
their official duties.
On March 16, the Government amended the penal code by enacting a
specific anti-torture law. By law pretrial investigating judges must
refer a detainee to a forensic medicine expert if asked to do so or if
judges notice suspicious physical marks on a detainee.
On April 4, Brahim Dahane, a Sahrawi prisoner, who is President of
the Sahrawi Association for the Victims of Human Rights Abuses
(SAVHRA), accused the judicial police of beating him severely when he
was being transported from the Laayoune (Western Sahara) prison to the
courthouse. Spanish press reported that Dahane showed no evidence of
beating prior to being placed in the transport vehicle. According to
the Ministry of Justice, Dahane never officially claimed that he had
been beaten.
On December 10, International Human Rights Day, a demonstration
took place in Laayoune to support Western Saharan independence. The
demonstration was not approved by the Government. According to SAVHRA,
security forces beat six individuals, including Dahane. The Ministry of
Justice determined that five people were beaten.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor and generally did not meet international standards, despite some
improvements in medical care. Extreme overcrowding, malnutrition, and
lack of hygiene continued to aggravate the poor health conditions
inside prisons. During the year the Government made progress in
building new prison facilities and rehabilitating existing prisons. In
August new visitor facilities were inaugurated in a Casablanca prison.
During the year, six education centers, primarily for vocational
training, were completed. Pretrial detainees were not held separately
from convicts. The Government allocated a larger part of its budget to
address health and sanitation issues in prisons.
c. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law does not prohibit
arbitrary arrest or detention, and police used both practices. Police
did not always observe due process; for example, they sometimes did not
identify themselves at the time of arrest of suspects, nor always
obtain warrants, according to local NGOs and associations. The police
held some detainees without charging them, according to local NGOs and
lawyers; or, if charged, the detainees were sometimes denied a public
preliminary judicial hearing within a reasonable period.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security apparatus
includes several police and paramilitary organizations with overlapping
authorities. The National Police (DGSN), the General Directorate of
Territorial Security (DGST), the Mobile Intervention Corps, and the
Auxiliary Forces are independent entities. The Royal Gendarmerie
reports to the Ministry of Defense and was responsible for law
enforcement in rural regions, including national highways. The
Department of Royal Security reports to the palace.
The DGSN managed the border and immigration services. The main
federal investigative body, the National Brigade, investigated
violations of the penal code, terrorism, organized crime, and white
collar crime. The DGST and the Auxiliary Forces had security functions.
While the police were effective, corruption and impunity remained a
problem. The Ministry of the Interior investigated accusations of
police abuse and corruption. On September 15, it removed eight security
force members and four government officials accused of illegal
behavior. The Ministry of the Interior disbanded the Urban Security
Group (GUS), which had developed a reputation for abuse. GUS personnel
became part of the general police ranks.
All aspects of police training, funded by a variety of sources,
occurred throughout the year and were effective.
Arrest and Detention.--Police may make an arrest following a
general prosecutor's issuance of an oral or written warrant, although
in practice authorities sometimes issued warrants after the fact.
Authorities denied defendants access to counsel or family members
during the initial 96-hour period of detention, which was when police
interrogated detainees and abuse or torture was most likely to occur
(see section 1.c.).
Under the 2003 antiterrorism law, those arrested may be held for 96
hours, with two additional 96-hour extensions allowed at the
prosecutor's discretion.
The law provides for a limited system of bail; however, it was
rarely granted. The law does not require a written authorization for a
person to be released from detention. In some instances judges released
defendants on their own recognizance. The antiterrorism law does not
include a system of bail. Under a separate military code, military
authorities may detain members of the military without a warrant or
public trial.
According to the law, all defendants have the right to be
represented by attorneys and, if a defendant cannot afford private
counsel, a court appointed attorney must be provided. This provision
was respected in practice. The police were required to notify a
person's next of kin of an arrest as soon as possible after the initial
48-hour incommunicado detention, but this provision was not always
respected in practice. Because of delays in contacting family, lawyers
were not always informed promptly of the date of arrest and were not
able to monitor compliance within the administrative detention limits.
Unlike the previous year, there were no reports that some members of
the security forces extended detention limits.
On August 7, the Ministry of the Interior announced it had
dismantled a terrorist cell. By the end of August, the Government
arrested 52 individuals, including four women. The women were accused
of being financiers of the cell. The cell members were detained with
formal charges at year's end.
The Government held an unknown number of individuals because of
suspected links to terrorist groups or for suspected involvement in the
2003 Casablanca attacks.
Amnesty.--On March 25, the King pardoned 216 prisoners in Laayoune
(Western Sahara). In this group were 18 individuals identified as human
rights activists by national and international NGOs. On July 31, the
King granted royal pardons and commutation of sentences to 1,215
prisoners; on August 20, the King released 679 more; and on December
31, he released 549 more prisoners.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; nevertheless, the courts were subject to
extrajudicial pressures. According to observers, corruption remained
prevalent.
In June 2005 the supreme council of the judiciary initiated
disciplinary proceedings against seven judges for possible corruption.
The Government dismissed one of the judges; it temporarily dismissed
three; two retired early; and the Government found one not guilty. At
year's end the Government had not conducted any new disciplinary
proceedings against judges; however, nine cases were adjudicated
against legal professionals. In accordance with the 2004 law, judges
who committed crimes were tried under the penal code. Since 2004 the
Ministry of Justice sued 3,948 individuals in accordance with the 2004
law.
There are four levels in the common law court system: communal and
district courts, courts of first instance, the appeals court, and the
supreme court. All decisions made in criminal and civil matters in
which the penalty exceeds approximately $33 (330 dirhams) may be
appealed to the courts of first instance (regional courts). The
regional courts are subdivided into civil, commercial, administrative,
penal, and rabbinical sections. Cases may be appealed from the regional
courts to the appeals court.
The supreme court is subdivided into five chambers: constitutional,
penal, administrative, social, and civil. The constitutional chamber is
composed of the President of the supreme court, three judges appointed
by the King, and three judges appointed by the President of the chamber
of representatives, the lower house. The supreme court is not a venue
for criminal appeals cases.
There is a single court system under the Ministry of Justice,
including administrative courts, commercial courts, and family courts.
Military tribunals existed only for military personnel. The central
audit court, which is the supreme audit institution, and nine regional
audit courts also had judicial powers. Appeals courts heard cases
against government officials accused of abuse of power.
At the Government's discretion, serious state security cases such
as those relating to the monarchy, Islam, or territorial integrity (in
practice advocating independence for the Western Sahara) may be brought
against any person. A tribunal, responsible to the Ministry of
Interior, is constituted in these cases. The cases against the two
policemen charged with Hamdi Lembarki's death were adjudicated in this
manner (see section 1.a.).
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair public
trial for all citizens; however, according to human rights NGOs, this
did not always occur in practice, especially for those protesting the
inclusion of the Western Sahara into the country. Juries are not used.
Although accused persons generally are brought to trial within an
initial period of two months, prosecutors may request up to five
additional two-month extensions of pretrial detention; thus, an accused
person may be kept in detention for up to one year prior to trial.
According to the law, all defendants have the right to be
represented by attorneys and, if a defendant cannot afford private
counsel, a court appointed attorney is provided. The Ministry of
Justice is required to provide an attorney at public expense for
serious crimes when the offense carries a maximum sentence of more than
five years. Attorneys were not always appointed, however, or, if
provided, they were poorly paid, resulting often in inadequate
representation. Judges sometimes denied defense requests to question
witnesses. Defendants are given the right to be present and to timely
consultation with an attorney.
Detainees are arraigned before a court of first instance. If the
judge determines that a confession was obtained under duress, the law
requires that it be excluded from evidence. Human rights NGOs charged
that judges decided cases often on the basis of forced confessions,
especially in cases of Islamists accused of terrorism (see section
1.c.) or in the cases of some Sahrawis. Police statements about
detainees were sometimes used rather than defendants' confessions.
In some cases appeals courts may be used as a second reference for
courts of first instance, although they primarily handled cases
involving crimes punishable by five years or more in prison. In
practice defendants before appeals courts who are implicated in crimes
with such a punishment have no method of appeal. The supreme court does
not review and rule on cases sent to it by the appeals court; the
supreme court may overturn an appellate court's ruling on procedural
grounds only. As a result, defendants in crimes whose penalty was long
periods of confinement did not often appeal. An investigation by an
examining magistrate was mandatory only when life imprisonment or the
death penalty was a probability.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of unfair
trials.
Family courts adjudicated divorce and child custody cases according
to the family law. These courts addressed family issues for Muslim
citizens, and judges were trained in Shari'a (Islamic law) as applied
in the country and in the requirements of the 2004 family law. By the
end of the year, the Ministry of Justice, often in cooperation with
international NGOs, had trained 1571 judges and 2,303 legal clerks.
Family matters for Jews were handled by the parallel legal system
available to them (see section 2.c.).
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The law does not distinguish
political and security cases from common criminal cases. The Government
did not consider any of its prisoners to be political prisoners. The
Government stated that it detained individuals under criminal law only.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The national ombudsman
resolves civil matters when the judiciary is unable to do so. The
ombudsman reports the cases to the King, who has the final decision.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution states that the home is inviolable
and that no search or investigation may take place without a search
warrant; however, authorities sometimes ignored these provisions in
practice. The law stipulates that a prosecutor may issue a search
warrant on good cause, particularly in cases of terrorism. Plainclothes
security officers who did not identify themselves or present search
warrants conducted home searches. During the year the press reported
that authorities searched and closed the homes of members of the
Islamist Justice and Charity Organization (JCO) when these homes were
being used for ``open houses,'' places where JCO members allegedly held
politically-oriented meetings, according to the press.
Government security services monitored without authorization
certain persons and organizations, both foreign and domestic.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law generally provides for
freedom of speech and of the press. The Government generally respected
these rights in practice, as long as Islam, the monarchy, and
territorial integrity (the inclusion of the Western Sahara) were not
criticized. Throughout the year several publications tested the
boundaries of press freedom.
The 2003 antiterrorist law and the press code impose financial
penalties on journalists and publishers who violate the restrictions
related to defamation, libel, critical discussion of the monarchy,
territorial integrity (advocating independence for the Western Sahara),
and Islam. Prison sentences can be imposed on those convicted of libel,
which resulted in self-censorship. The press code lists threats to
public order as one of the criteria for censorship. Within these
limits, politically diverse newspapers and weeklies published news and
commentary and were often critical of government policies. The
Government punished some persons who violated limitations on free
speech.
On January 4, the Spanish-language daily La Manana, part of the
Maroc Soir group, which includes Le Matin, Assahara Al-Magribiyya, and
Maroc Soir, published an article criticizing the origins of King Hassan
II's fortune and questioning the country's claims to the Western
Sahara. The story was reprinted from the Web site ``Spanish Friends of
Morocco.'' On March 6, the courts fined the director of the Maroc Soir
group, Hicham Snoussi, and the author of the article, Mohamed Douma,
$20,000 (200,000 dirhams).
On January 29, authorities released Anas Tadili, the director of
the Arabic-language newspaper Akhbar Al-Ousbouaa. He had been in prison
since 2004 for libeling a minister.
There were no other reports of journalists in prison.
On February 16, the courts fined Le Journal editors Aboubakr Jamai
and Fahd Iraqi $305,000 (3.05 million dirhams) in a Rabat civil court
for defamation against the European Strategic Intelligence and Security
Centre (ESISC). Le Journal had published an article on December 3,
2005, questioning the objectivity of a report the ESISC published on
the Polisario Front (Popular Front for the Liberation of the Saguia el
Hamra and Rio de Oro). On April 16, this fine was followed by a
criminal court fine of $5,000 (50,000 dirhams). The criminal court fine
was paid December 26.
On February 15, the courts reduced the damages assessed in 2005
against TelQuel and three other Arabic-language newspapers, Al-Ahdath
Al-Maghribiya, Al-Alam, and Al Ousbouiya Al-Jadida, from approximately
$90,000 (900,000 dirhams) to approximately $50,000 (500,000 dirhams).
The newspapers were accused of falsely accusing the President of the
NGO the Moroccan Association for Aid to Children in Precarious
Situations, Touria Bouabid, of embezzling funds. The newspapers claimed
the articles were based on police records. Reporters without Borders
(RSF) supported TelQuel by stating that the courts wanted to strangle
the weekly financially. The dispute was settled privately between the
parties in March.
On May 9, the court sentenced Driss Chaatan, the director of the
Arabic-language weekly Al-Mishal, to a one-year suspended prison term
and fined him approximately $10,000 (100,000 dirhams) for defaming a
foreign President. Article 52 of the press code states that no head of
a foreign state can be defamed.
On December 25, the Government charged Driss Ksikes, editor, and
Sanaa Al-Aji, journalist, of the Arabic-language weekly magazine
Nichane of defaming Islam and damaging public morality. An article the
previous week explored humor about religion, sex, and politics. At
year's end the publication remained banned.
On October 31, Nadia Yassine's trial was postponed until April 19,
2007. In June 2005 authorities summoned Yassine, the daughter of the
JCO's founder, before the courts for publicly stating her belief that
the country would be healthier as a republic than as a monarchy.
The Ministry of Communication issued directives and guidance and
subsidized publications. The Government temporarily suspended
publications it judged offensive, yet allowed suspended publications to
continue operation. Unlike in past years, the Government did not censor
newspapers directly by ordering them not to report on specific items or
events. The newspapers, however, practiced self-censorship. The
Government registered and licensed domestic newspapers and journals.
Unlike the previous year, there were no reports that the Government
used the licensing process to prevent the establishment of new
publications or the publication of materials that exceeded its
threshold of tolerable dissent. Similarly, there were no reports that
the Ministry of Communication controlled foreign publications by
removing banned publications from circulation.
In 2005, according to the Ministry of Communication's 2005 print
and broadcast media report, there were 468 newspapers: 260 Arabic, 151
French, six Tamazight (Berber), and one Spanish. There were also six
electronic newspapers: three French, two Arabic, and one English.
Circulation is estimated at 13 copies per 1,000 readers; only 1 percent
of the population buys newspapers, although each newspaper is
reportedly read by as many as five people. The Government owned the
official press agency, Maghreb Arab Press. Through the Ministry of
Communication, the Government subsidized most newspapers, including
those critical of the Government. Government subsidies vary according
to the percentage of the population reading the publication. There are
five national independent Arabic daily newspapers (Assabah, Al Ahdath
Al Magribiyya, Al-Massae, Assahifa, Annhara al-Magrigiyya), two French
language daily newspapers (L'Economiste and Aujourd'hui le Maroc), five
Arabic language weekly publications (Al-Watan, Al-Ayyam, Al-Osboua,
Asdae, and Nichane), and four French language weekly publications
(TelQuel, Le Journal, La Gazette du Maroc, La Vie Economique).
The Government owned Societe Nationale de la Radiodiffusion et de
la Television, formerly Moroccan Radio Television. While nominally
private and independent, the French-backed Medi 1 practiced self
censorship. A government appointed committee monitored broadcasts. The
Government owned the only television stations whose broadcasts could be
received in most parts of the country without decoders or satellite
dish antennas. During the year the Government licensed a new television
and 10 radio stations. The Government phased the introduction of the
radio stations during the year. Satellite dish antennas were widely
used. The Government did not impede the reception of foreign
broadcasts.
The Government did not allow the JCO newspaper, Rissalat Al
Foutuwa, to be sold on newsstands.
According to a Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) report, in
January 2005 authorities told editors of the Oujda-based weeklies Al-
Sharq and Al-Hayat Al-Maghribiya to cease publication of their weeklies
immediately for three months because of an article published in support
of the 2003 terrorist attacks. Authorities imprisoned the editors for
three months before they received a royal pardon. By the end of 2005,
the publications resumed.
In June 2005 an appeals court upheld a 10-year ban on Ali Lmrabet's
writing and a fine of $5,000 (50 thousand dirhams) after his April 2005
conviction of defaming a pro-government Sahrawi group. Lmrabet was
obligated to publish the first verdict for 21 days in an Arabic-
language newspaper at a cost of up to $120,000 (1.2 million dirhams).
Lmrabet's newspapers, the French language Demain and the Arabic
language Doumain, remained banned at year's end.
In August 2005 a court sentenced Ahmed Benchemsi, director of an
independent French-language weekly magazine, TelQuel, and Karim
Boukari, a journalist for TelQuel, to two months in jail for an article
that allegedly defamed a parliament member. The magazine was also fined
$100,000(one million dirhams). The case was appealed, the prison
sentence was suspended, and the fine was reduced to the equivalent of
$80,000 (800,000 dirhams) in December 2005.
The law requires the Ministry of Interior to justify to the courts
any seizure or banning of domestic or foreign publications, suspension
of the publisher's license, or destruction of equipment. The law
provides for three to five year jail sentences, fines, and payment of
damages for newspaper officials found guilty of libeling public
officials.
Internet Freedom.--The Government generally did not block Internet
access, although it did sometimes block selected Web sites. In November
2005 according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), authorities began blocking
access to Internet sites advocating independence for the Western
Sahara. Periodically until March, these sites continued to be blocked.
In April authorities blocked the JCO Web site and continued to block it
sporadically through year's end. During the year the Government blocked
the site ``Google Earth.''
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted
academic freedom. There was limited open debate on the monarchy, Islam,
or the country's incorporation of the Western Sahara. Islamist groups
controlled many student unions and sometimes acted to constrain
academic freedom. The Ministry of Interior approved the appointments of
university rectors.
There were no restrictions on cultural events.
From March 15-30, during the annual book fair in Casablanca, the
Government banned extremist Islamist literature.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association; however, it also
permits the Government to suppress any demonstration or mass gathering.
On July 12, the press reported that the police prevented members of
the FVJ from accessing the site in Rabat where some graves of victims
of forced disappearance may be located (see section 1.b.).
Freedom of Assembly.--The Ministry of Interior requires permission
for public assemblies. During the year the police forcibly prevented
and disrupted some peaceful demonstrations and mass gatherings; these
occurrences were fewer than in previous years. There were numerous
demonstrations held throughout the year on a variety of issues.
Unemployed diploma holders demonstrated monthly in front of the
parliament. Intervention by the security forces was sometimes
excessive.
On December 8, approximately 50 family members of Islamist
prisoners demonstrated in front of the CCDH offices to protest the
treatment of imprisoned family members. The police did not interfere.
On March 15, police intervened in a demonstration by the union of
unemployed postgraduates outside of the parliament. The press reported
that the police intervention was brutal. Attempts at self-immolation
continued during demonstrations throughout the year; no individuals
died.
In December 2005 during a police assault on a demonstration by the
National Dependent Group of Unemployed Moroccans, five protesters
attempted a collective self-immolation using gasoline; one of the
protesters died after being hospitalized for burns.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association. The Government reported that more than 600 NGOs and
associations are registered. According to a 2003 decree, new
organizations are required to register with the Ministry of Interior.
An organization must first submit its bylaws to the ministry. If the
bylaws support the monarchy, Islam, and territorial integrity, i.e.,
the inclusion of the Western Sahara, the ministry issues a receipt to
the organization, which signifies formal approval. The organization may
apply for tax exemption and government funding. If the organization
does not receive a receipt within one week, it is not formally
registered. Many organizations function without the receipts.
From March through July, the Government curtailed JCO activities
throughout the country as unauthorized public gatherings, including
closing JCO ``open houses.'' On August 17, authorities arrested Mohamed
Abbadi, the JCO leader in Oujda. The courts fined him $15,000 (150,000
dirhams), determined his house was illegally constructed, and
demolished it.
The Ministry of Interior must approve political parties. In
December 2005 the parliament passed legislation placing stringent
conditions on political parties. The political party law requires
parties to hold frequent national congresses and to include women and
youth in party leadership structures. Public funding of parties is
based on a party's total representation in parliament and the total
number of votes received nationally. Under the law a party can be
disbanded if it does not conform to the provisions of the law. To
create a new party, a declaration must be submitted to the Ministry of
Interior and signed by at least 300 co-founding members from one-half
of the 16 regions of the country. The law reflected changes and
revisions suggested by existing political parties and members of civil
society.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. According to the constitution, Islam is the official state
religion and the King is the ``Commander of the Faithful and the
Supreme Representative of the Muslim community.'' Non Muslim
communities openly practiced their faiths with varying degrees of
official restrictions.
The Government prohibited the distribution of Christian religious
materials for the purpose of proselytism and tolerated several small
religious minorities.
The Government did not license or approve religions or religious
organizations. The Government provided tax benefits, land, building
grants, subsidies, and customs exemptions for imports necessary for the
observance of the major religions.
The Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs continued to monitor
Friday mosque sermons and the Koranic schools, religious training
schools, to ensure the teaching of approved doctrine. During the year
the ministry provided 38,000 mosques with television sets and satellite
dishes to receive programs from the ministry. It placed restrictions on
individual Muslims and Islamic organizations whose activities were
deemed to have exceeded the bounds of religious practice or have become
political in nature. The Government strictly controlled the
construction of new mosques, requiring a permit for construction.
Authorities instituted these measures to avoid exploitation of mosques
for political propaganda, such as distributing pamphlets and raising
funds, or for disseminating extremist ideas.
The Government generally tolerated activities limited to the
propagation of Islam, education, and charity. From March through July,
security forces disallowed JCO activities for being political rather
than religious in nature. Security forces commonly closed mosques to
the public after Friday services to prevent their use for unauthorized
political activity. On August 29, the Ministry of Endowments and
Islamic Affairs announced in the press and on television the closure of
17 mosques across the country. These mosques were reportedly closed for
administrative reasons and to maintain the security of the population
from religious extremism.
On May 3, the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs assigned
the first group of 50 female guides (mourshidates) to mosques as part
of a new course it designed to train men and women to be counselors and
teachers in mosques throughout the country. Beginning in 2005 the
Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs also initiated a graduate-
level theological course, part of which focused on Christianity and
Judaism.
The Government's annual education budget provided funds for
teaching Islam in public schools and religions instruction in separate
Jewish public schools.
The small foreign Christian community operated churches,
orphanages, hospitals, and schools without restrictions or licensing
requirements. Missionaries who conducted themselves in accordance with
cultural norms could largely work unhindered, but those who
proselytized publicly faced expulsion. Unlike the previous year, there
were no reports of police questioning foreign missionaries because they
carried Christian materials. The number of local Christians, apart from
foreign spouses of citizens, was unknown.
The Government permitted the importation, display, and sale of
bibles in French, English, and Spanish, but not in Arabic, despite the
absence of any law banning Arabic-language bibles.
Islamic law and tradition calls for punishment of any Muslim who
converts to another faith. Any attempt to induce a Muslim to convert is
illegal.
On November 28, a foreign Christian was fined $50 (500 dirhams) and
given a six-month prison sentence for attempting to convert a Muslim to
Christianity. The prison sentence was suspended and the individual left
the country of his own accord.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts, publications, or incitements to violence or hatred.
Representatives of the Jewish minority, estimated by community
leaders to number approximately about four thousand, generally lived in
safety throughout the country. The Jewish community operated a number
of schools and hospitals whose services were available to all citizens.
The Government provided funds for religious instruction to the small
parallel system of Jewish public schools. Jews continued to hold
services in synagogues throughout the country.
There are two sets of laws and courts one for Muslims and one for
Jews pertaining to marriage, inheritance, and family matters. Under the
family code, which applies to Muslims, the Government began retraining
judges and recruiting new civil judges, while rabbinical authorities
continued to administer family courts for Jews. There were no separate
family courts for other religious groups. The Government continued to
encourage tolerance and respect among religions.
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; however, the Government restricted this right in the
government-administered Western Sahara in areas regarded as militarily
sensitive. Unlike the previous year, there were no reports that
authorities denied passports to some persons opposed to government
policy in the country.
The Ministry of Interior restricted the freedom to travel outside
the country for all civil servants, including teachers, and military
personnel. Civil servants must obtain written permission from their
ministries to leave the country.
The law provides for forced exile; however, there were no known
instances of its use during the year.
The Government welcomed voluntary repatriation of Jews who had
emigrated. Jewish emigres, including those with Israeli citizenship,
freely visited the country. The Government also encouraged the return
of Sahrawis who had departed the country due to the conflict in the
Western Sahara, provided that they recognized the Government's claim to
the territory.
Protection of Refugees.--The 2003 Emigration and Immigration 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. It provides for the rights of asylum seekers and the
temporary residency of persons who do not qualify for refugee status or
asylum. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is currently the
sole agency in the country entitled to grant refugee status and verify
asylum cases. The Government generally cooperated with the UNHCR and
other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees. The UNHCR
continued to evaluate claims of refugee status in its office in Rabat.
In practice the Government provided some protection against
refoulement, the forced return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution, and provided refugee status and asylum. The
Government worked with the UNHCR to identify individuals seeking refuge
and asylum. At years end, the Government of Morocco was very close to
resolving the status of 76 sub-Saharan asylum seekers temporarily cared
for by UNCHR in Oujda.
In October 2005 the NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) found
approximately 500 illegal migrants in the Sahara desert, abandoned by
the Government without food or water. The Government repatriated many
of the migrants at its own expense prior to and following the MSF
report.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides for regular, free elections on the basis of
universal suffrage, although citizens did not have the full right to
change their government.
The King as head of state appoints the Prime Minister, who is the
titular head of government. The constitution authorizes the Prime
Minister to nominate all government ministers, although the King may
nominate ministers and has the power to replace any minister. The
Government consists of 35 cabinet level posts, including five sovereign
ministerial posts traditionally appointed by the King (interior,
foreign affairs, justice, Islamic affairs, and defense). The Ministry
of Interior nominates provincial governors (walis) and local district
administrative officials (caids) to the King, who appoints them. The
King also appoints the constitutional council that determines whether
laws passed are in accordance with the constitution.
The constitution may not be changed without the King's approval,
and only he has the power to put constitutional amendment proposals to
a national referendum. Amendments can be proposed directly by the King
or by parliament, which must pass a proposal with a two-thirds majority
of both houses before sending an amendment to the King for a royal
decree. Once there is a royal decree, the amendment can be sent to a
national referendum; however, the King has the authority to bypass any
national referendum. Citizens elect municipal councils directly;
citizens elect regional councils through representatives.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2003 the Government held
elections for positions on approximately 25,000 municipal councils. The
Government listed official turnout at 54 percent. By most accounts the
balloting was well organized, but there were allegations of corruption
and vote buying in some races. The Government limited the participation
of the Party of Justice and Development (PJD), the only Islamist party
to participate in the elections, running candidates in 18 percent of
the municipalities. Female candidates won 1.7 percent of municipal
council seats while fielding 5 percent of the candidates. Following the
elections council members elected new mayors in all cities.
In 2002 the Government held the first free and fair parliamentary
elections. The election took place under a revised electoral code,
including a proportional list system, which meant voters voted for
parties and not individual candidates. There were candidates from 26
parties, and 52 percent of those eligible voted, according to
government statistics. Observers noted that the absence of fraud and
manipulation generally enhanced the credibility of overall reform
efforts.
The parliament included 30 women who won seats reserved for women
on the national list, plus five who won seats in their local districts.
There were three female members of the upper house and two women on the
council of ministers.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a general
perception in the country that corruption existed in the executive and
legislative branches of government.
During the year Transparency International's (TI's) corruption
perception index indicated that corruption was a serious problem.
According to TI, in the past four years, the Inspection Generale de
Finances (ICF), the Ministry of Finance's auditing office, has
documented, but not made public, reports showing evidence of gross
financial fraud in banking, social security, the agricultural sector,
public housing, state contracts, public companies, municipal councils,
and in international aid projects.
In June 2005 the supreme council of the judiciary initiated
disciplinary proceedings against seven judges (see section 1.e.). No
new disciplinary proceedings against judges took place during the year;
however, nine proceedings took place against legal professionals. The
Ministry of Justice adjudicated 3948 cases in 2005.
On August 4, in preparation for the September 8 indirect elections
for the chamber of counselors (upper house), the Ministry of the
Interior and the Ministry of Justice issued a communique discouraging
corrupt practices and reinforced regulatory laws. In the last quarter
of the year, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice
charged 35 candidates for seats in the upper house of parliament with
fraud relating to the September 8 elections. Accused parliamentarians
were barred from attending the opening session of parliament on October
8.
There was no freedom of information law.
The Government publishes new laws and regulations in the official
gazette within 30 days after their passage or promulgation.
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 restriction, and investigated and published findings
on human rights cases. Government officials were generally cooperative
with the groups.
National human rights NGOs recognized by and cooperating with the
Government included: the OMDH, the Moroccan League for the Defense of
Human Rights (LMDDH), and the AMDH. The AMDH did not cooperate
officially with the Government but usually shared information. Since
2000 the Government has subsidized OMDH and LMDDH. There were also
numerous regional human rights organizations. According to the
Government, there were more than 600 registered NGOs and associations
in the country.
The FVJ and the Moroccan Prison Observatory were two additional
national human rights NGOs. Created by victims of forced disappearance
and surviving family members, the FVJ's principal goal was to encourage
the Government to address openly the issue of past forced
disappearances and arbitrary detention. The OMP's main purpose was to
improve the treatment and living conditions of prisoners.
Six human rights activists, who were arrested following the
demonstrations in Laayoune (Western Sahara) in May 2005, were members
of the FVJ, according to an Amnesty International (AI) report in August
2005.
The Government's attitude toward international human rights
organizations depended on the sensitivity of the areas of the NGO's
concern. During the year the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC), AI, and HRW visited the country.
Human rights training continued based on a 2002 agreement between
AI and the Government for a 10 year human rights education program. The
Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of National Education provided
human rights education for teachers and, in cooperation with the ICRC,
provided a curriculum for teaching international humanitarian law in
schools. The Ministry of Justice provided increased human rights
training to prison officials, and other sections of the Government
provided human rights training to military officers, police, and
medical personnel. The CCDH advised the King on human rights issues and
began implementing the IER's recommendations.
In July 2004 the CCDH produced its first annual report on human
rights, a report mandated in 2002 by the Government. The CCDH report
focused at length on prison conditions and prison overpopulation. In
December 2002 the King established a nonjudicial ombudsman to consider
allegations of governmental injustices and thereby ensure respect for
the rule of law and justice. The last report submitted was in 2004 and
the CCDH reviewed it.
In January 2004 the IER began work. The authorities tasked the IER
with determining reparations for families of disappeared persons and
other victims of abuse, restoring the dignity of victims, providing for
their rehabilitation and medical care to victims, and creating a
thorough accounting of the events which led to human rights abuses and
the circumstances of the crimes. The IER, headed by former political
prisoner Driss Benzekri, had a one year mandate that was extended until
November 30, 2005, due to the larger than expected number of petitions.
The IER staff interviewed petitioners, held public hearings on
torture and disappearances, visited former prisons, met with
individuals from regions that were particularly victimized, met with
the families of victims, and interviewed witnesses of violations. The
press widely publicized the IER's activities. Under agreement with the
IER, participants in public hearings did not disclose the names of
persons they considered responsible for violations. While the IER had
prepared for public hearings in the Western Sahara, they were not held.
In December 2005 the IER submitted its final report to the King,
who released it to the public on January 15. A newly formed section of
the CCDH was charged with ensuring compensation to victims and
continued to follow through on the final IER recommendations. The IER's
final report announced it had resolved 742 disappearance cases and 66
outstanding cases would be investigated further by a follow-up
committee. In total, the IER responded with compensation packages to
9,779 victims, and it recommended assistance for those in need of
medical attention or rehabilitation as a result of the violations they
had suffered.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, sex,
disability, language, or social status; however, traditional practice
discriminated against women, particularly in rural areas.
Women.--The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence
against women, but the general prohibitions of the criminal code
address such violence. Physical abuse was legal grounds for divorce,
although for other legal and societal reasons, few women reported abuse
to authorities.
There was substantial progress in making the public aware of
problems concerning women, although public awareness was uneven. In
2004 the Ministry of Family Solidarity set up toll free numbers for
victims of domestic violence in 20 centers throughout the country. The
Government established the centers based on statistics relating to each
category of violence as compiled by the Ministry of Justice and the
size of the urban area. In March the Government established a National
Observatory for Violence Against Women.
The law provides for severe punishment for men convicted of rape or
sexual assault, and the authorities enforced the provisions. The
defendants in such cases bear the burden of proving their innocence.
Sexual assaults often go unreported because of the stigma attached to
them. While not provided by law, victim's families may offer rapists
the opportunity to marry their victims to preserve the family honor.
Spousal rape was not a crime.
The law is lenient toward husbands with respect to crimes committed
against their wives. Police are reluctant to become involved in what
are considered private matters between husband and wife. Honor crimes,
or assaults against women with the intent to kill are committed because
of the perception that a woman's behavior brings shame on the family.
No such crimes were reported during the year.
At the end of 2005, authorities discovered an international
prostitution ring in the Ifrane area with links to Jordan. Trafficking
in persons was a problem (see sections 5, Trafficking, and 6.c.).
Sexual harassment in the workplace is a criminal offense. There
were no reliable statistics reporting on the extent of the problem.
The 2004 changes to the family law introduced a number of changes
to the status of women. The family law changed the marriage age for
women from 15 to 18 years, placed the family under the joint
responsibility of both spouses, and rescinded the wife's duty of
obedience to her husband. There is no longer a requirement for a
marital tutor for women as a condition to marry; divorce is available
by mutual consent; and limitations are imposed on the practice of
polygyny.
The Ministry of Justice agreed to establish 70 family courts and
trained judges to implement the reforms. At year's end the 70 courts
existed (see section 1.e.). The family law relies much more heavily on
the court system than the previous law. Time limits were established
for the family courts to pronounce judgments; for example, a month for
alimony cases and six months for divorces. The law generally accorded
women the same treatment as men. The family law did not change
inheritance rights; these continue to be based on Shari'a (Islamic
law).
While many well educated women pursued careers, some of whom were
chief executive officers and two were in the council of ministers, few
women rose to the highest ranks in their professions. Women constituted
approximately 35 percent of the workforce, with the majority in the
industrial, service, and teaching sectors. Government statistics
indicated that 22 percent of women were the primary wage earners for
their families. The Government reported that the illiteracy rate for
women was 39.5 percent in urban areas (74.5 percent in rural areas),
compared with 19 percent for men (46 percent in rural areas). Women in
rural areas were most affected by inequality. In July the Prime
Minister announced a nationwide illiteracy rate of 39 percent. Women
who earned secondary school diplomas had equal access to university
education. During the last academic year, over 80 percent of the
attendees at government supported literacy programs were women, 45
percent of whom were in rural areas.
Many NGOs worked to advance women's rights and to promote women's
issues. Among these were the Democratic Association of Moroccan Women,
the Union for Women's Action, and the Moroccan Association for Women's
Rights; all advocated enhanced political and civil rights. There were
numerous NGOs that provided shelters for battered women; taught women
basic hygiene, family planning, childcare, and promoted literacy.
Children.--The constitution provides for compulsory, free, and
universal education for children between the ages of six and 15, and
the Government increasingly sought to enforce the law. The Government
was committed to the protection of children's welfare. Under the
National Action Plan for Children (2006-15), the Government began
improving the quality of education and teaching, particularly in rural
areas. In the last academic year, 51 percent of kindergarten-aged
children were enrolled; for the current academic year, 61 percent were
enrolled. The number of students enrolled after six years of age
increased from 53.5 percent to 91 percent in the past year, according
to the Ministry of National Education.
A May 2004 report from the Secretariat for Literacy and Non Formal
Education estimated that as many as 1.5 million children between the
ages of nine to 15 were not in school. During the academic year 2005-
06, 216,200 students were enrolled in government remedial and
vocational education programs.
According to the Ministry of National Education, 60 percent of the
children completed ninth grade in the academic year 2005-06 (62 percent
girls; 58 percent boys). The drop out rate for the lower grades was
between three and four percent. The reduction in the rate was a result
of boarding schools established in small towns and rural areas.
There were no reliable statistics on the number of girls married
below the age of 18. In 2004 UN Children's Fund reported that 18
percent of all marriages were child marriages; 24 percent of these
occur in rural areas and 13 percent in urban areas. Using the family
status law, the Government, in coordination with international and
national NGOs, informed women of their rights, partially in order to
combat child marriages.
Child labor was a serious problem (see section 6.d.).
In 2003 the Government signed an accord with Spain to repatriate
more than 6,000 unaccompanied minors. Upon returning to the country,
the children encountered material difficulties and abuse on the
streets, as well as abuse by border officials. Spain pledged funds for
a rehabilitation center in the Tangier area to assist with the
reinsertion of minors. At year's end, the center was not yet
functional.
Trafficking in Persons.--The 2003 Immigration and Emigration law
prohibits trafficking in persons; however, there were reports that
persons were trafficked to, from, and within the country. In 2005 the
Government, international organizations, and numerous NGOs claimed the
number of minors trafficked to Europe increased.
The 2003 Immigration and Emigration Act specifically prohibits
trafficking in persons and fines and imprisons those, including
government officials, who are involved in or who fail to prevent
trafficking in persons. Under the law, perpetrators are prosecuted
either for fraud, kidnapping, corruption of minors, or for forcing
others into prostitution. The Government's anti-trafficking statutes
punish traffickers and complicit public officials with penalties
ranging from six months to 20 years imprisonment and the forfeiture of
assets.
According to the law, human trafficking and migrant smuggling are
illegal. Government statistics did not differentiate between trafficked
individuals and voluntary economic migrants. UNHCR protection was
available to trafficked individuals. The Government continued to
repatriate trafficking victims.
The country was a source country for men, women, and children
trafficked to Italy, Spain, and other parts of Europe for forced labor
and sexual exploitation. Internal trafficking remained a problem. The
two most commonly trafficked groups were girls sent involuntarily to
serve as child maids and women forced to perform sexual services. Women
were trafficked to Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates to
become sex workers after being promised jobs as domestics.
The country was a transit point for trafficked persons. Men and
women from Nigeria, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan were
trafficked to Europe or Near Eastern countries. Sub-Saharan Africans
transiting the country to Europe were also victims of traffickers.
Females were often pressured into commercial sexual exploitation and
involuntary servitude to pay for food and shelter.
Internal trafficking was a problem, particularly of women and young
girls. According to the UNICEF and national NGOs, recruiters habitually
visited isolated rural villages in the Atlas Mountains where they
persuaded parents that their daughters would be better off as child
maids.
Trafficking of minors for commercial sexual exploitation attracted
sex tourists from Europe and the Arab Gulf states (see section 5).
Organized criminal gangs coordinated some of the clandestine
migration to Europe, particularly the sub-Saharans transiting the
country. Some of this activity may also include trafficking. Unlike the
previous year, there were no reports that members of the security
apparatus, such as border officials or police, ignored trafficking for
financial gain. Most trafficking rings were small crime groups. There
were unofficial reports that hotel personnel arranged to transport
girls and young women from rural areas to cities to be used in
commercial sexual exploitation.
In February officials dismantled a large international network
which was trafficking and smuggling migrants from India, and arrested
70 suspects, including a police officer. At year's end the cases were
being adjudicated.
In 2005, according to the Ministry of Interior, the Government
adopted a strategy to fight trafficking based on five major pillars:
security measures, legislation, the creation of institutions
specializing in fighting illegal migration, international cooperation,
and public awareness campaigns.
In 2005 the Government established two interagency coordinating
bodies, the National Observatory of Migration, which served as an anti-
trafficking in persons task force and formulated policy, and the
National Agency for Migration and Border Surveillance. Anti-trafficking
activities were primarily implemented by the Ministry of Interior.
Clandestine migration was the purview of immigration officials;
prostitution was a police issue; and child bride cases are reviewed by
local authorities, who ultimately report to the Ministry of Interior.
Law enforcement officers often participated in training and seminars
relating to trafficking and human rights in general.
In 2005 the Government convicted three policemen for trafficking.
The policemen served four months in prison and paid $100 (1,000
dirhams) fines. Eight members of the Force Auxiliares were also
convicted of trafficking. They received four-year prison sentences,
according to the Ministry of Justice. Four members of the military
received from three months to one year for engaging in trafficking.
In the first half of the year, the Ministry of Interior reported
that 90 criminal trafficking rings were disbanded. In June the Ministry
of Justice announced that arrests of foreigners for perversion and
pedophilia had increased by 26 percent compared to 2005.
In 2005, according to Ministry of Interior reports, the Government
disbanded more than 300 criminal rings, some of which may have included
traffickers. In 2005 the Government convicted three foreign citizens
for engaging in child sex tourism and 10 other foreigners for
trafficking in children.
According to the Ministry of Justice, there are numerous agreements
with other countries regarding investigation and prosecution of
traffickers. Although the Government has bilateral treaties with
relevant countries, it did not extradite nationals charged with
trafficking in accordance with Article 721 of the penal code.
The Government and the International Organization for Migration
cooperated to conduct a survey that identified the most vulnerable
persons, pinpoint the regions from which persons are trafficked, and
propose the most effective methods of prevention.
Persons With Disabilities.--There are no laws to assist persons
with disabilities. The Government has guidelines on how to deal with
persons with disabilities, but these procedures have no legal status.
Specifically, the law does not mandate access to buildings for persons
with disabilities. While the Office of the Secretary of State for
Families, Children, and the Handicapped attempted to integrate them
into society, in practice integration largely was left to private
charities. Typically, families supported persons with disabilities, and
some survived by begging.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The official language was
Arabic; however, both French and Arabic were used in the news media and
educational institutions. Science and technical courses were taught in
French, thereby preventing the large, monolingual Arabic speaking or
Tamazight (Berber)-speaking populations from participating. Educational
reforms in the past decade emphasized the use of Arabic in secondary
schools. Failure to transform the university system similarly led to
the disqualification of many students from higher education in advanced
technical fields. The poor lacked the means to obtain additional French
instruction to supplement the few hours per week taught in public
schools.
Approximately 60 percent of the population claimed Amazigh (Berber)
heritage, including the royal family. Amazigh cultural groups contended
that their traditions and language were being lost rapidly. In 2005,
responding to this concern, official media broadcasts in Tamazight
(Berber) language increased from four to eight hours a day. In
September television programs were added for the first time in
Tamazight. Tamazight language classes were included in the curriculum
of 350 primary schools, affecting approximately 25,000 students.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution permits workers to
establish and join trade unions, although the laws reportedly have not
been implemented in some areas. Most union federations were allied with
political parties, but unions were free from government interference.
Approximately 5.5 percent of the country's workers were organized.
The labor law details restrictions on the number of overtime hours
worked per week and the rate of pay for holidays, nightshift work, and
routine overtime. According to national and international NGOs, workers
sometimes worked more than 44 hours per week and overtime hours were
often required.
The law specifically prohibits antiunion discrimination but
prohibits some public employees, e.g., members of the armed forces,
police, and judiciary, from forming unions. The law expressly prohibits
companies from dismissing workers for participating in legitimate union
organizing activities, and prescribes the Government's authority to
intervene in strikes. Employers cannot initiate criminal prosecutions
against workers participating in strikes. Unlike the previous year,
there were no reports that union officers were subject to government
pressure.
The courts have the authority to reinstate arbitrarily dismissed
workers and are able to enforce rulings that compel employers to pay
damages and back pay. Unions may sue to have labor laws enforced, and
employers may sue unions when they believe unions have overstepped
their authority.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The labor law
mandates the right to organize and bargain collectively, and the
Government generally upheld this right. Trade union federations
competed among themselves to organize workers. Any group of eight
workers may organize a union, and a worker may change union affiliation
easily. A work site may contain several independent locals or locals
affiliated with more than one labor federation; however, only unions
having 35 percent of the workforce as members may be recognized as
negotiating partners.
Collective bargaining was a longstanding tradition in some parts of
the economy, such as the industrial sector, and was becoming more
prevalent in the service sector, including banking, health, and the
civil service. The wages and conditions of employment of unionized
workers generally were set in discussions between employer and worker
representatives; however, employers set wages for the vast majority of
workers unilaterally. Labor disputes arose in some cases as the result
of employers failing to implement collective bargaining agreements and
withholding wages.
The law requires compulsory arbitration of disputes, prohibits sit
ins, establishes the right to work, calls for a 10-day notice of a
strike, and allows the hiring of replacement workers. The Government
can intervene in strikes, and a strike cannot take place around issues
covered in a collective contract for one year after the contract comes
into force. The Government has the authority to break up demonstrations
in public areas where strikes have not been authorized and to prevent
the unauthorized occupancy of private space.
Unions may not prevent nonstrikers from working and may not engage
in sabotage. Any striking employee who prevents a replacement worker
from working is subject to a seven-day suspension. A second offense
within one year is punishable by a 15-day suspension.
Employers wishing to dismiss workers are legally required to notify
the provincial governor through the labor inspector's office. In cases
in which the employer plans to replace dismissed workers, a government
labor inspector provides replacements and mediates the cases of workers
who protest their dismissal.
The Government generally ensured the observance of labor laws in
larger companies and in the public sector. In the informal sector, such
as in the family workshops that dominated the handicrafts sector,
employers routinely ignored labor laws and regulations, and government
inspectors lacked the resources to monitor violations effectively.
In the Tangier Free Trade Zone, an export processing zone, the
country's labor laws and practices fully apply. The proportion of
unionized workers in the export zone was comparable to the rest of the
economy, at approximately 6 percent.
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). In practice the
Government lacked the resources to inspect the many small workshops and
private homes where the vast majority of such employment occurred.
Forced labor persisted in the practice of adoptive servitude in
households (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace and prohibits
forced or compulsory labor; however, the Government had difficulty
effectively implementing these laws, except in organized labor markets.
Noncompliance with child labor laws was common, particularly in the
agricultural sector. In 2004 the International Program on the
Elimination of Child Labor reported that 80 percent of the country's
underage workers worked on family farms.
In 2005 the Government reported that there were 600,000 child
workers, and 1.5 to 2 million children were not registered in school.
Of those children between the ages of 12 to 14, 18 percent worked. In
rural areas 19 percent of children between the ages of seven to 14
worked; in urban areas children composed 2 percent of the labor force.
In practice children were apprenticed before age 12, particularly
in small, family-run workshops in the handicraft industry. Children
also worked in the informal sector in textile, carpet, and light
manufacturing activities. Children's safety and health conditions and
wages were often substandard. Many young girls were exploited as
domestic servants (see section 5).
The labor law sets the minimum age for employment in all sectors at
15 years. According to the law, children under the age of 16 are
prohibited from working more than 10 hours per day, which includes at
least a one-hour break. Children under the age of 16 are not permitted
to work between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. in nonagricultural work
or between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. in agricultural activities. It is
prohibited to employ children under the age of 18 in stone quarries or
underground work carried out in mines.
The labor law prohibited forced or compulsory labor, but these
provisions were difficult to enforce.
The family law protects and gives rights to illegitimate and
abandoned children, who have often found themselves in desperate
situations leading to child labor. The same law changed the minimum age
for conscription into the armed forces from 18 to 20 years.
The country was a destination for children trafficked from sub-
Saharan Africa, North Africa, and Asia and served as a transit and
origin point for children trafficked to Europe. Children were also
trafficked internally for exploitation as child domestic workers,
beggars, and for prostitution.
The number of children working illegally as domestic servants was
approximately 66 thousand, and all of these workers were under the age
of 15 according to the 2005 Secretariat of Families, Children, and the
Handicapped report. Of this number 89 percent were recruited from rural
areas, and 84 percent were illiterate. According to a December 2005 HRW
report, the country denied child maids basic labor rights, and
authorities rarely punished employers who abused children. In 2005 the
Government arrested two employers of child maids on abuse charges. The
court sentenced one employer to 18 months in jail. There was no further
government information available on punishments for abusive employees.
The practice of adoptive servitude, in which urban families
employed young rural girls and used them as domestic servants, was
widespread. Credible reports of physical and psychological abuse in
such circumstances were common. Some orphanages were charged as
complicit in the practice. The public generally accepted the concept of
adoptive servitude. According to HRW, the majority of child domestics
worked 14 to 18 hours per day without breaks, seven days a week, for
salaries of U.S. $0.40 to $0.11 (0.4 to 1 dirham) per hour. Most child
domestics did not receive any money directly; rather, they worked for
food, lodging, and clothing. Children were also ``rented'' out by their
parents or other relatives to beg.
The Ministry of Employment, Social Affairs, and Solidarity is
responsible for implementing and enforcing child labor laws and
regulations, which were generally observed in the industrialized,
unionized sector of the economy. The labor law provides for legal
sanctions against employers who recruit children under the age of 15
ranging from approximately $2,800 to $3,300 (25,000 to 30,000 dirhams).
Legal remedies to enforce child labor laws include criminal penalties,
civil fines, and withdrawal or suspension of one or more civil,
national, or family rights, including denial of legal residence in the
country for a period of five to 10 years. The Government passed laws
prohibiting begging that exploits children and the buying and selling
of child brides.
HRW reported that police, prosecutors, and judges rarely enforced
legal provisions on child abuse or on ``forced labor in cases involving
child domestics,'' and few parents of children working as domestics
were willing or able to pursue legal avenues that were unlikely to
provide any direct benefit.
In 2005 the Government committed $4.2 million (37.6 million
dirhams) to a joint program of the Ministries of Employment, Health,
and Social Welfare, through which the ministries will join with private
organizations to offer vocational training, job placement, and micro-
credits to assist adult beggars and the parents of child beggars.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage was
approximately $223.30 (2,023 dirhams) per month in the industrialized
sector. It was approximately $5.60 (56 dirhams) per day for
agricultural workers; however, businesses in the informal sector with
60 percent of the labor force often ignored the minimum wage
requirements.
The lowest wage of the Government pay scale exceeded the minimum
wage.
Neither the minimum wage for the industrialized sector nor the wage
for agricultural workers provided a decent standard of living for a
worker and family, even with government subsidies. In many cases
several family members combined their incomes to support the family.
Most workers in the industrial sector earned more than the minimum
wage. They generally were paid between 13 and 16 months salary,
including bonuses, each year.
The law provides for a 44 hour maximum workweek, with no more than
10 hours in any single day, premium pay for overtime, paid public and
annual holidays, and minimum conditions for health and safety,
including a prohibition on night work for women and minors. Employers
did not observe these provisions universally, and the Government did
not enforce them effectively in all sectors.
Occupational health and safety standards were rudimentary, except
for a prohibition on the employment of women and children in certain
dangerous occupations. Labor inspectors attempted to monitor working
conditions and investigate accidents, but they lacked sufficient
resources. While workers in principle had the right to remove
themselves from work situations that endangered health and safety
without jeopardizing their continued employment, there were no reports
of workers attempting to exercise this right.
WESTERN SAHARA
Morocco claims the Western Sahara territory, with a population of
approximately 267,000, and administers Moroccan law and regulation in
the estimated 85 percent of the territory it controls; however, Morocco
and the Polisario Front (Popular Front for the Liberation of the Saguia
el Hamra and Rio de Oro), an organization seeking independence for the
region, dispute its sovereignty. Since 1973 the Polisario has
challenged the claims of Spain, Mauritania, and Morocco to the
territory. The Moroccan government sent troops and settlers into the
northern two thirds of the territory after Spain withdrew in 1975 and
extended its administration over the southern province of Oued Ed Dahab
after Mauritania renounced its claim in 1979. Moroccan and Polisario
forces fought intermittently from 1975 until the 1991 ceasefire and
deployment to the area of a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping
contingent, known by its French initials, MINUS (the United Nations
Mission for a Referendum in Western Sahara).
In 1975 the International Court of Justice advised that during the
period of Spanish colonization, legal ties of allegiance existed
between Morocco and some of the Western Saharan tribes, but the court
also found that there were no ties indicating ``territorial
sovereignty'' by Morocco. The court added that it had not found ``legal
ties'' that might affect UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 regarding
the de-colonization of the territory and in particular the principle of
self-determination for its persons. Sahrawis, as the persons from the
territory are called, live in the area controlled by Morocco, as
refugees in Algeria near the border with Morocco, and, to a lesser
extent, in Mauritania. A Moroccan constructed sand wall, known as the
``berm,'' separates most Moroccan-controlled territory from Polisario
controlled sections.
In 1988 Morocco and the Polisario accepted the joint Organization
of African Unity/UN settlement proposals for a referendum allowing the
Sahrawis to decide between integration with Morocco or independence for
the territory. Disagreements over voter eligibility were not resolved,
however, and a referendum has not taken place.
In 1997 UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed James Baker as
his personal envoy to explore options for a peaceful settlement. Baker
visited the territory, consulted with the parties, offered proposals to
resolve the problem, and in 2001 presented a ``framework agreement,''
which Morocco accepted but the Polisario and Algeria rejected. In 2003
Baker proposed a peace plan, which the UN Security Council endorsed.
The plan proposed that a referendum consider integration with Morocco
or independence, and addressed other questions agreed to by the
parties, such as self-government or autonomy. Morocco ultimately
rejected the plan, while the Polisario accepted it.
In August 2005 the UN Secretary General appointed Peter Van Walsum
to oversee the political process as the personal envoy replacing Baker,
who resigned in June 2004.
On October 31, the Security Council adopted Resolution 1720,
extending MINUS and its 227-member military staff until April 30, 2007.
The resolution called on member states to consider making contributions
to fund confidence-building measures to allow for increased contact
between family members separated by the dispute, which UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan called ``deadlocked'' in a report to the Security
Council. Confidence-building measures stalled in June because of the
inability of the parties to agree on locations and schedules of
meetings. The measures resumed November 3. The United Nations High
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) maintains a separate office in Laayoune
to coordinate these measures.
On October 9, an internal report by the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights' (OHCHR) criticizing the Moroccan
government for denying the right of self-determination to the Sahrawi
people was unexpectedly made public. The report accused Morocco of
abusing the rights of pro-independence activists in the disputed
territory and using excessive force against protestors. The Moroccan
government claimed that the report did not cover violations of human
rights attributable to the Polisario, as OHCHR was denied access to
areas controlled by the Polisario. Sahrawi NGOs, including the
Association des Portes Disparus au Polisario (the Association for those
who Disappeared Because of the Polisario, APDP), also criticized the
report in an October 19 letter to the United Nations. The APDP claimed
there are 800 missing persons; however, it can verify only 294. The
Moroccan press claimed the report was biased toward Algeria.
A substantial Moroccan government subsidy aided migration to and
development in the portions of the territory under its control. The
Moroccan government subsidized incomes, fuel, power, water, housing,
and basic food commodities for its citizens living in the Western
Sahara and Sahrawis. In 2004 the Moroccan government initiated a five
year approximately $800 million (7.2 billion dirhams) development
program for all of what it called its ``southern provinces,'' most of
which are the territory.
The Moroccan constitution and laws applied to the civilian
population living in the territory under Moroccan administration.
Political rights for the residents remained circumscribed, and citizens
did not have the right to change their government. UN observers and
foreign human rights groups maintained that the Moroccan government
subjected Sahrawis suspected of supporting independence and the
Polisario to various forms of surveillance.
Since 1977 the Western Saharan provinces of Laayoune, Smara,
Awsard, and Boujdour (and Oued Ed Dahab since 1983) have participated
in Moroccan national elections. In the 2002 Moroccan parliamentary
elections, Sahrawis with political views aligned with the Moroccan
government filled all the seats allotted to the territory. In 2003 the
Moroccan government conducted municipal elections in Morocco and the
Western Sahara. No Sahrawis opposed to Moroccan sovereignty were
candidates in the elections. According to Moroccan government
statistics, the national election turnout was 54 percent, including 68
percent in the territory.
On March 25, King Mohammed VI appointed a new Royal Consultative
Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS). The council, which met throughout
the year, was charged with developing an autonomy plan for the
territory within the context of the Moroccan state.
On April 11, a delegation of Spanish regional parliamentarians from
Murcia, who supported independence for the Western Sahara, were denied
entry by the local authorities.
Demonstrations limited in size continued intermittently throughout
the year. On March 19, Hammoud Iguilid, President of the Laayoune
branch of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH), was
arrested and, according to AMDH, tortured.
On April 4, Brahim Dahane, a Sahrawi prisoner, who is President of
the Sahrawi Association for the Victims of Human Rights Abuses
(SAVHRA), accused the judicial police of beating him severely when he
was transported from the Laayoune prison to the courthouse. Spanish
press reported that Dahane showed no evidence of abuse prior to being
placed in the transport vehicle. According to the Ministry of Justice,
Dahane never claimed officially that he had been beaten.
On March 27, the King pardoned 219 Sahrawi prisoners held in
Morocco and the territory. Among them was Aminatou Haidar. Upon
release, she was free to travel unimpeded both inside and outside the
territory. Sahrawi activists claimed that 30 of those released were
political prisoners and that there were 37 other political prisoners
still detained. The Moroccan authorities do not identify any prisoners
as ``political prisoners.'' On April 23, the King pardoned 26 of the
remaining 37 prisoners. Among them were Dahane and Ali Salem Tamek.
On May 10, the anniversary of the foundation of the Polisario
Front, the Polisario Web site reported that demonstrations were held in
Laayoune, Smara, Dakhla and Boujdour. Reportedly 26 students were
expelled from various colleges for wearing traditional Sahrawi dress.
On August 17, according to SAVHRA, 18 prisoners in the Laayoune
prison began a hunger strike. Moroccan government sources stated that
no hunger strike occurred. Throughout the year, local NGOs reported
intermittent hunger strikes by prisoners.
During the year the Polisario claimed that the Moroccan government
violently repressed demonstrations on a regular basis throughout the
territory.
On September 19, authorities sentenced Tamek Mohamed and Najiaa
Bachir to four years in prison and Kajot Brahim and Driss Mansouri to
three years. The cases against Waissi Elkharchi, Bougaraa Sheikh and
Banga Sheikh were dismissed. All of these prisoners were charged with
participating in illegal demonstrations in Laayoune but were charged in
Agadir (Morocco).
The SAVHRA reported that Mohammed Tahlil, President of the Boujdor
branch of the NGO, was arrested and allegedly drugged by security
forces. On October 20, he was transported to the Laayoune prison. Pro-
independence NGOs reported that this incident was one of several in
Western Saharan cities during the month. The incidents allegedly
included arrests, torture, intimidation, and provocation.
On December 10, on International Human Rights Day, a demonstration
occurred in Laayoune in support of the independence of the Western
Sahara. Six demonstrators were beaten, others were briefly detained,
but no one was arrested.
In May 2005 and sporadically thereafter, 300 to 1300 individuals
demonstrated in Laayoune, ostensibly protesting the transfer of a
Sahrawi prisoner to Agadir. The Moroccan government arrested 37
demonstrators during and after the May 2005 demonstrations. Of those
arrested, 12 received jail terms up to five years for damaging public
property and using weapons against officials. Amnesty International
(AI) claimed that demonstrators received prison terms up to 20 years.
In May 2005 further demonstrations occurred in Dakhla. The Spanish
press reported the number of participants to be as high as 1,500.
Demonstrations broke out again in Laayoune in October 2005
initially in support of the independence of the Western Sahara, and
later to draw attention to the thirtieth anniversary of the Green
March. One Sahrawi, Hamdi Lembarki, died of wounds from the previous
day's demonstration. Authorities arrested two policemen in connection
with Lembarki's death. At year's end the disposition of the cases was
unknown.
The AMDH reported that the trials of the demonstrators in the May
2005 disturbances were unfair because charges were never clearly
articulated, lawyers were denied access to their clients, and
allegations of torture by Moroccan authorities were not investigated.
In December 2005 Human Rights Watch (HRW) sent an open letter to
Moroccan King Mohammed VI concerning the detention of seven human
rights activists. The activists were Ali Salem Tamek, Mohamed El
Moutaouakil, Houssein Lidri, Brahim Noumria, Larbi Messaoud, Aminatou
Haidar, and H'mad Hammad. The letter also raised concerns about seven
other teenaged detainees. While the 14 had been arrested following the
May through June 2005 demonstrations, in October 2005, during a
subsequent demonstration, police arrested Brahim Dahane, the fifteenth
person mentioned in the HRW letter. HRW visited Laayoune, examined case
files of the defendants, and concluded that ``little if any of the
evidence implicating them in inciting, directing or participating in
the violence [that is, the earlier demonstrations] appears to be
credible.''
In December 2005 the Laayoune Court of Appeal sentenced the seven
human rights activists to jail terms ranging from seven months to two
years. AI reported that the proceedings lasted only a few hours and
that the defendants were not given the opportunity to challenge alleged
oral confessions that police provided to the court. The defendants said
that any alleged confessions were extracted only after torture or ill-
treatment while they were held in detention. Those sentenced included
Ali Salem Tamek, Mohamed El Moutaouakil, Houssein Lidri, Brahim
Noumria, Larbi Messaoud, Aminatou Haidar, and H'mad Hammad. Seven other
individuals were also sentenced in the same trial.
After holding Dahane for 48 hours following his arrest in October
2005, police reportedly charged him with belonging to an unauthorized
organization, the SAVHRA, of which he is the President. AI considered
Dahane and the other seven defendants to be prisoners of conscience.
Some prisoners arrested after the May 2005 demonstrations launched
sporadic hunger strikes; the Polisario claimed the figure was 37. While
initially the Moroccan government said that only seven prisoners were
on hunger strikes, it later stated that all 37 of the prisoners
participated. The hunger strikes ceased in September 2005, but resumed
sporadically until the end of 2005 and into 2006. AMDH wanted the
Government to negotiate with those who had launched the hunger strike.
The Government did not negotiate but provided medical attention to
those on the hunger strike. Prisoners continued to participate in
hunger strikes during 2006, although these were not the same prisoners
as those in 2005.
Following the May 2005 demonstrations, Spanish delegations composed
of journalists and regional politicians attempted to visit the Western
Sahara. Moroccan authorities, who charged that the visits were
politically motivated, prevented several delegations from disembarking
from their aircraft. Morocco negotiated with Spain to agree to
guidelines for visits to the territory. In 2005 Spanish journalists
based in Morocco had regular access to the territory, although they
complained of surveillance and harassment by the Moroccan authorities.
In April 2005 Moroccan authorities detained three Norwegian
journalists in Laayoune who were covering a demonstration. The
authorities interrogated two of the journalists and deported all three.
Prior to the trial of 16 teenagers who participated in the May 2005
demonstrations in Laayoune, five Norwegians traveled overland to
Laayoune from Morocco to show support for the teenagers, but Moroccan
authorities stopped them and escorted them back to Morocco.
During the year, there were no confirmed reports of politically
motivated disappearances in the territory under Moroccan
administration. The SAVHRA, however, maintained a list of persons who
allegedly disappeared or had been tortured since 1999. SAVHRA's total
is over 500 persons; however, this number cannot be verified. In 1997
the Government pledged that such activities would not recur and agreed
to disclose as much information as possible on past cases. Authorities
stated that they had released information on all 112 confirmed
disappearance cases. Human rights groups and families, however, claimed
hundreds of cases remained outstanding, many from the territory.
International human rights organizations estimated that between 1,000
and 1,500 Sahrawis disappeared in the territory. The disappeared
persons were both Sahrawis and Moroccans who challenged the
Government's claim to the territory or other government policies. Many
individuals reportedly were held in secret detention camps.
In 2000 the Consultative Council on Human Rights (CCDH), a
government organization, began paying reparations to Sahrawis or the
family members of those Sahrawis who had disappeared or been detained.
Urgent medical or financial needs were also paid. The Government
announced that reparations would continue to be paid following the
review of Sahrawi petitions.
In January 2004 the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER),
established by the King, began to investigate egregious human rights
violations that occurred between 1956 and 1999 throughout the country.
The appointed members of the IER included human rights activists,
members of civil society, and university professors. The IER's mandate
was to assess the claims of individuals and/or their families,
recommend reparations to victims and/or their families, restore dignity
to the victims, provide for medical care and rehabilitation, and give a
thorough accounting of the events that led to the human rights abuses
and of the circumstances surrounding the abuses. By the conclusion of
its mandate in November 2005, the IER had received 22,000 applications,
many of which had to do with the territory. Investigative teams from
the IER visited the territory on several occasions.
From January 2004 to November 2005, the IER assessed 16,861 cases.
It held public hearings in Morocco and planned for hearings in the
territory. Due to internal IER time constraints compounded by
demonstrations, hearings in the territory did not take place. The IER
mandate did not include the disclosure of names of individuals
responsible for the violations nor did it include a mechanism for
bringing violators to trial. AMDH criticized the IER and its findings.
During the documentation phase of its work, the Moroccan government
identified approximately 63 of these as Sahrawi graves; however, AMDH
claimed that many more Sahrawis died during detention.
In December 2005 the IER submitted the final report to the King.
The report calculated how much compensation victims would receive and
outlined recommendations on how to prevent similar abuses in the
future. It also delineated the reasons for the abuses and the
institutional responsibilities for the violations. In December 2005 the
King ordered the publication and public release of the report. On
January 15, the report was made available.
Both the 1991 settlement plan and the 1997 Houston Accords called
for the Polisario to release all remaining Moroccan prisoners of war
(POWs) after the parties completed the voter identification process. In
1999 MINUS completed the provisional list of eligible voters. The
Moroccan government continued to contest the identification process.
The Western Sahara, a traditionally tribal area populated by nomadic
peoples, continued to experience migration and emigration following
1975. Tribal members who left the region were eligible to vote, but
their direct heirs are not. The Moroccan government disagreed with this
determination.
In August 2005 the Polisario released 404 Moroccan POWs, which
accounted for all remaining Moroccan POWs, according to the UN.
There were credible reports from international organizations,
Moroccan NGOs, and the released POWs that Moroccan POWs suffered
serious physical and psychological health problems due to prolonged
detention, abuse, and forced labor.
According to the Polisario, the Moroccan government continued to
withhold information on approximately 150 Polisario missing combatants
and supporters whom the Polisario listed by name. Morocco formally
denied that any Sahrawi former combatants remained in detention. The
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continued to
investigate such Polisario claims in addition to Moroccan claims that
the Polisario had not fully divulged information on the whereabouts of
213 Moroccan citizens. In a few cases, the ICRC found that individuals
on the Polisario list were living peacefully in Moroccan territory or
in Mauritania.
Morocco and the Polisario disputed the number of persons in refugee
camps. The Moroccan government continued to claim that the Polisario
detained 45,000 to 50,000 Sahrawi refugees against their will in camps
near Tindouf, Algeria. The Polisario claimed that refugee numbers at
Tindouf were much higher, but it denied that any refugees were held
against their will. The UNHCR and the World Food Program appealed
regularly to donors for food aid, and distributed it to a population of
approximately 155,000 in the refugee camps. The UN, however, reduced
the planning figure to 90,000, partially in response to concerns about
inflated refugee numbers. During February floods humanitarian aid to
the camps increased; in August the amount of aid reverted to prior
levels. Local advocacy groups in the Western Sahara protested against
the treatment of the Sahrawi refugees in the Tindouf camps throughout
the year.
In 2004 the UNHCR completed a six month program of confidence-
building measures, highlighted by family visits that brought 1200
persons to meet for five days with long separated relatives. Most
participants were Sahrawi refugees from the camps in Algeria visiting
relatives in the Moroccan controlled territory. In 2005 approximately
19,000 Sahrawis registered to participate in the program, and the UNHCR
transported 1,476 persons for visits. The confidence-building measures
also included telephone exchanges between relatives in the territory
and refugee camps in Algeria. The program was interrupted in August
2005 due to a lack of funding but resumed briefly in November and
December 2005. On November 3, the UN resumed family reunion flights
after a five month suspension with the intent to continue through the
end of 2007, provided funding is available.
The Moroccan government restricted freedoms of expression,
assembly, and association. In late November 2005 the Government blocked
several Sahrawi-based Internet Web sites; the sites remained blocked
until the King's visit to the Western Sahara on March 25. Sahrawi
activists claimed that they were unable to form political associations
or politically oriented NGOs. Moroccan authorities claimed that they
did not intervene in any demonstrations until the demonstrators became
violent and destroyed personal property.
The laws and restrictions regarding religious organizations and
religious freedom in the territory are the same as those in Morocco.
The constitution provides that Islam is the state religion and that the
state provides the freedom to practice one's religion.
The Moroccan government and the Polisario restricted movement in
areas regarded as militarily sensitive.
Some Sahrawis continued to have difficulty obtaining Moroccan
passports. According to NGOs, eleven Sahrawis whose passports were
confiscated more than three years ago were unable to regain them.
The Moroccan penal code imposes stiff fines and prison terms on
individuals involved in or failing to prevent trafficking in persons.
The territory was a transit region for traffickers of persons.
The Moroccan labor code applied in the Moroccan controlled areas of
the territory. Moroccan unions were present in those areas but were not
active. The Polisario sponsored labor union, Sario Federation of Labor,
was not active because the Polisario controlled territory did not
contain major population centers or economic activity.
There were no strikes, other job actions, or collective bargaining
agreements during the year. Most union members were employees of the
Moroccan government or state owned organizations. These individuals
were paid 85 percent more than their counterparts in Morocco as an
inducement to relocate to the territory. The Moroccan government
exempted workers from income and value added taxes.
The Moroccan labor code prohibited forced or bonded labor,
including by children, and there were no reports that such practices
occurred.
Regulations on the minimum age of employment were the same as in
Morocco. Child labor did not appear to be a problem.
The minimum wage and maximum hours of work were identical to those
in Morocco. In practice, however, during peak periods, workers in some
fish processing plants worked as many as 12 hours per day, six days per
week, which was well beyond the 10-hour day, 44-hour week maximum
stipulated in the 2004 Moroccan labor code. Occupational health and
safety standards were the same as those enforced in Morocco and were
rudimentary, except for a prohibition on the employment of women in
dangerous occupations.
__________
OMAN
The Sultanate of Oman is a hereditary monarchy with a population of
approximately 2.5 million, ruled by Sultan Qaboos Al Bu Sa'id. In 1996
Sultan Qaboos, who acceded to the throne in 1970, issued a royal decree
promulgating a ``Law of the State,'' characterizing the country as
``Arab'' and ``Islamic.'' Only the sultan can amend the country's laws,
through royal decree. The 83 member Consultative Council (Majlis al
Shura) is a representative advisory institution whose members were
elected in 2003 by approximately 194,000 voters directly, freely, and
fairly. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective control
of the security forces.
Significant human rights problems remained. Citizens did not have
the right to change their government, which is a ``hereditary
sultanate.'' The Government restricted freedoms of speech, the press,
assembly and association, and religion. Despite legislated equality for
women, discrimination and domestic violence persisted due to social and
cultural factors. There were no registered domestic human rights NGOs
and no government controlled or autonomous human rights entities in the
country. There was a lack of sufficient legal protection and
enforcement to secure the rights of migrant workers, particularly
domestic servants. There were reports that migrant laborers in private
firms and domestic servants were placed in situations amounting to
forced labor, and that some suffered abuse.
Between July and November, the Government passed comprehensive
legislation to improve workers' rights, allowing workers to create more
than one union per firm and allowing more than one federation to
represent workers in international fora. Decrees explicitly allow
collective bargaining and the right to strike, while prohibiting
dismissal of workers for union activity, raising penalties for child
labor violations, providing stronger measures to enforce the
prohibition of forced and coerced labor, and allowing unions and
federations to practice their activities without outside interference.
The Ministry of Manpower subsequently issued a legally enforceable
administrative circular that prohibits employers from withholding
workers' passports.
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.--Article 20 of the Basic Law prohibits such practices, and
there were no reports that government officials employed them, unlike
the previous year when there were accusations of police employing
unnecessary force to disband protestors and of investigative judges
threatening physical harm to uncooperative detainees.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison and detention
center conditions generally met international standards, although there
were reports that some prison cells lacked proper sanitation. No
international observers requested to visit prisons or detention centers
during the year. The Government permitted volunteers from local
religious groups to visit prisons. The Government also allowed
diplomatic representatives to tour two deportation centers for illegal
immigrants; these centers generally met international standards.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Article 18 of the Basic Law
prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention; unlike previous years, there
were no reports that police handling of arrests and detentions
constituted incommunicado detention.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Royal Office, part
of the cabinet, controls internal and external security and coordinates
all intelligence and security policies. Under the Royal Office, the
Internal Security Service investigates all matters related to internal
security, and the sultan's Special Force has limited border security
and anti-smuggling responsibility. The Royal Oman Police (ROP), also
part of the cabinet, performs regular police duties, provides security
at airports, serves as the country's immigration agency, and operates
the coast guard. The Ministry of Defense, and in particular the Royal
Army of Oman, is responsible for border security and has limited
domestic security responsibilities.
Corruption was not perceived to be a widespread problem. The ROP's
Directorate General of Inquiries and Criminal Investigation is charged
with investigating allegations of police abuse, and its findings are
turned over to the Director General of Human Resources for disciplinary
action. There is no public information about the ROP's internal
disciplinary action. Officers receive human rights training at the
police academy. There were no instances in which the police failed to
respond to societal violence.
Arrest and Detention.--The law does not require the police to
obtain warrants prior to making an arrest. The law provides that within
48 hours of arrest, the police must either release the accused or refer
the matter to the public prosecutor. The public prosecutor must, within
24 hours, formally arrest or release the person. Public attorneys were
provided to indigent detainees. Authorities must obtain court orders to
hold suspects in pretrial detention. Judges may order detentions for 14
days to allow investigation and may grant extensions if necessary. The
authorities post the previous week's trial results near the magistrate
court building. There was a functioning system of bail.
The police sometimes failed to follow legal procedures in practice.
Unlike previous years, there were no reports that police handling of
arrests and detentions constituted incommunicado detention. The police
did not always inform detainees of the charges against them; nor did
they always notify a detainee's family or, in the case of a foreign
worker, the worker's sponsor, of the detention.
In some cases, foreign workers were detained without charges
pending investigation of immigration status. Beginning May 8, and
continuing throughout the year, police detained several thousand
suspected illegal migrant laborers. Using police checkpoints and
profiling, military and civilian security agencies detained persons
unable to document their legal status in the country upon request,
which required displaying both a valid labor card and a valid passport
with visa. Women and children were deported, while the Government
prosecuted men suspected of criminal activity. The Government stated
its intention to deport all illegal aliens. The migrant workers were
held in a special detention center until authorities could determine
their immigration status or arrange deportation. Representatives of
foreign diplomatic missions and local religious groups alleged that
conditions in the deportation camp were harsh (see sections 2.d. and
5).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Article 60 of the Basic Law
provides for an independent judiciary; however, the sultan can act as a
court of final appeal and exercise his power of pardon as chairman of
the Supreme Judicial Council, the country's highest legal body with the
power to review all judicial decisions. Members of the Supreme Judicial
Council included the President of the supreme court, the minister of
justice, the public prosecutor and the inspector general. An
Administrative Affairs Council approves all judicial nominations, with
the exception of the posts of the Supreme Court President, deputy
President, and judge, who are appointed by a royal decree based on the
council's nomination.
The Ministry of Justice administers all courts. The magistrate
court system is composed of courts of first instance, courts of appeal,
and the Supreme Court. There are 42 courts of first instance located
throughout the sultanate that hear civil, criminal, commercial, labor,
and personal status cases. One judge presides over each court of first
instance. There are six courts of appeal, each with a panel of three
appointed judges. The Supreme Court standardizes legal principles,
reviews decisions of lower courts, and monitors judges in their
application and interpretation of the law. The sultan can pardon or
reduce sentences but not overturn a Supreme Court verdict. The Supreme
Judicial Council can hear appeals beyond the Supreme Court.
Principles of Shari'a help form the civil, commercial, and criminal
codes. Laws governing family and personal status are based on the
Government's interpretation of Shari'a.
Trial Procedures.--Article 22 of the Basic Law provides for the
right to a fair trial, and the judiciary generally enforced this right.
The General Prosecutor's Office operates independently within the
Ministry of Justice. All felonies are adjudicated in courts of first
instance. All appeals to a judge's ruling must be made within 30 days.
The criminal appeals panel hears appeals of rulings made by all courts
of first instance. Appeals of appellate court decisions go to the
Supreme Court, which consists of five judges.
A 1974 royal decree with subsequent amendments established rules of
procedure for criminal cases, provided rules of evidence and procedures
for entering cases into the criminal system, and detailed provisions
for a public trial. In criminal cases, the police are required to
provide defendants with the written charges against them, and
defendants have the right to present evidence and confront witnesses.
The prosecution and defense counsel question witnesses before a judge
in court.
The law provides for the presumption of innocence and the right to
counsel. For defendants facing prison terms of three years or more, the
law provides legal defense. Judges often pronounced the verdict and
sentence within a day of the completion of a trial. Those convicted may
appeal jail sentences longer than three months and fines over the
equivalent of $1,250 (480 rials).
The administrative court, under the authority of the Diwan of Royal
Court, reviews complaints about the misuse of governmental authority.
It has the power to reverse decisions made by government bodies and can
also award compensation. Appointments to the administrative court are
subject to approval of the Administrative Affairs Council, with the
exception of the posts of the court President and the court deputy
President, who are appointed by a royal decree based on the council's
nomination.
The State Security Court, created by royal decrees in 2003, tries
cases involving national security and criminal matters that require
expeditious or especially sensitive handling. The security court
procedures mirror closely those applicable elsewhere in the criminal
system. The sultan has exercised his powers to extend leniency,
including in cases involving state security.
Ministry and security personnel are subject to a military tribunal
system of justice.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
arrests of political prisoners or detainees. Former parliamentarian
Taybah al-Ma'wali was released from prison on January 30 after having
been convicted on July 13, 2005, for insulting a public official and
using a mobile phone to send allegedly slanderous and libelous text
messages which criticized the Government's arrest of Ibadhi activists
(see section 2.a.).
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Civil cases are governed
by applicable civil procedure codes. Citizens and third-country
nationals were able to file cases in the courts. There were instances
in which courts ruled in favor of domestic servants against their
sponsors, requiring sponsors to return the workers' passports and allow
them to break the employment contract. In some of these instances, the
courts issued orders to apprehend the sponsor and force his appearance
before the court. Both citizen and foreign workers can lodge complaints
regarding working conditions with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) for
administrative redress. The MOM may refer cases to the courts if it is
unable to negotiate a solution (see section 6.e.).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law provides for broad governmental discretion,
which the Government utilized in practice.
The law does not require police to obtain search warrants, although
the police often obtained them; the public prosecutor, not the court,
issues them. The Government monitored both oral and written
communications, including mobile phones, e mail, and Internet chat room
exchanges (see section 2.a.). Citizens were required to obtain
permission from the Ministry of Interior to marry foreigners, except
nationals of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and
permission was not granted automatically. Marriages to foreigners may
lead to the foreign spouse being denied entry into the country and
prevent a legitimate child from claiming citizenship rights.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--Article 29 of the Basic Law
provides for freedom of speech and of the press ``within the limits of
the law''; however, the law and government practice generally
restricted freedom of speech and of the press. The law prohibits
criticism of the sultan in any form or medium, or ``material that leads
to public discord, violates the security of the state, or abuses a
person's dignity or his rights.'' Articles 61 and 62 of the 2002
Telecommunications Act make it illegal to knowingly send a message via
any form of communication that violates public order and morals or is
harmful to a person's safety. Courts have interpreted these articles as
meaning that it is also illegal to insult a public official. On January
30, the Government released Taybah al-Ma'wali, a former parliamentarian
convicted of violating these articles based on her mobile phone
messages that criticized the Government (see section 1.e.).
Journalists and writers generally exercised self censorship due to
fear of government reprisal, while various media companies reportedly
refused to publish articles by several journalists who previously had
criticized the Government. Some journalists alleged that the Government
maintained a ``black list'' of journalists and writers who cannot be
published in the country. The authorities tolerated a limited degree of
criticism of policies, government officials, and agencies, particularly
on the Internet; however, such criticism rarely appeared in the mass
media. The Government used libel laws and concerns for national
security as grounds to suppress criticism of government figures and
politically objectionable views.
Censors enforced the Press and Publication Law, which authorizes
the Government to censor all domestic and imported publications.
Government censorship decisions were changed periodically without any
declared reason. Ministry of Information censors acted against material
regarded as politically, culturally, or sexually offensive. Some
journalists stated that customs officials at the border followed an
unwritten policy to confiscate books and tapes containing material
considered offensive. Although there were no published reports of such
seizures taking place during the year, journalists claimed that customs
officials targeted those writers on the alleged ``black list.''
Editorials generally were consistent with the Government's views,
although the authorities tolerated some limited criticism regarding
foreign affairs issues, including GCC policies, which the country
participates in determining.
There were six daily newspapers: three in Arabic and three in
English. Arabic language dailies Al Watan and Shabiba and English
dailies Times of Oman and Oman Tribune were privately owned. There were
31 state owned and privately owned magazines published in the country.
The Government owned three radio stations and two television
stations, the second of which began operations in October. The stations
generally did not air politically controversial material. In October
2005 the Ministry of Information approved licenses for one private
television station and three private radio stations, which were
expected to begin operations in early 2007. Access to foreign broadcast
information via satellite was widespread in the major urban areas, and
satellite subscribers even were able to view Israeli Arabic-language
programming.
Internet Freedom.--The Government's national telecommunications
company made Internet access available for a fee to citizens and
foreign residents. However, it blocked numerous Web sites that it
considered pornographic, politically sensitive, or competitive with
local telecommunications services. The rules and criteria for blocking
Internet sites were not transparent. Growing use of the Internet to
express views normally not permitted in other media led the Government
to take additional measures to monitor and censor it. The Government
placed warnings on Web sites that criticism of the sultan or personal
criticism of government officials would be censored and could lead to
police questioning, which increased self censorship. The Government
also blocked voice over Internet protocol.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted
academic freedom, particularly regarding publishing or discussing
controversial matters, such as domestic politics, through the threat of
dismissal if a teacher's work exceeded government boundaries. In 2005,
Sultan Qaboos University did not renew a professor's contract after he
made comments critical of the country's politics and culture. As a
result, professors often practiced self-censorship. There were no
reported cases during the year, however, in which the Government
dismissed a professor or other teacher or academic for writings or
speech.
The appropriate government authority, the police, or a relevant
ministry must approve all public cultural events. Most organizations
avoided controversial issues due to belief that the authorities might
not approve such events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--Article 32 of the Basic Law provides for circumscribed
freedom of assembly ``within the limits of the law,'' and the
Government restricted the exercise of this right in practice. Prior
government approval was necessary for all public gatherings. The
authorities enforced this requirement with rare exceptions, allowing
workers to strike, for instance, over the circumstances and conditions
of work. While the Government has not released updated statistics on
the number of strikes that occurred during the year, the MOM reported
six strikes in 2005.
Freedom of Association.--Article 33 of the Basic Law provides for
freedom of association ``for legitimate objectives and in a proper
manner.'' Under the Law of National Associations, the Council of
Ministers approves the establishment of NGOs--officially recognized as
associations--to work on a set of acceptable issues, including women,
children, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and others approved
by the council. The council limited freedom of association in practice
by prohibiting associations whose activities were deemed ``inimical to
the social order'' or otherwise not appropriate, and did not license
groups regarded as a threat to the predominant social and political
views or the interests of the country. Through either outright denial
or imposition of burdensome bureaucratic requirements, the Government
effectively blocked the formation of even the most benign
organizations. In January 2005 the Government denied a request by
citizens to establish a domestic human rights center. Associations were
not permitted to engage in politics, form parties, or interfere with
religious matters (see section 3).
Formal registration of nationality based associations was limited
to one association for any nationality. The law states that
associations must register with the Ministry of Social Development,
which is responsible for approving association by laws. The average
time required to register an association was about two years. Some
social or charitable groups functioned informally before being
registered, but the Government sent letters to several groups in 2004
threatening sanctions unless they completed the registration process.
Women's associations, which total 47, were able to register
somewhat more quickly because the associations require approval only by
the minister of social development, not the Council of Ministers. In
all other ways, however, they are subject to the Law of National
Associations. Some of the women's associations received limited
government funding or in kind support, while others were self funded.
With the inclusion of women's associations, a total of 66 registered
associations exist in the country. The Ministry of Social Development
registered at least one new charitable association during the year.
c. Freedom of Religion.--Article 28 of the Basic Law provides for
freedom of religion ``within the limits of the law''; however, the
Government generally restricted this right in practice. The law
provides that Islam is the state religion and that Shari'a is the
source of all legislation. Most citizens were Ibadhi or Sunni Muslims,
with some Shi'a and a few non Muslim citizens. The Government permits
worship by non Muslim residents. All religious organizations must be
registered with the Government, and some of their activities were
restricted.
Non Muslims were free to worship at churches and temples built on
land donated by the sultan. However, the Government prohibited
religious gatherings and practice in private residences. Although the
law does not prohibit proselytizing, the Government prohibited non
Muslims from proselytizing Muslims, while proselytizing of non Muslims
by Muslims was allowed. The Government also prohibited non Muslim
groups from publishing religious material, although religious material
printed abroad could be brought into the country.
Members of all religions and religious groups were free to maintain
links with members abroad and undertake foreign travel for religious
purposes.
The Government required all imams to preach sermons within the
parameters of standardized texts distributed monthly by the Ministry of
Religious Affairs and Endowments. The Government monitored mosque
sermons to ensure that imams did not discuss political topics or
instigate religious hatred or divisions and stayed within the state
approved interpretation of Islam. Imams may be suspended or dismissed
for exceeding government boundaries; there were no reported suspensions
or dismissals during the year. The Government also monitored sermons of
non Muslim clergy.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no Jewish population
and no reports of anti-Semitic acts or public statements by community
or national leaders that vilified Jews. Anti-Semitism in the media was
present, however, and anti-Semitic editorial cartoons depicting
stereotypical and negative images of Jews along with Jewish symbols,
and comparisons of Israeli leaders to Hitler and the Nazis, were
published during the year. These expressions occurred primarily in the
privately owned daily newspaper, Al-Watan, and occurred without
government response.
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 does not provide for these
rights; however, the Government generally respected these rights in
practice. The law prohibits exile, and there were no reported cases
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 and its 1967 Protocol, although the
country is not party to either the convention or the protocol. In
practice, the Government provided protection against refoulement, the
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution, but did
not routinely grant refugee or asylum status. The Royal Oman Police is
responsible for determining refugee status, but did not accept refugees
for resettlement during the year. The law does not specify a timeframe
in which the ROP must adjudicate a resettlement application.
The law prohibits the extradition of political refugees, and there
were no reports of the forced return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution. The issue of temporary protection for refugees and
asylum seekers did not arise during the year. Government officials
reported that during the year several hundred Somalis holding UN
refugee cards entered the country illegally via Yemen to look for work
or to transit to other Gulf countries. The authorities stated that
Yemen already had granted the Somalis refugee status, and that none of
the Somalis applied for protection or resettlement before being
deported.
Tight control over the entry of foreigners effectively limited
refugees and prospective asylum seekers. Besides Somalis, authorities
apprehended and deported hundreds of Yemenis, Ethiopians, and Eritreans
who sought to enter the country illegally by land and sea in the south,
and Afghanis and Pakistanis who generally came to the country by boat
via Iran in the north. Authorities generally detained these persons in
camps in Salalah or the northern port city of Sohar, where they stayed
an average of one month before being deported to their countries of
origin (see sections 1.d. and 5).
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. The sultan retains ultimate authority on all foreign and
domestic issues.
Elections and Political Participation.--The law does not provide
for political parties. There are direct elections only for the
Consultative Council (Majlis as-Shura). Citizens 21 years or older
(except military and security personnel) may vote. In 2003
approximately 74 percent of registered voters, or about 194,000
persons, voted. The Government did not allow candidates to advertise or
actively campaign for office. A total of 506 candidates, including 15
women, competed in generally free and fair elections for the 83 council
seats. Of the 15 female candidates, 2 were elected. In 2003 a royal
decree also reappointed the incumbent President of the Consultative
Council, although the council elected two vice Presidents from within
its membership. The sultan did not influence the nomination of the
Consultative Council candidates.
The Consultative Council serves as a conduit of information between
the citizens and the Government ministries; however, it has no formal
legislative powers. Government ministries or the cabinet author all
draft legislation. No serving government official is eligible to be a
consultative council member. The Consultative Council may question
government ministers in public or in private, review all draft laws on
social and economic policy, and recommend new laws or legislative
changes to the sultan, who makes the final decision. Any five members
of the Council can make an official request for information from a
minister, who has two weeks to respond to the request, generally in
person. In 2005 and during the year, members of the council held
regular meetings with their constituents regarding conditions in the
various regions and the effect of laws and regulations. In 2005
representatives from the southern state of Dhofar used information from
these public meetings to challenge regulations that set electricity
duties. In January the Cabinet of Ministers, over which the sultan
presides, amended the regulations to lower duties significantly.
The 58 members of the State Council (Majlis ad-Dawla) are all
appointed by the sultan. It serves as an advisory body that reviews
draft laws proposed by the Government and presents its opinions to the
sultan and his ministers in cooperation with the Consultative Council.
The State Council President is appointed by royal decree and its two
vice Presidents are elected from within its membership. The membership
of the State Council included nine women.
The State Council and the Consultative Council together form the
142-seat Council of Oman. In 2003, a royal decree extended the term of
office to four years for members of both councils. There are no term
limits, although state council members historically have served two
terms.
Citizens had indirect access to senior officials through the
traditional practice of petitioning their patrons, usually the
appointed local governor, for redress of grievances. Successful redress
depended on the effectiveness of a patron's access to appropriate
decision makers. Citizens can contest decisions of government ministers
in the administrative court. A court awarded a private citizen damages
of $1.04 million (400,000 rials) in a land dispute against the Minister
of the Diwan of the Royal Court.
There were 11 women in the 142 seat Council of Oman. There were
four female ministers appointed to the 42 member cabinet.
The Council of Oman and the Cabinet of Ministers are composed of
representatives from a variety of linguistic, religious, racial, and
other backgrounds.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated
reports of government corruption during the year. In 2005, several
high-ranking government officials, including an undersecretary and a
member of the State Council, were sentenced to between three and five
years in prison for bribery, misuse of public office, and breach of
trust. The officials currently are serving their prison sentences. Such
sentences allegedly lowered the perception of corruption among citizens
during the year.
The law does not provide public access to government information.
All royal decrees and ministerial decisions are published in the
Official Gazette for public access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The Government restricted NGO activity. There were no registered
domestic human rights NGOs and no government controlled or autonomous
human rights entities in the country. In January 2005, the Government
denied a request by citizens to establish a domestic human rights
center. Activists involved in foreign registered organizations were
threatened with arrest or loss of government employment or
scholarships. No association may receive funding from an international
group without government approval. Individuals convicted of doing so
could receive up to six months in jail and a $1,310 (500 rials) fine.
Heads of domestic NGOs reported that the Government periodically asked
to review their financial records to confirm sources of funding and
required that NGOs inform the Government of any meetings with foreign
organizations or diplomatic missions. There were no reported cases
during the year of individuals charged with receiving unauthorized
funding.
In November, the Government allowed the UN special rapporteur for
trafficking in persons to visit the country on a fact-finding mission,
the first visit of a UN official with a human rights portfolio. The
special rapporteur was allowed to meet with government officials,
representatives of NGOs, and migrant workers, and to hold a press
conference to summarize her findings. The special rapporteur called
attention to the Government's need to increase efforts to combat
trafficking in persons (see section 5).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Article 17 of the Basic Law prohibits discrimination against
citizens on the basis of sex, ethnic origin, race, language, religion,
place of residence, and social class. However, the Government did not
effectively enforce it. Societal and cultural discrimination based on
gender, race, social class, and disability existed.
Women.--The law does not specifically address domestic violence
against women; however, the Government's interpretation of Shari'a
prohibits all forms of physical abuse. There was no evidence of a
pattern of spousal abuse, although allegations of such abuse in civil
courts handling family law cases were reportedly common. Battered women
may file a complaint with the police but often sought family
intervention to protect them from violent domestic situations.
Likewise, families sought to intervene to keep such problems from
public view, which is the cultural norm. Some employers reportedly
sexually abused domestic servants. There were no government programs
for abused women.
The law prohibits rape, and the Government enforced the law
effectively. Spousal rape is not criminalized.
According to a 2003 UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and World Health
Organization study, female genital mutilation (FGM) was broadly
socially accepted. There is no law prohibiting FGM; however, the
Ministry of Health prohibited doctors from performing the procedure in
hospitals. The problem remained sensitive and was not discussed
publicly. Planners at the Ministry of Health have not taken action to
eliminate FGM. Local women primarily performed FGM on young girls in
villages.
Prostitution was illegal. Despite strict cultural norms and
immigration controls, observers reported that women from Eastern
Europe, South Asia, some Middle Eastern countries, and China--some of
whom may have entered Oman on legal tourist or work visas--engaged in
prostitution.
While progress has been made in changing laws and attitudes,
including the appointment of women as ministers, ambassadors, and
senior government officials, women continued to face many forms of
social discrimination. Aspects of Islamic law and tradition as
interpreted in the country discriminated against women. The
Government's interpretation of Shari'a, as contained in civil codes,
favors male heirs in adjudicating inheritance. Many women were
reluctant to take an inheritance dispute to court for fear of
alienating the family. Women married to non-citizens may not transmit
citizenship to their children.
Although women may own property, government officials applied
different standards to female applicants for housing loans, resulting
in fewer approvals for women. Women were forbidden from receiving free
government housing unless they were divorced, widowed, or listed in the
registry of social affairs as fatherless or extremely poor. Illiteracy
among women 45 and older also hampered their ability to own property,
participate in the modern sector of the economy, or educate themselves
about their rights.
Government policy provided women with equal opportunities for
education. Half of all first degree university students were women, and
women comprised 35 percent of all post-graduate students at Sultan
Qaboos University.
Educated women have attained positions of authority in government,
business, and the media; however, many educated women still faced
culturally based job discrimination. Approximately 31 percent of all
civil servants were women, and women held 56 percent of the teaching
positions in government schools. In both the public and private
sectors, women were entitled to maternity leave and equal pay for equal
work. The Government, the country's largest employer of women, observed
such regulations, as did many private sector employers.
The Ministry of Social Development is the umbrella ministry for
women's affairs. The ministry provided support through the Oman Women's
Association and local community development centers.
Children.--Primary school education for children, including non-
citizen children, was free and universal but not compulsory. In 2004-05
the ratio of female to male enrollment was equal in primary education.
Primary school enrollment was 65 percent. Most children attended school
through secondary school. The Government provided free health care for
all children up to age six. The infant mortality rate continued to
decline, and the reported rate of infant immunization against diseases
such as TB, polio, and hepatitis B remained above 90 percent. There
were no public reports of violence against children; however, the
Government called publicly for greater awareness and prevention of
child abuse. FGM was performed on some girls ages one to nine.
There were no reports of child prostitution. Child labor existed in
the informal, subsistence, and family business sectors of the economy;
however, it was not a problem in the organized labor market (see
section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in
persons; however, trafficking crimes are prosecuted under Article 261
of the Penal Code, which prohibits ``slavery and the transportation,
receiving, or in any way handling someone in a state of slavery or
semi-slavery.'' Those convicted face three to five years in prison. The
sultanate is a destination country for men and women primarily from
Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India, who migrate willingly but subsequently
may become victims of trafficking when subjected to conditions of
involuntary servitude as domestic workers and laborers. Oman also is a
transit country for migrants to the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf
countries.
The UN special rapporteur for trafficking in persons, who visited
on a fact-finding tour in November, said that trafficking victims
predominantly were domestic servants and casual laborers. The special
rapporteur received reports that some local recruitment agencies and
source countries brought domestic servants and casual laborers to the
country under fictitious contracts and sponsor relationships. Some
workers complained of long working hours, the withholding or nonpayment
of wages, lack of access to means of communication, and other forms of
physical, mental, and verbal abuse. The special rapporteur also heard
reports that some sponsors confined workers and confiscated passports
and other labor documents.
The local UNICEF representative cited no reports that foreign
children were trafficked and employed as camel jockeys during the year.
Citizen children as young as seven continued to ride camels in
competitive events despite recent legislation that gradually raises the
minimum age of riders to 18 (see section 6.d.).
The Government deported thousands of illegal migrant workers during
the year, but did not use special screening procedures to distinguish
illegal migrants from trafficking victims (see sections 1.c. and 2.d.).
There are no government protective services for victims of trafficking.
The Government operated a 24 hour hotline to register complaints of
potential victims and also worked with foreign governments to prevent
trafficking in persons. The MOM is tasked with investigating reports of
labor abuse.
Persons With Disabilities.--During the year there were no reported
acts of discrimination committed by the Government against persons with
disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, or in the
provision of other state services; however, there was societal and
cultural discrimination against persons with disabilities. The labor
law states that persons with disabilities are to be provided with the
same rights prescribed for other citizens. Although the labor law
stipulates that private enterprises employing more than 50 persons
should have at least 2 percent of the jobs reserved for persons with
disabilities, this regulation was not widely enforced.
The Ministry of Social Development is responsible for protecting
the rights of persons with disabilities, and it implemented legislation
during the year to ensure access to buildings for persons with
disabilities. The Government actively enforced the law through the
construction permit process. There was one government sponsored
rehabilitation center in the capital area and 17 private rehabilitation
centers throughout the country. The law does not require the Government
to reserve a percentage of jobs for persons with disabilities. While
the Government did not provide statistics on the number of persons with
disabilities it employed, a few persons with disabilities, including
visually impaired persons, worked in government offices. Persons with
physical disabilities, who numbered 40,000 to 45,000 according to 2003
census figures, generally were not charged for physical therapy and
prosthetics.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--While there were no
reports of official discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS,
societal attitudes in the country remained fearful toward persons with
the disease. The Ministry of Health initiated and promoted a ``Peer
Education'' pilot project in the Muscat area to improve awareness of
and education about the disease among youth. An outreach center opened
in the town of Sur in June and provided free HIV/AIDS testing and
counseling. The Ministry of Health, in conjunction with UNICEF, also
performed outreach and free testing at several large cultural festivals
held during the year. A toll free AIDS hot line fielded several hundred
calls during the year and approximately 2,000 calls in 2005. The hot
line also provided information on sexually transmitted diseases.
The Penal Code criminalizes homosexuality. Individuals can be
prosecuted based on complaint, and sentenced to a jail term of six
months to three years.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Between July and November, the
Government passed comprehensive legislation to improve worker rights.
On July 9, Royal Decree 74 officially recognized worker rights to form
unions, formerly called ``representative committees,'' and a General
Federation, formerly called ``The Main Representative Committee,'' to
represent unions at regional and international fora. The decree also
amended Articles 108 and 110 of the 2003 Labor Law to allow more than
one union per firm. Royal Decree 113 amended Article 109 of the 2003
Labor Law to allow unions to form more than one federation. The royal
decrees further stated that unions and their representative bodies are
free to act as independent entities without interference in their
affairs by government or other parties. The MOM issued implementing
regulations covering union organizing that reduced the level of
government control over the formation and activities of unions. The
ministry removed the requirement that unions notify the Government at
least one month in advance of union meetings. The regulations also
dropped the requirement that union leaders speak and write Arabic.
Some government control over union activities remained. The new
regulations maintained, for instance, the prohibition on accepting
grants or financial assistance from any source without the ministry's
prior approval. The new regulations also added that union formation
requires 25 workers regardless of the size of the firm.
Royal Decree 74 amended Article 110 of the 2003 Labor Law to
prohibit employers from firing or imposing penalties for union
activity. The provisions of the 2003 Labor Law and recent amendments
apply to women and foreign workers. The law does not grant members of
the armed forces, public security institutions, employees of the state,
or domestic workers the right to form unions. Conditions of employment
of these categories of workers are covered by the Civil Service Law and
individual ministerial decrees.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Article 107 of
the Labor Law explicitly allows for collective bargaining and
guarantees the right to strike. Royal Decree 74 provided unions and
federations with the right to practice their activities freely and
without interference from outside parties. In November, the MOM issued
implementing regulations covering collective bargaining and strikes.
The regulations require employers to engage in collective bargaining
over the terms and conditions of employment, including wages and hours
of work. The regulations also affirm workers' right to strike, although
they stipulate that unions or worker representatives must inform the
employer at least three weeks in advance of a scheduled strike. The
regulations also state that strikes must cease at the start of
collective bargaining procedures.
There were no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Basic Law
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including of children; however,
there were reports that such practices occurred. Royal Decree 74
amended the 2003 Labor Law to prohibit forced labor and set penalties
not to exceed more than one month in prison and/or a fine of $1,300
(500 rials).
At times foreign workers were reportedly placed in situations
amounting to forced labor (see section 5). Employers sometimes withheld
documents that released workers from employment contracts and allowed
them to change employers. Without such a letter, a foreign worker must
continue to work for his current employer or become technically
unemployed and consequently a candidate for deportation. In November,
the MOM issued a legally enforceable administrative circular that
prohibited employers from withholding workers' passports.
Many foreign workers were not aware of their right to take such
disputes before the Labor Welfare Board (LWB). Others were reluctant to
file complaints for fear of retribution from unscrupulous employers. In
most cases the LWB released the worker from service without deportation
and awarded compensation for time worked under compulsion. In addition
to reimbursing the worker's back wages, guilty employers were subject
to fines.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law specifically prohibits forced or compulsory labor by children, and
there were no reports of the practice. Royal Decree 74 amended Article
118 of the 2003 Labor Law to raise the fines from $260(100 rials) per
violation to $1,300 (500 rials), and increased possible prison terms
for repeat offenders from one week to one month.
In 2003 the Government raised the minimum age for children to work
from 13 to 15 years. For certain hazardous occupations, the minimum
employment age is 18. Children 15 to 18 years of age may be employed
but can only work between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Minors are
prohibited from working in hazardous occupations, for more than six
hours per day, on weekends, or on holidays. The MOM generally enforced
the law; however, in practice, enforcement often did not extend to some
small family businesses that employed underage children, particularly
in the agricultural and fishing sectors.
Child labor did not exist in any formal industry. As a cultural
practice, Bedouin children participated in camel racing for their
families. In August 2005 the Government raised the minimum age of camel
riders from 12 to 18 years, to rise annually by one year until the 18
year minimum is achieved in 2009. The initial minimum age was set at 14
years in 2005.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Work regulations, including
rules governing the workplace and the rights and duties of both workers
and employers, must be approved by the MOM and posted conspicuously in
the workplace by employers of 15 or more workers. Government inspectors
performed random inspections to enforce implementation of these
regulations; there were more than 4,541 inspections in 2005. Similarly,
any employer with 50 or more workers must establish a grievance
procedure. All employees, including foreign workers, have the right to
take disputes to the LWB and are encouraged to contact the MOM's 24
hour hot line to report labor abuse or violations. The LWB attempts to
mediate disputes between employers and employees. In some cases, worker
representatives were able to file collective grievances. If a
settlement cannot be reached, the parties may seek recourse in the
appropriate courts.
The Labor Care Directorate of the MOM is responsible for
enforcement of, and compliance with, workplace laws and regulations.
Its responsibilities include occupational safety and health, labor
inspections, dispute settlement, women's employment, issues related to
child and forced labor, and the resolution of individual and collective
labor disputes. The MOM employed 82 inspectors who worked throughout
the sultanate. The MOM also operated a 24-hour complaint hotline in
English and Arabic. According to midyear government statistics, the MOM
received more than 2,900 calls to the hotline, 938 of which it resolved
through direct negotiations between workers and their employers, and
470 that it referred to the courts for action.
The MOM issues minimum wage regulations for various categories of
workers. The minimum wage for most citizens is approximately $260 (100
rials) per month, plus $52 (20 rials) for transportation and housing.
Minimum wage regulations did not apply to a variety of occupations and
businesses, including small businesses that employed fewer than five
persons, the self employed, domestic servants, dependent family members
working for a family firm, and some categories of manual labor. There
were reports that migrant laborers in some firms and households worked
more than 12-hour days for as little as $90 (35 rials) per month.
The private sector workweek was 40 to 45 hours and included a rest
period from Thursday afternoon through Friday. Government workers have
a 35 hour workweek. While the law does not designate the number of days
in a workweek, it requires at least one 24 hour rest period per week
and mandates overtime pay for hours in excess of 48 per week.
Government regulations regarding hours of employment were not always
enforced. Employees who worked extra hours without compensation could
file a complaint with the LWB; however, the LWB rulings were not
binding.
Every worker has the right to 15 days of annual leave during the
first year of continual employment and 30 days per year thereafter.
The 2003 Labor Law states that an employee may remove himself from
dangerous work without jeopardy to his continued employment if the
employer was alerted to the danger and did not implement corrective
measures. All employers are required by law to provide first aid
facilities. Employees covered under the 2003 Labor Law could recover
compensation for job related injury or illness through employer
provided medical insurance. Medical professionals reported that some
employers did not provide low-skilled, migrant workers with medical
insurance, or provided them with coverage as low as $12 (5 rials) per
month with any excess costs deducted from their salaries. Inspectors
from the Department of Health and Safety of the Labor Care Directorate
generally enforced the health and safety standard codes. As required by
law, they made regular onsite inspections. Some companies found guilty
of withholding salaries were fined and prohibited from receiving
commercial services, such as labor clearances. Such actions resulted in
the immediate payment of salaries.
__________
QATAR
Qatar is a monarchy ruled by the Al-Thani family, headed by Emir
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani. The population is approximately
840,000 of whom approximately 200,000 are citizens. The emir exercises
full executive power. Shari'a (Islamic law) is a main source of
legislation, and the emir legislates by issuing a decree, generally
after consultation with leading citizens, an arrangement
institutionalized in the appointed 35-member Advisory Council (Majlis
al-Shura) that assists the emir in formulating policy. The
constitution, which came into force in June 2005, provides for
continued hereditary rule by the emir's branch of the Al-Thani family.
In 2003 citizens elected the 29 members of the advisory central
municipal council in elections generally regarded as free and fair,
although only 30 percent of eligible voters participated. The civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
While there were improvements in the overall human rights
practices, some serious problems remained. Citizens lacked the right to
change their government peacefully. There were judicially sanctioned
corporal punishments. Civil liberties, such as the freedoms of speech
(including the use of the Internet), press, assembly, and association
continued to be restricted, and limitations existed on freedom of
religion. There were also some restrictions on foreign travel, as well
as arbitrary deportation, sometimes after detention for several years.
Government corruption was perceived to be a problem along with lack of
public access to government information. Trafficking in persons,
primarily in the labor and domestic worker sectors, was a problem.
Discrimination against women, both legally and culturally based,
limited their full participation in society. Bidoons (Arabic for
``without'' meaning ``without citizenship''; people with residency ties
by not documented nationals) unresolved legal status resulted in
discrimination against these noncitizens with residency ties. Worker
rights were severely restricted, especially for expatriate laborers and
domestic servants.
On February 3, the emir issued orders to begin to reinstate
citizenship for as many as 6,000 persons, which the Government revoked
between October 2004 and June 2005. Each case was reviewed separately,
and by year's end approximately 90 percent of those persons had their
citizenship restored.
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 criminal law prohibit such
practices. There was one case reported in 2005 in which a policeman
had, according to prosecutors, tortured a suspect; the perpetrator was
subsequently charged and convicted of misuse of power and abuse during
the year. He was sentenced to two years in prison. During the year
there were two complaints of torture reported to the National Human
Rights Committee (NHRC). The two complaints were investigated by the
Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry concluded that one was without
merit, while the other remained under investigation at year's end.
In June the National Health Authority (NHA) ordered all clinics and
medical practitioners to report to authorities any cases of torture or
maltreatment on patients brought about by domestic violence or physical
abuse.
The Government administered corporal punishment (lashes) prescribed
by its interpretation of Islamic law in cases of alcohol consumption.
Amputation was not allowed. Punishments were not administered publicly.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards. In previous years the Government
permitted visits by independent human rights observers. During the
year, however, authorities prevented the Solidarity Center (a foreign
labor nongovernmental organization (NGO) from visiting the Deportation
Detention Center during their visit to the country in September. In
November the UN Special Rapporteur for Trafficking in Persons and
foreign diplomatic representatives visited the Deportation Detention
Center (DDC). In addition representatives visited the Capital Police
Detention Center (CPDC) in October. Additional requests by diplomatic
representatives to visit the Central Prison and the State Security
Prison were not approved. The NHRC conducted at least three visits to
prisons and detention centers during the year.
The DDC held thousands of detainees without legal justification for
extended periods, sometimes more than four years. The CPDC held a large
number of detainees in cells without beds; mattresses were placed on
the floor. Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) citizen detainees were held
separately from foreigners and under better conditions. At the DDC, at
least nine newborn and infant children were detained with their
mothers.
The State Security Prison was used to hold prisoners convicted of
security crimes, including espionage. The conditions in the State
Security Prison were generally better than those at the Central Prison.
Some men and women awaiting civil or criminal trial as plaintiffs were
held with others waiting deportation at the DDC. Some female defendants
awaiting trial were held with convicted female criminals at the Central
Prison because of overcrowded conditions at the CPDC.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention. While the Government generally observed
these prohibitions, these rights were restricted in practice. Thousands
of noncitizens were apprehended and held at the DDC without charges or
legal justification awaiting deportation, some for more than four
years. Individuals were also arrested and detained at the State
Security Prison for indefinite periods under the society protection and
antiterrorism laws.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of the
Interior (MOI) controls the police forces, which include the coast
guard, border police, fire department, and immigration authorities.
They were generally effective. NGOs did not perceive corruption and
impunity to be serious problems. The Government intelligence service
reported directly to the emir and performed internal security
investigations, gathered intelligence, and had primary responsibility
for sedition and espionage cases.
The MOI investigated alleged cases of police abuse and publicized
at least some results.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires that persons be apprehended
openly with warrants based on sufficient evidence, issued by a duly
authorized official, be charged within 24 hours, and be brought before
a court. As exceptions the law permits for detention without charges
for up to two years (six month periods which can be extended) and
allows detention for up to six months without charges for investigation
purposes, but could be extended indefinitely by a special court order.
In normal cases the judge may order the suspect released, remanded
to custody to await trial, held in pretrial detention pending
investigation, or released on bail. Judges may also extend pretrial
detention for one month at a time to allow authorities to conduct
investigations. The accused was entitled to legal representation
throughout the process and prompt access to family members in
nonsecurity cases. There were provisions for state-funded legal counsel
for indigents in criminal cases. Suspects detained in security cases
generally were afforded access to counsel, but access to family members
was delayed. Unlike the previous year, there were no reported cases of
incommunicado detention by the Government.
However, the society protection law provides for official exemption
from the prohibition of arbitrary arrest and detention and the Code of
Criminal Procedure. Although detainees may have access to counsel,
under this law criminal charges are not filed, therefore, there are no
charges to refute. Counsel may only petition the Prime Minister for
reconsideration. Decisions taken under this law are not appealable in
court. The law empowers the Minister of Interior to detain a defendant
for crimes related to national security, honor, or impudence upon the
recommendation of the Director General of Public Security. Under this
statute the detention period can range from two weeks to six months.
Moreover, that period can be extended up to two years at the discretion
of MOI officials. The law normally allows for detention for up to six
months without charges; but it could also allow for indefinite
detention upon order of the court. This provision has not been used.
The Prime Minister adjudicates complaints against these detentions.
There was at least one known case of a citizen that had been arrested
at years end, had been detained for more than one year under this
statute. According to the NHRC, there are undoubtedly more unreported
cases.
In May Amnesty International (AI) alleged that 18 persons had been
detained in 2005 under the laws for the ``protection of society'' and
``combating terrorism", although few details were available. There is a
report that at least one person remained in custody at year's end under
these conditions.
In accordance with custom on the occasion of the Holy Month of
Ramadan, the emir granted amnesty to 29 prisoners and another 56
prisoners were granted amnesty on the annual ``International Human
Rights Day'' in November. The cases were recommended for amnesty by the
NHRC. No criminals convicted of violent crimes were granted amnesty. An
additional 23 prisoners were released by the court after serving at
least three-quarters of their sentence.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, although in practice it is not since all judges
held their positions at the ultimate discretion of the emir.
Nevertheless, there were no reports of political or governmental
interference in the courts. Approximately 25 percent of the judges were
foreign nationals dependent on residence permits granted by the civil
authorities. The emir appoints all judges based on the recommendation
of the Supreme Judiciary Council.
The law provides for a three-tiered court system: the courts of
first instance, appeal, and cassation. The court of appeal hears
appeals of decisions from the court of first instance. The Court of
Cassation hears cases from the appeals court that may have been
contradictory to established law or where the law may have been
mistakenly interpreted. The Court of Cassation is the court of final
appeal. It consists of two wings, civil and criminal, with a five-judge
panel chaired by a President or deputy.
There are no provisions in the law for the establishment of
security tribunals. The established court system would handle such
cases. The constitution provides for the establishment of military
tribunals, but their use is restricted except under martial law, and
only military crimes committed by staff of the armed forces and the
security forces may come before such tribunals. There are provisions
for non judicial proceedings for administrative discipline of military
and security personnel.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and the judiciary generally enforced this right.
Both Muslim and non-Muslim litigants are tried under the unified
(Shari'a and secular justice) court system. Trials are by jury and open
to the public, but the presiding judge can close the courtroom to the
public if the case is deemed sensitive. Lawyers prepare litigants and
speak for them during the hearing. Non-Arabic speakers are provided
with interpreters. Defendants are entitled to legal representation
throughout the trial and pretrial process. In matters involving
religious issues, Shi'a and Sunni judges may apply their
interpretations for their respective group. There was an adequate
number of both Shi'a and Sunni judges.
Criminal cases normally were tried within five to seven months
after suspects were detained. Although infrequently used in practice,
suspects are entitled to bail, except in cases of violent crime.
Foreigners charged with minor crimes can be released to their citizen
sponsor, although they are prohibited from departing the country until
the case is resolved. While the law allows for detention without
charges, once charges are filed, the case would be tried under existing
criminal or civil law. Defendants have the right to be present and the
right of appeal. Their attorneys have access to government-held
evidence relevant to their cases, once the case has been filed in the
court.
Defendants may consult with an attorney in a timely manner.
Defendants have the right to confront and question witnesses against
them and present witnesses and evidence on their behalf. Defendants are
presumed innocent. In practice, however, those charged with a crime
continue to carry the burden of the charge against them by state
security forces before, during, and after trial, even if found
innocent. In either case, for noncitizens, deportation normally
follows. Citizens are forbidden from continued service in or
acquisition of sensitive positions.
The law pertaining to civil cases restricts the right to appeal,
since the appellant must deposit with the court $5,495 (20,000 riyals)
for the appeal if the case has been decided by the court of appeal, and
$1,374 (5,000 riyals) for the appeal if the case has been decided by
the court of first instance. An additional $1374 (5000 riyals) must be
paid to the court in each case to proceed. Sums may be seized, in whole
or in part, should the competent court decide to reject the right of
appeal. The law extends these rights to all residents.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Of the 27 individuals involved
and convicted in the 1996 planned counter-coup, 26 remained in prison
at year's end. Of the 26 in prison, 19 remain in prison under sentence
of death, while eight carry life sentences. One of the eight, a member
of the ruling family, has been remanded to house arrest. During the
year at least one military member was arrested and accused of
communicating with foreign political groups. The outcome of his case
was unresolved at year's end.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law and judiciary
generally permit persons with civil grievances to seek redress in the
court system, rather than through traditional personal contact with
members of the ruling family. There are civil and criminal remedies
available for those seeking damages for, or cessation of, human rights
violations. There was one reported case of a lawsuit by a laborer
against his sponsor for suppression of the right of freedom of
movement. The case is unresolved at year's end.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and the Criminal Procedures Code
prohibit such actions, and the Government generally respected these
prohibitions in practice. Traditional attitudes of respect for the
sanctity of the home and the privacy of women provided protection
against arbitrary intrusion for both citizens and noncitizens. Judicial
authorities must grant warrants before police may search a residence or
business, except in cases involving national security or emergencies,
of which there were none reported during the year. There were no
reports of unauthorized searches of homes during the year. Police and
security forces were believed to monitor the telephone calls and e-
mails of suspected criminals, of those considered to be security risks,
and of selected foreigners (see section 2.a.).
Citizens must obtain government permission to marry foreigners and
may apply for residence permits or citizenship for their spouses. Such
permission generally was granted for male citizens. Under the law
marriage to a female citizen does not entitle the husband to
citizenship.
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 limited these
rights in practice. Journalists continued to self-censor due to
political pressures when reporting on government policies, the ruling
family, and relations with neighboring states. There were reports that
security authorities threatened both individuals and organizations
against publishing undesirable articles.
The law provides for criminal penalties and jail sentences for
libel and slander. One non-citizen was sentenced to one year in prison
under this law. The individual allegedly slandered a citizen in public.
All cases involving the media fall under the jurisdiction of the
criminal courts.
Although citizens expressed many of their views freely and in
public, they avoided discussing sensitive political and religious
issues. The much larger foreign population did not express itself as
freely or as publicly. The Government did not prosecute anyone for
expression of views. During the year the Qatar Foundation continued to
support a series of public debates on a website called the ``Doha
Debates".
While the six daily newspapers are not state-owned, the owners are
members of the ruling family or have close ties to government
officials. Copies of foreign newspapers and magazines were reviewed and
censored for religious, political, and explicit sexual content.
The censorship office in the Qatar Radio and Television Corporation
and customs officials screened and censored material deemed hostile to
Islam, reports on government policies, the ruling family, and
pornography. There were no specific reports of political censorship of
foreign broadcast news media or foreign programs. Foreign movies,
however, were censored for sexual content, vulgarity, and political
views. Officials did not block the personal importation of non-Islamic
religious items (see section 2.c.).
State-owned television and radio reflected government views. Doha-
based Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel focused on coverage and commentary
on international news topics. Al-Jazeera and the Government claimed the
channel to be independent and free of government influence, but it was
government-subsidized and avoided critical commentary of government
policies. On domestic issues Al-Jazeera covered local news generally
only if there was an international aspect to it. Callers to a popular
morning show on the state-owned radio station frequently discussed
topics such as government inefficiency and the lack of responsiveness
by various ministries to citizens' needs, such as poor schools and
roads, failure to deliver adequate water and sewage services, and
problems with the health care system.
Internet Freedom.--The Government restricted the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet and censored the Internet for
political, religious, and pornographic content through a proxy server,
which monitored and blocked Web sites, e-mail, and chat rooms through
the state-owned Internet Service Provider (ISP). For example, the Arab
Times, an Arab-American online newspaper, which at times published
articles critical of the Government, was not available to users in the
country. A user who believed that a site was censored mistakenly could
submit the web address to have the site reviewed for suitability. In
some cases the ISP responded by unblocking the site after an internal
investigation. Statistics, however, were not available.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--Academic freedom was
exercised in accordance with the general legal framework, but
instructors at Qatar University noted that they often exercised self-
censorship.
There were no reported government restrictions on cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for but regulates freedom of assembly which
requires a permit for public gatherings. A number of restrictions and
conditions must be met in order to acquire a permit, for example, the
permission of the director general of public security, whose decision
is not subject to appeal. In practice the Government generally does not
allow political demonstrations. The Government permitted at least one
during the year: in June there was a peaceful demonstration arranged by
the Central Municipal Council to show support for Palestinians in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides the right to form private
societies and professional associations, but the Government severely
limited this right in practice. The law forbids formation of and
membership in political parties (see section 3). The law allows
noncitizens to participate in private societies only in cases where
their participation is deemed necessary to the work of the society.
However, the Prime Minister must approve their participation, and their
number cannot exceed 20 percent of the total membership. The law also
imposes strict conditions on the establishment, management, and
function of these societies and associations. They are prohibited from
engaging in political matters and must get approval from the Ministry
of Civil Service Affairs and Housing, which can deny their
establishment if deemed a threat to the public interest. Also, in the
case of professional societies, they must pay $13,736 (50,000 riyals)
in licensing fees and $2,747 (10,000 riyals) in annual fees and their
permits are valid for only a three-year period, after which they must
renew their license and again pay the same fees. Also, a single
application form not applicable to all potential organizations
restricts registration. Since this law was enacted, less than 20
requests to form new associations have been submitted to the ministry.
Some requests were approved during the year, among them the Fishermen
Association, the Authors Association, and the Musicians Association.
The remaining applications were either under review or have been sent
for cabinet approval. Applications to establish a Journalists
Association and a Teachers Association were pending at the end of the
year. One human rights organization designed to support persons with
disabilities was also pending review.
The regulations prohibit international affiliation of associations.
The Government prohibited international professional organizations
critical of the Government or of any other Arab government. There were
no reports that security forces monitored the activities of proposed or
established professional or other groups.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
worship and forbids discrimination based on religion in accordance with
the law and the requirements of protecting the public order and
morality; however, the Government continued to prohibit proselytizing
of Muslims by non-Muslims and placed some restrictions on public
worship. Among non-Muslims, only Christians have requested and been
allowed to rent space for public worship. Adherents of other faiths may
privately practice their religion without harassment.
The state religion is Islam, as interpreted by the Wahhabi order of
Sunni Islam. Both Sunni and Shi'a Muslims practiced Islam freely. Shi'a
Muslims organized traditional Shi'a ceremonies and performed their
rites in their own mosques. Shi'a Muslims were permitted to build and
decorate Shi'a mosques without restrictions.
The Government and the ruling family are linked inextricably to
Islamic institutions and practices. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs
administers the construction of mosques, clerical affairs, and Islamic
education for adults and new converts. The Ministry of Education
administers Islamic education in the public schools. The emir
participated in public prayers during both Eid holiday periods and
personally financed the Hajj journeys of poor pilgrims.
Shi'a Muslims were well represented in the bureaucracy and business
community.
The Government has given legal status to Catholic, Anglican,
Orthodox, Coptic, and many Indian Christian denominations; other
religious congregations may request recognition, but none are known to
have done so. The Government does not allow the building of any new
places of worship without permission. The Government provided
congregations with registration numbers that allow them to open bank
accounts and sponsor clergy for visas. In January construction began on
what is expected to be six Christian churches on a large tract of
property leased from the Government. No new requests have been
reported.
The Government regulated the publication, importation, and
distribution of non-Islamic religious literature. Individuals were
allowed to import Bibles and other religious items for personal use.
Government officials only monitored Islamic religious literature and
copies of the Koran. Religious materials for use at Christmas and
Easter were readily available in local shops. Bibles were not readily
available in Arabic.
Islamic instruction was compulsory in public schools. While there
were no restrictions on non-Muslims providing private religious
instruction for children, most foreign children attended secular
private schools. There were no religious private schools.
From April 25 to 27, the Fourth Conference for Religious Dialogue
took place in Doha. Christian, Jewish, and Muslim representatives
attended.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no indigenous Jewish
community; the few Jews in the country were expatriates with no
restrictions on their traveling to or working in the country. On
occasion in response to political events and developments in the
region, some of Qatar's privately owned Arabic-language newspapers
carried cartoons depicting offensive caricatures of Jews and Jewish
symbols, and editorial comparisons of Israeli leaders and Israel to
Hitler and the Nazis. These occurred primarily in the daily newspapers,
Al-Watan, Al-Sharq, and Al-Raya, and drew no government response. The
Government does not officially collect or publish statistical data on
the religious affiliation of the population.
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, with
some notable exceptions. There were no restrictions on internal travel,
except around sensitive military and oil and industrial installations.
Under a 2003 law for Protection of State Security, the Government
prevented some citizens from foreign travel. In general, women under
the age of 30 required permission from male guardians to travel,
whereas women over age 30 did not require permission to travel. Men may
prevent females and children under their guardianship from leaving the
country by providing their names to immigration officers at ports of
departure, but no such cases were reported during the year. The
Government did not allow noncitizen custodial parents to take their
children out of the country without the permission of the citizen
parent. Citizens critical of the Government could face restrictions on
their right to travel abroad, but there were no specific cases reported
during the year.
The constitution prohibits forced exile -internal or external- of
citizens, and exile was not used in practice.
On February 3, the emir issued orders to begin to reinstate
citizenship for as many as 6,000 persons whose citizenship the
Government revoked between October 2004 and June 2005. Each case was
reviewed separately, and by year's end citizenship was restored to
approximately 90 percent of those who had lost it. According to the
NHRC, those among the remaining 10 percent accused of being involved in
the planned 1996 countercoup attempt, whether found guilty or innocent,
will not regain citizenship.
The constitution provides that citizens who have left the country
have the right to return. Foreigners were subject to restrictions on
entry and exit designed principally to control the size of the local
labor force (see sections 6.c. and 6.d.). Foreign women who were
married to citizens were granted residence permits and could apply for
citizenship; however, they were required to relinquish their foreign
citizenship.
Protection of Refugees.--The constitution prohibits the extradition
of political refugees; however, the country is not a party to 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. Those attempting to enter the country
illegally, including persons seeking asylum from nearby countries, were
refused entry. Asylum seekers who were able to obtain local sponsorship
or employment were allowed to enter and could remain as long as they
were sponsored.
The Government was not asked to cooperate with the office of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees or other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The Government issued
deportation orders for Qatari-born stateless residents and at least one
Qatari-born resident of Somali origins to Somalia, a case possibly
constituting attempted refoulement. These cases remained unresolved at
year's end.
Arbitrary deportations were reportedly used to reduce the number of
guest workers in nationalities that the Government considered to be
over-represented. This action was designed to increase the portion of
citizens in the workforce (Qatarization). They were also used to expel
foreigners who had extended their original period of residence or had
been accused of a crime, whether found guilty or not. Deportations are
also reported to have occurred to comply with the GCC agreement to
limit the residency of foreigners to less than five years.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution does not provide citizens the right to change
their government peacefully. The constitution provides for hereditary
rule by the emir's branch of the Al-Thani family. The constitutional
provision for legislative authority vested in an advisory council with
30 elected members and 15 members appointed by the emir has not yet
been implemented. The influence of Bedouin tribal traditions was still
strong, and the Government did not permit political parties or
opposition groups to organize.
Elections and Political Participation.--The emir exercises most
executive powers, including appointment of cabinet members. In 2003
citizens elected the 29 members of the Central Municipal Council for
four-year terms. The elections were generally regarded as free and fair
although only 30 percent of eligible voters participated. The council
addresses local issues such as street repair, green space, trash
collection, and public works projects. Its role is to advise the
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture. The council does not
have the authority to change policy.
Influence of traditional attitudes and roles continued to limit
women's participation in politics; however, some women served in public
office as: minister for education; President of the Permanent Election
Committee; head of the General Authority for Health, vice President of
the Supreme Council for Family Affairs with ministerial rank, and
President of Qatar University. Also, one woman served on the central
municipal council.
Approximately 75 percent of total residents could not participate
in elections or hold public office, which is limited to families that
were in the country prior to 1930. The total electorate is believed to
be less than 50,000. Limits on political participation also exist for
persons whose citizenship was withdrawn but subsequently restored.
According to Law 38 of 2005, they are denied the right to candidacy or
nomination in any legislative body for a period of 10 years from the
date of restoration of their citizenship.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption was
perceived to be a problem. During the year the Attorney General
referred one of his deputies to the judiciary for investigation of
fraudulent stock purchases. On February 16 the deputy was dismissed
from his post and an additional 64 citizens involved in the same
scandal were investigated and convicted. The affair involved
fraudulently using identities of dead citizens to buy more shares of
Qatar Gas Transport Company than the official allocation permitted.
The law does not provide public access to government information,
and little was readily available, particularly financial data. The
Government publishes its laws in the official gazette; however, it did
not facilitate access to certain economic statistics, judicial
decisions, or draft legislation being analyzed or considered by the
Government or advisory council. At their discretion government
officials shared draft legislation with selected industry
representatives for comment. The Ministry of Economy and Commerce and
the Central Bank provided published materials on laws and procedures
for the public, but these efforts were not consistent throughout the
Government. Although there is a mechanism for individuals and private
institutions to request this information from the ministries and the
planning council, information regarding the budget, government
expenditures, and draft laws was generally not available.
The lack of clarity in government procurement, such as the
conditions and criteria of the tender and proper notification or
explanation concerning bidders' qualifications, remained an issue of
concern.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
No international or domestic NGO or international governmental
organizations dealing with human rights operated in the country.
Representatives from Oxfam as well as the Solidarity Center and the
National Democratic Institute visited the country.
The National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) is a semi-independent
organization aligned with and funded by the Government. The law
provides for the right to form private independent societies and
associations; however, since the law was enacted, only one application
was submitted to establish an independent human rights organization to
support persons with disabilities, and that request was under
government review at year's end.
The NHRC was established in 2002 to investigate and improve local
human rights conditions, with 12 members, five from government
ministries and seven from civil society. Since May votes by government
members do not count. The committee released a report highlighting
numerous human rights violations identified during 2005. The report was
published in all local newspapers and was made available on their Web
site (see sections 5, and 6. c., 6.d., and 6.e.). During the year the
NHRC visited prisons, the Police Detention Center, and the Deportation
Detention Center at least three times to investigate conditions and
issued recommendations to the MOI and the ministerial council.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on nationality,
race, language, religion, and disability. However, in practice
government actions were heavily influenced by local custom and legal,
cultural, and institutional discrimination existed based on gender.
There were no reports of discrimination based on religious affiliation.
Noncitizens were afforded fewer rights under the law. Although there
were no reports of discrimination based on sexual orientation, sodomy
(whether male or female) is a criminal offense.
Women.--According to a local quasi-governmental organization
dealing with family issues, domestic violence against women was a
problem. A total of 197 cases of domestic abuse against women were
reported during the first six months of the year. According to the
organization, the increase was due to increased awareness among the
community, the requirement that all health care facilities report
suspected abuse cases, and the use of the established hot line system.
There were no arrests or convictions for family domestic violence among
citizens publicized in the press, although cases involving noncitizens
appeared. The law criminalizes rape, but does not address spousal rape.
There were cases of rape publicized between expatriates, but not
reported involving citizens.
Many foreign domestic servants were sexually harassed and
maltreatment. Most domestic servants did not press charges for fear of
losing their jobs (see section 6.e.).
While the legal system allows leniency for a man found guilty of
committing a ``crime of honor'' or a violent assault against a woman
for perceived immodesty or defiant behavior, no cases were reported
during the year. Prostitution is illegal and was considered a problem
by the Government. Government officials reported 24 cases involving
prostitution before the courts. Sexual harassment is also illegal and
carries penalties of imprisonment and/or fines. In the eight reported
cases of sexual harassment, there were five convictions and three cases
were still pending at year's end.
Traditions and the interpretation of Shari'a restricted activities
of women. The Government adhered to an interpretation of Shari'a that
recognizes Muslims have the automatic right to inherit from their
Muslim spouses. Non-Muslim spouses (invariably wives, since Muslim
women cannot legally marry non-Muslims) do not inherit unless their
spouse formally wills them a portion (up to one-third of the total) of
their estates. Similarly a Muslim husband does not automatically
inherit the property of a non-Muslim wife. Muslim wives have the right
to inherit from their husbands. The proportion that women inherit
depends upon their relationship to the deceased; however, in the cases
of siblings, sisters inherit only one-half as much as their brothers.
In cases of divorce, young children usually remain with the mother,
regardless of her religion, unless she is found to be unfit. According
to the new Family Status Law, in the case of divorce, the age of
children who remain in the custody of the mother has been raised to 13
years for males and to 15 years for females. In certain conditions the
court may extend the age of maternal custody to 15 years for males and
to the time of marriage for females. As an exception, the mother
retains custody of children with disabilities with no age limit
stipulated.
Women may attend judicial court proceedings and may represent
themselves, but they were generally represented by a male relative. The
testimony of two women equals that of one man, but the courts routinely
interpreted this requirement on a case-by-case basis. A non-Muslim
woman is not required to convert to Islam upon marriage to a Muslim,
but many make a personal decision to do so. Children born to a Muslim
father are considered to be Muslim.
Women made up 14 percent of the overall workforce and 30 percent of
the citizen workforce, serving as university professors, public school
teachers, and police. Women served as professionals in government
service, education, health, and private business. Women received equal
pay for equal work, but often did not receive equal allowances, which
generally covered transportation and housing costs.
Although women above age 30 were legally able to travel abroad
alone (see section 2.d.), tradition and social pressures caused most
women to travel with male escorts.
The Supreme Council for Family Affairs, a government department,
seeks to improve the status of women and the family under both civil
and Islamic law. The council contributed to a number of national and
international conferences, studies, and reports on the status of women
in the country. The council played an integral role in the drafting of
legislation affecting women and children. Women were being empowered to
tackle issues once considered taboo, such as violence. The council
advocated the successful enactment of the new family law.
The Supreme Council established five organizations that deal with
women and children issues: the Qatar Foundation for the Protection of
Women and Children; the Family Consulting Center; the Motherhood and
Childhood Cultural Center; the Orphans Care Center; and the Qatar
Society for Senior Citizens Care. The Qatar Foundation for the
Protection of Women and Children handled 197 cases involving women and
190 cases involving children during the year. Most of the women's cases
concerned custody and alimony issues, while there were five cases of
physical abuse. Health authorities informed the center about cases of
physical abuse. Children's cases included maltreatment, psychological
abuse, and neglect, while two cases involved sexual harassment. Most of
the children's cases were referred to the center from schools,
hospitals, and the neighborhoods. Approximately 30 percent of the cases
handled by the foundation were solved through mediation, and all of the
30 percent were resolved in favor of the women and children. The
foundation operated a telephone hot line to receive complaints of
family violence; however, the line was normally answered only during
the work day and statistics were not kept on its use.
Children.--The Government is committed to the welfare of citizen
children. The Government provided for a well-funded, free public
education system (elementary through university) and a complete medical
protection program. Education was compulsory for citizen children
through the age of 15 and was free through primary school (the
equivalent of ninth grade) for all citizen children and for noncitizen
children whose parents worked in the Government sector. Based on 2004
figures from the Planning Council, approximately 60 percent of school-
age children attended school, and most children completed primary
school. Medical coverage for noncitizen children was limited. The lack
of primary educational and medical services to noncitizen children
caused hardship for a substantial part of the expatriate population
living in the country.
There was generally no difference in attendance of girls and boys
at the primary, secondary, and post-secondary levels. There was no
societal pattern of child labor or abuse of children, apart from the
trafficked, juvenile camel jockeys (see section 5).
There was no societal pattern of child labor or abuse of children.
There were isolated cases of children used by their families or by
organized groups for begging, especially during religious occasions.
There were also some cases of children who had suffered from various
forms of family violence and physical and sexual abuse.
The Qatar Foundation for the Protection of Women and Children
maintained a children's hot line called the ``Friendly Line'' for use
by children and conducted awareness campaigns on the rights of the
child. The system allowed both citizen and noncitizen children to call
with questions and concerns ranging from school, health, and
psychological problems to concerns about sexual harassment. This hot
line was operated in conjunction with the family abuse hot line;
statistics on use were not available.
Trafficking in Persons.--There is no specific antitrafficking law.
Nonetheless, the law of bans forced or coerced labor and a July 2005
ban on the use of camel jockeys under the age of 18 (see section 6.c.).
Those caught breaking the law may receive six months' imprisonment or a
fine of approximately $825 (3,000 riyals). In cases involving the
employment of minors, the punishment is three years imprisonment or a
fine of approximately $2,700 (10,000 riyals). No antitrafficking cases
against employers or labor recruitment agencies were prosecuted during
the year.
In July 2005 a human rights department was established in the MOI
to receive and process victims of human rights abuses and trafficking
in persons.
The country is a destination for trafficked persons. Men and women
were trafficked into situations of coerced labor. Legislation guiding
the sponsorship of expatriate laborers has created conditions
constituting forced labor or slavery.
Under the law expatriate laborers were not allowed to leave the
country without a signed exit sponsorship or change employment without
a written release from their sponsor. The dependence of foreign
laborers on their employer for residency rights and the inability to
change employment or to travel without the sponsor's permission leaves
them vulnerable to abuse. Some sponsors have used this power against
their workers. They have withheld their consent to force foreign
employees to work for longer periods, avoid having to pay salary owed
to the worker, and extract money from the laborer. Some workers were
detained in the deportation center due to their employers withholding
their passports and failing to renew their work visas. There were
between 1,100 and 1,500 detainees at the Deportation Center at all
times. The workers were apprehended by law enforcement officials
because their work visas had expired or because they were deemed to be
a ``threat to society".
The country also was a destination for some women and girls who
traveled to the country to work in hotels, cafes and restaurants but
were forced by their employers into prostitution. Most often, rather
than prosecuting them for prostitution, the women were arbitrarily
issued a deportation order and sent to the Deportation Center. Women
and girls also traveled to the country to work as domestic servants,
where they were vulnerable to domestic servitude and sexual
exploitation and unprotected by labor legislation. Two embassies
reported that more than 600 of their nationals had been forced into
these conditions.
In July 2005 Law 22, banning the transport, employment, training,
and involvement of children under the age of 18 in camel races, came
into force. As an alternative robot camel jockeys were introduced.
According to the law, violators face three to 10 years imprisonment and
a fine ranging between $13,700 (50,000 riyals) and $55,000 (200,000
riyals). There were no cases reported during the year.
According to the NHRC, some children camel jockeys have still been
retained in the country; however, there were no additional reports of
children being used or held for the purpose of camel racing.
In September 2005 the Government opened a shelter for trafficking
victims to serve the needs of abused domestic workers, other laborers
and children. The shelter was under the management of the National
Trafficking in Persons Coordinator, and referral by police or other
government agencies for access was not required. During the year twenty
cases were accommodated at the shelter.
Although the Government has identified various agencies to
implement antitrafficking reforms, it did not systematically monitor
its antitrafficking efforts.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law requires the allocation of
resources for persons with disabilities and prohibits discrimination
against such persons. The Government acts on complaints from
individuals and from the NHRC and enforces compliance. The law requires
that 2 percent of all jobs in government agencies and public
institutions be set aside for persons with disabilities. Also, private
sector businesses employing a minimum of 25 persons were required to
hire persons with disabilities. Employees who violated these employment
provisions were subject to fines. There were no reported cases during
the year.
According to the NHRC, some violations with regard to persons with
disabilities occurred in the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and
Agriculture in 2005, in which a number of employees were transferred
from their jobs because they were categorized as persons with
disabilities. Although authorities concerned were notified, no action
was taken. The Supreme Council for Family Affairs was charged with
ensuring compliance with the rights and provisions mandated under the
law.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Government discriminated
based on nationality in the areas of employment, education, housing,
and health services. Noncitizens did not receive the same benefits as
citizens. They were required to pay for residence permits, health care,
electricity, water, and education (services that were provided without
charge to citizens). Noncitizens generally could not own property;
however, the law provided for property ownership in two designated
areas. The largest noncitizen groups were Indian, Nepalese,
Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and other Arab nationals. In the private
sector, Iranians occupied some of the highest positions.
Although born, raised and schooled in the country, noncitizen
residents and Bidoon are afforded no more rights under the law than
temporary migrant laborers. They were discriminated against in medical
care, education, employment, and mobility.
The 2005 nationality law allows noncitizen residents to apply for
citizenship after residing in the country between five and 20
consecutive years, but only 50 may be granted per year, and none have
been granted under this provision. There were reports of summary
deportation orders issued against long-term residents and bidoon,
although all family and economic ties remained in the country.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits same-
sex relations between both males and females. Penalties for adults
range from a maximum of seven to 15 years imprisonment. There were at
least two cases that come before the court during the year. One case
involved a Qatari male and an Asian expatriate male. The case remained
before the court as of years end. The other involved a 41-year old
Turkish male who was acquitted in a case involving a 21-year old
Turkish male.
There was no discrimination reported against HIV patients if they
were citizens or were in the country with a legal residence permit.
They were usually reported to the Preventive Health Department to
maintain statistical records about the extent of contagious diseases in
the country and to receive treatment. Foreigners who contracted the
disease were deported if they had not stamped their residence permits
yet. In the case of AIDS patients, foreigners were deported to their
home country. In case of citizens, they were quarantined and received
treatment. Specific statistics on diseases were not available and such
information was classified by the Government as critical and sensitive.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The 2004 labor law and subsequent
regulations provide for the right of workers' association for citizens
over 18 years of age in private enterprises with more than 100 citizen
workers. Noncitizens were not eligible to form worker committees.
Foreign workers *can only be members of joint labor-management
committees. Those working in the Government sector are prohibited from
joining a union. Further, the law and regulations permit only a single
national trade union composed various worker committees at individual
firms and forbid affiliation with groups outside the country.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--No labor unions
existed during the year. Under the labor law, workers are granted the
right to bargain collectively and to sign joint agreements, i.e.,
agreements reached between employer and worker regarding a work-related
issue. The right was circumscribed by the Government's control over the
rules and procedures of the bargaining and agreement processes.
Collective bargaining was not freely practiced, and there were no
workers under collective bargaining contracts. The law also grants
workers the right to strike, but the restrictive conditions imposed by
the statute make the likelihood of a strike extremely remote.
Nevertheless, expatriate workers staged at least seven strikes during
the year to seek redress and improvement in their work situation from
employers.
Government employees, domestic servants, and those in the public
utility, health, and security services are prohibited from striking.
However, legally they can seek permission to hold a public gathering.
Private employers set wages unilaterally without government
involvement. Local courts handled disputes between workers and
employers; however, foreign workers avoided drawing attention to
problems with their employers for fear of repatriation. According to
resident embassies of expatriate workers and some individual migrant
workers, the Labor Department was widely perceived to be objective
within its narrow mandate when dealing with the nonpayment of wages.
The Labor Department claimed that it resolved 80 percent of worker
complaints amicably with a very small percentage referred to the labor
courts for judgment.
A new secretariat for labor relations was established during the
year charged with collective bargaining and overseeing labor relations.
The Labor Inspection Section was restructured and staffed with
sufficient numbers of trained inspectors who were provided with the
power of law enforcement. A limited number of labor camps were
inspected randomly and when found to be below minimum standards, the
operators received a warning. Upon second inspections all camp
violations were correctly promptly for fear of repercussions under the
law. Statistics on the number of inspections are not available, but
foreign labor attaches reported that most labor camps in the country
remained below minimum standards.
There were no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, foreign
workers in some cases were employed under circumstances that
constituted forced labor (see section 5). More than three-quarters of
the workforce were foreign workers who, entirely dependent on their
employer for residency rights, were vulnerable to abuse. For example,
employers must give consent before exit permits are issued to any
foreign employee seeking to leave the country. Some employers
temporarily withheld this consent to force foreign employees to work
for longer periods than they wished. Unskilled workers and domestic
servants were particularly vulnerable to nonpayment or late payment of
wages. During the year compulsory labor by children occurred (see
section 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits forced and compulsory labor by children, and the
Government generally enforced this prohibition with respect to citizen
children; however, some child labor occurred. The Labor Law stipulates
the minimum age for employment as 16 years.
The labor law provides that minors between the ages of 16 and 18
can be employed with parental or guardian permission, and some children
worked in small, family-owned businesses such as small markets or as
office clerks. Minors may not work more than six hours a day or more
than 36 hours a week. Employers must provide the Labor Department with
the names and occupations of their minor employees and obtain
permission from the Ministry of Education to hire a minor. The Labor
Department may prohibit the employment of minors in jobs that are
judged dangerous to the health, safety, or morals of minors.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Although the labor law provides
the emir with authority to set a minimum wage, he did not do so. The
average wage of noncitizen workers did not provide a decent standard of
living for a worker and family. The law prescribes a 48-hour workweek
with a 24-hour rest period, although most government offices followed a
36-hour workweek. Employees who worked more than 48 hours per week or
36 hours per week during the holy month of Ramadan were entitled to
overtime pay. Government offices and major private sector companies
adhered to this law; however, it was not observed with respect to
unskilled laborers and domestic and personal employees, the majority of
whom were foreigners. Many such workers frequently worked seven days
per week, and more than 12 hours per day with few or no holidays, no
overtime pay, and no effective way to redress grievances.
Some employers mistreated foreign domestic servants, predominantly
those from South Asia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Some foreign
embassies provided temporary shelter for 48 hours to their nationals
who left their employers as a result of abuse or disputes before
transferring the case to local government officials. According to their
embassies, the majority of cases were resolved within 48 hours. Those
not resolved within 48 hours were transferred to the Criminal Evidence
and Investigation Department of the MOI for a maximum of seven days.
Cases not resolved within seven days were transferred to the labor
court, a special section of the first instance civil court. During the
year the embassies of the Philippines, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka
received a combined total of more than 3,400 complaints from male and
female workers; more than 900 from housemaids alleging mistreatment by
their employers. The Nepalese Embassy reported that they received 14 to
20 complaints per day. Complaints included sexual harassment, delayed
and nonpayment of salaries, forced labor, contract switching, holding
of passports, poor accommodation, nonrepatriation, physical torture or
torment, overwork, imprisonment, and maltreatment. Abused domestic
servants usually did not press charges for fear of losing their jobs.
According to Indonesian officials, 30 to 50 Indonesian housemaids fled
from their sponsors each month during the year.
The Government has enacted regulations regarding worker safety, but
enforcement, which is the responsibility of the Ministry of Energy and
Industry, the Ministry of Health, and the Labor Department, was lax due
to insufficient training and lack of personnel. Diplomatic
representatives visited labor camps and found the majority of unskilled
foreign laborers living in cramped, dirty, and hazardous conditions,
often without running water or electricity. Inspections by labor
inspectors of labor camps became more numerous and public during the
year resulting in mandatory compliance of minimum standards by camp
managers and owners at a limited number of camps that were either
chosen randomly for inspection or were inspected as a result of
complaints of violations. According to foreign labor attaches, most
camps remained below minimum standards.
On April 12, two foreign construction workers reportedly died from
exposure to toxic gases at a labor camp at Ras Laffan. An estimated
1,000 workers violently protested their deaths, and the organizers were
detained and deported. Because the incident was considered a state
security matter involving an oil or gas facility, officials from the
NHRC were prevented by security authorities from inspecting the camp
after the incident to help ensure respect for workers' health and
safety. For this reason compliance with standards was not documented.
According to the Nepalese Embassy, 141 of their approximately
179,000 nationals died in the country during the year, 45 percent of
whom reportedly died of heart attacks. Another 25 percent died in
traffic accidents, while 17 percent died in work-related accidents.
Suicide claimed six percent, while the remaining died of other non-
specified causes.
The Department of Public Safety oversaw safety training and
conditions, and the state-run petroleum company had its own safety
standards and procedures. The regulations listed partial and permanent
disabilities for which compensation may be awarded, some connected with
handling chemicals and petroleum products or construction injuries. The
law does not specifically set rates of payment and compensation. The
Government provided free medical treatment to workers who suffered
work-related sickness or injuries.
Foreign workers may enter the country on a visitor's visa, but a
sponsor is needed to convert a visitor's visa to a work visa, and the
worker must have a sponsor's permission to depart the country. The
Government also fined individual sponsors and employers who severely
violated residence and sponsorship laws by prohibiting them from
importing labor until they rectified the situation. Employers
mistreated some foreign domestic servants. Such mistreatment generally
involved the nonpayment or late payment of wages; in some cases, it
involved rape and physical abuse.
The law does not provide workers the specific right to remove
themselves from hazardous work conditions, and workers often hesitated
to do so for fear of dismissal. The law provides any worker with the
right to seek legal relief from onerous work conditions; however,
pursuing such relief risked repatriation, and there were no reports of
workers seeking such relief during the year.
__________
SAUDI ARABIA
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a monarchy ruled by the Al Saud
family with a population of 22.7 million, including 6.1 million
foreigners. Since August 2005 King Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud has
ruled as custodian of Islam's two holiest sites in Mecca and Medina.
The Government bases its legitimacy in governance according to its
interpretation of Islamic law (Shari'a) and the 1992 Basic Law. The
Basic Law sets out the system of government, rights of citizens, the
powers and duties of the Government, and provides that the Koran and
the Traditions (Sunna) of the Prophet Muhammad serve as the country's
constitution. The only elected representatives were half of the
municipal counselors, elected by men in December 2005 on a nonparty
basis. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective control
of the security forces.
The following significant human rights problems were reported: no
right to peacefully change the Government; infliction of severe pain by
judicially sanctioned corporal punishments; beatings and other abuses;
inadequate prison and detention center conditions; arbitrary arrest and
detention, sometimes incommunicado; denial of fair public trials;
exemption from the rule of law for some individuals and lack of
judicial independence; arbitrary interference with privacy, family,
home, and correspondence; and significant restriction of civil
liberties--freedoms of speech and press, including the Internet;
assembly; association; and movement. The Government committed severe
violations of religious freedom. There was a widespread perception of
serious corruption and a lack of government transparency, as well as
legal and societal discrimination and violence against women. Other
religious, ethnic, and minority groups faced discrimination. There were
strict limitations on worker rights, especially for foreign workers.
There was greater involvement in government activities by the
Majlis Al-Shura (the Consultative Council) and the 178 municipal
councils. Despite increased public and media discourse about human
rights, the overall human rights environment remained poor.
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 Government executed persons for
criminal offenses after closed trials, making it impossible to assess
whether legal protections were applied (see section 1.e.). The
country's highest court, the Supreme Judicial Council, is responsible
for reviewing cases involving sentences of stoning, amputation, or
death, and sentences can only be enforced pursuant to a royal decree
issued by the King.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Basic Law prohibits torture and Shari'a prohibits
judges from accepting confessions obtained under duress; however, there
were reports that some authorities practiced physical abuse and
torture.
The Government reserved its position on Article 20 of the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment and does not recognize the jurisdiction of the
Committee against Torture to investigate allegations of systematic
torture.
Ministry of Interior (MOI) officials were responsible for most
alleged incidents of physical abuse and torture of prisoners, including
beatings, lashings, and suspension from bars by handcuffs. According to
a 2005 report by the international nongovernmental organization (NGO),
Amnesty International (AI), these practices were used to force
confessions from prisoners. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), a
former prisoner in Mecca general prison alleged that prison guards
regularly abused him during his time in prison between 2002 and the end
of the year by beating him, burning his back on a hot metal block, and
keeping him in solitary confinement for six months.
During the year the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and
Prevention of Vice, known as the religious police (Mutawwa'in)
harassed, abused, and detained citizens and foreigners of both sexes.
These incidents were most common in the central region, including the
capital of Riyadh, and relatively less frequent in the eastern and
western regions of the country. However, there was an increase in
reported religious police abuse in the Eastern Province and Jeddah.
The Government sentenced criminals to punishment according to its
interpretation of Shari'a. Corporal punishments provided by law
included public execution by beheading, amputation, lashing, and other
measures deemed appropriate by the judicial authorities. According to
HRW, judges routinely issued sentences of thousands of lashes as
punishment, often carried out in public. HRW reported that the beatings
lead to severe mental trauma and physical pain, and the victims do not
receive medical treatment.
During the year the press reported approximately 38 executions. The
Government executes individuals who have been convicted of murder,
apostasy, narcotics-related offenses, rape, and armed robbery. Twenty
of these executions were for crimes related to illegal drugs. There
were no executions for apostasy during the year. The authorities
punished repeated thievery and other repeated offenses by amputation of
the right hand and left foot. The Government also punished people for
various offenses with lashings, including for alcohol-related offenses
or for being alone in the company of an unrelated person of the
opposite sex. According to press reports, lashings were generally
administered with a thin reed by a man who must hold a book under his
arm to prevent him from lifting the arm too high. The strokes,
delivered through a thin shirt, are not supposed to leave permanent
damage but are designed to leave painful welts that bleed and bruise.
According to the NGO National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), there
were unauthorized and excessive lashings in the women's prisons.
On September 9, a Nigerian man had his right hand amputated after
he was convicted of stealing in the Great Mosque in Mecca. He was found
guilty of ``committing the crime of pickpocketing.''
On November 1, a Nigerian woman was executed in Jeddah for
smuggling drugs into the country. Similarly, on November 1, a male
citizen was executed in Riyadh for the same crime.
On January 23, the media reported that Naif Al-Otaibi pardoned
Puthen Veetil Abdul Lateef Naushad, an Indian citizen, for his role in
a fight allegedly blinding Al-Otaibi in one of his eyes. Due to the
pardon, Naushad's right eye was not gouged out as punishment. Naushad
had served three years in prison for this assault.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions at prisons and
detention centers were generally acceptable, according to international
standards. However, there were some prisons with below-acceptable
standards in hygiene, food, medical, and social services, and prolonged
detention of prisoners in poor health. Many jails remained overcrowded,
and some detainees were allowed family visits only after a significant
period of time after their initial incarceration. The Government
permitted visits to detention centers and prisons in accordance with
international modalities. These visits were made by the Human Rights
Commission (HRC) and NSHR, an NGO originally endowed by King Fahd. The
HRC visited three prisons in the Eastern Province.
The NSHR visited and reported abuses in 18 prisons, including four
women's prisons. It found that pretrial detainees were held together
with convicted prisoners. NSHR reported that drug abuse is increasing
inside at least one prison. There were reports that nonviolent
criminals (e.g., debtors) were held in the same facilities as violent
criminals. NSHR also reported unauthorized and exaggerated lashings in
the women's prisons, as well as the mixing of HIV positive with HIV
negative inmates. At the prison in Mecca for noncitizens, NSHR found
inadequate sleeping facilities, inadequate provision of medical
services, and a nonfunctioning air conditioning system.
On November 27, HRW made its first official visit, in addition to
an unofficial visit in February, to the country in four years with the
intent of visiting specific detention and prison facilities and
specific detainees and prisoners. While HRW visited four prisons, it
was not allowed to visit all of the prisons and all of the prisoners it
requested. HRW visited a small group of prisoners on November 30 at the
Al-Ha'ir correction facility south of Riyadh, but the delegation's
attempt to return and revisit the facility on December 2 was blocked.
There were also reports that consular visits to noncitizens were
restricted.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Basic Law prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention and limits the period of arrest to five
days without charges being filed; however, ambiguities in
implementation of the law and lack of due process give the interior
minister broad powers to detain persons indefinitely. In practice,
persons were held weeks or months and sometimes longer.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The King, the interior
minister, the defense minister, and the national guard commander have
responsibility in law and in practice for law enforcement and
maintenance of order. King Abdullah remained in command of the National
Guard. Crown Prince Sultan remained the defense and aviation minister
with responsibility over all of that ministry's armed forces. The
interior minister, Prince Naif, exercised control over government
internal security forces, the internal security service or secret
police (Mabahith), and border forces. Prince Muqrin was appointed
secretary-general of the General Intelligence Presidency (GIP), which
has its own forces. The religious police constitute a semiautonomous
agency, reporting to the King via the Royal Diwan (the king's royal
court). The MOI also has undefined oversight role of the religious
police. The religious police monitor public behavior to enforce strict
adherence to conservative Islamic norms. The media reported the
Government arrested and punished police and border guards involved in
smuggling and corruption.
Arrest and Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary arrest and
detention and limits the period of arrest; however, in practice,
persons were held weeks, months, and sometimes longer, and the law
gives the interior minister broad powers to detain persons
indefinitely. The regular police, the secret police, and the religious
police can arrest and detain persons.
There were reports the authorities arrested and detained persons
without following explicit legal guidelines. The religious police
intimidated, harassed, and arrested persons based on their own
religious interpretations of ``crimes of vice'' including arrests for
``witchcraft'' and ``sorcery'' (see section 2.c.). These instances
included men with ``strange'' haircuts or wearing improper clothes (see
section 1.f.), men tailoring or taking measurements of women for
women's clothes, and men dressing in female clothing (see section 5).
The regulations provide bail for less serious crimes, although
authorities sometimes released detainees on the recognizance of a
patron or sponsoring employer without payment of bail. Throughout the
country, several Committees for Collection of Donations for
Impoverished Prisoners raised funds to pay fines stemming from traffic
accidents and civil cases because prisoners remain in custody until the
fines are paid, regardless of length of sentence. There were also
reports the King and other members of the royal family paid fines on
behalf of nonviolent prisoners to enable their release.
If accused persons were not released, authorities typically
detained them for two months before sending the case to trial or, in
the case of some foreigners, summarily deporting them. There were no
established procedures providing detainees the right to inform their
family of their arrest. There were no established procedures providing
for appeal of deportation.
By royal decree, the religious police have the authority to detain
persons for no more than 24 hours for violations of the strict
standards of proper dress and behavior; however, they often exceeded
this limit before delivering detainees to the police (see section
1.f.).
The religious police generally complied with the requirement that a
police officer accompany them at the time of an arrest; however, there
were cases in which religious police detained persons without the
presence of a police officer. During the year in the more conservative
Nejd region that includes Riyadh, reports continued of religious police
accosting, abusing, arresting, and detaining citizens and noncitizens,
especially women, for allegedly violating dress and behavior standards.
There were also a number of reports of religious police in Mecca taking
similar actions. The risk of harassment was substantial. The religious
police detained men for offenses that included eating in restaurants
with women not related to them, making lewd remarks to women in
shopping malls, following cars lawfully transporting women, or walking
in groups through family-only sections of shopping centers. Young
unmarried men are prohibited from entering most shopping malls.
Religious police detained women of many nationalities for actions such
as riding in a taxi with a man who was not her relative, appearing with
her head uncovered in shopping malls, and eating in restaurants with
males who were not her relatives. Many such detainees were held for
days, sometimes weeks, without officials notifying families or, in the
case of noncitizens, embassies.
According to a December 23 press report, the religious police beat
up a mother and her daughter's driver, abducted the women using their
car, then abandoned the women, who were locked in the trunk of the car
after the car broke down. The religious police claimed the women had
been visiting male friends and accused them of promiscuity. At year's
end the courts had not yet decided on the women's suit against the
religious police.
In spite of the law, although to a lesser extent than in the past,
the religious police continued to raid private religious ceremonies,
notably arresting and detaining Christians as well as the Ahmadiyya
religious group (see section 2.c.).
On December 29, the religious police raided a gathering for food
and prayer involving members of the Ahmadiyya religious group.
Authorities consider them ``non-Muslim'' and heretical. Reportedly, the
religious police detained 49 members, including approximately 19 women
and children and 14 youths. Of the 49 individuals, there were 25
Indians, 23 Pakistanis, and one Syrian. At year's end, all 49 remained
in police custody.
The authorities may detain without charge, or charge with
attempting to destabilize the Government, persons who publicly
criticize the Government (see sections 2.a. and 3).
Political detainees arrested by the internal security service were
reportedly held incommunicado in special prisons during the initial
phase of the investigation. This period may last weeks or months under
the MOI's broad legal authority. Access to detainees by family or
lawyers was restricted.
The Government continued to discriminate against and detain members
of the Shi'a Muslim minority. Government security forces, mostly
religious police, reportedly arrested Shi'a based on scant suspicion,
held them in custody for lengthy periods, and subsequently released
them without explanation.
Citizens can report abuses by security forces at any police
station; however, no information was publicly available regarding how
complaints are handled.
Amnesty.--The Government continued its tradition of pardoning or
granting amnesty to more than 9,000 prisoners on special occasions,
including holy days and during Ramadan. The Government temporarily
released prisoners on special occasions so they could visit family;
some were permanently released. On October 12, according to HRW, the
Government released 700 detainees who were not involved in terrorist
acts but had been suspected of harboring extremist thoughts.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Basic Law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice. Members of the royal family were not required
to appear before the courts, and their associates have influenced
judges. The Supreme Judicial Council, whose members are appointed by
the King, appoints, transfers, and removes judges. The Ministry of
Justice disciplines judges. The Basic Law allows for a public trial;
however, most trials were closed to the public. Juries are not used.
Despite 2002 laws providing for suspects' rights to legal counsel and
requiring public trials, most trials reportedly were held in secret and
without defense lawyers.
There are two types of courts: Shari'a and special. Special courts
include commercial courts. The legal system is based on the
Government's interpretation of Islamic law in all courts. Courts
exercise jurisdiction over common criminal cases and civil suits
regarding marriage, divorce, child custody, and inheritance. Their
jurisdiction extends to non Muslims for crimes committed in the
country. Cases involving relatively small penalties were tried in
summary courts. More serious crimes are adjudicated in courts of common
pleas from which appeals may be made to the courts of appeal.
Other civil proceedings, such as those involving claims against the
Government and enforcement of foreign judgments, were held before
various specialized administrative tribunals including the Commission
for the Settlement of Labor Disputes. The Board of Grievances hears
complaints against government actions, including against the religious
police. Plaintiffs have won their cases against government actions in
these tribunals and have been able to enforce foreign judgments.
The Government continued to reorganize the judiciary to improve
administration of justice. Businessmen complained courts were
ineffective and slow, court procedures were not well established, and
that judges possessed religious rather than legal training. They also
complained that judges often acted capriciously and did not base
judgments on precedent, leading to widely divergent rulings.
The Government permitted Shi'a to use their own legal tradition to
adjudicate cases involving domestic issues, inheritance, and Islamic
endowments. However, there were only two courts and two Shi'a judges.
The two courts, one in Al-Hasa and the other in Qatif, handled cases of
Shi'a family law. These courts did not have adequate resources to serve
the large Shi'a population in the Eastern Province. Either party in a
dispute can appeal the Shi'a court's decision to a Shari'a (Sunni)
court based on Hanbali jurisprudence.
There was no comparable right for non-Muslims or foreigners; cases
of non-Muslims and foreigners were handled in Shari'a courts.
The military justice system has jurisdiction over uniformed
personnel and civil servants who are charged with violations of
military regulations. The defense minister and the King review the
decisions of courts-martial.
According to the Justice Ministry, judges are free to base their
decisions on any of the four Sunni schools of jurisprudence. In
practice, judges usually follow Hanbali jurisprudence.
The Supreme Judicial Council may not reverse decisions made by
courts of appeal; however, the Council may review lower-court decisions
and refer them back to a lower court for reconsideration.
The Council of Senior Religious Scholars (Ulema) is an autonomous
advisory body of 20 senior religious jurists, including the minister of
justice, which interprets Shari'a thereby establishing the legal
principles to guide lower-court judges.
Trial Procedures.--The Criminal Procedure Law provides persons
under investigation the right to a lawyer and permits lawyers to
present arguments in criminal courts. The law also provides that
convicted persons be informed of their right to appeal rulings.
A woman's testimony does not carry the same weight as a man. In a
Shari'a court, the testimony of one man equals that of two women. Under
the Hanbali interpretation of Shari'a, judges may discount the
testimony of persons who are nonpracticing Muslims or who do not adhere
to Hanbali doctrine. Legal sources reported that testimony by Shi'a was
often ignored in courts of law or was deemed to have less weight than
testimony by Sunnis.
Female parties in court proceedings such as divorce and family law
cases generally had to deputize male relatives to speak on their
behalf. In the absence of two witnesses, or four witnesses in the case
of adultery, confessions before a judge were almost always required for
criminal conviction--a situation that has led prosecuting authorities
to coerce confessions from suspects by threats and abuse (see section
1.c.).
Laws and regulations state that defendants should be treated
equally; however, sentencing was not uniform and crimes against Muslims
received harsher penalties than those against non Muslims. In wrongful
death cases, the amount of indemnity or ``blood money'' awarded to
relatives varied with the nationality, religion, age, and sex of the
victim. A sentence may be changed at any stage of review, except for
punishments stipulated by the Koran.
Islamic law considers Hindus to be polytheists and on this basis
justifies discrimination in calculating accidental death or injury
compensation. According to the country's Hanbali interpretation of
Shari'a, once a court determines fault, a Muslim male receives 100
percent of the amount of compensation determined, a Jew or Christian
male receives 50 percent, and all others receive one-sixteenth of the
amount a Muslim male receives. Women receive 50 percent of what men
receive in each of these categories.
Provincial governors, all of whom were members of the royal family,
have authority to reduce a sentence. In cases between two individuals,
the wronged party has the right to accept money or impose no punishment
instead of the punishment decreed by the judge. In general, members of
the royal family and other powerful families were not subject to the
same rule of law as ordinary citizens.
The King and his advisors review cases involving capital
punishment. The King has the authority to commute death sentences and
grant pardons, except for capital crimes committed against individuals.
In such cases, he may request the victim's next of kin pardon the
killer--usually in return for compensation from the family of the
convicted person or from the king.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--According to press accounts,
Deputy Minister of the Interior Prince Ahmad bin Abdul Aziz said the
kingdom did not imprison persons on political grounds, but because they
were terrorists or collaborators with terrorists or had violated
Shari'a or civil regulations. The Government did not provide
information regarding political prisoners or detainees or respond to
inquiries concerning political prisoners. The Government conducted
closed trials for persons who may have been political prisoners or
detainees and in other cases has detained persons incommunicado for
long periods while under investigation.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The Basic Law provides for
an independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters. There were
reports of lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, human rights
violations. There were administrative and judicial remedies available
for alleged violations. There were reports of problems enforcing
domestic court orders, primarily when a foreigner won a judgment
against a citizen.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Basic Law guarantees the inviolability of homes
and the privacy of correspondence. The Criminal Procedure Law requires
authorities obtain a warrant prior to searching a residence, or a court
order prior to perusing personal correspondence and documents. The
Government generally respected this inviolability; however, there were
some cases in which the Government infringed on these rights, notably
religious police raids on private residences. Royal decrees include
provisions for the Government to defend the home from unlawful
intrusions, while laws and regulations prohibit officials from
intercepting mail and electronic communications except when necessary
during criminal investigations. The police generally must demonstrate
reasonable cause and obtain permission from a provincial governor
before searching a private home.
Despite these provisions, customs officials routinely opened mail
and shipments to search for contraband, including material deemed
pornographic or that appeared to be non-Sunni Islamic religious
material. There were far fewer reports that some customs officials
arbitrarily confiscated or censored materials including Christian
Bibles and religious videotapes (see section 2.c.). The authorities
also opened mail and used informants and wiretaps in internal security
and criminal matters. Informants and, in some districts, an informal
system of ward bosses reported ``seditious ideas,'' antigovernment
activity, or ``behavior contrary to Islam'' in their neighborhoods to
the MOI.
The Government enforced most social and Islamic religious norms.
Citizens have the right to sue to enforce these laws. For example,
citizens sued to dissolve ``unequal'' marriages between tribal and
nontribal individuals or between tribal members in which the status of
one tribe was perceived to be superior to another. Citizens also sued
to punish those who ``insulted Saudi values and norms.'' Women may not
marry noncitizens without government permission; men must obtain
government permission to marry noncitizen women outside the six states
of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). In accordance with Shari'a,
women are prohibited from marrying non-Muslims; men may marry
Christians and Jews, as well as Muslims (see section 2.c.). The
Government does not refuse marriage licenses between Sunni and Shi'a
couples; tradition and culture, not law, restrict marriages between
Sunni and Shi'a citizens.
According to the law, men who work in certain government positions,
such as the military, cannot marry noncitizens, although exceptions are
made in practice. The Government subjects top civil servants and
security officials to extensive questioning when applying to marry
foreigners. In response to certain cultural norms, the Government was
more lenient when approving marriages of foreigners to elderly and
disabled citizens. The marital restrictions also applied to citizens
studying overseas on government scholarships. Violators risked
disciplinary action; however, this policy was frequently violated, and
there were no reports of sanctions being imposed.
Religious police practices and incidents of abuse varied widely.
According to an official report, during the year there were 3,227 field
officers working in 1,310 centers in all 13 provinces. They reported
390,117 incidents involving 402,725 persons of which only 101,143 were
citizens. The religious police referred 6.4 percent of these incidents
to the regular police and the courts. In certain areas, the religious
police and freelance religious vigilantes harassed, abused, arrested,
and detained citizens and foreigners (see section 1.d.).
Religious police enforcement of strict standards of social behavior
included closing commercial establishments during the five daily prayer
observances, insisting upon compliance with strict norms of public
dress, and dispersing gatherings of women in public places designated
for men, as well as preventing unaccompanied men from entering public
places designated for families. Religious police frequently reproached
both citizen and foreign women for failure to observe strict dress
codes and arrested men and women found together who were not married or
closely related.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Basic Law does not provide for
freedom of speech or the press, and the Government generally did not
respect these rights in practice. According to the Basic Law, the
media's role is to educate the masses and promote national unity. Media
outlets can be banned if they promote mischief and discord, compromise
the security of the state and its public image, or offend man's dignity
and rights. The Government continued to restrict freedom of speech and
press and censored articles critical of the royal family or Islam. The
authorities routinely censored foreign print sources. However, during
the year, there was regular discussion in the media of social,
economic, and political issues previously considered taboo such as
reform, trafficking in persons, prostitution, homosexuality, the
religious establishment, women's rights, and human rights.
The print media were censored and privately owned; some had close
ties to members of the royal family. Journalists practiced self-
censorship by refraining from direct criticism of government officials.
A media policy statement and a national security law prohibit the
dissemination of criticism of the royal family and the Government. The
Government media policy statement urged journalists to uphold Islam,
oppose atheism, promote Arab interests, and preserve cultural heritage.
The Ministry of Information must approve the appointment of, and may
remove, all senior editors. The Government also provided guidelines to
newspapers regarding controversial issues. The government-owned Saudi
Press Agency expressed official government views. All newspapers in the
country must be licensed by the Government. With a license, newspapers
are allowed to carry government advertisements which accounted for the
largest sources of revenue for the newspapers.
The Saudi Journalist Association was founded in 2004 under a
government charter granted in 2003. Membership was voluntary and open
to both men and women. Noncitizen journalists working in the kingdom
were eligible to join as nonvoting members. The organization's board of
directors, which was elected in 2004, had nine members, including two
women. At year's end the organization was inactive.
Authorities continued to ban government employees from criticizing
the Government. The Government enforced existing laws based on Article
12 of the Basic Law that provides the state with the authority to
``prevent anything that may lead to disunity, sedition, and
separation.'' Accordingly, all public employees are enjoined from
``participating, directly or indirectly, in the preparation of any
document, speech or petition, engaging in dialogue with local and
foreign media, or participating in any meetings intended to oppose the
state's policies.''
Newspapers routinely investigated and published stories on crime
and terrorism. Two London-based Arabic dailies, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat and
Al Hayat, continued to be owned by members of the royal family and were
widely distributed and read in the country. Both newspapers practiced
self-censorship.
According to HRW, in June the secret police arrested Sa'ad bin
Zu'air for 20 days for saying in an interview on Al-Arabiya television
that the death of Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi was ``sad for most Muslims.''
In December 2005 a new youth-focused paper appeared on domestic
newsstands, called Al-Shams (The Sun). Printed in Bahrain, the paper is
sold with tacit approval of the Government. Initially, the paper had
only limited success, until it published the controversial Danish
cartoons and was briefly shut down. On March 21, Al-Shams reappeared
after a new editor in chief, Khalaf Al-Harbi, was appointed, and its
success continued. The newspaper pledged to staunchly advocate the
rights of young persons in the country for whom education, jobs, social
services, and freedoms were key concerns.
The Government owned and operated most domestic television and
radio companies. Government censors removed any reference in foreign
programs and songs to politics, religions other than Islam, pork or
pigs, alcohol, and sex.
On August 4, award-winning writer and women's rights activist,
Wajiha Al-Howaider, was arrested on the causeway to Bahrain because she
was holding a sign that read, ``Give women their rights.'' She was
released with a warning. On September 20, she was summoned and
interrogated for six hours by the secret police for planning a peaceful
protest on September 23, national day, by women demanding their rights.
The secret police threatened her with the loss of her job at Saudi
Aramco. Al-Howaider was released only after she signed a written pledge
to cease human rights activities in the kingdom, including writing
articles, organizing protests, and talking to the media. She was not
allowed to leave the country for her home in Bahrain until September
28.
On September 27, the Court of Grievances dismissed the charges
against the author of the popular novel, ``Girls of Riyadh.'' A group
of citizens filed charges against the author because she allegedly
slandered society by writing a novel about socially unacceptable
behavior by female citizens.
During the year the Consultative Council continued partial, delayed
television coverage of its proceedings and allowed journalists to
attend sessions.
Although technically illegal, there were several million satellite-
receiving dishes in the country, which provided citizens with foreign
television programming. Access to outside sources of information, such
as Arabic and Western satellite television channels and the Internet
was widespread.
The Government banned books, magazines, and other materials that it
considered sexual or pornographic. The Ministry of Information compiled
and updated a list of publications prohibited from being sold in the
country.
Internet Freedom.--The Government restricted access to the
Internet, and there were reports that the Government monitored e-mail
and Internet chat rooms. However, within limits, individuals and groups
could engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet,
including by electronic mail. The Government blocked access to Internet
Web sites deemed sexual, pornographic, politically offensive, ``un-
Islamic", or disruptive because of controversial religious and
political content.
Access to the Internet was available through local government
monitored servers. There were as many as one million Internet
subscribers. Some citizens circumvented controls by accessing the
Internet through servers in other countries. The Government had a
process through which citizens could request reconsideration of a
decision to block a particular Web site, and authorities reportedly at
least partially unblocked some Web sites.
On October 9, the Consultative Council approved the country's first
law to combat electronic crimes such as defamation on the Internet,
hacking, unauthorized access to government Web sites, and stealing
information related to national security.
On March 10, Mohsen Al-Awajy was arrested for criticizing the
king's alleged heavy reliance on the advice of liberals on the Web site
Wassatyah.com. On March 21, he was released after the NGO Reporters
Without Borders petitioned for his release.
On April 4, Rabah El-Queay, a 23-year-old journalist of Al-Shams,
was arrested in relation to content he posted on online forums using
his real name. Prior to his arrest, El-Queay was involved in a car
accident, allegedly part of the continuing harassment he endured
because of his postings. The official investigation into the accident
indicated that El-Queay was at fault because his writings had driven
good men to harass him.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government continued to
restrict academic freedom. The Government prohibited the study of
evolution, Freud, Marx, Western music, and Western philosophy. Some
professors believed informants monitored their classroom comments and
reported to government and religious authorities.
The Government continued to restrict cultural events. Citing a 2003
royal decree that stated the King Abdul Aziz Center for National
Dialogue obviates the need for individual cultural forums, the
Government closed Shi'a and Sunni cultural forums in the area of al-
Ahsa in the Eastern Province. Cultural forums, particularly in Qatif,
continue to operate. The Government does not allow movie theaters and
restricted the public showing of films. Public performance of plays and
music were allowed if they are traditional and part of a special event.
According to HRW, conservatives including the religious police
harassed visitors and authors, especially women, at the February Riyadh
International Book Fair, which displayed a Bible and works by banned
author Turki Al-Hamad for the first time.
Starting on July 12, for four weeks the Jeddah Visual Shows
Festival held the country's first film festival which showed 16 films,
including documentaries, short-subjects, and one animated feature.
Eight movies were domestic productions, seven were from the United Arab
Emirates, and one was from Kuwait. The public forum was open to men and
women. Cinemas have been banned since the 1980s.
On July 30, a fiction group at the Riyadh Literary Club organized a
discussion that featured the showing of two domestic short-subjects
from the Jeddah Visual Shows Festival. This screening was allegedly the
first of its kind in Riyadh, and was attended by 40 males and the two
male directors of the films.
On November 27, Al Riyadh, Al Hayat, and Al Watan reported that a
``group of extremists'' (ultra-conservatives) raided the theater,
disturbed an audience, and forcibly ended a play at Al Yamamah College.
The play was ``A Moderate Who Lacks Moderation,'' by Ahmad Al-Eissa,
President of Al Yamamah College. Security forces intervened to end
clashes between the audience and the extremists. The extremists refused
to leave the theater after the show was cancelled. The police fired
shots to disperse them. The extremists continued their physical attacks
on the organizers, reporters, and photographers. A number of them were
arrested. Al Watan reported the Ministry of Culture and Information's
deputy minister for cultural affairs said literary clubs can show
films, if suitable for the public.
The Government censored most forms of public artistic expression
and prohibited cinemas and public musical or theatrical performances,
except those considered folkloric.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The Basic Law does not address freedom of assembly, which
the Government strictly limited in practice and prohibited in the form
of public demonstrations.
Public meetings were usually segregated by gender. The authorities
monitored large nonfamily gatherings, particularly if women were
present. The religious police dispersed any large nonfamily groups
found in public places, such as restaurants. However, men and women can
mix in some public places that cater to noncitizens. In Jeddah, a local
Saudi-American business group routinely holds its general meetings in a
hotel where male and female citizens and noncitizen participants mix
freely.
In August the Government allowed the Shi'a of the Eastern Province
to assemble to conduct three small, peaceful demonstrations centered in
the Qatif oasis protesting Israeli military operations in Lebanon.
Freedom of Association.--The Basic Law does not address freedom of
association, and the Government strictly limited it in practice.
The Government prohibited the establishment of political parties or
any group that the Government considered opposing the regime, or
possibly overstepping the bounds of criticism by challenging the king's
authority (see section 3). Any associations must be licensed by the MOI
and comply with its rules and regulations.
The Human Rights First Society (HRFS) continued to operate without
a government license. In December the interior ministry stopped the
HRFS from holding its first membership meeting in Najran. Otherwise,
the interior ministry seldom interfered with the HRFS, although it
harassed its leader, Ibrahim Al-Mugaiteeb.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Basic Law states that Islam is the
official religion and all citizens are required to be Muslims. The
legal system is based on the government-sanctioned interpretation of
Islamic law. Government leaders called for tolerance and moderation,
and King Abdullah and other leaders made public pronouncements
condemning religious extremism. Government leaders also asserted that
individuals have the right to practice their religion privately without
government interference. On June 17, Al-Riyadh newspaper reported that
the King gave a speech in Buraida in which he said that labeling
citizens as secular, liberal, hypocrite, or extremist was divisive and
contrary to the country's two key principles, Shari'a and national
unity.
There is no legal recognition or protection of religious freedom,
and it is severely restricted in practice. The Government limits the
practice of all but the officially sanctioned version of Islam and
prohibits the public practice of other religions. The Government
continued to prohibit public practice of non-Muslim religions and
limited religious practices of Shi'a and Sufi sects. As a matter of
policy, the Government confirmed it ensures and protects the right to
private worship for all, including non-Muslims who gather in homes for
religious practice; however, this right was not always respected in
practice and was not defined in law.
Conversion by a Muslim to another religion is widely considered
apostasy, a crime punishable by death if the accused does not recant.
There were no executions for apostasy during the reporting period, and
there have been no reports of such executions for several years.
Citizens and especially foreigners widely believed in and sometimes
practiced ``magic'' and ``superstition.'' However, under the
Government's interpretation of Shari'a, magic was regarded as one of
the worst forms of polytheism, and is an executable offense; however,
in practice, individuals convicted of magic are not always executed. An
unknown number of detainees were held in prison on the charge of
``sorcery'' or the alleged practice of ``black magic'' or
``witchcraft.''
The practice of other schools of Sunni Islam was unsupported by the
Government, and adherents of the Shi'a branch of Islam faced various
forms of discrimination condoned by the Government, including
restrictions on religious practice and on the building of mosques and
community centers (see also sections 1.e., 3, and 5).
The Shi'a Muslim minority, estimated to be between 10 and 15
percent of the citizen population, lived mostly in the Eastern
Province, although a significant number resided in Medina in the
Western Province and in Najran in the southwest. Members were subjected
to officially sanctioned discrimination of various forms. Many Shi'a
view the ultimate jurisdiction of Shari'a (Sunni) courts over intra-
Shi'a family matters as impinging on their religious freedom (see
section 1.e.).
An estimated 700,000 Sulaimani Ismailis, a subset of Shi'a Islam,
live in the country, primarily in Najran. According to HRW and media
reports, on October 31, the King pardoned 10 of the at least 57
Sulaimani Ismailis Shi'a jailed following rioting in Najran in 2000.
There were reports that the Government discriminated against Sulaiman
Ismailis Shi'a by prohibiting them from having their own religious
books, allowing religious leaders to declare them unbelievers, denying
them government employment, restricting them to lower level jobs, and
relocating them from the southwest to other parts of the country or
encouraging them to emigrate.
According to HRW, during August and September, a Sulaimani Ismaili
Shi'a, Hadi Al-Mutif, conducted a hunger strike to protest his
continued imprisonment for ``insulting the Prophet Mohammed.'' In his
first trial, Al-Mutif was reportedly sentenced to death. Reportedly the
Government never sentenced Al-Mutif to a certain term in prison;
however, he has served at least 12 years. Reports that the King was
going to pardon him during a December visit to Najran proved incorrect.
At least one other man, a Sunni, who committed the same offense, was
sentenced to life imprisonment, which was commuted to 14 years.
In September approximately 300 Sulaimani Ismaili Shi'a in Najran
protested their ``repression'' and demanded the release of Ismailis
held in jail since 2000 and an apology from a cleric and judge who
labeled them ``infidels.'' They also demanded the cessation of attempts
by local authorities to resettle Yemeni tribesmen given citizenship on
land owned by Ismailis.
Sulaimani Ismailis Shi'a in Najran reportedly were charged with
practicing magic; however, the Shi'a Ismailis maintained that their
practice was not magic as it adheres to their interpretation of Islam.
Some conservative Sunnis disagree with this interpretation and claim
that the Shi'a Ismailis believe in and practice magic.
The Government tolerated the public celebration of the Shi'a
holiday of Ashura and other Shi'a holidays in the Eastern Province city
of Qatif. The police monitored the celebrations. No other public Ashura
celebrations were allowed in the country, including in cities where
Shi'a were in the majority, and many Shi'a traveled to Qatif or Bahrain
to participate in Ashura celebrations. The Government continued to
exclude Shi'a perspectives from the state's extensive religious media
and broadcast programming but appeared to have more sporadically
enforced restrictions banning the importation and sale of Shi'a books
and audio and video products. Shi'a were not allowed to teach religion
to classes higher than the elementary grade level, and the Government
did not allow Shi'a to open private schools for girls.
The media reported that the Government allowed the celebration of
Gargean on the fifteenth day of Ramadan (i.e., children dress in
traditional clothes going door-to-door asking for nuts and candies).
This celebration reportedly began in the Eastern Province among the
Shi'a but spread to the central, southern, and northern parts of the
kingdom.
There was discrimination in the availability of facilities for
religious activities. The Government issued permits to construct a few
Shi'a mosques, including a large mosque in Qatif, although the process
was more cumbersome and took far longer for the Shi'a community than
for Sunnis. The Shi'a have declined government offers to build state-
supported mosques because the Government prohibits the incorporation
and display of Shi'a motifs in state-supported mosques.
Significant numbers of Sufis in the Western Province engaged in
technically illegal practices such as celebrating the Mawlid, or
Prophet's birthday, without government interference.
On December 7, prominent Sunni religious commentator and former
professor at Imam Mohammad bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Abdul
Rahman Nasser Al-Barak, issued a fatwa attacking Shi'a, calling them
``rejectionists'' and ``bearing all the characteristics of infidels.''
The Government confirmed its policy to protect the right to private
worship and the right to possess and use personal religious materials.
However, it did not legally provide for this right, and there were
reports of religious police raids on private residences and detentions
of non-Muslims for alleged religious violations, such as possession of
non-Muslim literature or holding non-Muslim worship services; however,
there were fewer reports than in 2005. Many non-Muslims continued to
worship in fear of harassment and in manners that avoided discovery by
police or religious police. For the first time, the Government issued a
report on the activities of the religious police during the year, which
stated 1,652 individuals were arrested for being in public without
praying during prayer time. The report also stated that there were
301,173 individuals arrested for working during prayer time. However,
the report did not provide statistics on the numbers of individuals
arrested for practicing non-Muslim religions. Anecdotal evidence
suggested there was a decrease in both long-term and short-term
detentions, and in arrests and deportations of non-Muslims. However,
there were also reports that religious police, using both Muslim and
non-Muslim informants, targeted non-Muslim religious leaders,
organizers, and religious groups for harassment, arrest, and
deportation in an effort to deter groups from conducting private, non-
Muslim religious services (see section 1.f.).
During the year there were raids, arrests, and detentions of
Christians throughout the country, although fewer than in the past. On
October 15, the religious police raided a hall in Tabuk where a
Filipino priest was preaching. The religious police confiscated bibles
and detained the priest but no other churchgoers. The religious police
turned the priest over to the ``concerned authorities'' to complete the
investigation.
On June 9, 10 regular and religious police officers armed with
wooden clubs raided a private Christian worship service in Jeddah.
Approximately 100 Eritreans, Ethiopians and Filipinos were present. The
police arrested the church leaders, two Ethiopians and two Eritreans.
The church leaders were deported in July. In Jeddah, a Christian
evangelical leader reported that religious police attended one of his
services without disrupting the service but later in response to a
complaint closed the church and detained one of the pastors.
The Government did not officially permit non-Muslim clergy to enter
the country for the purpose of conducting religious services, although
some did under other auspices, and the Government generally permitted
discreet religious functions. Such restrictions made it difficult for
most non-Muslims to maintain contact with clergymen and attend services
but did not prevent them from gathering to practice their faith.
Catholics and Orthodox Christians, who require a priest on a regular
basis to receive sacraments required of their faith, were particularly
affected.
Proselytizing by non-Muslims, including the distribution of non
Islamic religious materials such as bibles, was illegal. The promotion
of nonofficial interpretations of Islam was less restricted than it was
in previous years. Anyone wearing religious symbols in public that were
considered idolatrous within the Hanbali school risked confrontation
with the religious police.
Under the Hanbali interpretation of Shari'a, judges may discount
the testimony of non-Muslims or those who do not adhere to ``correct
doctrine'' (see section 1.e.). Islamic religious education was
mandatory in public schools at all levels. Regardless of the Islamic
tradition to which their families adhere, all public school children
receive religious instruction that conforms to the conservative Hanbali
tradition of Sunni Islam. Expatriate non-Muslim students in private
schools were not required to study Islam. In accordance with the
religious establishment's interpretation of Shari'a, women were
prohibited from marrying non-Muslims, but men were permitted to marry
Christians and Jews (see section 1.f.).
The Government required noncitizens to carry legal resident
identity cards (Iqamas), which contained a religious designation for
``Muslim'' or ``non-Muslim.'' There were reports that individual
religious police pressured sponsors and employers not to renew legal
resident identity cards of non-Muslims whom they had sponsored for
employment if it was discovered or suspected that those individuals had
either led, sponsored, or participated in private non-Muslim worship
services. Additionally, there were reports that religious police
pressured employers and sponsors to reach verbal agreements with non-
Muslim employees that they would not participate in private or public
non-Muslim worship services.
During the month of December the press reported shopkeepers in
Riyadh sold Christmas cards under the counter. During the year the
religious police prohibited the sale of cards and flowers for
Valentine's Day.
On December 29, the religious police raided a gathering for food
and prayer involving members of the Ahmadiyya religious group.
Authorities consider them non-Muslim and heretical. Reportedly, the
religious police detained 49 members, including approximately 19 women
and children and 14 youths. Of the 49 individuals, there were 25
Indians, 23 Pakistanis, and one Syrian. At year's end, all 49 remained
in police custody (see Section 1.d.).
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no public places of
worship for non-Muslims. Although significant numbers of Christians,
Hindus, and Buddhists, and a few Jews resided in the country, there
were no public churches, temples, or synagogues. There were reports of
violence against and harassment of Christians, due to societal
discrimination against foreigner workers coupled with religious
discrimination.
There was anti-Semitism and criticism of the policies of the
Government of Israel and Zionism in the media. For example, on January
13, an anti-Semitic cartoon in the Al-Yawm newspaper depicted Jews as
thieves, calling them ``God's Cheater People,'' a pun in Arabic on the
expression ``God's Chosen People.''
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), there was anti-
Semitism in the media characterized by stereotypical images of Jews
along with Jewish symbols, and comparisons of Israeli government
actions to those of the Nazis. For example, on April 24, a cartoon in
the Al-Medina newspaper depicted an Israel Defense Forces tank's treads
forming a swastika. According to the ADL, further anti-Semitic material
appeared in the Ar-Riyadh newspaper on February 9 to the effect that
``the only ones to benefit from inciting strife and wars between the
Christian and Muslim world are the Jews in Europe and in the West. If
you do not believe that, then read the Protocols of the Elders of
Zion.'' Another example provided by the ADL came from an article in the
Al-Hayat newspaper on June 6 comparing the Israeli government actions
toward Palestinians to ``the Nazi manner of killing, starvation, and
racial segregation.''
In May Freedom House released a report that stated that its review
of textbooks revealed examples of hate speech and in particular noted
that religious textbooks emphasized intolerance and hatred of religious
traditions, especially Christianity and Judaism. In November the
Government announced a multi-year project to revise textbooks,
curricula, and teaching methods to promote tolerance and remove content
disparaging religions other than Islam. Many recently utilized
textbooks still contain language that was blatantly anti-Semitic and
intolerant of Judaism, Christianity, and the Shi'a tradition (see
section 5).
During the year the King Abdul Aziz Center for National Dialogue
held 13 preparatory meetings throughout the country for the November 30
sixth national dialogue, which focused on education. According to the
Government the dialogue, meetings and preparations promoted tolerance
and understanding, including for non-Muslim religions. During the year
there were articles in local media reminding Muslims that Jews are
``people of the book,'' that Jewish prophets such as Abraham, Isaac,
and Jesus are shown due respect by Muslims, and that Mary was a Jew and
is due respect by Muslims.
The Government took no reported action against anti-Semitic
cartoons and articles which appeared in the media.
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 does not provide for these
rights. Freedom of movement was restricted. The Government must issue
an exit visa for an individual to leave the country. Male citizens have
the freedom to travel within the country and abroad unless they are
under the age of 21, in which case they require the permission of their
guardian if they want to travel outside the country. The Government
restricted these rights for women based on its interpretation of
Islamic Law. All women in the country were prohibited from driving.
They must obtain written permission from a male relative or guardian
before the authorities allow travel abroad (see section 5). The
requirement to obtain permission from a male relative or guardian
applied also to foreign women married to citizens or to minor and
single adult daughters of citizen fathers. Since 2001, women have been
able to obtain their own identity cards; however, the Government
required permission from a male relative or guardian to receive a card
(see section 5). The Government has quietly begun to issue individual
identification cards with a photograph to every female citizen,
terminating the current practice of women carrying family cards only
listing their names. Citizen women who have valid passports can obtain
identity cards without needing verification from a male guardian;
however, if a woman does not have a passport, she needs a male guardian
to verify her identity (see section 5). During the year the Government
continued to issue national identity cards to women, despite a national
campaign against the practice by some religious conservatives.
Restrictions on travel applied to dual national children of citizen
fathers. In cases involving custody disputes between foreign citizen
women and their citizen husbands, the husband was legally able to
prevent the travel of the children out of the country. All women,
including adult female citizens, require the written consent of a male
guardian to travel outside the country. The Government has worked with
foreign consular officials to overcome a husband's refusal to permit
travel by his female children and/or wife or ex-wife. During the year
senior officials considered, on a case-by-case basis, allowing adult
foreign citizen women to travel despite objections by their husbands,
fathers, or other male relatives or guardians. However, government
officials delayed issuing decisions and caused additional burdens and
security concerns to those individuals attempting to leave the kingdom.
Noncitizen women married to citizens required permission from their
husbands or fathers to travel. If a husband refused to grant permission
to travel to his noncitizen wife, she could divorce her husband or not
travel. If she divorced her husband, the Government could issue her an
exit visa, but she was unlikely to be allowed to re-enter the country.
Foreigners typically were allowed to reside or work in the country
under the sponsorship of a citizen or business. Media reports in
October announced an easing of this restriction for businessmen.
The Government required citizens and foreign residents to carry
identification cards. It did not permit foreigners to change their
workplace without their sponsor's permission.
During the year the Government continued to provide citizenship
under Article 9 of the law on naturalization to some of the thousands
of native residents who live in the country without possessing
citizenship.
Collectively known as Bidoons (``without'' in Arabic), these native
born residents lack citizenship due to an ancestor's failure to obtain
nationality, including descendents of nomadic tribes such as the Anaiza
and Shammar, some of whose ancestors were not counted among the native
tribes during the reign of the kingdom's founder, King Abd al-Aziz;
descendants of foreign born fathers who emigrated to the country before
citizenship was institutionalized; and rural migrants whose parents
failed to register their births. They were denied employment and
educational opportunities because of their lack of citizenship, and had
limited ability to travel. Bidoons are among the poorest residents of
the country because of their marginalized status.
The Basic Law prohibits employers from retaining foreign workers'
passports; however, in practice most sponsors reportedly retained
possession of foreign workers' passports. Foreign workers must obtain
permission from their sponsors to travel abroad. If sponsors were
involved in a commercial or labor dispute with foreign employees, they
may ask the authorities to prohibit the employees from departing the
country until the dispute is resolved. In some contract disputes,
sponsors used this as a pressure tactic to resolve disputes in their
favor, forcing employees to accept nominal amounts of the money owed to
them or by having foreign employees deported (see sections 5 and 6.c.).
The Government seized the passports of all potential suspects and
witnesses in criminal cases and suspended the issuance of exit visas to
these individuals until the case was concluded. As a result, some
foreign nationals were forced to remain in the country for lengthy
periods against their will.
The Government did not use forced exile; however, it previously
revoked the citizenship of opponents of the Government who reside
outside the country (see section 3).
Citizens may emigrate. The Government prohibited dual citizenship;
however, children who hold other citizenship by virtue of birth abroad
were permitted to leave the country using noncitizen passports. An
October 2005 citizenship law allows certain long-term residents and
other foreigners to obtain citizenship.
The Government imposed travel bans on some reformers. The
authorities sometimes confiscated passports of suspected oppositionists
and their families. In addition, the Government revoked the rights of
some citizens to travel outside the country. In several cases the
Government revoked the right to travel for political reasons without
notifying the individual or providing opportunities to contest the
restriction.
During the year there were reports that some Shi'a activist writers
and other public figures were banned from traveling and the Government
had confiscated their passports. However, a Shi'a professor, who faced
a travel ban for his 2003 criticism of the Government's discriminatory
policies against the Shi'a, was allowed to travel.
Protection of Refugees.--The Basic 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,
but the Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the forced return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution. The Basic Law provides that ``the state will grant
political asylum, if so required by the public interest.''
The Government provided temporary protection to individuals who may
not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol.
The Government cooperated with the Office of UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting
refugees and asylum seekers.
The UNHCR Representative Office to the GCC countries reported that
in late 2005 the Government permitted 364 Iraqi refugees at the Rafha
refugee camp to reside in urban areas. During the year the UNHCR did
not find any evidence of forcible repatriation. Since 1991 the UNHCR
has facilitated the spontaneous repatriation of more than 8,000 Iraqi
refugees (see section 1.c.). NGOs present in the camp included the
Saudi Red Crescent and the International Islamic Relief Organization.
At year's end less than 100 Iraqi refugees remained in the camp.
During the year the UNHCR granted refugee status to 216 people. No
one who is in Saudi Arabia illegally, or has overstayed an umrah or
hajj visa, may be granted refugee status.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The Basic Law states that the Government is established on the
principle of shura or consultation and requires the King and crown
prince to hold open majlises. (A majlis is an open-door meeting held by
the King, a prince, or an important national or local official where,
in theory, any male citizen or foreign national may express an opinion
or a grievance.) The Basic Law states all individuals have the right to
communicate with public authorities on any issue. This right to
petition is interpreted by the Government as a right to be exercised
within traditional nonpublic means, in other words, not through the use
of mass media. In practice, citizens did not have the right to change
the Government peacefully. There were restrictions, as demonstrated by
the 2005 conviction of the three political reformers convicted of
``sowing dissent and disobeying the ruler'' and for overtly advocating
democratic reform (see sections 1.e and 2.a.).
Elections and Political Participation.--Only a few members of the
ruling family had a voice in the choice of leaders or in changing the
political system. On October 20, the King issued the new succession law
which amended the 1992 Basic Law and formalized the process by creating
the Allegiance Commission that will elect a king and crown prince upon
the death or incapacitation of either. The Allegiance Commission is
composed of the sons and grandsons of Abd al-Aziz bin Abd al-Rahman al-
Faysal Al Sa'ud. This commission expands the role of the ruling family
in the selection process. The Government ruled on civil and religious
matters within the limitations established by the Basic Law, religious
law, tradition, and the need to maintain consensus among the ruling
family and religious leaders.
The King serves as prime minister and his crown prince serves as
deputy prime minister. The King appoints all other ministers, who
appoint subordinate officials with cabinet concurrence.
Reportedly, some criticized the limited responsibilities of the
municipal advisory councils that reviewed and provided recommendations
on administrative and budgetary issues. Only male, nonmilitary citizens
of at least 21 years of age could vote in the nationwide 2005 elections
for 592 seats on 178 municipal advisory councils (half of the total
seats). Women were not permitted either to vote or to stand for office.
Unofficial estimates were between 10 and 15 percent of eligible voters
actually voted. The King completed the formation of the councils in
December 2005, by appointing 592 men to fill the other half of the
council seats.
The 1992 Basic Law also created the Consultative Council that
reviews, votes on, and provides recommendations to the King on
legislation proposed by the ministries. The Consultative Council
consists of 150 appointed male members and is divided into 11
committees. During the year the council appointed six women as part-
time consultants on matters of family and women's issues. The
Government generally accepted amendments made by the council. The
Consultative Council held hearings with some government officials to
review the performance of their ministries and has the power to request
documents from government ministries.
On June 27, for the first time, the Consultative Council rejected a
proposed government policy to raise the salaries of members of the
religious police.
The Supreme Ulema Council is another advisory body to the King and
the cabinet (see section 1.e.). It reviews the Government's public
policies for compliance with Shari'a. The Government viewed the council
as an important source of religious legitimacy and took the council's
opinions into account when promulgating legislation.
Communication between citizens and the Government traditionally has
been expressed through client-patron relationships and by affinity
groups such as tribes, families, and professional hierarchies. During
the year King Abdullah visited all 13 provinces and held a variety of
meetings with citizens throughout the country, including women.
Ministers and district governors could be approached for discussion at
a majlis, which were held on a regular basis.
Since 1992 various groups, including women and Shi'a, have
submitted petitions calling for reform.
During the year three groups led by exiles advocated for a change
in government. On April 30, the London-based Movement for Islamic
Reform in Arabia (MIRA) brought its satellite Islah TV back on air
using the hot-bird satellite after years of having been blocked because
of government pressure on the French satellite provider. Since its
establishment in 1996, MIRA has claimed it advocates the peaceful
overthrow of the royal family. The head of MIRA and host of Islah TV,
Saad Al-Fagih, was a supporter of terrorism and provided financial and
material support to al Qa'ida and Usama bin Laden. Previously, MIRA and
the London-based extremist Committee for the Defense of Legitimate
Rights (CDLR) had advocated overthrowing the monarchy by force. MIRA
and the CDLR criticized the Government, using the Internet and
satellite radio stations. On August 11, MIRA unsuccessfully tried to
spark protests in the country. In October 2004, MIRA and CDLR also
attempted to organize from London protests within the country but were
unsuccessful largely due to their unpopularity with the public (see
sections 1.d. and 2.b.).
On August 9, a Paris-based group, the Saudi Democratic Opposition
Front (SDOF), announced its formation and called for the peaceful
overthrow of the monarchy. It claimed a ``desire for democracy'' and an
enhancement in liberties in society. The SDOF stated it will coordinate
its activities with other opponents of the Government, chiefly MIRA.
The SDOF is led by 72-year-old Prince Talal Mohammed Al-Rashid, the son
of the last ruler of the Rashidi emirate whose capital was in Hail. Al-
Rashid has lived in exile in France since 1980. There was no subsequent
reported activity by this group.
There were no women or religious minorities in the cabinet. At
least four of the 150-member Consultative Council were Shi'a.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
public perception of corruption on the part of some members of the
royal family and the executive branch of the Government. In the
Transparency International Corruption Perceptions ranking of countries
in terms of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among
public officials and politicians, the kingdom was considered to have a
serious corruption problem.
The absence of transparency in government accounts and in decision
making encouraged this perception. There are no laws providing for
public access to government information. Information concerning
specific instances, allegations regarding corruption, or government
actions against corruption was not available to the public, although
allegations were known to those with access to foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The Government viewed its interpretation of Islamic law as the only
necessary guide to protect human rights. The MOI licenses and monitors
compliance with rules and regulations by NGOs, including professional
associations, charities, and social organizations. The two licensed
domestic human rights organizations operated in a restricted ambit,
reliant on government support. The one nonlicensed human rights
organization, HRFS, operated without legal status.
On a number of occasions, the local media quoted HRFS President
Ibrahim Al-Mugaiteeb and reported on HRFS operations. After having
previously been deprived of his passport, Al-Mugaiteeb made several
trips into and out of the country. He was also made a member of the
HRC.
The NSHR, which was originally endowed by King Fahd, continued to
receive requests for assistance and complaints about the Government.
Since its creation in March 2004, the NSHR has received approximately
7,000 complaints. Most of its members are academics, and two of its
former members are ministers (social affairs, and education). Ten of
its 41 members were women. The NSHR has established offices in Jeddah,
Dammam, Riyadh, and Jizan. By year's end it claimed to have handled
more than 6,000 complaints, international as well as domestic,
including ``political injustices, administrative corruption, and
reports by expatriate workers alleging abuse.'' The NSHR prefers to
resolve cases by working with government agencies rather than filing
court cases. The NSHR reported government officials cooperated with
requests for information and action to resolve complaints.
On December 25, King Abdullah announced the appointment of the 24
members of the HRC board of directors. This specialized government
organization has broad powers and reports directly to the King.
Headquartered in Riyadh, the HRC was designed to protect, raise
awareness of, and ensure the implementation of human rights in line
with Shari'a rule. The HRC chairman has ministerial rank.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, but not
nationality. Racial discrimination occurred. There is legal and
systemic discrimination based on gender. The Government and private
organizations cooperated in providing services for persons with
disabilities; however, there is no legislation mandating public access.
The Shi'a minority continued to suffer social, legal, economic, and
political discrimination (see section 2.c.).
Women.--Shari'a prohibits abuse and violence against all innocent
persons, including women. Although the Government did not keep
statistics on spousal abuse or other forms of violence against women,
reportedly such violence and abuse were common problems. Hospital
workers reported many women were admitted for treatment of injuries
apparently the result of spousal violence. Even though hospitals are
now required to report any suspicious injuries to authorities, they are
not appropriately trained to meet this requirement.
Foreign embassies received many reports that employers abused
foreign women working as domestic servants. Some embassies with large
domestic servant populations maintained safe houses for citizens
fleeing work situations that included forced confinement, withholding
of food, nonpayment of salaries, beating, physical abuse, and rape.
Often female citizens were accused of committing many of the reported
abuses (see section 5, Trafficking in Persons).
During the year the media reported more frequently on cases
involving domestic abuse of women, servants, and children. Over 500
cases were reported. There were more reports about employers punished
for abuse of domestic servants.
On August 19, the daily tabloid Al-Shams published a two-page
investigative report on girls fleeing their homes due to domestic
violence. The girls usually went to one of the social care houses,
where they may be abused by supervisors. Some girls committed suicide
because of mistreatment and the fear of being sent back to their
families.
On August 20, ASharq Al-Awsat reported that the kingdom took actual
steps to establish courts dealing with domestic violence. Specialists
and activists against domestic violence called for increasing the
number of social care houses and developing their services in order to
protect victims.
The Justice Ministry acknowledged the large scale of the problem.
The social affairs ministry's department of social protection conducted
a study on domestic abuse in order to draft appropriate laws to protect
women and children. The social affairs ministry also reportedly
coordinated with other ministries to raise awareness. Nevertheless, the
Government considered such cases generally to be family matters and did
not intervene unless charges of abuse were brought to its attention.
Increasingly, the NSHR investigated and instigated court cases against
allegations of physical and sexual abuse. These cases usually involved
abuse by a husband or father. The NSHR advocated for tougher laws and
sentences for abuse. It was difficult for noncitizen women to obtain
redress in the courts due to the courts' strict evidentiary rules, and
the women and servants' own fear of reprisals.
Prostitution is illegal. However, some women (and men), primarily
noncitizens, reportedly engaged in prostitution. The extent of
prostitution was not known.
Law and custom discriminated against women. Although they have the
right to own property and are entitled to financial support from
husbands or male relatives, women have few political or social rights
and were not treated as equal members of society. There were no active
women's rights groups per se. Women's rights were openly discussed
during the Gulf Businesswomen's Forum and in the National Dialogue
forums from April 3 to 5 in which women participated. NSHR also
addressed various women's rights issues. Women may not legally drive
motor vehicles and were restricted in their use of public facilities
when men were present. Women must enter city buses by separate rear
entrances and sit in specially designated sections. Women risked arrest
by the religious police for riding in a vehicle driven by a male who
was not an employee or a close male relative.
The law provides that women may not be admitted to a hospital for
medical treatment without the consent of a male relative; however, this
was not generally enforced. According to law and custom, women may not
undertake domestic or foreign travel alone (see section 2.d.).
All women require the permission (for an ``exit visa'') of a
citizen male to travel, usually the husband or the father though
sometimes the eldest son or eldest brother. This applies to all women,
including noncitizen spouses of citizen men. Children, including dual
national children, also require travel authorizations by a citizen
male, and males under the age of 21 require the father's consent for
issuance of their first passports. If a husband refuses to grant
permission to travel to his wife, including noncitizen wives, the wife
cannot travel. For noncitizen wives, in order to depart the country the
only alternative is to divorce the husband, in which case the
Government could issue her an exit visa. In this case, if the woman has
children she would not be allowed to take them with her, and it is
unlikely she would be allowed to re-enter the country.
In public, a woman was expected to wear an abaya (a black garment
that covers the entire body) and also to cover her head and hair. The
religious police generally expected Muslim women to cover their faces
and non-Muslim women from other Asian and African countries to comply
more fully with local customs of dress than non-Muslim Western women.
During the year religious police admonished and harassed citizen and
noncitizen women who failed to wear an abaya and hair cover.
Women were also subject to discrimination under Shari'a as
interpreted by the Government, which stipulates daughters receive half
the inheritance awarded to their brothers. While Shari'a provides women
with a basis to own and dispose of property independently, women were
often constrained from asserting such rights because of various legal
and societal barriers, especially regarding employment and freedom of
movement. In a Shari'a court, the testimony of one man equals that of
two women (see section 1.e.). Although Islamic law permits as many as
four wives, polygamy was less common due to demographic and economic
changes. Islamic law enjoins a man to treat each wife equally. In
practice, such equality was left to the discretion of the husband. The
Government placed greater restrictions on women than on men regarding
marriage to noncitizens and non-Muslims (see section 1.f.).
Women had to demonstrate legally specified grounds for divorce, but
men may divorce without giving cause. In doing so, men were required to
immediately pay an amount of money agreed upon at the time of the
marriage, which serves as a one-time alimony payment. Women who
demonstrate legal grounds for divorce also were entitled to this
alimony. Some women claimed their husbands refused to sign the final
divorce papers, leaving the women in a state of limbo, unable to
travel, obtain a business license, attend a university or college, or
seek hospital care. If divorced or widowed, a Muslim woman normally may
keep her children until they attain a specified age: seven years for
boys and nine years for girls. Custody of children over these ages was
awarded to the divorced husband or the deceased husband's family.
Numerous divorced foreign women continued to be prevented by their
former husbands from visiting their children after divorce.
Women had access to free but segregated education through the
university level. They constituted more than 58 percent of all
university students but were limited to studying such subjects as
engineering, journalism, and architecture. Approximately 5 to 7 percent
of government scholarships for studying overseas are given to women.
Men may study overseas; the law provides that women may do so only if
accompanied by a spouse or male guardian. The Government paid the fees
for a male guardian (or in some cases an older female guardian) to
accompany female Saudi students on scholarships. In practice families
rather than legal requirements decided whether women studied overseas
without a guardian.
During the year there was increased attention in the press to
women's issues, including gender discrimination, domestic abuse,
health, rising divorce rates, employment, driving, and legal problems
women face in the business world. Six women advised members of the
Consultative Council (see section 3). Other women provided advice in
private, closed-door sessions or through female members of the royal
family. The two women elected to the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce
continued to guide this organization. In February women also ran as
candidates for the board of directors of the Eastern Province Chamber
of Commerce and Industry; however, none were elected. The woman elected
to the board of directors of the Saudi Engineers Council continued to
guide the organization. On June 30, the Jeddah Literary Club held its
first literary and cultural event for women.
Most employment opportunities for women were in education and
health care. Despite limited educational opportunities in many
professional fields, some female citizens were able to study abroad and
returned to work in professions such as architecture and journalism.
The Justice Ministry agreed to license female lawyers who had
previously been unable to practice law even though they had completed
law degrees abroad or worked in law firms outside the country. Female
lawyers, however, may not represent clients in court. Many foreign
women worked as domestic servants and nurses.
In August the Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued regulations
allowing female engineers to open their own engineering offices. One
female engineer opened her own engineering office a few weeks after
this decision.
Women who wished to enter nontraditional fields were subject to
discrimination. Women may not accept jobs in rural areas if there are
no adult male relatives present with whom they may reside and who agree
to take responsibility for them. Most workplaces in which women were
present were segregated by gender. Frequently, contact with a male
supervisor or client was allowed only by video conference, telephone,
or fax machine. However, the degree of segregation varied by region,
with the central region having the most restrictions and the eastern
and western regions more relaxed. Despite gender segregation, the law
provides women the right to obtain business licenses for work in fields
that might require supervision of foreign workers, interact with male
clients, or deal on a regular basis with government officials.
While there is no law prohibiting women from obtaining licenses to
open businesses, they face many obstacles. Applications for licenses in
most sectors were denied because most governing ministries did not have
women's sections that could monitor the business. Even though the
commerce ministry abolished the requirement for a woman to have a male
representative with her whenever conducting business transactions with
the Government, reportedly many government agencies still insisted on
this requirement.
In hospital settings and in the energy industry, women and men
worked together, and, in some instances, women supervised male
employees. During the year the Government allowed female citizen radio
news broadcasters to work for the first time. The September 2005 labor
law expanded the right of women to maternity leave and required
employers to provide child care if they employed 50 or more female
employees.
Children.--The Government provided all citizen children with free
education and medical care. Children were segregated by gender in
schools, usually beginning at the age of 7; however, schools were
integrated through the fourth grade, or around the ages of 10 and 11,
in some areas.
Abuse of children was a problem, although it was difficult to gauge
the prevalence of child abuse, since the Government kept no national
statistics on such cases. Although in general the culture greatly
prizes children, studies by citizen female doctors indicated that
severe abuse and neglect of children appeared to be more widespread
than previously reported. At least three NGOs, one in Riyadh, one in
Qasim, and one in Jeddah, run shelters for women and children. The
press has also raised national consciousness about the problem.
The education ministry continued to teach children their rights
under the UN Convention on the Rights of Children.
During the year there were reports that the Government
discriminated against noncitizen children on the basis of national
origin, denying them access to education and emergency health care. HRW
reported the Government targeted Chadian children that had been born in
Saudi Arabia.
Trafficking in Persons.--There is no specific antitrafficking law.
However, most forms of trafficking are criminalized under existing
statutes. A 2004 ministerial decree specifically prohibits all forms of
trafficking. The Government issued implementing regulations for the
September 2005 labor law. Domestic laborers are not protected under the
country's labor law. The majority of cases involving trafficking were
settled out of court by mediation and settlements, and criminal
prosecutions against abusive employers were few.
The country is a destination country for workers from Bangladesh,
India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Some foreign workers
were subjected to conditions which constituted involuntary servitude,
including nonpayment of wages, debt bondage, confinement, and physical
or psychological intimidation. Cases of physical and sexual abuse were
also reported. Domestic employees were especially vulnerable to abuse.
Children were also reportedly trafficked into begging rings.
The Government took minimal measures to protect trafficking
victims. Due to a lack of victim identification procedures in
deportation centers and police stations, it is believed that many
victims of trafficking are deported or arrested rather than afforded
sensitive protection services. Some victims were protected at one of
three shelters run by the Ministry of Social Affairs operating in
Riyadh, Dammam, and Jeddah, but most victims feared arrest or
deportation if approaching government authorities due to their status
as runaways (technically illegal); as such, most victims fled directly
to their respective embassies to await repatriation.
The Government reportedly assists some trafficking victims with
shelter, access to legal and medical services, and temporary residency
status, which includes temporary relief from deportation. Trafficking
victims are reportedly treated at public hospitals.
Foreign laborers', including domestic workers', passports were
often illegally retained by their employers sometimes resulting in
forced labor. Foreign nationals who have been recruited abroad have,
after their arrival in the country, been presented with work contracts
that specified lower wages and fewer benefits than originally promised.
A small number of noncitizen women were thought to engage in
prostitution, comprising a minor element of the trafficking problem in
the kingdom (see sections 5, 6.c., and 6.e.).
Most victims prefer to settle their cases out of court due to the
length of time it takes to receive a judgment and a perception of bias
toward citizens of the country by the judicial system. On August 9, a
Filipina maid fled her sponsor after allegedly enduring seven months of
physical abuse. The police arrested her sponsor who confessed and paid
an out-of-court settlement of approximately $8,000 (30,000 SR). On
September 12, an Indonesian maid was allegedly beaten by her sponsor's
wife. She settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. On November
6, nine Nepalese women who claimed to have suffered physical and verbal
abuse during their employment as maids in the country were repatriated
to Nepal.
On August 26, Al-Shams presented an investigative report entitled
``Girls for Sale'' claiming trafficking of Yemeni girls into the
country had increased recently. Allegedly, trafficking gangs were
bringing the girls to marry men illegally. ``Marriage matcher'' Um
Mohammed said she looks for men seeking a Yemeni girl and charges
$2,666 (10,000 SR). Trafficking takes two forms: men travel to Yemen,
select their prospective wives, then smuggle them into the country for
$1,333 (5,000 SR); or gangs smuggle Yemeni girls into the country for
marriage at $2,666 (10,000 SR).
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs heads a multi-agency working group
on combating trafficking in persons. The group includes representation
from the Ministries of Labor, Interior, Justice, Culture and
Information, Hajj, and the Human Rights Commission.
There were no reports of government or police involvement in
trafficking during the year.
The Government uses the media to educate the public about foreign
workers' rights and trafficking in persons.
The Government published a brochure outlining noncitizen worker's
rights and obligations, as well as contact information for seeking help
and assistance. The brochure was distributed to foreign embassies and
was available at ports of entry.
Persons With Disabilities.--There is no legislation that mandates
public accessibility; however, newer commercial buildings often
included such access, as did some newer government buildings. The
provision of government social services increasingly brought persons
with disabilities into the public mainstream. The law provides hiring
quotas for persons with disabilities. The Government and private
charitable organizations cooperated in education, employment, and other
services for persons with disabilities.
During the year the Government took a variety of steps promoting
more rights for and elimination of discrimination against persons with
disabilities. The Government established an endowment committee for
children with disabilities and a supreme council to deal with the
affairs of the disabled, with the crown prince as chairman. Foreign
criminal rings reportedly imported children with disabilities for the
purpose of forced begging (see sections 5, 6.c. and 6.f.). There were
numerous government-sponsored centers for persons with disabilities,
including organizations for children with Down syndrome and autism.
Disabled persons, however, were still hidden away from society and even
family.
Police generally transported persons with mental disabilities found
wandering alone in public to their families or a hospital. Police
asserted that, according to Islam, family members should be taking care
of such individuals.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Although racial discrimination
is illegal, there was substantial societal prejudice based on ethnic or
national origin. Foreign workers from Africa and Asia were subject to
various forms of formal and informal discrimination and had the most
difficulty in obtaining justice for their grievances. For example, some
bilateral agreements governed pay, benefits, and work conditions.
Consequently, pay scales for identical or similar labor or professional
services were set by nationality such that two similarly qualified and
experienced foreign nationals performing the same employment duties
received varied compensation based on their nationalities.
Throughout the year the media reported on married couples forced to
divorce by their in-laws or others because either the husband or wife
was from ``inappropriate lineage,'' i.e., a nontribal family or from an
inferior tribe. For example, the half brothers of Fatima Al-Timani
successfully filed for the divorce of Fatima and her husband Mansour
Al-Timani because they claimed Mansour had lied about his inferior
tribal lineage. At year's end his appeal of the divorce was before a
Riyadh court. In July she chose imprisonment rather than living with
her half brothers or in a shelter. After the divorce, prison officials
forbade him from visiting her because the court had voided their
marriage. At year's end the case remained before the courts.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Under Shari'a as
interpreted in the kingdom, sexual activity between two people of the
same gender is punishable by death or flogging. It is illegal for men
to behave like women or wear women's clothes and for women to wear
men's clothes (see section 1.c.). There were reports of societal
discrimination based on sexual orientation.
There were reports of discrimination, physical violence, and
harassment toward homosexuals.
On August 16, the media reported that 250 young men were detained
and subsequently 20 were arrested at a suspected ``gay wedding'' in
Jizan.
On November 7, the media reported that police arrested five men on
November 2 for preparing to stage a beauty contest for homosexual men.
The five men had previously been arrested in May for the same offense.
The police confiscated evaluation sheets, beauty products, make-up,
lingerie, sex toys, and aphrodisiacs. The media also reported that
several months before this incident, 92 men had been arrested at a gay
party in Al-Qatif for wearing women's clothes, make-up, and wigs. At
year's end none of these men had been sentenced.
According to a December 23 press report, during the year a
journalist was arrested for ``harboring destructive thoughts'' and
accused of promoting homosexuality by commenting on Internet fora that
homosexuality is caused by genetics. The case was dismissed. The lawyer
who defended the journalist was criticized for being a ``lawyer for
homosexuals.''
Beginning in June the NSHR held meetings to prepare a proposal for
a system to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and protect HIV/AIDS
patients in the kingdom. The media reported that there are 11,000
people living with AIDS in the country. Although the media continued to
discourage discrimination against AIDS patients and those infected with
HIV, the press reported that the Government failed to provide proper
medical treatment to HIV-positive noncitizens and treated them poorly
until their deportation. The Ministry of Health set up three HIV
centers that provided diagnostic and preventive services. In September
the media reported medical staff refused to attend to a pregnant HIV-
positive woman, causing her to miscarry.
Incitement to Acts of Discrimination.--The Government worked to
review and revise school textbooks used at schools which it maintains
inside and outside the kingdom to eliminate intolerant and
discriminatory language that promotes racial or ethnic hatred or
incited violence against any racial or ethnic group (see section 2.c.).
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Basic Law does not address
freedom of association. The Government prohibited the establishment of
labor unions; however, since 2001, the Government has authorized the
establishment of labor committees for citizens in local companies,
including factories, with more than 100 employees. However, no
practical steps have been taken to implement this decision.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Neither the
1992 Basic Law nor the 2005 Labor Law provide for collective
bargaining. Collective bargaining remained prohibited. Foreign workers
comprised approximately 88 percent of the work force in the private
sector.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor. The law prohibits employers from retaining
foreign employees' passports without the employees' consent. This law
was not well known or enforced, so it was frequently violated. This
practice sometimes resulted in forced labor, especially in remote areas
where workers were unable to leave their places of work and cannot
legally travel without an identity card. In addition some sponsors
prevented foreign workers from obtaining exit visas to pressure them
into signing a new work contract or to drop claims against their
employer for unpaid salary or benefits (see section 2.d.). Finally,
some sponsors refused to provide foreign workers with a ``letter of no
objection'' that would allow them to be employed by another sponsor.
There were many reports of workers whose employers refused to pay
several months, or even years, of accumulated salary or other promised
benefits. Many foreign workers went to labor courts, which regularly
ruled in favor of the workers. Labor courts, while generally fair,
sometimes took many months to reach a final appellate ruling. Often
noncitizen workers engaged in a court case against their employers
cannot legally work, placing an additional burden on the worker and
compelling a negotiated settlement. Employers sometimes delayed cases
until a worker's funds were exhausted, and the worker was forced to
withdraw his case (see section 5).
The labor ministry established the department for protection of
foreign workers to address abuse and exploitation of foreign workers
(such as sexual harassment, mistreatment, and nonpayment of salaries).
Workers may also submit complaints and seek help from the 37 labor
ministry offices throughout the country.
In the first six months of the year, the labor minister banned 75
companies from obtaining labor visas. Companies were banned for trading
in visas, nonpayment of employee wages, and for a variety of other
reasons.
The law does not specifically prohibit forced or compulsory labor
by children, and there were a few reports that it occurred (see section
6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child labor did not appear to be a problem, with the possible rare
exceptions of forced child begging rings, and possibly family
businesses. The Government implemented a regulation requiring that all
camel jockeys be at least 18 years of age, and there were indications
it was enforced.
Under a new labor law, no juvenile under the age of 15 can work in
a vocational field unless he is the only family worker. There is no
minimum age for workers employed in family-owned businesses or in other
areas that are construed as extensions of the household, such as
farming, herding, and domestic service.
Children under the age of 18 may not be employed in hazardous or
harmful industries, such as mining, or industries employing power-
operated machinery. While there is no formal government entity
responsible for enforcing the minimum age for employment of children,
the Justice Ministry has jurisdiction and has acted as plaintiff in the
few cases that have arisen against alleged violators. In general
children played a minimal role in the work force.
Child beggars were reportedly often noncitizens who had been
trafficked into the country for that purpose or were Hajj or Umra over-
stayers. The social affairs ministry maintained special offices in both
Mecca and Medina to combat the growing problem of child beggars.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--While there is no official
minimum wage for citizen workers, the unofficial private sector minimum
wage was $400 (1,500 SR) per month, which is based on the minimum
monthly contribution to the pension system. For noncitizen workers,
there was no official minimum wage. Where they exist, bilateral
agreements set wages for noncitizen workers. Individual contracts also
set wages that varied according to the type of work performed and the
nationality of the worker (see section 5).
Labor regulations establish a 48-hour work week at regular pay and
allow employers to require up to 12 additional hours of overtime at
time-and-a-half pay. Labor law provides for a 24 hour rest period,
normally on Fridays, although the employer may grant it on another day.
The labor law increased annual leave for citizen employees from 14 to
21 days and provided a minimum six-week maternity leave for female
citizen employees and new requirements to provide child care at places
of employment. The average wage for citizens generally provided a
decent standard of living for the worker and family.
Sources produced varying estimates of the actual rate of citizen
unemployment. The minister of labor stated the unemployment rate was 5
percent (because very few citizens enrolled in a recent job placement
program). The National Statistics Bureau claimed unemployment was 9.6
percent. Some bankers believed the unemployment rate was 20 percent,
and a prominent royal and business leader recently stated the number
was closer to 30 percent. None of these estimates included women, who
are prohibited from working in the majority of business sectors and
positions. On May 10, the media reported that the General Organization
for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVOT) reported it
had 6,971 female trainees for cashiering, receptionist, and other
``appropriate'' vocational areas and had trained over 10,000 as a
practical step to add women to the workforce. In September GOTEVOT
reported it opened a number of colleges for women in the country.
Approximately 80 percent of all working citizens worked directly
for the Government. Indirectly, nearly all citizens worked for the
Government in one way or another if those working for parastatals, such
as Saudi Arabian Airlines and Saudi Aramco, were included. According to
the Government, citizen workers accounted for only 12 percent, less
than 800,000 of the approximately 6.76 million persons employed in the
private sector; foreign nationals held the remaining 88 percent of the
jobs (see section 6.b.).
Labor regulations require employers to protect most workers from
job-related hazards and disease. However, foreign nationals reported
frequent failures to enforce health and safety standards. Farmers,
herdsmen, domestic servants, and workers in family-operated businesses
were not covered by these regulations.
Foreign nationals who have been recruited abroad have, after their
arrival in the country, been presented with work contracts that
specified lower wages and fewer benefits than originally promised.
Other foreign workers have signed contracts in their home countries and
later were pressured to sign less favorable contracts upon arrival.
Some employees reported that, at the end of their contract service,
their employers refused to grant permission to allow them to return
home. Recognizing this issue, the authorities have created a booklet on
foreign workers' rights that was distributed at ports of entry and
foreign embassies in the country.
The labor laws, including those designed to limit working hours and
regulate working conditions, did not apply to foreign domestic
servants, who may not seek the protection of the labor courts. However,
the bilateral labor agreements stipulate work conditions which provide
for one day of rest per week. There were credible reports that female
domestic servants were sometimes forced to work 16 to 20 hours per day,
seven days per week. There were numerous confirmed reports of maids
fleeing employers and seeking refuge in their embassies or consulates
(see section 5). Foreign embassies continued to receive reports of
employers abusing domestic servants. Such abuse included withholding of
food, beatings, other physical abuse, and rape (see section 5).
The Government has established welfare shelters to house female
domestic servants who flee their place of work. The Government offered
arbitration between the worker and employer and investigated
allegations of abuse. Allegations were either settled in court or
through negotiation.
The campaign to remove illegal immigrants from the country did
little to reduce unemployment or to increase the number of jobs held by
citizens. Illegal immigrants worked in positions that most citizens
considered unworthy. The Government carried out the campaign to remove
the illegal aliens by widely publicizing its enforcement of existing
laws against both the illegal aliens and the citizens employing or
sponsoring them.
The expeditious repatriation of some illegal immigrants and the
legalization of others improved overall working conditions for legally
employed foreigners. Illegal immigrants generally were willing to
accept lower salaries and fewer benefits than legally employed
immigrants. The departure or legalization of illegal workers reduced
the competition for certain jobs and thereby reduced the incentive for
legal immigrants to accept lower wages and fewer benefits. Furthermore,
their departure or legalization removed a large portion of the class of
workers most vulnerable to abuse and exploitation because of their
illegal status.
__________
SYRIA
Syria, with a population of approximately 19 million, is a republic
under the authoritarian Presidential regime of Bashar al-Asad. The
President makes key decisions with counsel from a small circle of
security advisors, his ministers, and senior members of the ruling
Ba'ath Party (Arab Socialist Resurrection). In 2000 an unopposed
referendum confirmed President al-Asad for a seven-year term. The
constitution mandates the primacy of Ba'ath party leaders in state
institutions and the parliament; party leaders influenced all three
branches of the Government. The civilian authorities maintained
effective control of the security forces, and members of the security
forces committed numerous, serious human rights abuses.
The Government's human rights record remained poor, and it
continued to commit serious abuses. There were significant limitations
on citizens' rights to change their government. In a climate of
impunity, there were instances of arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of
life, and members of the security forces tortured and physically abused
prisoners and detainees. Security forces arbitrarily arrested and
detained individuals, while lengthy pretrial and incommunicado
detention remained serious problems. Beginning in April 2005 and
continuing throughout the following year, the Government increasingly
violated citizens' privacy rights and stepped-up already significant
restrictions on freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association
amidst an atmosphere of government corruption and lack of transparency.
Violence and societal discrimination continued against women. The
Government discriminated against minorities, particularly the Kurds,
and severely restricted 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.--During the year
there were reports of arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life.
According to local human rights groups, one person died in detention
following torture or mistreatment by security services during the year.
On April 24, a local human rights organization reported on the death of
Muhammed Shaher Haysa as a result of a heart attack while detained. His
body, which was handed over to his family in April, bore evidence of
earlier torture during the months of his imprisonment for allegedly
belonging to the banned ``Jund al-Sham'' Islamist organization (see
section 1.c.).
Press reports indicated that a Syrian Kurd, Muhammed Oso Ali,
reportedly died in March as a result of an untreated case of asthma.
Ali was completing his mandatory service in the armed forces in the
village of Khirbit Shahab at his time of death. On March 30, his family
received his body, which displayed evidence of torture prior to his
death (see section 1.c.).
Authorities failed to conduct independent investigations into these
deaths by year's end.
In March, June, September, and December, Chief Investigator for the
UN International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC) Serge
Brammertz issued interim reports to the UN secretary-general of the
still ongoing investigation into the February 2005 Beirut assassination
of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri and 22 other
individuals. In October 2005, the first interim report concluded that
evidence pointed toward the involvement of Syrian authorities in the
assassination of al-Hariri. The December 2005 report stated that the
ongoing investigation reinforced the conclusions of the October report
and requested a six-month extension, noting Syrian authorities'
``reluctance and procrastination'' and citing its attempt to ``hinder
the investigation internally and procedurally.'' The March, June,
September, and December reports described general satisfactory
cooperation from Syrian authorities into the investigation, neither
concluding nor ruling out their possible involvement.
In 2005 according to human rights organizations, four persons died
in detention due to security service torture or mistreatment.
Authorities failed to conduct independent investigations into these
cases by year's end.
Authorities also failed to investigate and publish findings in the
following cases from 2004. International and domestic human rights
organizations reported that 13 citizens died in detention due to
torture or mistreatment by the security services. Six of the 13 were
reportedly Kurdish men in the military who died under suspicious
circumstances. Additionally, in March 2004 five died in detention after
Kurdish riots.
During the year the Government did not bring charges against an
off-duty Sunni military officer and his brother for the 2004 killing of
two Assyrian Christians in Hassakeh Province. There were also no
hearings in the civil case against the police and the Ministry of
Interior (MOI) on behalf of Firas Abdallah, who died in police custody
in 2004 in Damascus as a result of beatings.
b. Disappearance.--There were reports of politically motivated
disappearances during the year.
Since his 2004 arrest, Kamal al-Bittar, a Palestinian, has
vanished, according to a February report of a local human rights
organization.
On April 19, security forces in Aleppo arrested the following
citizens: Jihan Muhammed Ali, Adnan Khalil Racheed, Waheed Jihad
Moustafa, and Fawzi Ali Kahwa. Their whereabouts and reasons for arrest
were unknown at year's end, according to human rights organizations.
On May 11, security officials arrested eight Ahwazi Iranians (see
section 1.d.), five of whom were deported and believed to be held in
Iran at year's end, according to international human rights
organizations.
On August 10, writer and English teacher Ali Sayed al-Shihabi
initially disappeared after responding to a summons for a meeting in
Damascus with state security agents. According to international human
rights groups, although he has not been charged with any offence, al-
Shihabi's disappearance may be linked to his publication on political
and social issues. Al-Shihabi was reportedly also detained between 1982
and 1991 for his membership in the banned Party for Communist Action,
which he has since left. On December 30, despite his disappearance, Al-
Shihabi was pardoned as part of the year-end amnesty; however, he
remained detained at an unknown location at year's end.
On November 6, a local human rights organization reported the
September 4 disappearance on his return to the country of Osama
Muhammed Ali al-Ello, a citizen who resided with his family in the
United Arab Emirates. At year's end his whereabouts remained unknown.
The Government did not punish any members of the security forces
for their roles in abductions and disappearances.
The Government continued to withhold new information on the welfare
and whereabouts of persons who have disappeared; little is known other
than the approximate date of their disappearance. A local human rights
organization recorded at least three thousand disappearance cases in
the country of Syrians and Palestinians since the late 1970s, and
estimated that the actual number may be several thousands more.
The Government has a long history of persons who disappeared and
were believed to have died or to be in long-term detention (see section
1.e.).
In 1999 the Government claimed it had released all Palestinian,
Jordanian, and Lebanese citizens reportedly abducted from Lebanon
during and after its civil war (1975-91). According to Human Rights
Watch (HRW), an estimated 17,000 Lebanese citizens and stateless
Palestinians were ``disappeared'' by security forces in the early 1990s
alone. Various nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and family members
of those who allegedly remained in prison continued to dispute the
Government's claim that all abductees had been released (see section
1.d.).
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and the penal code
provides punishment for abusers. Under article 28 of the constitution,
``no one may be tortured physically or mentally or treated in a
humiliating manner.'' However, security forces continued to use torture
frequently.
In recent years local human rights organizations have cited
numerous cases of security forces allegedly abusing and torturing
prisoners, including 49 Kurds who went on trial during the year in a
Damascus military court for their involvement in a June 2005
demonstration in the Hassakeh Province (see section 5). Torture and
abuse of detainees was also reportedly common.
Former prisoners, detainees, and reputable local human rights
groups reported that methods of torture and abuse included electrical
shocks; pulling out fingernails; burning genitalia; forcing objects
into the rectum; beating, sometimes while the victim was suspended from
the ceiling; alternately dousing victims with freezing water and
beating them in extremely cold rooms; hyperextending the spine; bending
the detainees into the frame of a wheel and whipping exposed body
parts; and using a backward-bending chair to asphyxiate the victim or
fracture the victim's spine. Amnesty International (AI) asserts that it
has documented 38 types of torture and ill-treatment used against
detainees in the country. Torture was most likely to occur while
detainees were held at one of the many detention centers operated by
the various security services throughout the country, particularly
while authorities attempted to extract a confession or information.
On April 24, a local human rights group reported that the body of
Muhammed Shaher Haysa, handed over to his family at the military
hospital in Harasta, Damascus, showed evidence of torture (see section
1.a.).
On August 8, according to local human rights groups, a 40 year-old
detained Kurdish woman activist, Naimah Abdu Bint Muhammed, was taken
to a military hospital after allegedly being subjected to severe
torture. She remained detained at year's end.
On October 12, according to press reports, three Canadian citizens
suspected of al-Qa'ida links reported upon their return to Canada that
they were tortured by Syrian authorities and that foreign security
officials had supplied authorities with intelligence and questions to
pose while they were detained in the country. Ahmad al-Maati, Abdullah
al-Malki, and Muayyed Nureddin, Canadian citizens born in Kuwait,
Syria, and Iraq, respectively, were detained by military intelligence
officers during their trips to the country from 2001 to 2004. All three
men were reportedly released without charges between January and March
2004.
On April 26, The Daily Star of Lebanon reported that a French man
of Lebanese origin who was detained in September 2005 at the Syrian-
Lebanese border by Syrian authorities and later transferred to
Detention Center 235 (Palestinian Branch), continued his lawsuit in a
French court against Syrian authorities for exposure to torture and
``savagery.'' The man, identified in press articles as Charles F., was
held for 10 days, during which he was reportedly beaten with electrical
cables, kicked, and forced to watch other prisoners being tortured.
Past victims of torture have identified the officials who tortured
them as up to the level of brigadier general. In past years when
allegations of excessive force or physical abuse were made in court,
the plaintiff was instructed to raise the matter in a separate civil
suit against the alleged abuser. However, no action was taken against
the accused. There were no confirmed cases or new allegations during
the year. Courts did not order medical examinations for defendants who
claimed that they were tortured (see section 1.e.).
Police beat and mistreated detainees during the year. In May,
security forces reportedly beat human rights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni,
Atassi Forum member Mahmoud Mahfouz, and activist Nidal Darwish during
questioning at investigatory branches, following their arrest for
signing the Damascus-Beirut Declaration (see section 1.d.). In
addition, Ali Abdullah, a signatory of the Damascus-Beirut Declaration,
was also beaten by security forces.
In March 2005 Safwat Abdallah died following a police beating in
Lattakia. In November 2005 human rights activist Dr. Kamal al-Labwani
reported to other human rights observers that he had been struck four
times by a security official while in political security custody and
had not been given food for four days. Dr. Labwani was detained earlier
that same month by authorities at Damascus International Airport
following a three month-long trip abroad (see section 1.d.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally were poor and did not meet international standards for health
and sanitation. At some prisons security officials demanded bribes from
family members. Overcrowding and the denial of food remained problems
at several prisons.
According to local and international human rights organizations,
prisoners and detainees were held without adequate medical care, and
some prisoners with significant health problems reportedly were denied
medical treatment. Throughout the year, local and international human
rights organizations highlighted the case of political prisoner Arif
Dalila, arrested in 2001 as part of the Damascus Spring crackdown, who
suffered from a heart condition that required surgical treatment. Some
former detainees reported that the Government denied political
prisoners access to reading materials, including the Koran.
There were separate detention facilities for men, women, and
children; several reports cited minors being held in adult facilities.
Pretrial detainees, particularly those held for political or security
reasons, were usually held separately from convicted prisoners.
However, according to local human rights organizations, political
prisoners were sometimes deliberately placed in crowded cells with
convicted and alleged felons and subjected to verbal and physical
threats. The Government failed to provide adequate security for
prisoners and detainees during the year. For example, in May there were
reports that other prisoners beat political prisoner Fateh Jammous (see
section 1.d.), and that prison officials failed to move Jammous to
another cell. Additionally, on November 1, according to local human
rights activists, another prisoner attacked opposition leader Kamal al-
Labwani (see section 1.e.) in his cell. During his November trial
hearing, Labwani reported on the beatings carried out by inmates and
instigated by the authorities.
Facilities for political or national security prisoners generally
were worse than those for common criminals. Released political
detainees confirmed reports of poor prison conditions, including
overcrowded cells and a shortage of beds. For example, a December 2005
AI report indicated that Syrian-born German national Muhammad Haydar
Zammar (see section 1.b.) may have spent almost three years in solitary
confinement at the Palestine Branch of Military Intelligence. He was
reportedly detained in a small underground cell which hindered his
ability to lie down or stand up.
The Government prohibited any independent monitoring of prison or
detention center conditions and publishing of any materials on prison
or detention center conditions; however, diplomatic and consular
officials were granted access in some cases during the year. In almost
all cases during the year, the Government neglected to inform
diplomatic missions when their citizens were arrested.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, in practice these activities
persisted and remained significant problems.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The role of the
security services extends far beyond necessary security matters due to
a state of emergency, which has been in place since 1963. The
Government justifies the ongoing Emergency Law on the basis of its
conflict with Israel and threats from terrorist groups. Syrian Military
Intelligence (SMI) and Air Force Intelligence are military agencies;
the MOI exercises nominal control over general security, state
security, and political security.
The MOI controlled the police forces, which consist of four
separate divisions: emergency police, traffic police, neighborhood
police, and riot police.
There are four major branches of security forces--Syrian Military
Intelligence, Political Security Directorate (PSD), General
Intelligence Directorate (GID), and Syrian Air Force Intelligence
(SAFI)--all of which devote some of their overlapping resources to
monitoring internal dissent and individual citizens. The four branches
operate independently and generally outside of the control of the legal
system.
Corruption continued to be a serious problem throughout the police
forces and security services. Human rights lawyers and family members
of detainees cited solicitation of bribes for favorable decisions and
provision of basic services by government officials throughout the
legal process in both courts and prisons. Traffic police officers
regularly solicited bribes from drivers.
Arrest and Detention.--Upon arrest, an individual is brought to a
police station for processing and detained until a trial date is set.
At the initial court hearing, which may be months or years after
arrest, the accused may retain an attorney at personal expense or be
assigned a court-appointed attorney. The individual is then tried in a
court, where a judge renders a verdict (see section 1.e.). While the
prison code provides for prompt access to family members, human rights
organizations and families reported inconsistent application of the
code, with reports of some families waiting up to a year for access to
relatives.
The 1963 Emergency Law authorizes the Government to conduct
preventive arrests and overrides constitutional and penal code
provisions against arbitrary arrest and detention, including the need
to obtain warrants. In cases involving political or national security
offenses, arrests were often carried out in secret with cases assigned
in a seemingly arbitrary manner to military, security or criminal court
personnel. Suspects were detained incommunicado for prolonged periods
without charge or trial and denied the right to a judicial
determination regarding pretrial detention. Human rights organizations
reported that many detainees were not informed of charges against them
until their arraignment, which often was months after their arrest.
Additionally, those suspected of political or national security
offenses were arrested and prosecuted under ambiguous and broad
articles of the penal code and subsequently tried in either the
criminal or security courts.
There were reliable reports that the Government did not notify
foreign governments when their citizens were arrested or detained, or
did so only after the person was released or deported. For example, in
the case of an Iranian Ahwazi refugee with Dutch nationality (see
section 2.d.), the Government informed his embassy of his deportation
in August, three months after he was deported to Iran.
Detainees have no legal redress for false arrest. The authorities
detained those critical of the Government under the Emergency Law and
charged them with treason.
In cases before regular courts, judges render verdicts. There are
no juries, and lawyers were not ensured access to their clients before
trial (see section 1.e.).
Defendants in civil and criminal trials have the right to bail
hearings and possible release from detention on their own recognizance.
However, this right was not applied consistently throughout the legal
system. On September 5, a higher court granted an appeal for bail for
Muhammed Mahfouz, who was detained earlier in the year with several
other activists for having signed a document called the Damascus-Beirut
Declaration calling for reconciliation between Syria and Lebanon. Later
in September, three others arrested at the same time were granted bail.
In October, two other activists who faced similar charges were denied
bail.
Unlike defendants in regular criminal and civil cases, security
detainees did not have access to lawyers prior to or during
questioning, as well as throughout the preparation and presentation of
their defense.
Incommunicado detention was a severe problem. Many persons who
disappeared in past years were believed to be in long-term detention
without charge or possibly to have died in detention (see section
1.b.). Many detainees brought to trial were held incommunicado for
years, and their trials often were marked by irregularities and lack of
due process. Arrest and search warrants were issued only for
nonsecurity related cases; however, police bypassed this requirement in
many instances by claiming security or emergency grounds for entry.
Many criminal suspects were held in pretrial detention for months and
may have had their trials extended for additional months. Protracted
court proceedings were caused by a shortage of available courts and the
absence of legal provisions for a speedy trial or plea bargaining (see
section 1.e.).
During the year human rights organizations estimated that security
forces increased arrests for alleged ties to radical Islam. For
example, on April 19, 20 men were arrested in the city of Dara'a on
allegations that they belonged to the Islamist group, Hezb al-Tahrir.
On April 21, three other men were arrested on similar charges upon
their return from Lebanon. In June following an attack on the Radio and
Television Building in Damascus, the Government publicly stated the
perpetrators were from an extremist Islamic group. Security forces
subsequently arrested scores of persons with alleged links to the
assailants, according to local human rights groups. The number of such
arrests in 2005 ranged from 80 documented arrests to as high as 500.
During 2004, security forces conducted mass arrests of suspected
Islamists in Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, Hayaleen, and Qatana (see section
1.c.). At year's end the suspected Islamists are being held at Sednaya
prison and are being tried in front of the Supreme State Security Court
(SSSC).
Arbitrary arrest and detention was a severe problem. Laws, which
human rights groups considered arbitrary and unjust, criminalized
membership and activity in organizations the Government deemed illegal.
As a result, during the year security forces arrested scores of persons
with links to local human rights groups; pro-democracy student groups;
minorities, particularly Kurds; members of the Muslim Brotherhood; and
suspected Islamic extremists.
During the year the Government continued its sustained crackdown on
civil society and human rights activists. For example, on January 14,
security forces arrested Aleppo City Council employee Fahd Da'doush and
reportedly transferred him to Damascus on unknown charges, according to
media and eyewitness reports.
On January 22, security forces released Ahmet Muhammad Ibrahim, who
was arrested in March 2005 following his return from Turkey, where he
was acquitted of membership in Kongra Gel (formerly known as the PKK).
On February 14, Muhammed Najati Tayara was arrested on the Syria
side of the border with Jordan for unknown reasons. His detention,
similar to the February 14 detention of former member of parliament
(MP) Mamoun al-Homsi and the February 15 detention of former MP Riad
Seif, occurred during the February 12-16 Damascus visit of Frej
Fenniche, Acting Representative for the Arab Region of the UN's High
Commissioner for Human Rights. Tayara was subsequently detained again
on March 22 and released by the General Intelligence Directorate (GID)
on March 25.
On March 5, PSD agents arrested and detained for four days Muhammed
Riad ad-Drar, the son of jailed civil society activist Riad Hammoud ad-
Drar, in front of the SSSC. He was distributing leaflets calling for
his father's release at the time of his arrest.
On March 12, former MP Riad Seif was arrested at a vigil to
commemorate the March 2004 clashes between Kurds and security forces in
Qamishli in northeastern Syria (see section 5). Seif was later released
the same day without charges. Also arrested at the vigil were Zubeir
Abdulrahman Rajab and Mahmoud Muhammed Ali who were detained for 20
days before being charged in Damascus Military Court for causing a
riot; they were released on bail. Zubeir Abdulrahman Rajab was granted
amnesty on December 30, while the trial of Mahmoud Muhammed Ali
continued at year's end.
On March 12, Dr. Ammar Qurabi, spokesman for the Syria-based Arab
Human Rights Organization, was arrested upon his return to the country
after a two-month foreign trip. He was held for four days before being
released with no charges. On March 26, he was again arrested and
detained for 24 hours.
On March 25, SMI agents arrested and detained for two days without
charge Aleppo-based Syrian Free National Party founder and Damascus
Declaration signatory Samir Nashar. Nashar was prevented from traveling
abroad in February, according to international human rights groups.
In March Abd al-Jabbar Ahmed Al-Alaawi and his family were arrested
after his arrival to the Syrian border from Iraq. His family members
were released on bail; however, at year's end, he remained in detention
at an unknown location, according to local human rights groups.
On April 2, authorities sentenced Abdul Sattar Qattan to death,
commuted to 12 years in prison, for his alleged membership with the
Muslim Brotherhood. The military intelligence branch in Aleppo arrested
Qatan in 2004 for his alleged involvement with members of the Muslim
Brotherhood and for distributing aid to ex-detainees.
On May 11, security forces arrested eight Ahwazi Iranians,
including recognized refugees, and held them incommunicado. An
international human rights group reported that the detainees were Sa'id
Awda al-Saki; Faleh Abdullah al-Mansouri; Rasool Mazrae; Taher Ali
Mazrae; Jamal Obeidi; Musa Suwari; Ahmad Abd al-Jaber Abiat, and Issa
Yassin al-Musawi. According to the human rights group, a few days after
the detentions, authorities deported al-Saki, who was a recognized
refugee by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), back to Iran.
Suwari, Abiat and Musawi were released several days after their
detention. In May authorities deported Dutch-national Mansouri back to
Iran. In November UNHCR officials learned that Rasool Mazrae, Taher Ali
Mazrae, and Jamal Obeidi, who are recognized by the UNHCR as refugees,
were also reportedly handed over to the Iranian authorities.
From May 14 to 18, security agents arrested 12 signatories of the
Damascus-Beirut Declaration, a petition which called for the
normalization of Syria-Lebanon relations (see section 2.b.).
On June 21, authorities released Ghiab Habab after completing his
six-month sentence. Security forces detained Ghiab in December 2005.
On August 23, security forces arrested 14 people in the province of
ar-Raqqah and Idleb for their alleged affiliation with extremist
Islamist groups. The majority were reportedly released by year's end.
On September 19, authorities released Dr. Mahmoud Sarem on bail.
Authorities arrested Sarem in September 2005 and subsequently charged
him with criticizing the Government and the President in public. His
trial at the SSSC continued at year's end.
On November 14, police arrested Murad Khaznawi, son of Sheikh
Mashook al-Khaznawi (see section 5), while on his way to Jordan with
his family. He was released the next day.
On December 13, local observers reported that security forces
arrested Fa'ik al-Meir in Lattakia. On December 20, an investigating
judge indicted Meir, a member of the central secretariat of the
People's Democratic Party in Syria, on several charges, including three
capital counts.
On December 20, military intelligence arrested Mohammed Sheikhmos
Aali (aka Sheikh Aali) in Aleppo. Aali, who is Secretary of the
Democratic Union Party and a leading figure in the Kurdish political
movement, remained in custody at year's end without charge.
On November 19, the SSSC sentenced human rights activist Nizar
Rastanawi, founding member of the Syrian branch of the Arab
Organization for Human Rights, to four years in prison for spreading
false information and defaming the President. In April 2005 security
forces arrested Rastanawi while returning to his home in Hama and
detained him incommunicado until August 2005.
There were no new developments in the 2005 arrests of the following
persons: Ammar Hussein Fakhri, Majid Bakri Suleyman, Shayish Ali al-
Tayyar, Muhammad Fayiz al-Hursh, Hazem Abdul-Kafi al-Jundi, Muhammed
Hassan Dib, Mahmoud Samaq, Yusuf Muhammed Ahmad Qarmo, Muhammed
Abdulkader al-Taweel, Ahmad Qattee', Dr. Mahmoud al-Rashid, Hayan
Abdul-Samad, and Mahmud Yusuf.
The Government continued threatening or detaining the relatives of
detainees or of fugitives to obtain confessions, minimize outside
interference, or prompt a fugitive's surrender. There were unconfirmed
reports that security personnel forced prisoners to watch relatives
being tortured to extract confessions. In 2005 human rights
organizations also reported at least three arrests of family members
and friends who had inquired to authorities about the welfare and
whereabouts of political detainees.
Amnesty.--On December 30, President al-Assad granted a limited
Presidential amnesty. The amnesty covered mostly misdemeanors such as
smuggling, military service violations, or juvenile offenses. However,
there were a small number of political prisoners pardoned--mostly those
who had been convicted of personally insulting the President, the
military, or another government institution. Political prisoners
accused of more serious and sometimes capital offenses did not receive
amnesty during the year.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, courts were regularly subject to
political influence.
The judicial system is composed of civil and criminal courts,
military courts, the SSSC, and religious courts, which adjudicate
matters of personal status such as divorce and inheritance (see section
5). The Court of Cassation is the highest court of appeal. The Supreme
Constitutional Court (SCC) rules on the constitutionality of laws and
decrees, hears special appeals regarding the validity of parliamentary
elections, and tries the President if he is accused of criminal
offenses; however, it does not hear appeals from the civil and criminal
justice system. The SCC is composed of five members who are appointed
by the President for renewable four-year terms.
Regular military courts have authority over crimes committed by
soldiers or members of other military or police branches. If the charge
against a soldier or member of the military or police branch is a
misdemeanor, the sentence against the defendant is final. If the charge
is a felony, the defendant has the right to appeal to the Military
Chamber at the Court of Cassation. Military courts also have authority
to try civilians in cases based on military law. Civilians have the
right to appeal all sentences in a military court. A military
prosecutor decides the venue for a civilian defendant. There have been
reports that the Government operated military field courts in locations
outside established courtrooms. Such courts reportedly observed fewer
formal procedures than regular military courts.
Trial Procedures.--Civil and criminal courts are organized under
the Ministry of Justice. Defendants before these courts are entitled to
legal representation of their choice; the courts appoint lawyers for
indigents. Defendants are presumed innocent, and they are allowed to
present evidence and to confront their accusers. Trials are public,
except for those involving juveniles or sex offenses. Defendants can
appeal verdicts to a provincial appeals court and ultimately to the
Court of Cassation. Appeals were often difficult to win because the
lower courts do not provide verbatim transcripts of cases--only
summaries prepared by the presiding judges. There are no juries.
Defendants and their attorneys have access to government-held evidence
relevant to their cases. However, human rights lawyers noted that the
prosecution case file, which defense lawyers were allowed to see,
frequently did not include any evidence in politically charged cases.
The law extends the above rights to all citizens in criminal cases.
However, a number of sections of family and criminal law are based on
Shari'a (Islamic law) and do not treat men and women equally.
Furthermore, a number of personal status laws utilize Shari'a
regardless of the religion of those involved in the case (see section
5).
The SSSC tries political and national security cases and operates
under the provisions of the 1963 Emergency Law. The SSSC does not
observe constitutional provisions safeguarding defendants' rights. Its
verdicts are not subject to judicial appeal. The minister of interior
may ratify, nullify, or alter SSSC rulings. The President must approve
the verdict or may cancel it and ask for a retrial. Charges against
defendants before the SSSC were usually vague. Defendants appeared to
be tried for exercising basic political rights, such as free speech.
For example, the Emergency Law authorizes the prosecution of anyone
``opposing the goals of the revolution,'' and creating ``sectarian
strife.'' The Government stated that the SSSC tries only persons who
have sought to use violence against the state, but the majority of
defendants who appeared before the SSSC were prosecuted for exercising
their political rights.
Under SSSC procedures, defendants are not present during the
preliminary or investigative phase of the trial, during which the
prosecutor presents evidence. Trials took place before three judges and
usually were closed to the public. Lawyers were not ensured access to
their clients before the trial and were excluded from the court during
their client's initial interrogation by the prosecutor. Lawyers
submitted written defense pleas rather than making oral presentations.
Unlike in the past, no defense lawyers defending human rights cases
were suspended from the bar during the year. The SSSC presiding judge
continued his courtroom ban of a lawyer (in effect since November 2005)
for arguing with him during a hearing of a number of other Islamists.
Human rights organizations estimated that hundreds of cases are
tried by the SSSC annually. The majority of cases involved charges
relating to membership in various banned political groups, including
religious parties such as the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic
Liberation Party, as well as the Party of Communist Action, and Syrian
Kurdish parties. Sentences up to 15 years have been imposed in the
past.
On November 14, the National Organization for Human Rights reported
that the SSSC sentenced Ali Ahmad Eid to nine years in prison; Hikmat
Abdul Aal and Khaled Hammami to seven years; and Ahmad Harraniah, Abdul
Mouti Kilani, Samer Abul Kheir and Naim Mrouweh to six years. All
defendants were found guilty of ``affiliation with a fundamentalist
extremist group'' and were from the Outaiba region.
Human rights NGOs were not permitted to visit the SSSC; however,
local lawyers affiliated with local human rights NGOs acted as defense
counsel in some cases (see section 4). Diplomatic observers were
granted access to the weekly SSSC sessions in Damascus throughout the
year.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The number of political
prisoners and detainees was unclear. Human rights activists estimated
that the number of prisoners and detainees during the year had not
changed significantly since the previous year. In 2005 they estimated
that there were at least 325 in Sednaya prison, approximately 150 in
Adraa prison, and possibly up to several hundred to 1,000 additional
political prisoners and detainees in other prisons, security service
detention facilities, or other secret detention facilities throughout
the country. Human rights activists were unable to provide any firm
estimates on these additional prisoners. The Government did not permit
regular access to political prisoners or detainees by local or
international humanitarian organizations. Human rights groups reported
that many political prisoners serving long-term sentences remained in
prison, after the expiration of their sentences.
There also were Jordanian, Lebanese, Iraqi and Palestinian
political prisoners and detainees. Estimates of their numbers were
difficult to confirm because different branches of the security
services, which maintained their own incarceration facilities, held
significant numbers, and there was no centralized tracking system.
Detainees were frequently held for extended periods of time without
trial and without information provided to their families. Estimates
were also difficult to confirm because the Government did not verify
publicly the number of detentions without charge, the release of
detainees or amnestied prisoners, or the subsequent sentencing of
detainees to prison. In 2005 a number of human rights organizations
estimated that there were between 25 and 250 remaining Lebanese
prisoners in the country.
Former prisoners were subject to a so-called ``rights ban,'' which
lasts from the day of sentencing until seven years after the expiration
of the sentence in the case of felony and three years in the case of
misdemeanor convictions. Persons subjected to this ban were not allowed
to vote, run for office, or work in the public sector; they were also
oftentimes denied passports. In practice, restrictions sometimes
continued beyond that period.
Since March 18, according to an international human rights
organization, Omar al-Abdullah, the son of human rights activist Ali
al-Abdullah, remained in incommunicado detention in Sednaya prison.
Abdullah was held with seven other men arrested between January 26 and
March 18, apparently for their involvement in a political youth
movement.
On March 23, Ali al-Abdullah, human rights activist and member of
the Jamal al-Atassi Forum (a predominantly secular group encouraging
dialogue among political parties and civil society to promote reform),
and his other son, Muhammad, disappeared and were held incommunicado
for more than a month before officials acknowledged their detention in
April in connection with their weekly presence outside SSSC
proceedings. On October 4, a military court judge convicted the
Abdullahs of spreading lies about the country in articles and
interviews. The Abdullahs were sentenced to six months in prison and
fined $20 (1,000 pounds) each. Ali al-Abdullah was last arrested in May
2005 after reading a statement from exiled Muslim Brother leader Saad
al-Din al-Bayanouni at a forum meeting earlier that month. Muhammed was
last arrested in July 2005. He was convicted in September 2005 for
defaming the homeland and was sentenced to 10 days in prison.
On April 29, the criminal court indicted prominent opposition
activist Dr. Kamal al-Labwani for having contact with a foreign power
and encouraging the foreign power to invade the country. In November
2005 Authorities arrested Dr. al-Labwani upon his arrival in Damascus
following a three month-long trip abroad. At year's end, he remained
incarcerated in a cell with non-political prisoners at Adra prison.
On April 2, the SSSC sentenced civil rights activist Sheikh Riyad
Drar al-Hamood to five years in prison for degrading national pride in
a time of war, inciting conflict among the country's various religious
and ethnic groups, and forming a secret society (see section 5).
The SSSC sentenced Muhammad Osama Sayes on June 25, and Abdulrahman
al-Musa on June 27, to death, later reduced to 12 years' imprisonment,
for their alleged affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood. Sayes and
al-Musa were arrested in January and May 2005 respectively upon their
return to the country.
Since 2001 according to an international human rights group,
Syrian-born German national Muhammad Haydar Zammar has reportedly been
held in incommunicado detention in Damascus. In 2004 authorities
allegedly transferred Zammar to the Sednaya prison on the outskirts of
Damascus, after being detained for approximately three years in
solitary confinement in a tiny underground cell at the Palestine Branch
of Military Intelligence. According to the human rights group, Zammar
was arrested in Morocco in 2001, reportedly for his alleged links to
al-Qa'ida, and then transferred to the country.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law provides for an
independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters; however, in
practice, the courts are neither independent nor impartial. According
to observers, approximately 95 percent of the judges are either
Ba'athists or closely aligned to the Ba'ath party and therefore not
independent of the Ba'athist regime.
Property Restitution.--According to the law, property can be
appropriated by the municipality for the public good. Compensation
usually is paid; however, many individuals reported that the
restitution was not fair. While individuals have the legal right to sue
the municipality for a more proper compensation, only a few win such
cases.
Security forces have seized property and personal items of
individuals they have arrested. These materials and property are not
appropriated, confiscated, or catalogued in accordance with the law.
However, they are considered in custody and individuals theoretically
have the right in time to retrieve them.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions; however, the Emergency
Law authorizes security services to enter homes and conduct searches
without warrants if broadly defined security matters are involved. The
security services selectively monitored telephone conversations and fax
transmissions. The Government opened mail addressed to both citizens
and foreign residents. The Government routinely monitored Internet
communications, including e-mail, and blocked access to some Web sites
(see section 2.a.).
The Government failed to permit new political parties or to license
politically based nongovernmental organizations (see section 3). In
practice, however, some political parties are illegal but tolerated by
the Government, such as the Communist Union Movement. Additionally,
there are illegal parties, such as the Communist Action Party, the
People's Party, and the Arab Social Union, that suffer harassment but
not automatic arrest for membership. The Government forbids membership
in Islamist parties, and members of Islamist parties are subject to
immediate arrest.
The Government detained relatives of detainees or of fugitives to
obtain confessions or the fugitive's surrender (see section 1.d.).
The Government and the Ba'ath Party monitored and attempted to
restrict some citizens' visits to foreign embassies and participation
in cultural activities. For example, on September 7, a number of
citizens were warned by the security services not to attend a reception
at a diplomatic mission. During the year the Government began requiring
foreign embassies to notify the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of
any travel within the country.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and the press; however, the Government significantly
restricted these rights in practice, relying when necessary on
Emergency Law provisions that suspend such rights and supersede
constitutional practices. The Government strictly controlled the
dissemination of information and prohibited criticism of the Government
and discussion of sectarian issues including religious and ethnic
minority rights. There were detentions and beatings for individual
expressions of opinion that violated these restrictions including,
among others, the February 7 arrest of journalist Adel Mahfouz after he
called for interfaith dialogue following the controversy surrounding
the depiction of the Prophet Muhammed in cartoons. On March 12, Mahfouz
was released but faced charges in criminal court at year's end.
On March 2, military intelligence agents detained Sha'ban Abboud,
correspondent for Lebanese daily An-Nahhar and the Kuwaiti daily Al-
Ra'i al-Aam, for four days after publishing a list of appointments and
transfers of heads of security branches. At year's end, Abboud
continued to await trial on charges of ``publishing mendacious reports
harmful to national security.''
On April 19, 87-year old Muooteei Mansour and Muhammed Salih were
arrested after distributing a flyer criticizing the Government. Both
Mansour and Salih were released by year's end.
On May 25, prominent human rights activist Haithem al-Maleh was
convicted of insulting the army and insulting court officers and was
sentenced to 10 days imprisonment based on Maleh's age and his
profession as a lawyer. The Presidential amnesty pardoned Maleh at
year's end while the case was still in the appeals process.
During the year the military court continued to try Hasan Zeino,
who was charged with ``possession of publications of a prohibited
organization.'' On December 3, the Military Court in Homs sentenced
Zeino to one-and-a-half months in prison. Authorities detained Zeino
between July and August 2005 for carrying copies of a newsletter from
the unlicensed opposition umbrella group National Democratic Front. On
December 30, Zeino was pardoned as part of the Presidential amnesty.
On July 4, Bassam Badra was arrested and charged three weeks later
in the Military Court with infringing on the dignity of the state and
demeaning the head of state, which is punishable by up to six months in
prison, according to local human rights organizations. On September 25,
authorities dropped the first charge against Badra and granted a
request for bail.
On December 30, opposition figure Hassan Abdul Azeem was pardoned
as part of the Presidential amnesty. In December 2005 Azeem was charged
by the Damascus Military Court with publication of material by an
illegal organization.
The Government threatened activists in an attempt to control
behavior. On June 21, an international human rights observer reported
that on June 14, Prime Minister Muhammad Naji al-'Otri dismissed 17
state employees working in various government ministries without
explanation but reportedly because of their links to the Damascus-
Beirut Declaration (see section 1.d.). According to observers, those
who were dismissed signed a petition in support of the Damascus-Beirut
Declaration after the arrests of many prominent opposition members
occurred. The dismissed employees were Suheil Abu Fakhr, Essam Mahmoud,
Fou'ad al-Bunni, Kamal al-Dabbas, Marwan Hamza, Nabil Abu Sa'ad and
Haytham Sa'ab (Ministry of Education); Fadhl Hijaz and Lina Wafa'I
(Local Affairs Ministry); Selma Kerkoutli and Nadher Nasr (Information
Ministry); Kamal Bel'ous (Finance Ministry); Ghaleb Tarbeh (Electricity
Ministry); Essam Abu Sa'id (Ministry of Agriculture); Munir Shahoud
(Ministry of Higher Education); Dr. Niqola Ghenoum (Ministry of
Health); and Sulayman Shemr (Oil Ministry).
Journalists and writers practiced self-censorship. In May 2005 a
number of civil society activists created the first independent media
watchdog group called Hurriyat, although it was not active. The goal of
the group was to liberalize the media and end government censorship of
the press. Despite the 2004 MOI decision to recommend the licensing of
an independent association of journalists, at year's end, no license
had been issued (see section 2.b.).
A number of quasi-independent periodicals, usually owned and
operated by figures with government connections, were published during
the year, including the National Progressive Front's (NPF) Communist
party newspaper The People's Voice; the NPF's Socialist Union party's
private newspaper The Unionist; a private weekly newspaper, Black and
White; and The Economist (Al-Iktissad), which was sometimes critical of
government economic performance.
In April the Government warned the financial magazine Al-Mal that
its license would be revoked if it continued printing articles critical
of the Government.
The print and electronic media were critical at times of the Ba'ath
Party and government performance. They reported openly on a range of
social and economic issues. For instance, in November government-owned
Al-Thawra published a series of articles criticizing the economic
performance of the Government, highlighting corruption in the
subsidized rice and sugar supplies. Some Damascus-based correspondents
for regional Arab media were able to file reports on internal political
issues, such as rumored governmental changes, new political discussion
groups, and the possible introduction of new parties to the NPF.
During the year the first two private political dailies were
licensed to publish from the Damascus Duty Free Zone. The first,
Baladna (Our Country), owned by the son of the former chief of State
Security Branch, started publication in August. The second, Al-Watan
(The Homeland), started publication in November under the auspices of
Al-Iktissadiyya magazine.
The media covered some Israeli-Palestinian developments factually,
but others were reported selectively to support official views.
Foreign-owned and foreign-published newspapers continued to circulate
relatively freely during the year. However, during the July-August
conflict involving Israel and Lebanon, the Government banned the
importation of some issues of the pan-Arabic Al-Hayat and Al-Sharq Al-
Awsat.
The Government or the Ba'ath Party owned and operated radio and
television companies and most of the newspaper publishing houses. The
Ministry of Information closely monitored radio and television news
programs to ensure adherence to government policies. The Government did
not interfere with broadcasts from abroad. Satellite dishes were widely
used and available.
Emergency Law and penal code articles dealing with crimes against
state security allowed the Government broad discretion to determine
what constitutes illegal expression. The Emergency Law prohibits
publication of ``false information'' that opposes ``the goals of the
revolution'' (see section 1.e.), essentially ensuring that only a
Ba'athist view is permitted to circulate via the local media. Penal
code articles prohibit acts or speech inciting confessionalism.
The 2001 Publications Law permits the reestablishment of
publications that were circulated prior to 1963 and establishes a
framework in which the NPF, as well as other approved private
individuals and organizations, are permitted to publish their own
newspapers. However, the law also stipulates imprisonment and stiff
financial penalties as part of broad, vague provisions prohibiting the
publication of ``inaccurate'' information, particularly if it ``causes
public unrest, disturbs international relations, violates the dignity
of the state or national unity, affects the morale of the armed forces,
or inflicts harm on the national economy and the safety of the monetary
system.'' Persons found guilty of publishing such information are
subject to prison terms ranging from one to three years and fines
ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 (500,000 to 1 million pounds). The
amendments to the Publications Law also impose strict punishments for
reporters who do not reveal their government sources in response to
government requests.
Security forces continued to arbitrarily arrest and detain a number
of persons with views critical of the Government (see section 1.d.).
As in previous years, government forces harassed regionally-based
journalists who reported information critical of the state. Harassment
included banning or hindering journalists from reentering the country
and failing to respond to requests for accreditation.
On March 12, authorities released journalist Adel Mahfoudh after
being detained in mid-February for calling for interfaith dialogue in
the wake of the Prophet Muhammed cartoon controversy. Mafoudh was
reportedly arrested again on May 17 and then released on bail in
September. There were no indications that he was charged with any
offense before being released in September. At year's end Mafoudh was
out of prison but his whereabouts were unknown.
In June a Palestinian-born Swedish-citizen journalist was arrested
upon his arrival at Damascus airport, for allegedly insulting the
Syrian state 10 years ago when he interviewed an asylum-seeking Syrian
for Swedish public television. The journalist was reportedly accused of
deceiving the interviewee. The journalist was released later the same
month.
On September 25, police arrested Muhammed Khaled Ghandou for
publishing an article titled ``Will Citizens be Threatened if They Seek
Justice'' in a private, bi-weekly magazine. Ghandou remained detained
at year's end.
The Ministry of Information continued to deny permission to publish
Al-Ousboua Al-Iktissadi, a business weekly; and Al-Riyadiya Wa Al-
Chabab, a new magazine for young sports fans.
The Government prohibited all Kurdish language publications and
arrested journalists who wrote in favor of greater Kurdish rights. The
Government prohibited the publication of books and other materials in
Kurdish; however, there were credible reports that Kurdish language
materials were available in the country (see section 5).
On July 23, authorities released journalist and student Masoud
Hamid after serving three years of a five-year sentence. Hamid was
arrested in 2003 for posting a picture of the June 2003 Kurdish United
Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) protest on a banned website and
sentenced by the SSSC to prison in October 2004.
The Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Culture and
National Guidance (MCNG) censored domestic and imported foreign press.
Publication or distribution of any material deemed by security
officials as threatening or embarrassing to high levels of the
Government was prohibited. Censorship usually was greater for materials
in Arabic.
The MCNG also censored fiction and nonfiction works, including
films. It exercised the right of approval over films shown at cultural
centers operated by foreign embassies. On October 29, authorities
officially informed documentary director Omar Amiralai that his travel
ban, imposed on September 19, had been lifted. On September 18,
authorities detained Amiralai at the Jordanian border, interrogated him
for 13 hours, and then barred him from traveling to Jordan to work on
his latest film, according to media reports quoting local human rights
activists. Amiralai said that security officials questioned him at
length about the recent broadcasting on the Al-Arabiyyeh satellite
channel of his 2004 documentary film ``A Flood in Ba'ath Country,''
which indirectly criticizes Ba'ath Party principles.
Internet Freedom.--The Government relied on its press and
publications laws, the penal code, and the Emergency Law to censor
access to the Internet. The Government blocked access to Internet sites
that contained or Web-based email that transmitted information deemed
politically sensitive. The Government banned access to foreign-based
Web sites of unlicensed opposition parties and to news Web sites
published in the country that were critical of the Government (see
section 1.f.). Several news Web sites not overtly critical of the
Government remained accessible.
On March 31, security officials arrested author and Web site editor
Muhammed Ghanem. His online news Web site, Surion.org, was shut down by
authorities shortly after his arrest. On June 6, Ghanem was convicted
of insulting the President, weakening the country's dignity during a
time of war, and inciting sectarian feuds. Ghanem was sentenced to one
year in prison. On October 1, he was released after serving six months
(including the time he was in custody before a sentence was rendered),
according to news reports.
On August 15, Habib Saleh, a contributor to www.elaph.com news Web
site, was sentenced by a military court in Homs to three years in
prison for undermining internal support for the country, and for
``broadcasting and publishing false news likely to undermine the
State.'' Authorities previously arrested Saleh in May 2005 for
publishing antigovernment material on the Internet.
According to international human rights group, all three of the
country's Internet service providers (ISPs) regularly blocked access to
a variety of Web sites. The Government restricted access to Web sites
associated with Kurdish opposition groups, the Syrian Muslim
Brotherhood group, and the Muslim Brotherhood group. Other electronic
media that the Government restricted during the year ranged from Web-
based email such as Hotmail.com, to pan-Arabic newspapers such as
Asharqal-Awsat.com, to online news services such as LevantNews.com. In
2004, authorities shut down the pro-reform Web site All4syria.org and
it remained closed at year's end.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted
academic freedom and cultural events. Teachers generally were not
permitted to express ideas contrary to government policy; however,
authorities permitted slightly more freedom of expression at the
university level. Ba'ath Party members were also given preferential
admissions treatment into the university. Stateless Kurds have limited
access to university education (see section 5).
Throughout the year, the Government prohibited locally-made movies
to be screened in public. For example, in March, the Ministry of
Culture refused the request of the Canadian Embassy to screen Passion,
a film on honor killings produced by Syrian Muhammed Malas.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution provides for the right of assembly;
however, the right is superseded by Emergency Law provisions and the
Government did not respect this right in practice. MOI permission is
needed for demonstrations. The Government or the Ba'ath Party organized
most public demonstrations.
The Government required political forums and discussion groups to
obtain prior approval to hold lectures and seminars and to submit lists
of all attendees. Despite these restrictions several domestic human
rights and civil society groups held meetings without registering with
the Government or obtaining prior approval. In many instances the
Government took steps to disrupt such gatherings or prevent them from
occurring.
Demonstrations occurred during the year, including some which were
permitted or organized by the Government. On February 4, in response to
the September 2005 publishing in a Danish newspaper of a series of
cartoons that caricatured the Prophet Muhammed, mobs ransacked and set
fire to the Norwegian Embassy and the building housing the Danish,
Chilean, and Swedish Embassies. No one had been charged with the
incidents at year's end.
On March 9, a small group of civil-society activists staged a
protest against the 43 years of Emergency Law in Damascus. A group of
approximately 300 pro-regime youths staged a counterdemonstration the
same day and beat some of the civil society protesters with sticks.
Five civil society activists, including Shawkat Gharaz al-Din, Ayham
Badoor, and Adnan Abu A'asi, were arrested immediately following the
peaceful demonstration and charged in a military court with the
misdemeanor crime of insulting the ruling Ba'ath Party. All five
individuals were later released and were awaiting trial at year's end.
On March 12, approximately 250 persons, mostly Kurds, held a vigil
in front of the Prime Minister's office in Damascus to commemorate the
2004 Qamishli rioting. Prominent opposition figure Riad Seif was
arrested at the vigil but was released later the same day.
On March 20, security forces reportedly arrested between 150 and
200 Kurds in Aleppo, as they and thousands of other Syrian Kurds
throughout the country celebrated the ancient holiday of Now Ruz (the
solar new year). According to Kurdish observers, all were released by
year's end.
On July 10, up to 4,000 protesters held a 20-minute government-
orchestrated protest in Damascus on behalf of the Palestinian cause. On
August 12, during the Israel-Hizballah conflict, approximately 500
people held a non-violent pro-government demonstration in Damascus on
behalf of Lebanese and Palestinian children.
On December 10, police forcibly dispersed Kurdish demonstrators who
were commemorating International Human Rights Day in al-Qamishli (see
section 5).
In March 2005, a peaceful civil society protest in Damascus calling
for the end to the Emergency Law and marking the first anniversary of
clashes between Kurds, Arab tribes, and security forces in the town of
Qamishli, was broken up by pro-regime demonstrators. Observers reported
that the Government encouraged the violence and apparently helped
organize the counterdemonstration. The counterdemonstrators and
security forces violently attacked the civil society activists and
camera crews from several international news agencies, smashing or
confiscating their cameras.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution permits private
associations, but it also grants the Government the right to limit
their activities. In practice the Government restricted freedom of
association. Private associations are required to register with
authorities, but requests for registration were usually denied,
presumably on political grounds. The Government usually granted
registration to groups not engaged in political or other activities
deemed sensitive.
Associative life was often restricted. For example, throughout the
year, security officials prevented activists from a proreform coalition
group from meeting openly. On January 26, Air Force security officials
arrested university students Husam Ali Mulhim and Ali Nizar Ali in
connection with their participation in prodemocracy discussions held by
the Forum for Syria youth group, according to international and local
human rights activists. Both individuals remained in custody at year's
end. On February 14, Air Force security officials arrested and later
released the same day Omar Ali Abdullah, son of writer and activist
Muhammed Abdullah, for his connection to the same student group.
Abdullah was detained again on March 18 by Air Force officials and
continued to be detained at year's end (see section 1.e.). Citizens
detained on approximately February 20 for their ties to the student
group included Tarek Ghorani, Maher Ibrahim, Ayham Saqr, Alam Fakhour,
and Diab Sirieyeh, according to international human rights activists.
No hearings were held for these individuals by year's end.
On March 1, authorities closed the European Commission-funded Civil
Society Training Center nine days after it opened (see section 4).
On April 30, chief of the Communist Action Party and opposition
activist Fateh Jammous was arrested at Damascus airport after having
reportedly met with external opposition groups during his two-month
foreign trip. On October 12, a preliminary penalty court judge decided
to release Jammous on bail, and on December 30, all charges were
dropped as part of the Presidential amnesty.
Between May 14 and 18, security agents arrested 12 signatories of
the Damascus-Beirut Declaration, a petition which called for the
normalization of Syria-Lebanon relations. Those arrested were key civil
society activist and intellectual Michel Kilo; writer and human rights
activist Nidal Darwish, a member of the Committee for the Defense of
Liberty and Human Rights; prominent human rights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni;
Atassi Forum member Muhammed Mahfouz; Mahmoud Muri', a member of the
Arab Human Rights Organization; Mahmoud Issa, a member of the Communist
Action Party; Ghaleb Amar, a member of the Socialist Arab Democratic
Union and human rights activist; Kurdish Future Movement leader Khalil
Hussein; National Democratic Front activist Suleiman al-Shummar;
Communist Action Party member Muhammed Safwan Tayfour; Abbas Abbas, an
activist from the town of Musiaf; and Khaled Khalifa, who was
reportedly arrested on the basis of mistaken identity. Abbas and
Khalifa were released one day after their arrest, according to local
and international human rights organizations. The other 10 men faced
five charges of the criminal code, including weakening the national
morale, awakening sectarian rows, and publishing false news that might
affect the state's dignity. According to local and international human
rights organizations, Bunni, Darwish, and Mahfouz were beaten a number
of times by state security agents during their initial detention, prior
to their transfer to Adra prison. In mid-July Muri', Darwish, Tayfour,
and Amar were released on bail after publishing a statement saying they
had not signed the Declaration. In September Mahfouz, Issa, Hussein,
and Shummar were also released on bail. Issa was then re-arrested on
October 23. At year's end no trial dates had been set for any of the 10
men.
Activists faced similar restrictions in 2005 when, for example, in
June, July, August, and December, the Government prevented the Atassi
Forum from meeting because, according to media reports, the meetings
would ``damage national unity.'' A number of forum members were
arrested in May 2005 and subsequently released for their involvement in
the reading of a statement from the Muslim Brothers at a forum meeting
(see section 1.d.).
None of the dozen local human rights organizations operated with a
license during the year.
The Government did not permit the establishment of independent
political parties (see section 3). In recent years citizens have sought
to establish political parties but have not received licenses from the
Government.
By year's end no license had yet been issued to an independent
association of journalists reporting for regional Arab media, according
to press reports. The five-year effort by journalists to form the
association had long been blocked by the Government (see section 2.a.).
The executive boards of professional associations were not
independent. Although members of the Ba'ath Party generally led the
associations, nonparty members could serve on their executive boards.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice; however, it imposed some restrictions. The Government
discouraged public proselytism and monitored groups it considered to
practice militant Islam. There is no official state religion; however,
the constitution requires that the President be Muslim and stipulates
that Islamic jurisprudence is a principal source of legislation. Sunni
Muslims constituted approximately 74 percent of the population. Other
Muslim groups, including Alawi, Ismailis, and Shi'a, constituted an
estimated 13 percent of the population. The Druze accounted for an
estimated three percent of the population, while various Christian
denominations made up the remaining 10 percent.
All religions and religious orders must register with the
Government, which monitored fundraising and required permits for all
meetings by religious groups, except for worship. There was a de-facto
separation of religious institutions and the state. Religious groups
tended to avoid any involvement in internal political affairs, except
for occasional regime-supported initiatives such as the February 4
public demonstration against the September 2005 publishing of a series
of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammed.
The Government generally refrained from involvement in strictly
religious issues. The Government approved all textbooks that present
religion as a way to foster national unity and tolerance. The
Government prohibited some religious events during the year. For
example, on November 9, the MFA banned an interfaith dialogue from
taking place at Damascus University.
The Government considered militant Islam a threat and followed
closely the practice of its adherents. The Government allowed many new
mosques to be built; however, sermons were monitored and controlled.
All schools are overseen by the Government and nonsectarian;
however, Christian and Druze minorities operated a number of schools
following state curriculum. There was mandatory religious instruction
in schools with government-approved teachers and curriculums. Religion
courses were divided into separate classes for Muslim and Christian
students. Although Arabic is the official language in public schools,
the Government permitted the teaching of Armenian, Hebrew, Syriac
(Aramaic), and Chaldean as ``liturgical languages.''
Muslims and Christians are subject to their respective religious
laws on marriage and divorce. However, all citizens are subject to
Sharia'a-based child custody, adoption, inheritance, and guardianship
laws (see section 5).
Although the law does not prohibit proselytizing, in practice the
Government discouraged such activity, deeming it a threat to relations
among religious groups. Foreign missionaries were present but operated
discreetly.
Government officials occasionally used radio and television
programming, news articles, and other mass media with anti-Semitic
overtones, and in some instances to support its export. In November
2005, Syrian TV broadcast an interview with Deputy Minister of
Religious Endowments Muhammad Abdul Sattar al-Sayyed in which he stated
that Syria serves as ``the last line of defense'' against ``Zionist
plots which aim to put on the throne of the Middle East the descendants
of those whom the Koran called the descendants of apes and pigs.''
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal conventions and
religious and theological proscriptions made conversions relatively
rare, especially conversations between Muslims and Christians. In many
cases societal pressure forced those who undertook such conversions to
relocate within the country or leave the country altogether to practice
their religion openly. There was little evidence of societal
discrimination or violence against religious minorities.
There were no reported acts of physical violence against, or
harassment of, Jewish persons. Government officials occasionally used
radio and television programming, news articles, and other mass media
to condone anti-Semitic material. Anti-Israel material was widespread,
some of which carried anti-Semitic overtones. For example, in January
the government-owned Al-Thawra newspaper published an article
suggesting that the Government of Israel had genetically engineered the
avian flu virus in order to damage ``genes carried only by Arabs'' and
thus ``to realize the Zionist goal of harming the Arabs.''
On June 15, government-owned Tishrin published an article which
stated that ``Israel did not learn a bit of the Nazi atrocities, but
instead have and is employing it to commit far worse monstrous
atrocities against the Palestinians to fulfill the Talmudic and
biblical allegations and aspirations.''
The Government primarily cited national security as the reason for
barring the approximately 40 Jewish citizens from government
employment, serving in the armed forces, and contact with Israel. Jews
also were the only religious minority group whose passports and
identity cards noted their religion. Jewish citizens had to obtain
permission from the security services before traveling abroad and faced
excessive government scrutiny when applying for licenses, deeds, or
other official documents. The Government enforced a law against
exporting historical and cultural treasures to prohibit the Jewish
community from sending historical Torahs abroad.
The Government banned Jehovah's Witnesses in 1964 as a
``politically motivated Zionist organization''; however, members of
Jehovah's Witnesses have continued to practice their faith privately,
despite the ban.
In 1963 the Government banned membership in the Syrian Muslim
Brotherhood.
The constitution prohibits sectarianism, although it specifies that
the President must be a Muslim; however, in the case of Alawis,
religious affiliation facilitated access to influential and sensitive
posts.
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
of free movement ``within the territories of the state unless
restricted by a judicial decision or by the implementation of laws'';
however, the Government limited freedom of movement in practice. Travel
to Israel is illegal, and the Government restricts travel near the
Golan Heights.
The law provides for the prosecution of any person who attempts to
seek refuge in another country to escape a penalty in Syria. Persons
who have unsuccessfully sought asylum in other countries and who have
past connections with the Muslim Brotherhood have been prosecuted upon
their return to Syria. For example, in May 2005, Muhammad Osama Sayes,
the son of a Muslim Brotherhood member, was detained following his
return to the country, and was sentenced on June 25 to 12 years in
prison (section 1.e.). Similarly, on June 27, the SSSC sentenced
Abdulrahman al-Musa to death under the same law but commuted the
sentence to 12 years; in January 2005 authorities had detained al-Musa
upon his return to the country.
The Government also banned numerous human rights activists, leaders
of opposition groups, and other individuals permission from traveling
abroad, usually without any explanation for the basis or duration of
the ban.
Women over the age of 18 have the legal right to travel without the
permission of male relatives; however, a husband or a father could file
a request with the MOI to prohibit his wife or minor dependents'
departure from the country (see section 5).
The Government maintained security checkpoints, primarily in
military and other restricted areas. There were few police checkpoints
on main roads or in populated areas. The security services used
checkpoints to conduct searches without warrants for smuggled goods,
weapons, narcotics, and subversive literature.
The Government has refused to recognize the citizenship of or grant
identity documents to some persons of Kurdish descent. There are
approximately 300 thousand stateless Kurds in the country. Lack of
citizenship or identity documents restricted their travel to and from
the country (see section 5). Syrian emigres who did not complete
mandatory military service could pay a fee to avoid conscription while
visiting the country. Persons of Syrian origin who were born in a
foreign country but were able to demonstrate service in the army of his
country of birth were exempted from military service without payment.
During the year, as has been long-standing practice, citizens of
Arab League countries were able to enter the country without a visa for
a stay of up to three months, a period that could be renewed. Residency
permits required proof of employment and a fixed address in the
country. While visa-free entry for Arabs continued at year's end, the
MOI issued a circular in October 2005 informing immigration and
security offices that nonpermanent resident males between the ages of
18 and 30 could be denied entry under a number of conditions, including
travel alone, student or recent graduate status, residence in a country
other than their own, and ``suspicious'' travel abroad.
The constitution prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports
of forced exile during the year.
Protection of Refugees.--The Government is not a party to either
the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967
Protocol. It generally cooperated with the office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Relief and Works
Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in assisting
displaced persons, refugees and asylum seekers and respected the
UNHCR's eligibility determinations regarding asylum seekers. One
notable exception to this was the detention of several Iranian Ahwazis
who were recognized refugees, and the deportation of five of them back
to Iran (see section 1.d.), including one of Dutch nationality.
Separately, UNHCR reported that a significant number of Lebanese,
Iraqis, and Palestinians fleeing Iraq and Lebanon were refused entry
into the country during the year. It also reported that it had to
intervene in several instances to prevent the deportation of persons
issued UNHCR asylum-seeker cards.
During the July-August conflict involving Israel and Lebanon,
approximately 180,000 Lebanese, 13,000 third-country nationals, and
4,000 Palestinians fled to Syria. The borders remained open for most
persons fleeing the conflict, with an easing of visa requirements to
facilitate their entry. Border authorities, however, denied entry to
hundreds of Palestinians from Lebanon, including those with valid
Lebanese travel documents. Most Lebanese found temporary refuge with
local hosts in the country, while approximately 50,000 were assisted in
public shelters such as schools and religious institutions.
Humanitarian organizations, including the Syrian Arab Red Crescent
Society (SARC), UNHCR, UNRWA, the World Food Program and other
international organizations and non-governmental organizations had
access to displaced persons in need of assistance. The International
Organization for Migration (IOM) facilitated the voluntary evacuation
of third-country nationals to their countries of origin. Foreign
embassies in Damascus also facilitated the transit of their nationals,
sometimes numbering in the thousands, from Lebanon through Syria and
onto third countries.
The August 14 cease-fire sparked the massive, voluntary return of
refugees from the country to Lebanon. There were some reports that an
estimated 50 Iraqis, who were also fleeing Lebanon, were detained
briefly in the country and agreed to be repatriated to Iraq rather than
risk remaining in government detention. Syrian authorities, the SARC,
UNHCR, IOM and other international organizations facilitated return
transportation for those in need of assistance. By September a UN
assessment found that only 2,000 Lebanese remained in Syria.
At year's end 432,048 Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA in
the country. The General Authority of Palestinian Arab Refugees in
Syria (GAPAR), the Government agency established to coordinate
assistance and protection to refugees, continued to provide assistance
to Palestinian refugees during the year. Palestinian refugees with
Syrian travel documents generally reported little difficulty traveling
in and out of the country. In April the Government admitted a limited
number of Palestinian refugees fleeing Iraq to UNHCR's isolated El Hol
refugee reception camp facility in the northeast of the country. The
Government refused to permit the integration of these Palestinians into
Syrian society. At year's end there were approximately 300 Iraqi
Palestinians registered at El Hol, while another group of approximately
350 Iraqi Palestinians was stranded between the Iraq-Syria border at
the al-Tanf crossing. The Government refused to let them enter the
country.
Since 1991 thousands of Iraqis have applied for refugee status and
have received legal and material assistance from the UNHCR in the
country. In early 2003 the Government agreed to admit persons displaced
by the hostilities in Iraq. The Government generally continued to honor
UNHCR's request that states maintain some temporary protection for all
Iraqi asylum seekers, including new arrivals, and persons whose
applications have been rejected. The Government recognized refugees
whose cases had been suspended by resettlement countries during the
year.
However, UNHCR reported that some Iraqis were deported during the
year. UN agencies estimated in December that approximately 800,000
displaced Iraqis lived in the country. According to UNHCR figures,
during the year 3,307 persons from Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen,
Afghanistan, Algeria, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Iran were recognized
as refugees. An additional 5,004 cases of asylum seekers were pending.
UNHCR did not facilitate any voluntary repatriations during the year.
According to IOM statistics, an estimated 13,000 third-country
nationals from a number of countries were permitted to enter the
country temporarily after the outbreak of the conflict involving Israel
and Lebanon. IOM verified that these repatriations to third countries
were voluntary.
There were reports of refugees, particularly Iraqi girls and women,
who were working in the country as prostitutes because it was the only
means to sustain a living for their families and themselves (see
section 5, Trafficking). No reliable statistics were available
regarding the number of refugees working as prostitutes.
There are no direct provisions in the law giving refugees the right
to work. However, according to UNRWA, the rules for employment of
citizens were applicable to Palestinian refugees provided that they
have been living in the country for at least ten years. Obtaining a
work permit is a lengthy and complicated process; refugees were rarely
granted a permit. In reality many refugees found daily labor in the
informal sector mainly as guards, construction workers, street vendors,
and in other manual labor jobs.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution requires that the President be elected by
referendum, and the parliament selects a Presidential candidate at the
discretion of the regional Ba'ath Party leadership. A Presidential
candidate is then approved by a majority of votes in a popular
referendum. Although citizens vote for the President and MPs, in
practice they did not have the right to change their government.
Elections and Political Participation.--In July 2000 an unopposed
referendum confirmed Bashar al-Asad as President for a seven-year term.
Citizens are not formally required by law to vote; however, voters
receive a stamp on their voter card, which authorities sometimes
request when providing services.
The President appoints the vice Presidents, the Prime Minister,
deputy prime ministers, and the Council of Ministers and has the
discretion to change these appointments. The President and his senior
aides, particularly those in the military and security services, made
most political and economic decisions with a very limited degree of
public accountability.
The President and the Ba'ath Party suppressed political opposition.
The constitution provides that the Ba'ath Party is the ruling party and
ensures it a majority in all government and popular associations, such
as workers' and women's groups. The Ba'ath Party and nine other smaller
satellite political parties comprise the NPF, originally established in
1971. The NPF represented the only framework for legal political party
participation for citizens; however, the Ba'ath Party dominated it, and
the one-party character of the political system remained.
The Ba'ath Party dominated the 250-member parliament, or People's
Council. Parliamentarians can criticize policies and modify draft laws;
however, the executive branch retains ultimate control over the
legislative process. In March 2003 elections for all 250 seats in the
People's Council took place for 4-year terms. The election was neither
free nor fair. The constitution guaranteed ensuring a permanent
absolute majority for the Ba'ath Party, and most seats in parliament
were reserved for members of the ruling NPF. The Government allowed
independent non-NPF candidates to run for 83 seats and required advance
approval for candidacy.
On January 17, the Government released former independent MPs
Mamoun Homsi and Riad Seif from Adra prison in accordance with the
criminal penal code that permits such a move for good behavior after
three-quarters of a sentence has been completed. They had been
sentenced in 2002 to five-year prison terms in the criminal section of
Adra prison for encouraging the Government to allow independent
political parties to participate in government. Seif remained under
close surveillance for his political activities; in June Homsi left the
country, first for Jordan and later for another Arab country, declaring
his plans to continue organizing for greater political freedom in the
country.
Women and minorities, with the exception of the Jewish population
and stateless Kurds (see section 5), participated in the political
system without restriction. On March 24, the President appointed a
female vice-President, and there were two female cabinet ministers.
Thirty of the 250 MPs were women.
The Government did not provide figures on the ethnic or religious
composition of parliament or the cabinet. According to human rights
observers, ethnic and religious minorities claimed they have no genuine
representation in the Government.
In June 2004 the Government banned all political activities by the
12 Syrian Kurdish parties, although enforcement has varied.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were reports of
corruption in the legislative and executive branches of the Government.
On February 19, March 5, and in August, some dismissed judges
demonstrated against the October 2005 Presidential decree dismissing 81
judges from their positions in an effort to combat corruption and
malfeasance in the judiciary. The dismissals were widely viewed in the
country as a legal system sapped by an alarming level of corrupt
practices. It is rare for the highest-level officials to be exposed to
corruption charges. In nearly all cases, such charges were used by the
regime as a political tool to attack its perceived enemies or rivals.
In September the Government rejected the application to license a local
chapter of Transparency International.
There are no laws providing for public access to government
information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were no legal domestic human rights groups. In the past human
rights groups operated legally but ultimately were banned by the
Government, such as the National Organization for Human Rights on
August 30. During the year there were reports of government harassment
of domestic human rights activists, including regular close
surveillance and the imposition of travel bans on them as they sought
to attend workshops and conferences outside the country.
In May 25, prominent human rights lawyer Haithem al-Maleh was
convicted in military court of one count of insulting the army and two
counts of insulting court officers, which potentially carried a
sentence of three months and twenty days' imprisonment. The judge
reduced the sentence to imprisonment for 10 days based on Maleh's age
and his profession as a lawyer (see section 1.e.). Maleh was found not
guilty of insulting the President and was pardoned in the December 30
Presidential amnesty. The charges stemmed from a letter he wrote to
President al-Asad in 2005.
Also between May 15-22, at least 10 human rights and civil society
activists, including lawyer Anwar al-Bunni, were arrested for having
signed the Damascus-Beirut Declaration, which called for reconciliation
between Syria and Lebanon. Unknown assailants also damaged al-Bunni's
car in two separate incidents in July. Bunni remained in prison at
year's end, facing several charges, the most serious of which was
``weakening national feelings and provoking a sectarian feud,''
carrying up to a life sentence. In connection with his job as the head
of an European Commission-funded Civil Society Training Center that was
closed in March nine days after its opening, Bunni also faced charges
of conspiracy with a foreign power and membership to a secret
organization attempting to overthrow the state.
On July 11, unknown perpetrators raided a human rights center that
doubled as Haitham al-Maleh's office, broke the window, and covered the
door with garbage.
On June 28 and July 12, two men on motorcycles damaged the
residence of another human rights activist.
Lawyer and opposition figure Hassan Abdul Azeem was pardoned at
year's end in the December 30 Presidential amnesty. In December 2005
Azeem was charged by a military court with publishing material written
by an illegal organization (see section 1.e.).
From January 18 to 23, two representatives of AI visited the
country for the first time since 1997. The AI representatives met with
a number of foreign ministry officials, attended an SSSC session, and
met with presiding judge Faez al-Nouri. The Government prohibited AI
visits to prisons. In November representatives of Human Rights Watch
made an unofficial visit to Damascus and met with various human rights
observers. Additionally, the acting representative for the Arab region
of the UNHCR, Frej Fenniche, visited Damascus February 12 to 16,
meeting with government officials, activists, representatives of the
bar association and journalists.
As a matter of policy, the Government has denied in the past to
international human rights groups that it commits human rights abuses.
The Government has also stated that it responds in writing to all
inquiries from NGOs regarding human rights issues, including the cases
of individual detainees and prisoners, through an interagency
governmental committee attached to the Ministry of Social Affairs and
Labor. However, NGOs have reported that they usually heard nothing from
the ministry. The Government normally responded to queries from human
rights organizations and foreign embassies regarding specific cases by
claiming that the case was still under investigation and the prisoner
could therefore not be released, or that the prisoner in question
violated national security laws.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides for equal rights and equal opportunity
for all citizens, and discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or social status is prohibited; however, membership in the
Ba'ath Party or close familial relations with a prominent party member
or powerful government official helped economic, social, or educational
advancement. Party or government connections paved the way for entrance
into better elementary and secondary schools, access to lucrative
employment, and greater power within the Government, the military, and
the security services. Certain prominent positions, such as that of
provincial governor, were reserved solely for Ba'ath party members.
There was governmental and societal discrimination against stateless
Kurds and Jews (see section 2.c.).
Women.--The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence,
and violence against women occurred during the year. An April study
funded by the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and conducted by
the state-run General Union of Women, reported that as many as one in
four women surveyed in the country had been victims of violence. Local
observers, however, pointed out discrepancies in the numbers and the
wording of the report. The vast majority of domestic violence and
sexual assault cases likely went unreported, and victims were likely
reluctant to seek assistance outside the family. In some cases,
observers reported that the abused women tried to file a police report,
but the police did not respond aggressively, if at all, to their
claims. Women reported incidents at police stations of sexual
harassment, verbal abuse, hair pulling, and slapping by police officers
when attempting to file police reports, particularly at the Criminal
Security branch at Bab Musallah in Damascus.
Victims of domestic violence have the legal right to seek redress
in court, but few did so because of the social stigma attached to such
action. The Syrian Women's Federation offered counseling services to
battered wives to remedy individual family problems. The Syrian Family
Planning Association also provided counseling. Some private groups,
including the Family Planning Association, organized seminars on
violence against women. There was believed to be at least one private
shelter specifically designated for battered women who fled from their
husbands.
The Syrian Agency for Family Affairs reports directly to the Prime
Minister and reviews the legal and social status of women and children,
and coordinates with NGOs that provide services to women and children.
Rape is a felony; however, there are no laws against spousal rape.
According to the law, ``the punishment for a man who rapes a woman
(other than his wife) is at least 15 years in prison.'' However, if the
individual who commits the crime agrees to marry the victim, he faces
no punishment. The victim's family sometimes agrees to this arrangement
to avoid the social scandal and stigma attached to rape. If the victim
is too young for marriage, the rapist receives a longer prison
sentence. No statistics were kept on spousal rape because it is not a
crime under the law.
The law specifically provides for reduced sentences in ``honor''
crimes, which are violent assaults by a male against a female, usually
a family member, with intent to kill for alleged sexual misconduct. No
official statistics were kept on honor crimes during the year.
The law prohibits prostitution, and it was not a widespread problem
among female citizens. There was growing evidence that it was a problem
among Iraqi women residing in the country, especially minors (see
section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment and specifies different
punishments depending on whether the victim is a minor or an adult.
Sexual harassment was rarely reported.
The constitution provides for equality between men and women and
equal pay for equal work. Moreover, the Government sought to overcome
traditional discriminatory attitudes toward women and encouraged
women's education by ensuring equal access to educational institutions,
including universities. However, the Government has not changed
personal status, retirement, or social security laws that discriminate
against women. In addition, some secular laws discriminate against
women. For example, under criminal law, if a man and woman separately
commit the same criminal act of adultery, the woman's punishment is
double that of the man's.
Christians, Muslims, and other religious groups are subject to
their respective religious laws on personal status issues of marriage
and divorce. For Muslims, personal status law is based on the
Government's interpretation and application of Shari'a. This
application of laws discriminated against Muslim women.
Husbands and wives can claim adultery as grounds for divorce;
however, criminal law discriminates against women in this regard. A man
can only be accused of adultery if his actions occur in the home which
he shares with his wife; a woman can be accused of adultery regardless
of venue. Also, the court accepts any evidence a man presents when
claiming adultery; if a woman attempts to file for divorce based on
adultery, her husband must admit to the crime or there must be a third
witness to the act. There were no reported cases where a woman
successfully filed for divorce based on adultery.
A divorced woman might not be entitled to alimony in some cases,
particularly if she gave up her right to it in order to persuade her
husband to agree to the divorce.
Regardless of divorce or other circumstances, the law provides that
a child is entitled to financial support of a minimum of $20 (1
thousand Syrian pounds) per year.
In addition, under the Personal Status Law modified in October
2003, a divorced mother loses the right to physical custody of her sons
when they reach the age of 13 and of her daughters at age 15.
Guardianship, or control over exercise of the legal rights of the
children, always remains with the paternal side of the family.
Inheritance for Muslims also is based on the Government's
interpretation of Shari'a. Accordingly, Muslim women usually were
granted half of the inheritance share of male heirs. However, male
heirs must provide financial support to the female relatives who
inherit less. If they do not, females have the right to sue.
Polygamy is legal but was practiced only by a small number of
Muslim men.
A husband, or any male relative, may request that his wife and his
wife's children's' travel abroad be prohibited. While official
statistics are not available, foreign embassies reported a number of
such incidents during the year (see section 2.d.).
Women participated actively in public life and were represented in
most professions, including the armed forces. Women were not impeded
from owning or managing land or other real property. During the year,
women constituted approximately 13 percent of judges, 17 percent of
lawyers, 57 percent of teachers below university level, and 26 percent
of university professors. In addition, women accounted for 30 MPs, two
cabinet ministers, and one vice President.
Children.--The law emphasizes the need to protect children, and the
Government organized seminars on child welfare. During the year some of
these seminars were organized in cooperation with the local UNICEF
office.
The Government provided free, public education to citizen children
from primary school through university. Education is compulsory for all
children, male and female, between the ages of six and 12. According to
a 2005 joint study by the UNDP and the Syrian State Planning
Commission, 49.6 percent of students through the secondary level were
female. Nevertheless, societal pressure for early marriage and
childbearing interfered with girls' educational progress, particularly
in rural areas where the dropout rates for female students remained
high.
Palestinians and other noncitizens, including stateless Kurds, can
send their children to school and universities.
The legal age for marriage is 18 for males and 17 for females.
However, a male 15 years of age or older and a female 13 years of age
or older may be married if both are deemed by a judge to be willing
parties to the marriage and ``physically mature'' to have children. In
the event of a marriage under the legal age limit, there must be
consent by the father or grandfather to the marriage. While underage
marriage has declined considerably in the past decades, it was still
common in the country. It occurred in all communities, but tended to be
more prevalent in rural and lesser-developed regions. There were no
statistics available on the rates of marriage in the country according
to age.
The Government provides free medical care for citizen children
until the age of 18. There was no legal discrimination between boys and
girls in education or in health care.
The law provides for severe penalties for those found guilty of the
most serious abuses against children. Although there were cases of
child abuse, there was no societal pattern of abuse against children.
Trafficking in children for commercial sexual exploitation was
reported, though incidents that arose mainly involved refugees from
Iraq.
Human rights organizations also reported multiple cases where
security services detained minors and placed them in adult prisons.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, Syria is a destination country for women trafficked from South
and Southeast Asia and Africa for the purpose of labor exploitation and
from Eastern Europe and Iraq for sexual exploitation. There were no
statistics available on the scope and type of trafficking that exists.
There were reports by NGOs and the press that indicate that Iraqi women
and girls may be subjected to forced commercial sexual exploitation--
some by Iraqi criminal networks in the country. The Government did not
provide these victims with shelter or other rehabilitative services,
and some minor victims were reportedly housed in juvenile detention
facilities. A 2003 IOM study also indicated that some individuals
brought into the country to work as domestic workers suffered
conditions that constituted involuntary servitude, including physical
and sexual abuse, threats of deportation or other legal consequences,
denial or delayed payment of wages, withholding of passports, and
restriction of movement. The IOM study documented cases in which
manpower agencies in the country that hired foreign domestic workers
lured some victims through fraudulent or deceptive offers of
employment, despite the fact that such manpower agencies are banned.
There is no legal framework governing relations between domestic
workers and their employers. The Government has done little to address
its trafficking in persons problem during the year. In 2005, the
Government set up a commission to formulate a comprehensive draft law
to combat trafficking in persons and to draft a set of rules to
regulate agencies that recruit foreign workers to the country.
Committee members met at the end of the year; however, any progress on
the drafting of the law or regulations had yet to be made public by the
end of the year. The Government also does not regulate illegal manpower
agencies that bring in and, in some cases, facilitate victims'
exploitation. The Governments of Sri Lanka, Indonesia, East Timor, and
the Philippines banned their citizens from taking employment as
domestic workers in the country due to the absence of formal mechanisms
to regulate such employment. Despite public statements by Syrian
officials of their intent to pass legislation to regulate private
manpower agencies, which operate illegally in the country, no progress
on the matter has been made public.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities and seeks to integrate them into the
public sector work force; however, implementation remained
inconsistent. Government regulations reserve 4 percent of government
and public sector jobs for persons with disabilities (see section
6.e.). There are no laws that mandate access to public buildings for
persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Government generally
permitted national and ethnic minorities to conduct traditional,
religious, and cultural activities; however, the Government's attitude
toward the Kurdish minority remained a significant exception.
Prosecution of Kurdish citizens remained a fixture of SSSC charges,
mainly based upon allegations of membership in the Kongra Gel
(successor organization to the PKK) or another secret organization
seeking to annex part of Syria to another country; this was the case of
Qanbar Hussein Qanbar who was sentenced to three years in prison on
December 10.
On January 21, authorities released Kurdish cultural activist
Nasraldin Ahma after his detention at the State Security detention
branch in Damascus. Security forces arrested Ahma in November 2005 due
to his alleged support for Kurdish culture and traditions, according to
international human rights groups.
On April 2, the SSSC sentenced civil rights activist Sheikh Riyad
Drar al-Hamood to five years in prison for degrading national pride in
a time of war, for inciting conflict among the country's various
religious and ethnic groups, and for forming a secret society. In June
2005 authorities arrested al-Hamood after making a speech at Kurdish
Sheikh Mashook al-Khaznawi's funeral.
On April 19, PSD forces arrested Jihan Muhammed Ali, Adnan Khalil
Rashid, Waheed Jihad Moustafa, and Fawzi Ali Kahwa in Aleppo on
suspicion of being members of the Democratic Union Party, which is
affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). All were released
by year's end.
On March 12, police and security services beat protesters at a
demonstration commemorating the 2004 Qamishli incident. In 2004
security forces in Qamishli, in the northeastern Hassakeh Province,
opened fire on a crowd at a soccer match after clashes between Arab and
Kurdish fans. The following day crowds rioted in Qamishli, and the
security forces again fired on the crowd. Subsequently, riots and
demonstrations spread throughout the towns and villages of Hassakeh as
well as to cities such as Damascus and Aleppo. Thirty-eight persons
were killed during the riots, and security forces detained more than 1
thousand persons (see sections 1.a, 1.c, and 1.d.).
On March 20, police and security services arrested 150-200 Kurds in
Aleppo while celebrating their New Year. All were released by year's
end.
On December 10, police forcibly dispersed Kurdish demonstrators who
were commemorating International Human Rights Day in al-Qamishli. Two
Kurdish leaders, Fouad Aleiko and Ismail Hami, were beaten badly by the
police. Observers reported that police Captain Abdullah Jarboo
commenced the violence by attacking the demonstrators.
On December 30, 49 Kurds connected to the May 2005 protest
following Kurdish Sheikh Mashook al-Khaznawi's kidnapping and death
were granted amnesty. In May 2005 prominent Kurdish Sheikh Mashook al-
Khaznawi disappeared from his Damascus office. A month later, he was
found murdered near the town of Deir ez-Zur. The circumstances
surrounding his murder remained unclear; however, some observers
suggest that Khaznawi was killed by security services for having met
with the exiled leader of Syria's Muslim Brotherhood.
Although the Government contended that there was no discrimination
against the Kurdish population, it placed limits on the use and
teaching of the Kurdish language. It also restricted the publication of
books and other materials written in Kurdish (see section 2.a.),
Kurdish cultural expression, and, at times, the celebration of Kurdish
festivals. On February 11, two Kurdish men were detained and released a
few days later for selling calendars depicting scenes from Kurdish
folklore. On July 16, authorities detained 28 persons from Qamishli and
released them a few days later for their work on Kurdish cultural
issues, according to lawyers. On August 4, four Kurdish language
teachers were arrested and then released without charge, according to
lawyers. The Government tacitly accepted the importation and
distribution of Kurdish language materials, particularly in the
northeast region where most of the Kurds resided.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--At year's end there was
no progress on the Government's commitments to address the problem of
stateless Kurds. Following the 1962 census, approximately 120 thousand
Syrian Kurds lost their citizenship, which the Government has never
restored. As a result, those who lost their nationality, including
their children, remained severely disadvantaged in participating in
civil life and in receiving government services such as including
health and education, as well as employment open to citizens. These
stateless Kurds, according to NGO Refugees International estimates,
numbered approximately 300 thousand.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--While the constitution provides for
the right of association and to form unions, in practice, workers were
not free to establish unions independent of the Government. All unions
belonged to the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU), which was
dominated by Ba'ath Party members and was a part of the Government's
bureaucratic structure. The GFTU advised the Government on legislation,
organized workers, and formulated rules for various member unions,
controlling nearly all aspects of union activity. The GFTU President
was a senior member of the Ba'ath Party, and he and his deputy could
attend cabinet meetings on economic affairs.
There were no reports of antiunion discrimination. Since the unions
were part of the Government's bureaucratic structure, the law protects
union members from such discrimination. The GFTU was affiliated with
the Damascus-based International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions.
All practicing lawyers in the court belonged to the Syrian Bar
Association, whose leadership was dominated by Ba'ath party members.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for unions to conduct their activities without interference,
but all unions must be part of the General Federation of Trade Unions,
which is effectively a governmental body. Accordingly, all collective
bargaining, association, and activity happen within the Government's
parameters. The law provides for the right to bargain collectively;
however, this right does not exist in practice as the unions are
effectively led by Ba'ath Party officials closely tied to the
Government. Government representatives were part of the bargaining
process in the public sector. Public sector unions did not normally
bargain collectively on wage issues, but union representatives
participated with representatives of employers from the government-
affiliated Chambers of Industry and Commerce and the supervising
ministry in establishing minimum wages, hours, and conditions of
employment in the private sector. Workers served on the boards of
directors of public enterprises, and union representatives were
included on the boards.
The law provides for collective bargaining in the private sector,
although past repression by the Government dissuaded most workers from
exercising this right.
Unions have the right to litigate disputes over work contracts and
other workers' interests with employers and are able to ask for binding
arbitration. In practice labor and management representatives settled
most disputes without resort to legal remedies or arbitration.
Management has the right to request arbitration, but that right seldom
was exercised. Arbitration authority is vested in the Ministry of
Justice administrative petition court. In practice this court did
little more than certify agreements and had almost no role in
arbitrating disputes; since such disputes did not occur with any
regularity.
The law does not prohibit strikes; however, previous government
crackdowns, including fines and prison sentences, deterred workers from
striking. Forced labor was imposed on individuals who caused
``prejudice to the general production plan.'' There were no strikes
during the year.
There were no unions in the seven free trade zones (FTZs). Firms in
the zones were exempt from the laws and regulations governing hiring
and firing, although they were required to observe some provisions on
health, safety, hours, and sick and annual leave. Ninety percent of the
workers in the FTZs were citizens.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law does not
prohibit all forms of forced or compulsory labor and the problem
existed. The Governments of Sri Lanka and the Philippines banned their
citizens from taking employment as domestic workers in the country
because of abuses and the lack of a mechanism to protect the rights of
their citizens.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
labor law provides for the protection of children from exploitation in
the workplace, and independent information and audits regarding
government enforcement were not available.
The private sector minimum age for employment is 15 years for most
types of nonagricultural labor and 18 years for heavy work. Working
hours for youths of legal age were set at six hours per day. Youths
were not allowed to work during night shifts, weekends, or on official
holidays. In all cases parental permission was required for children
under the age of 16 to work. The majority of children under age 16 who
worked did so for their parents in the agricultural sector without
remuneration. While the law prohibits children from working at night,
this law applies only to children who work for a salary. Those who work
in family businesses and who are technically not paid a salary--a
common occurrence--do not fall under the law. Children under age 15 are
prohibited by law from working in mines, at petroleum sites, or in
other dangerous areas. Children are not allowed to lift, carry, or drag
heavy objects.
According to UNICEF, 8 percent of children under the age of 14
participated in the labor force between 1999 and 2003.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs monitored employment
conditions for persons under the age of 18; however, there were too few
inspectors to ensure compliance with the laws. The Labor Inspection
Department performed unannounced spot checks of employers on a daily
basis to enforce the law; however, the scope of these checks was
unknown.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Minimum wage rates exist but did
not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. As a
result, many workers in both the public and private sectors took
additional jobs or were supported by their extended families.
The labor and social affairs minister was responsible for enforcing
minimum wage levels in the public and private sectors. In February the
President raised the public sector minimum wage from $96 (4800 Syrian
pounds) to $118 (5880 Syrian pounds) per month, plus benefits,
including compensation for meals, uniforms, and transportation. In May
the Minister for Labor and Social Affairs directed private sector
minimum wage to also increase to $118 (5880 Syrian pounds) per month;
however, private sector companies usually paid much higher wages than
the minimum. The public sector work week was 35 hours; the private
sector's was 42.5 hours. Premium pay exists for overtime worked, and a
prohibition on excessive compulsory overtime exists in several sectors.
Rules and regulations severely limited the ability of an employer
to dismiss a contracted employee without cause.
The labor law grants employees judicial recourse to appeal
dismissals. A committee formed by the minister of justice, the minister
of labor, and the chief of the Central Commission for Inspection and
Control may make a decision to dismiss an employee, stating the reasons
behind the decision. This decision must be approved by the Prime
Minister.
The law does not protect temporary workers and workers without
contracts. Neither group is subject to regulations on minimum wages.
Small private firms and businesses employed such workers to avoid the
costs associated with hiring permanent employees. The law mandates
safety in all sectors. In practice there was little enforcement without
worker complaints, which occurred infrequently despite posted notices
regarding safety rights and regulations. Large companies, such as oil
field contractors, employed safety engineers.
Officials from the Ministries of Health and Labor were designated
to inspect work sites for compliance with health and safety standards;
however, such inspections were sporadic, apart from those conducted in
hotels and other facilities that catered to foreigners. The enforcement
of labor laws in rural areas was more lax than in urban areas, where
there were a larger number of inspectors. Workers may lodge complaints
about health and safety conditions with special committees established
to adjudicate such cases. Workers have the right to remove themselves
from hazardous conditions without risking loss of employment.
The law provides protection for foreign workers who reside legally
in the country but not for illegal workers. There were no credible
estimates available on the number of illegal workers in the country.
__________
TUNISIA
Tunisia is a constitutionally-based republic with a population of
approximately 10 million, dominated by a single political party, the
Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD). Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been
the President since 1987. In the 2004 Presidential election, President
Ben Ali ran against three opposition candidates and was declared the
winner with approximately 94 percent of the popular vote. Official
turnout was higher than 90 percent, although observers regarded these
figures as substantially inflated. In concurrent parliamentary
elections, the RCD gained 152 of the 189 seats. A second legislative
body, the Chamber of Advisors, was created in a 2002 referendum
amending the constitution. In July 2005 indirect elections for the
Chamber of Advisors resulted in a heavily pro-RCD body. The civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
The Government continued to commit serious human rights abuses.
There were significant limitations on citizens' right to change their
government. Members of the security forces tortured and physically
abused prisoners and detainees. Security forces arbitrarily arrested
and detained individuals. Authorities did not charge any police or
security force official with abuse during the year. Lengthy pretrial
and incommunicado detention remained a serious problem. The Government
infringed on citizens' privacy rights, continued to impose severe
restrictions on freedom of speech and of the press, and restricted
freedom of assembly and association. The Government remained intolerant
of public criticism and used intimidation, criminal investigations, the
court system, arbitrary arrests, residential restrictions, and travel
controls (including denial of passports), to discourage criticism by
human rights and opposition activists. Corruption was 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.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
on March 11, according to the World Organization Against Torture
(OMCT), Bechir Rahali, chief of police of Cite Ennour, El Ouradia IV,
Tunis, killed 24-year-old Tarek Ayari. According to an OMCT communique,
following a police raid, Ayari fled on foot and a police vehicle
pursued him. Rahali reportedly exited the vehicle and hit Ayari on the
head with the handle of a pickaxe. Ayari reportedly collapsed and was
left on the scene without assistance. According to information
collected by OMCT, Ayari's brother subsequently drove him to the
hospital where sources say he had injuries on his shoulder, knee, hand,
and foot in addition to a head injury. Ayari died on March 11, and he
was buried on March 13, reportedly under heavy police surveillance.
OMCT and the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) called for an
independent inquiry into the death of Ayari and restitution for the
family; however, there were no further developments by year's end.
There were no developments in the case of Moncef Ben Ahmed
Ouahichi, a Jendouba resident, who died in June 2005 of a cerebral
hemorrhage at La Rabta Hospital in Tunis following his arrest and
detention at police facilities in Jendouba. Human rights organizations
alleged that Ouahichi died as a result of being beaten in custody by
security officials.
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
human rights organizations, security forces tortured detainees to
elicit confessions and discourage resistance. The forms of torture and
other abuse included: sleep deprivation; electric shock; submersion of
the head in water; beatings with hands, sticks, and police batons;
suspension, sometimes manacled, from cell doors and rods resulting in
loss of consciousness; and cigarette burns. According to Amnesty
International (AI), police and prison officials used sexual assault and
threats of sexual assault against the wives of Islamist prisoners to
extract information, intimidate, and punish.
Charges of torture in specific cases were difficult to prove.
Authorities often allegedly denied victims of torture access to medical
care until evidence of abuse disappeared. The Government maintained
that it investigated all complaints of torture and mistreatment filed
with the prosecutor's office and noted that alleged victims sometimes
accused police of torture without filing a complaint, which is a
prerequisite for an investigation.
According to defense attorneys and local and international human
rights groups, police routinely refused to register complaints of
torture. In addition, judges dismissed complaints without investigation
and accepted as evidence confessions allegedly extracted through
torture. The Government has the ability to open an administrative
investigation of allegations of torture or mistreatment of prisoners
without a formal complaint; however, in those cases the results have
not been made public or available to the lawyers of affected prisoners.
Consistent with an effort to extract information or coerce
confessions, reports of torture were more frequently associated with
the initial phases of interrogation/investigation and pretrial
detention centers more than prisons. Human rights activists, citing
prisoner accounts, identified facilities at the Ministry of Interior as
the most common location for torture. Political prisoners, Islamists,
and persons detained on terrorism-related charges allegedly received
harsher treatment than other prisoners and detainees.
Several domestic nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), including
the National Council for Liberties in Tunisia (CNLT) and the
Association for the Fight Against Torture in Tunisia (ALTT), reported
multiple torture cases throughout the year.
On June 1, the LTDH Section in Bizerte reported that on May 4,
Aymen Ben Belgacem Dridi, detained on terrorism-related charges, was
reportedly beaten, kicked, and subjected to falka (beatings on the
soles of the feet) in the Borj er-Roumi prison. Dridi's lawyer
reportedly registered a complaint of torture and other crimes and
requested an inquiry. According to the LTDH communique, on May 17, the
request was registered at a Bizerte court, and on May 20, a government
prosecutor conducted an interview of Dridi. Security forces allegedly
assaulted Dridi again. There were no further developments in the
inquiry at year's end.
There were no further developments in the case of Zied Ghodhbane,
who reportedly appeared in court in June 2005 in a state of physical
and psychological distress, showing marks of abuse. He reportedly
testified that after his extradition from Algeria, officials at the
Ministry of Interior tortured him by beatings, electrocution, and
holding his head under water. Defense lawyers for the accused requested
that the judge recommend a medical examination, but the judge
reportedly ruled that such a request should come from the general
prosecutor.
There were no further developments in the case of the ``Bizerte
Group,'' 11 defendants arrested in 2004 and charged with various
terrorism-related crimes, who were sentenced in 2005 to prison terms
ranging from 10 to 30 years. In July 2005 the court acquitted five of
the defendants, while the remaining six received sentence reductions.
The Committee of the Defense of Victims of the Law on Terrorism
released multiple communiques in 2005 charging that authorities used
torture to obtain confessions from the group.
Police assaulted human rights and opposition activists throughout
the year.
On March 11, according to the LTDH, police agents beat former
political prisoner Abdeljabbar Maddouri, who reportedly lost
consciousness and was hospitalized due to the attack.
On May 11, according to multiple witnesses and human rights groups,
police assaulted lawyers staging a three-week sit-in to protest a new
law that created a training institute for lawyers (see section 1.e.).
Police allegedly attacked several lawyers over the course of the three-
week sit-in, including Ayachi Hammami, Raouf Ayadi, and Abderrazak
Kilani, all of whom were hospitalized, according to a communique
released by CNLT.
There were no further developments on reports that three
individuals, allegedly members of the security forces, assaulted
journalist Sihem Ben Sedrine in 2004 (see section 2.a.), or on reports
in 2004 of an assault on former political prisoner Hamma Hammami, whose
political party urged the boycott of the 2004 Presidential elections.
In 2004 the President ordered the Higher Commission on Human Rights
and Basic Freedoms (a state appointed body) to conduct an inquiry into
the case of Nabil El Ouaer, whom a military tribunal had sentenced to
15 years in prison in 1992. In 2004 the senior official of Borj er-
Roumi Prison allegedly beat Ouaer and placed him in solitary
confinement. While in solitary confinement, four other prisoners
allegedly raped him. Based on its timing and location, human rights
activists believed prison officials sanctioned the incident.
Authorities did not publish the commission's findings, if any, by
year's end.
Authorities did not charge any police or security force official
with abuse during the year.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions ranged
from spartan to poor and generally did not meet international
standards. Although overcrowding and limited medical care posed a
significant threat to prisoners' health, new prison facilities at
Mornaguia and greater access to healthcare improved the situation.
According to human rights organizations, prison conditions in the
country continued to fall short of minimum adequate standards. Hygiene
was extremely poor, and prisoners rarely had access to showers and
washing facilities. Sources reported that 40 to 50 prisoners were
typically confined to a single 194 square foot cell, and up to 140
prisoners shared a 323 square foot cell. Most prisoners were forced to
share beds or sleep on the floor. Current and former prisoners reported
that inmates were forced to share a single water and toilet facility
with more than 100 cellmates, creating serious sanitation problems.
Contagious diseases, particularly scabies, were widespread, and
prisoners did not have access to adequate medical care. Additional
discriminatory and arbitrary measures such as restrictions on family
visits worsened the conditions of detention, particularly when
prisoners sought redress for grievances about treatment and conditions.
On September 9, the Government closed the ``9 Avril'' prison in
Tunis and moved prisoners to a new facility at Mornaguia, a suburb of
Tunis. The capacity of the new prison was reportedly 5,000 prisoners
and designed to remedy serious problems of overcrowding in the 9 Avril
prison. Prisoners had previously complained of very poor conditions in
9 Avril, including overcrowding, sanitation problems, and limited
access to medical care.
A 2004 LTDH report on the country's prisons entitled ``The Walls of
Silence'' estimated that there were approximately 26,000 prisoners in
29 prisons and seven juvenile detention centers. The report described a
number of abuses, alleging that torture and humiliating treatment of
prisoners were widespread.
In an April 2005 report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) described the
Government practice of holding political prisoners in prolonged
solitary confinement. During a press conference held in Tunis in April
2005, HRW announced that the Government promised not to place prisoners
in solitary confinement for more than 10 days, the maximum time allowed
for punishment according to the law. Shortly thereafter, the Government
confirmed that it had eliminated long-term solitary confinement.
However, HRW reported that the Government continued to keep some
political prisoners, most of whom were outlawed Islamist party An-
Nahdha leaders, in small-group isolation.
According to prisoner and detainee testimony, prison conditions for
women were generally better than those for men. Conditions for
detainees and convicts were reportedly the same.
International and local NGOs reported that political prisoners
regularly were moved among jails throughout the country, thereby making
it more difficult for their families to deliver food to them and to
discourage their supporters or the press from inquiring about them (see
section 1.b.). The CNLT reported that other inmates were instructed to
stay away from political prisoners and were punished severely for
making contact with them.
In April 2005 the Government reportedly approved access for HRW to
make prison visits. Following this verbal agreement, however, HRW
submitted a formal request for prison access, but despite multiple
communications from HRW, by year's end the Government had not responded
to HRW's request. In June 2005 the ICRC began conducting prison and
detention center visits, following more than a year of negotiations
with the Government. The International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) reported that prison authorities had respected their mission and
allowed them to conduct visits without obstacle. According to ICRC the
Government began to put measures in place to improve conditions,
including improved hygienic conditions and access to medical care. In
February the ICRC submitted its first intermediary report to the
Government. The Government did not permit media to inspect or monitor
prison conditions.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, but, in practice, they occurred.
The International Association for the Support of Political
Prisoners (AISPP) reported that hundreds of persons were arrested from
2003 until present for visiting terrorism-related Web sites and were
detained without proper legal procedures or sufficient evidence of
commission of a crime (see section 1.d.).
According to AI and domestic human rights organizations, scores of
people were arrested by police beginning in late December, following
exchanges of gun fire between security forces and members of a Salafist
armed group that had among its targets foreign embassies and personnel.
Families made enquiries about the individuals, but the authorities
allegedly have given them no information. AI expressed concern that
they may have been held in incommunicado detention at the State
Security Department of the Ministry of Interior in Tunis, where they
would be at risk of torture and other ill-treatment. There were no
developments on this caseload at year's end.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of the
Interior controls several law enforcement organizations including: the
police, who have primary responsibility within the major cities; the
National Guard, which has responsibility in smaller cities and the
countryside; and state security forces, which monitor groups and
individuals the Government considers to be a threat, such as opposition
parties and leaders, the media, Islamists, and human rights activists.
In general law enforcement groups were disciplined, organized, and
effective; however, there were episodes involving petty corruption and
police brutality. Law enforcement organizations operated with impunity,
and sanctioned by high officials, the police attacked dissidents and
oppositionists.
The Ministry of Interior's Higher Institute of Internal Security
Forces and Customs has oversight of law enforcement officers in the
ministries of interior and customs. The organization's stated mission
was to reinforce human rights and improve law enforcement; however, no
information was available about its operations, and no information was
available about any punishment of police and prison guards.
Arrest and Detention.--The law provides that the police must have a
warrant to arrest a suspect, unless the crime committed is a felony or
is in progress; however, arbitrary arrests and detentions occurred. The
penal code permits the detention of suspects for up to six days prior
to arraignment, during which time the Government may hold suspects
incommunicado. Arresting officers are required to inform detainees of
their rights, immediately inform detainees' families of the arrest, and
make a complete record of the times and dates of such notifications,
but those rules were sometimes ignored. Detainees were allowed access
to family members when they were not being held incommunicado, although
the Government did not always facilitate the efforts of family members
to identify the whereabouts of their detained relatives.
Detainees have the right to know the grounds of their arrest before
questioning, and may request a medical examination. They do not have a
right to legal representation during the pre arraignment detention.
Attorneys, human rights monitors, and former detainees maintained that
authorities illegally extended detainment by falsifying arrest dates.
Police reportedly extorted money from families of innocent detainees in
exchange for dropping charges against them.
The law permits the release of accused persons on bail, and
detainees have the right to be represented by counsel during
arraignment. The Government provides legal representation for
indigents. At arraignment the examining magistrate may decide to
release the accused or remand him to pretrial detention.
The Government denied detaining anyone for political crimes. The
lack of public information on prisoners and detainees made it
impossible to estimate the number of political detainees. However, it
was likely that the number of those held without charge was low because
criminal convictions of dissidents and Islamists were easy to secure
under laws prohibiting membership in outlawed organizations and
``spreading false information aimed at disturbing of the public
order.''
In cases involving crimes for which the sentence may exceed five
years or that involve national security, pretrial detention may last an
initial period of six months and may be extended by court order for two
additional four month periods. For crimes in which the sentence may not
exceed five years, the court may extend the initial six month pretrial
detention by an additional three months only. During this pretrial
stage, the court conducts an investigation, hears arguments, and
accepts evidence and motions from both parties. Complaints of prolonged
pretrial detention were common.
Amnesty.--Judges and the Government exercised their authority to
release prisoners or suspend their sentences, often on conditional
parole (see section 1.e.).
On February 26, President Ben Ali released 1,298 prisoners from
prison and granted ``conditional freedom'' to 359 others. Among those
released were 87 members of the banned Islamist party An-Nahdha,
including Hamadi Jebali, the former editor of An-Nahdha's now defunct
newspaper al-Fajr, as well as other Islamists. Also among those
released were six detainees, known as the Zarzis group, who had been
arrested in 2003 for allegedly preparing to commit terrorist attacks.
International and domestic human rights NGOs, who have long called for
the release of political prisoners, had been particularly vocal about
Jebali and the Zarzis group. After release Jebali and members of the
Zarzis group complained of subsequent government harassment and
excessive restrictions on personal movement due to their administrative
control status (see section 2.d.).
On November 4, President Ben Ali released an unannounced number of
prisoners in advance of the November 7 national holiday commemorating
the President's accession to power in 1987. An-Nahdha later reported on
its Web site that 55 of its former members that had been imprisoned in
the early 1990s were among those released. Several of those released
had been sentenced to life in prison.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the executive branch and the President
strongly influenced judicial procedures, particularly in political
cases. The executive branch exercised indirect authority over the
judiciary through the appointment, assignment, tenure, and transfer of
judges, rendering the system susceptible to pressure. In addition, the
President was head of the Supreme Council of Judges, composed primarily
of Presidential appointees.
The law provides citizens legal recourse to an administrative
tribunal to address grievances against government ministries, although
government officials rarely respected the tribunal's nonbinding
decisions. Throughout the year the Government permitted observers from
diplomatic missions and foreign journalists to monitor trials. The
Government did not permit observers to attend sessions of military
tribunals.
In June 2005 as it had in the previous year, the Association of
Tunisian Judges (AMT), a 1,700-member professional organization,
released a communique calling for reform of the recruitment, transfer,
and promotion system for judges and proposing elections of judges to
the Supreme Council of Judges, the governing body for the judiciary
(see section 2.b.). Although the Government did not officially respond
to the association's communique, in July 2005 human rights
organizations stated that the Government removed AMT leadership due to
its demonstrated independence and transferred independent judges to
regional cities as punishment(see section 2.b.).
On May 9, the Tunisian Bar Association led a sit-in at the
association's headquarters in Tunis protesting a draft law announced
the same day that created a training institute for lawyers. Lawyers
alleged that by controlling admission to the Institute, the Government
would effectively control admittance to the bar. Although the bar
association had previously supported the creation of a training
institute to standardize qualifications for becoming a lawyer, bar
association leaders complained that the association was not consulted
on the new draft law and that the proposed institution would not be
independent. Lawyers alleged that police abused several lawyers who
participated in the sit-in and related demonstrations outside of court
buildings in Tunis (see section 1.c.). On May 12, despite the
objections of the bar association, the President signed the law.
The civil court system is a four tiered hierarchy. At the first
level, there are 51 district courts, in which a single judge hears each
case. At the second level are 24 courts of first instance, which serve
as the appellate courts for the district courts, but which also have
original jurisdiction for more serious cases. The Court of Cassation
(or Supreme Court) serves as the final court of appeals. The Supreme
Court only considers arguments pertaining to points of law. The
organization of the criminal court system is similar to that of the
civil court system. In most cases the presiding judge or panel of
judges dominate a trial, and attorneys have little opportunity to
participate substantively.
Military courts fall under the Ministry of Defense. Military
tribunals have the authority to try cases involving military personnel
and civilians accused of national security crimes. Defendants may
appeal the military tribunal's verdict to the civilian Supreme Court.
On April 18, according to newspapers, Slah Mosbah, a well-known
singer, was arrested on charges of ``attacking the dignity of the
army'' and physical assault due to an altercation with two military
officials following a car accident involving Mosbah's vehicle and a
military bus. Authorities tried Mosbah in April and May in a military
tribunal and sentenced him to two years and eight months in prison.
Authorities released Mosbah on parole after two months on June 23.
There is also an administrative tribunal, which hears
administrative cases between citizens and the Government.
Trial Procedures.--The law extends the same trial procedure rights
to all citizens, and it provides for the right to a fair trial;
however, according to international and domestic NGOs this did not
always occur in practice.
Trials in the regular courts of first instance and in the courts of
appeal are open to the public. By law the accused has the right to be
present at trial, to be represented by counsel, and to question
witnesses; however, judges do not always observe these rights in
practice. The law permits the trial in absentia of fugitives from the
law. Both the accused and the prosecutor may appeal decisions of the
lower courts.
The law provides that defendants are presumed innocent until proven
guilty ``following a procedure offering essential defense guarantees.''
However, that presumption was sometimes ignored in practice, especially
in politically sensitive cases. Defendants may request a different
judge if they believe the assigned one is not impartial; however,
judges are not required to recuse themselves.
Lengthy trial delays remained a problem (see section 1.d.).
Defendants do not have the right to a speedy trial, nor is there any
limit to how much time a case can take. Defense lawyers claimed that
judges sometimes refused to let them call witnesses on their clients'
behalf or to question key government witnesses. Defense lawyers
contended that the courts often failed to grant them adequate notice of
trial dates, or to allow them time to prepare their cases. Some
reported that judges restricted access to evidence and court records,
and in some cases, required all the lawyers working on a case to
examine documents together on a single date in judges' chambers,
without allowing them to copy relevant documents.
Lawyers and human rights organizations reported that courts
routinely failed to investigate allegations of torture and mistreatment
and accepted as evidence confessions extracted through torture (see
section 1.c.). They noted that the summary nature of court sessions
sometimes prevented reasoned deliberation. They also stated that
erratic court schedules and procedures were designed to deter observers
of political trials.
Although family and inheritance law is codified, civil law judges
were known to apply Shari'a (Islamic law) in family cases if the two
systems conflicted (see section 5). For example, codified laws provided
women with the legal right to custody over minor children; however,
judges sometimes refused to grant women permission to leave the country
with them, holding that Shari'a appoints the father as the head of the
family and the one who must grant children permission to travel. Some
families avoided the application of Shari'a inheritance rules by
executing sales contracts between parents and children to ensure that
daughters received shares of property equal to that of sons.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The Government denied that it
held any political prisoners, and there was no definitive information
regarding the number, if any, of such prisoners. Human rights
organizations alleged that the Government had arrested and imprisoned
more than 500 persons since 2005 on charges related to a 2003
antiterrorism law, without sufficient evidence that they had committed
or planned to commit terrorist acts. Human rights activists and lawyers
alleged that many of these detainees were tortured in Ministry of
Interior facilities and were forced to sign confessions.
The AISPP claimed that approximately 150 political prisoners
remained from the caseload of Islamists arrested in the late 1980s and
early 1990s. Very few of the prisoners were convicted for acts of
violence. Most of those who were identified by international human
rights groups as political prisoners or prisoners of conscience were
arrested for violating laws that prohibit membership in illegal
organizations and spreading false information aimed at undermining
public order. Many were arrested for disseminating information produced
by organizations such as An-Nahdha. Former political prisoners stated
their identity papers were marked in a way that resulted in their
receiving harsher treatment.
The ICRC and the governmental body Higher Committee on Human Rights
had access to visit prisons and detention facilities.
In June 2005 the Government released Lotfi Amoudi, who the AISPP
stated was a political prisoner. He had served 14 years in prison and
was released in poor health after a 26-day hunger strike.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--While a court system
existed through which a human rights complaint could be made, the
judiciary was not independent and impartial in cases involving human
rights violations when the Government was involved. Administrative
remedies were available through the Office of the Ombudsman at the
Presidency and administrative court. However, decisions taken by these
institutions were not binding and were often ignored by other
government departments and agencies.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions ``except in exceptional
cases defined by law''; however, the Government generally did not
respect these prohibitions in practice. Police sometimes ignored the
requirement to have a warrant before conducting searches if authorities
considered state security to be involved. AISPP officials reported that
throughout the year members of the security forces broke into AISPP
offices at night and searched without warrant.
Authorities may invoke state security to justify telephone
surveillance. According to numerous reports by NGOs, the news media,
and diplomatic representatives, the Government intercepted faxes and e-
mails. The law does not explicitly authorize these activities, but the
Government stated that the code of criminal procedure implicitly gives
investigating magistrates such authority. Many opposition political
activists experienced frequent and sometimes extended interruptions of
service to home and business telephones, faxes, and the Internet. Human
rights activists accused the Government of using the postal code, with
its broad but undefined prohibition against mail that threatens the
public order, to interfere with their correspondence and interrupt the
delivery of foreign publications. Security forces routinely monitored
the activities, telephone, and Internet exchanges of opposition,
Islamist, human rights activists, as well as journalists, and also
placed some under surveillance (see section 2.a.).
The Government barred membership in political parties organized by
religion, race, or region of origin. On these grounds, the Government
considered that members of the Islamist movement An-Nahdha belonged to
an illegal organization (see section 3).
Human rights activists claimed that the Government punished family
members of Islamist activists for crimes allegedly committed by the
activists. Family members were reportedly denied jobs, educational
opportunities, business licenses, and the right to travel due to their
relatives' activism. They also alleged that relatives of Islamist
activists, in jail or living abroad, were subjected to police
surveillance and questioning about their activist relatives.
Human rights activists reported that upon release from prison,
detainees suspected of An-Nahdha membership were harassed and
restricted in their employment. Former An-Nahdha prisoners reported
that government officials instructed prospective employers not to hire
them or their families. Former political prisoners were not able to
obtain a document from the Ministry of Interior stating that they had
no criminal records. Such statements were necessary for employment.
Even if they had not been jailed, authorities confiscated the identity
cards of some activists and Islamists. For example, AISPP member Lasaad
Johri has been deprived of an identity card since 1999. An individual
must have an identity card to receive healthcare, sign a lease, buy or
drive a car, access bank accounts and pensions, and even to join a
sports club. Police may stop anyone at any time and ask for his or her
identity card. If individuals are unable to produce their cards, police
may detain them until their identity can be established by a central
fingerprint database.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press ``exercised within the conditions
defined by the law''; however, the Government generally did not respect
these rights in practice. It limited press freedom and intimidated
journalists, editors, and publishers into practicing self censorship.
Security forces closely monitored press activity.
Journalist accreditation for domestic press is obtained from the
Ministry of Communication. The journalist must have a university degree
and be employed by a newspaper. The journalist's employing newspaper
must submit a request for accreditation. If approved, the journalist
received a trainee card for the first year, followed by a professional
card. Not all working journalists have accreditation, which provides
access to official events.
Under the law, print media need not be licensed. In practice,
however, print media are rigidly controlled by the authorization to the
printer, not the publisher. Print media must request a copyright
(patente) registration from the Ministry of Interior. Applications are
submitted to the Ministry of the Interior, which then delivers a
receipt (recepisse) good for one year constituting the official permit
to publish. The Press Code requires that the printer request the
receipt before printing, effectively prohibiting any unlicensed
publications. The code also requires the publisher to inform the
Ministry of Interior of any change of printer.
Printers and publishers violating these rules are subject to
substantial, per copy, personal fines under the Press Code.
In a similar way, broadcast media are controlled by the granting or
denial of a frequency by the Tunisian Frequencies Agency, which is part
of the Ministry of Communications and Technologies. These licenses, or
acceptance of the application, are tightly restricted.
The law prohibits citizens from discussing national politics on
foreign radio or television channels during the two weeks prior to
national elections.
Security forces often questioned citizens seen talking with foreign
visitors or residents, particularly visiting international human rights
monitors and journalists. The Government attempted to prevent private
meetings with foreign diplomats and to influence public meetings by
surrounding meeting places with scores of plainclothes policemen (see
section 2.b.). For example, on May 3, World Press Freedom Day,
plainclothes policemen lined the street leading to the headquarters of
the Government offices of Tunisian Radio and Television, blocking a
planned demonstration on press freedom.
The Government stated that there were 950 foreign publications and
newspapers distributed in the country and that 90 percent of the
newspapers were ``privately owned and editorially independent.''
However, of the eight mainstream dailies, two were government owned,
two were owned by the ruling party, and two, although nominally
private, took editorial direction from senior government officials. All
media were subject to significant governmental pressure over subject
matter.
There were three opposition party newspapers with small
circulations and editorial independence from the Government.
Nevertheless, two of them, Ettariq El Jadid and Al-Wahda, received
government subsidies under a law that provides government financing to
papers representing opposition parties with seats in parliament. The
third, Al-Mawqif, did not receive the subsidy since its party was not
represented in parliament.
While the Government permitted public criticism in opposition
newspapers, it impeded similar criticism in the mainstream press.
Individuals and certain groups faced reprisal for statements critical
of the Government. For example, in April 2005 a court found Mohamed
Abbou, a lawyer, guilty of publishing statements ``likely to disturb
the public order'' in which he compared the fate of Iraqi prisoners in
Abu Ghraib to that of citizen prisoners. He was arrested following the
online publication of another article in which he unfavorably compared
the country's President to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Mohamed Abbou's wife, Samia Abbou, and family were harassed and
subjects of surveillance. In March Mohamed Abbou went on a hunger
strike to protest his detention conditions, which he alleged
deteriorated following a demonstration by supporters outside the El Kef
Prison where he was detained. On October 16, Samia Abbou went on a one-
day hunger strike with other wives of political prisoners to protest
their husbands' continued detention. Following the hunger strike,
police harassment and surveillance of Samia Abbou and her family
increased.
On May 27, authorities sentenced opposition political activist
Neila Hachicha's husband, Khaled Hachicha, to six months in prison for
a zoning violation after Neila Hachicha published critical articles
online and in international newspapers and appeared on Al-Jazeera.
Human rights activists alleged that Hachicha's husband's sentence was a
result of her activism. On November 16, authorities released Hachicha.
On October 21, authorities charged opposition political leader
Moncef Marzouki with ``threatening to disturb the public order,''
following appearances on Al-Jazeera earlier in October in which he
criticized the Government and called for civil disobedience.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of journalists
being arrested solely because of their work as journalists; however,
some journalists who were active in opposition activities, such as Al-
Jazeera correspondent Lotfi Hajji, were detained. Other journalists
were detained and interrogated without being formally arrested.
Throughout the year, Abdullah Zouari, a journalist who once worked for
Al-Fajr, the weekly newspaper of the An-Nahdha party, remained under
administrative control and in internal exile. During the year Zouari
undertook a number of hunger strikes to bring attention to his
situation. In February authorities released Hamadi Jebali, a former
editor of Al-Fajr, after having served most of a 16 year sentence for
insurrection and ``membership in an illegal organization.'' He reported
that he remained under administrative control and was unable to travel
outside of the governorate of Sousse.
On August 16, according to Reporters Without Borders (RWB), police
beat two journalists, Slim Boukhdir and Taoufik Al-Ayachi, in Tunis
following their visit to the home of Samia Abbou. According to RWB,
approximately a dozen policemen accosted and beat them, and Ayachi's
camera was confiscated.
According to RWB and other human rights and press freedom
organizations, authorities frequently harassed Boukhdir after he posted
articles on the Internet critical of the Government. In November 2005
Arabic-language daily newspaper Ash-Shourouq stopped publishing his
articles and froze his salary in February. In April and May he was one
of two Ash-Shourouq journalists who went on hunger strike in protest of
their treatment by Ash-Shourouq management. Government authorities
reportedly refused to give Boukhdir a press card and confiscated his
passport.
There were no further developments in the case of Christophe
Boltanksi, a journalist for the French newspaper Liberation, who was
attacked and robbed in November 2005. Boltanski had been reporting on
demonstrations in support of the Movement of 18 October hunger strikers
(see section 2.b.). Following the attack international and local civil
society organizations accused the security forces of organizing the
assault. The Government claimed it had arrested two suspects in the
attack, but there was no information on any subsequent trial of the
alleged perpetrators at year's end.
There was no further information on the alleged assault of Jean
Jacques Mathy in November 2005. According to international media and
NGO reports, plainclothes policemen pulled Mathy, of the Belgian
television station RBF, from his car and seized his video camera and
cassette. The camera was subsequently returned without the cassette
(see section 2.b.).
On January 11, the President signed a law abolishing depot legal,
which had required that the Government approve all printed material
prior to publication or distribution. The lifting of depot legal
applied to newspapers and magazines but not books. The lifting of depot
legal means that newspapers and magazines no longer must deposit a copy
of their latest issue at the Ministry of Interior before going to
print. Lifting of depot legal ended formal, overt censorship of the
print media but did not end self-censorship and obvious government
interference, such as the simultaneous appearance in three different
Arabic-language newspapers of similar editorials lambasting civil
society activists who frequent foreign embassies. All books and foreign
publications continued to be subject to restrictions, as evidenced by
the refusal of permission to distribute or print certain books. Book
fairs had to deposit a copy of each title, or at least a list of
titles, in advance. In a February 2005 report, the Tunisia Monitoring
Group of the NGO International Exchange on Freedom of Expression
provided a list of 21 books or academic works by domestic authors that
have been censored in the country from initial publication until
present.
On January 18, the GOT seized all of the copies of two domestic
newspapers (mainstream weekly Akhbar al Joumhouriya and opposition
weekly Al Mawqif), reportedly because of their articles on a rumored
upcoming rise in bread prices. Press contacts claimed that the
Government considered the articles provocative. The Government provided
no legal justification for the removal of the newspapers.
The Government also seized and banned distribution of the July 14
issue of Al Mawqif. Press observers claimed that the cause was its
reprinting of an editorial by the chief editor of Pan-Arab newspaper Al
Quds Al Arabi, threatening not to distribute the newspaper in the
country due to press censorship. However, the article was published in
a subsequent issue of Al Mawqif.
The law stipulates that the publication, introduction, and
circulation of foreign works may be restricted. Authorities restricted
the timely purchase of foreign publications that included articles
deemed critical of the country or that the Government determined could
prompt a security threat. For example, on February 7, according to the
NGO Observatory for the Freedom of Press, Publishing, and Creation in
Tunisia (OLPEC), authorities banned the circulation of issue 257 of Al
Maraa Al Youm magazine, edited in Dubai, allegedly due to an article
referring to a rumored illness of President Ben Ali.
Authorities prevented the distribution of the September 19 edition
of the International Herald Tribune and Le Figaro due to an editorial
by Robert Redeker that claimed Islam incited hatred and violence.
The law authorizes sentences up to five years in prison for
offensive statements against the President and up to three years in
prison for defamation of constitutional bodies, including the Chamber
of Deputies, Chamber of Advisors, constitutional councils, the
administration, government members or deputies. In 2004 charges for
defamation were brought against the editor of Al Mawqif for a 2004
article calling for an investigation into the railroad system. Nejib
Chebbi, then-PDP secretary general and Al Mawqif publisher, appeared
before the public prosecutor in April 2005. The case remained pending
at year's end.
Directors and owners of existing private media, as well as
journalists at the Government and ruling party-owned press, practiced a
high degree of self-censorship. Journalists in the mainstream press
regularly refrained from investigative reporting on national issues.
Only the small opposition press reported regularly on controversial
national issues.
In May 2005 three independent members of the board of the Tunisian
Journalists Association published a report in the name of the
association that reported ``rampant violations, including censorship
and harassment of journalists.'' In May 2005 one of the members, Neji
Bghouri, was held in police headquarters, but no formal charges were
brought against him.
On May 3, the Association of Tunisian Journalists (AJT) released a
report that summarized financial and administrative hardships of
journalists, noted that no new newspapers were licensed, and mentioned
the near absence of investigative reporting or editorial comment on
local issues. While the report criticized government-owned television
programming and also referred to ``censorship, abusive licensing
practices, and refusal of coverage of some events,'' the authors
avoided any direct criticism of the Government.
Also on May 3, World Press Freedom Day, Lotfi Hajji, President of
the unrecognized Tunisian Journalists Union (SJT), released a report
that directly criticized the Government's harassment of journalists and
its control over nominally private media outlets. On May 12,
authorities called Hajji to police headquarters and interrogated him
for four hours about an ``illegal'' meeting of ``civil society
representatives'' at his home in Bizerte. The list of representatives
presented to him by the police included the names of his wife and
brother. Hajji's detention also followed two articles he wrote and
published on the Internet on a confrontation between the Government and
the Tunisian Bar Association over the creation of the new lawyer's
institute (see section 1.e.).
Government regulations required foreign correspondents to obtain
written approval before video recording in public. The Government also
controlled the satellite transmissions of local correspondents
reporting for foreign television stations by refusing to license
correspondents and insisting all correspondents use government-owned
facilities for satellite uplinks.
The Government often pressured newspapers to carry the Government
wire service's version of an event, even when their own journalists
were present. According to the May 3 SJT report, authorities told
journalists not to report a post office employees' strike on January 4
and a high school teachers' strike on April 19. Some government-owned
newspapers accused the union of incitement and a lack of patriotism.
Following a 2005 press conference held by the Tunisian Bar Association
on the Mohamed Abbou case, officials told journalists present not to
write about the event.
The Government continued to exercise tight control over the
licensing of new newspapers. Although there were at least 11 existing
applications, the Government authorized the creation of only one new
newspaper, Mouwatinoun, which was to be published by the legal
opposition party Democratic Forum for Labor and Liberties (FDTL).
According to party leaders, only weeks after refusing FDTL the
necessary paperwork to begin the process of authorization, in December
the Ministry of Interior approved the publication, according to party
leaders.
CLNT produced the newspaper-magazine Kalima without a license, but
it was not available for public consumption. In September 2005
officials at the Ministry of Interior prevented Sihem Ben Sedrine, a
journalist, publisher, and one of the founders of the CNLT, from
registering her newspaper Kalima, whose Web site remained blocked
within the country (see section 2.b.). It was Ben Sedrine's fourth
attempt to register the publication. Ben Sedrine and international
human rights NGOs alleged that the Government refused registration of
Kalima due to its commentary critical of the Government. During the
year police seized copies of the newspaper from CNLT officials outside
of CNLT headquarters in Tunis.
The Government maintained tight control of the broadcast media.
Although the private broadcast media made some inroads in social and
sports commentary, both private and government-owned radio stations
confined broadcast news to international and noncontroversial national
issues.
In observance of a stipulation of its 2005 license, the Hannibal
private television station did not broadcast news. The granting of the
licenses for the three existing private broadcast media was not
transparent, and several requests for licenses, some pending for years,
remained in limbo. The Government did not restrict the widespread
possession of satellite dishes.
On October 3, Hannibal TV stopped broadcasting Sans Preavis, a show
reporting poor families preparing the traditional Ramadan iftar meal.
Although no official reason was given for the cancellation, some media
sources suggested that it was due to government pressure since the show
presented an unfavorable picture of government efforts to eradicate
poverty.
The Government permitted the establishment of a pan-Maghreb
satellite television channel, based in Tunis but broadcasting from
Paris, by Karoui&Karoui World.
The Government continued to withhold press credentials from, and
delayed granting passports to, journalists, such as Slim Boukhdir, who
in 2004 posed a question in a press conference implying that relatives
of the President had pressured the judiciary to influence a legal case.
The Government did not grant government press cards to other
experienced journalists, including Lotfi Hajji, Abdelatif Fourati,
Slaheddine Jourchi, and Mohamed Fourati. Such press cards were needed
for official accreditation as a journalist and were reviewed annually.
Accreditation allowed journalists to attend official press conferences.
According to many journalists and non-journalist sources, senior
government officials routinely called news directors and editors to
inform them which issues they were forbidden to cover or publish and to
direct editorial content and news coverage. The Tunisian Agency for
External Communications enforced this policy and other informal
censorship mechanisms by favoring certain publications for placement of
government advertising. In addition, private companies were unwilling
to advertise in newspapers no longer receiving government
advertisements in order to avoid the appearance of siding with the
media organization being punished by the Government.
Internet Freedom.--According to the Government, no content is
blocked or censored, except for obscene material or content threatening
public order, defined as ``incitement to hate, violence, terrorism, and
all forms of discrimination and bigoted behavior which violate the
integrity and dignity of the human person, and/or are prejudicial to
children and adolescents.'' However, the Government blocked access to a
number of Internet Web sites for their criticism of the Government. The
Government blocked nearly all sites belonging to domestic human rights,
opposition, and Islamist groups. Some foreign Web sites remained
blocked, including that of AI, RWB and the local section of the HRW Web
site. Opposition news sites and Internet discussion sites were also
blocked.
In November 2005 the OpenNet Initiative, a collaborative of
universities in several nations studying government attempts to control
Internet information, reported that the Government had blocked 10
percent of the 2,000 Web sites it tested and targeted and blocked
substantial online material on political opposition, human rights,
methods of bypassing filtering, and pornography. A November 2005 HRW
report on online censorship noted that the Government cited
counterterrorism and the need to curb incitement to hatred and violence
among its justifications for censoring information online. The same
report noted, however, that tests on 41 radical Islamist Web sites
found only four blocked.
In April 2005 a court found Mohamed Abbou, a lawyer, guilty of
publishing statements ``likely to disturb the public order'' in which
he condemned torture in the country's prisons and compared the fate of
Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib to that of citizen prisoners (see section
1.c.).
Two 1997 decrees cover in part Internet and telecommunications
services. All Internet service providers (ISPs) must obtain a license
from the Ministry of Communications and Technologies. The Commission on
Telecommunications Services, including representatives from the
ministries of defense and interior, as well as officials holding posts
related to communications, information, and computer sciences, reviews
each application.
According to the HRW report on online censorship, each ISP must
designate a director who ``assumes responsibility . . . for the content
of pages and Web pages and sites that the ISP is requested to host on
its servers.'' Internet users and those who maintain Web sites and
servers are also responsible for infractions of the law. Each ISP must
submit, monthly, a list of its Internet subscribers to the quasi-
governmental Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI). If an ISP stops services,
it must ``without delay'' furnish the ATI with a complete set of its
archives. The director of the ISP must maintain ``constant oversight''
of the content on the ISP's servers to insure that no information
remains on the system that is contrary to ``public order and good
morals.''
There were approximately 300 Internet cafes. The cafes are
privately-owned but operate under the authority of the Ministry of
Communications. Among other legal requirements, Internet cafe owners
must maintain a database of their customers and inform customers of
their obligations and their responsibility for any infringements of the
legal provisions relating to Internet use.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government limited
academic freedom and fostered a culture of self censorship in
universities. The Government closely monitored administrators,
teachers, and students to identify any political activity. Police on
university campuses, both uniformed and in plainclothes, discouraged
students from openly expressing dissent.
On October 13, authorities fined Abdelhamid Sgaier, a post-graduate
student, for demonstrating for the right of female students at a Tunis
university to wear hijab (see section 2.c.). Sgaier went on a 20-day-
hunger strike to protest the court's decision and to demand the renewal
of his passport. The Government allegedly refused to issue him a new
passport for six months due to his political activities.
In March 2005 police assaulted students during campus
demonstrations against the Government's invitation to then-Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to attend a UN summit hosted by the
country. Police arrested one faculty member and several students, who
were released the following day (see section 2.b.).
Authorities subjected academic publications to government approval
before publication, and university libraries did not purchase foreign
books or subscribe to foreign magazines deemed critical of the
Government. Close government control over academic research funds
prevented university administrators from authorizing or applying for
grants on research topics that they believed the Government would find
objectionable. Professors avoided teaching classes on subjects
considered sensitive, such as legal courses on political systems or
classes on civil liberties. University professors often avoided
discussion of subjects deemed sensitive enough to interest the
Government, and faculty members reported that they were hesitant to
gather outside the classroom.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, but the Government severely
restricted this right in practice.
Freedom of Assembly.--The law requires groups wishing to hold a
public meeting, rally, or march to obtain a permit from the Ministry of
Interior no later than three days before the proposed event and to
submit a list of participants; authorities routinely approved such
permits for groups that supported the Government and generally refused
permission for dissenting groups. As in previous years, NGO leaders
reported difficulty in renting space to hold large meetings. They
maintained that police pressured venue managers to prevent them from
renting meeting space. Hotel managers and businesses denied any
specific ban on renting space to opposition groups; however, they said
they cooperated with the Ministry of Interior and accommodated its
requests when possible.
In March the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD)
reserved a hotel in Tunis to hold a seminar for International Women's
Day. However, the day before the conference, hotel managers cancelled
the reservation, citing ongoing work at the hotel facilities. Activists
alleged that the Government had instructed the hotel not to allow ATFD
access to prevent it from holding the planned event.
The Government used police and other state security forces to
monitor, control, and sometimes disrupt demonstrations. The Government
broke up several unsanctioned demonstrations during the year. In
general demonstrators and security forces did not resort to violence;
however, there were some exceptions, such as scuffles ensuing from
demonstrators' attempts to cross police lines barring access to a
demonstration site or demonstrators not dispersing when ordered by
police.
The Government consistently blocked meetings by the LTDH, in its
headquarters in Tunis and in regional offices throughout the country.
On May 27, the LTDH attempted to hold a national congress at it
headquarters in Tunis. Hundreds of police, a majority of whom were in
civilian clothing, blocked access to the LTDH headquarters buildings by
LTDH members and international observers. Police throughout the country
reportedly prevented members from regional cities from traveling to
Tunis to attend the congress. Plainclothes police beat some persons
attempting to gain access to the site.
In July the Government refused to allow several demonstrations to
take place. Opposition groups, human rights NGOs, the Tunisian labor
union and students had petitioned for permission for multiple
demonstrations to protest Israeli actions in Lebanon. Police in Sfax,
Gabes, and Kairouan reportedly used violence in breaking up
unauthorized demonstrations held in protest against the conflict
between Israel and Lebanon in July. Only one demonstration, sanctioned
and led by the Government, took place.
On October 3 and October 27, diplomatic officials attempted to
visit the Bizerte regional branch of the LTDH. On both occasions,
plainclothes police and security officials prevented the officials from
entering the LTDH branch office and conducting a meeting. On October
31, the Government sent a diplomatic note to all diplomatic missions in
Tunis saying that the LTDH was subject to a 2001 court decision that
``forbids all activity of the LTDH.'' The note said that the court had
ruled that the LTDH could only prepare for its national congress.
However, the LTDH had conducted widespread activity since 2001,
although a September 2005 ruling reportedly prevented the LTDH from any
activity involving the preparation of its national congress.
On September 8, the Government blocked an international conference
on labor and employment issues organized by the German Friedich Ebert
Foundation, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network, the Euromed
Trade Union Forum, and the Fundacion Paz y Solidaridad of the Spanish
Comisioners Obreras trade union in liaison with the UGTT, ostensibly
because the organizers had not given the Government advance
notification. However, officials reported privately that the Government
blocked the conference due to the participation of two local activists.
On October 18, the European Commission released the complete text of a
diplomatic protest expressing disappointment over the cancellation of
the event after the Charge d'Affaires at the country's Embassy in
Brussels refused to accept the demarche in person.
In November 2005 organizers of the ``Citizen's Summit on the
Information Society,'' an unofficial parallel summit to the UN World
Summit on the Information Society, reported that the Tunis hotel where
they reserved space notified them that the hall was no longer
available. Representatives of the organizations planning the citizen's
summit also tried to meet at the Goethe Institute, but they were
prevented from entering by several dozen plainclothes police. According
to HRW representatives, the police, who did not identify themselves,
``manhandled local and foreign activists, knocking down several
individuals as they pushed them along the streets.''
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association; however, the Government generally did not respect this
right in practice. The law requires that new NGOs apply to the
Government to gain recognition and to operate legally. According to the
law, an NGO that has filed an application to register may operate
freely while the Government processes its application. If the
Government does not reject the application within 90 days, the NGO is
automatically registered.
The Government routinely blocked registration of new independent
NGOs by refusing to provide receipts for their registration
applications. Without such a receipt, NGOs were unable to counter the
Government's assertions that they had not applied to register and
therefore were not allowed to operate. In such cases, NGOs could be
shut down, their property seized, and their members prosecuted for
``membership in an illegal organization.''
During the year significant numbers of RCD members attempted to
join independent NGOs, such as the LTDH and other civil society groups.
Their apparent intent was to limit the NGOs' independence by gaining
control through elections or disrupting their operations. In some cases
RCD members used the NGOs' own bylaws, while in other cases they
exploited a provision of the law on associations that requires
``organizations of a general character'' to grant membership to all who
apply.
On May 27, a court again ruled that the LTDH could not hold its
national congress because of a suit filed by seven members of the LTDH
allegedly loyal to the RCD.
Leaders of the AMT also alleged that the Government used members
loyal to the RCD to disrupt its meetings and operations. In 2005 AMT
members allegedly under government and RCD control held new elections
for AMT leadership after the AMT President proposed new judicial reform
initiatives and supported a group of lawyers alleging improprieties in
the trial of Mohamed Abbou (see section 1.c.). These RCD-loyal AMT
members claimed that the President's communique was not representative
of all AMT members. In 2005 the Government evicted AMT leadership from
the association's headquarters in Tunis. On August 30, the President
who released the communique was transferred from Tunis to the coastal
city of Mahdia. Previously, several other AMT board members were also
transferred from Tunis to regional cities. Human rights organizations
viewed these transfers as punishments and stated that the Government
removed the current AMT leadership due to its demonstrated
independence. On September 10, the new AMT leadership, allegedly loyal
to the RCD, drafted an internal regulation reducing the number of AMT
members serving on the executive board and excluding members serving in
regional cities from the board. Human rights activists reported that
this was done to exclude independent-minded members who had been
transferred from Tunis as punishment.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion
that does not disturb public order, and the Government generally
respected this right in practice, although there were some restrictions
and abuses.
Islam is the state religion, and the law stipulates that the
President must be a Muslim.
The Government recognizes all Christian and Jewish religious
organizations that were established before independence in 1956.
Although it permitted other Christian denominations to operate, the
Government formally recognized only the Catholic church.
In March 2005 the Government allowed the re-opening of a Catholic
church in Djerba, but did not permit Christian groups to establish new
churches.
While it was not illegal to change religions, government officials
occasionally discriminated against converts from Islam to another
religion using bureaucratic means to discourage conversion. Muslims who
convert to another religion faced social ostracism. Customary law based
on Shari'a forbids Muslim women from marrying outside their religion.
The Government required non-Muslim men to convert to Islam before
marrying a Muslim woman. The Government did not allow married couples
to register their children with non Muslim names. However, marriages of
Muslim women to non-Muslim men abroad were generally recognized by the
Government. While judges generally ruled that marriages abroad were
legal, on rare occasions judges have declared that a marriage abroad
was void in the country.
While authorities did not deport foreigners suspected of
proselytizing, the Government did not renew the visas of suspected
missionaries. During the year there were no reports of official action
against persons suspected of proselytizing.
The Government required Islamic religious education in public
schools. The religious curriculum for secondary school students also
included histories of Judaism and Christianity.
The Government did not permit the establishment of political
parties based on religion, and it used this prohibition to continue to
outlaw the Islamist party An-Nahdha and to prosecute suspected An-
Nahdha members for ``membership in an illegal organization'' (see
section 1.e.). The Government continued to maintain tight surveillance
over Islamists and monitored activity in mosques.
The law provides that only persons appointed by the Government may
lead activities in mosques. The Government required that mosques remain
closed except during prayers and other authorized religious ceremonies,
such as marriages or funerals. According to human rights lawyers, the
Government regularly questioned individuals observed praying frequently
in mosques. Authorities instructed imams to espouse governmental social
and economic programs during prayer times in mosques. The Government
paid the salaries of imams.
The Government sought to suppress certain outward signs of
citizens' religious practice. For example, authorities characterized
the hijab as a ``garment of foreign origin having a partisan
connotation.'' In September, according to news reports, the police
intensified efforts to apply a 1981 decree prohibiting women from
wearing the hijab in official buildings, schools and universities. In
addition, some women were stopped in public places, detained, and told
to remove their hijab. During an October 27 meeting of the government-
loyal NGO National Union of Tunisian Women (UNFT), senior UNFT
officials demanded that all women in the audience remove their veils,
on occasion tugging at their veils and verbally abusing them to do so.
In several cases school officials took disciplinary action to punish
and deter hijab use by attempting to have women sign written oaths
renouncing its use. There were reports that police sometimes detained
and harassed men with what were termed ``Islamic'' beards, compelling
them to shave. These reports increased in frequency after attacks by
alleged Islamists on December 23 (see section 1.d.).
Religious publications were subject to the same restrictions on
freedom of speech and the press as secular publications. Christian
groups were generally allowed to distribute religious documents in
English, but not in Arabic and not in public. Only sanctioned Muslim
religious groups were allowed to distribute religious documents. In the
Government's view, distribution by other groups constituted an illegal
``threat to public order'' (see section 2.a.). The Government
determined which citizens could make the Hajj due to country quotas
from the Saudi Arabian government on how many nationals from each
country could participate in the Hajj.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Cartoons in some mainstream
newspapers used derogatory images of historically stereotypical Jews to
portray the state of Israel and Israeli interests. These cartoons were
drawn by cartoonists outside of the country and reprinted locally.
Christians and Jews living in the country, including foreigners,
constituted less than 1 percent of the population. According to church
leaders, the practicing Christian population was approximately 2,000
and included a few hundred native-born citizens converted to
Christianity. The Government permitted Christians and Jews who did not
proselytize to worship as they wished, and it allowed Jewish
communities to operate private religious schools. Some Christians
reported government harassment in the form of surveillance and
interrogation. There were reports of Christian citizens being detained
by police and government security officials and questioned about their
conversion to Christianity. There was one report that a Christian from
the country was told by a local security official that it was illegal
to be a Christian and was threatened with imprisonment. There were
reports that the process of renewing passports was inexplicably delayed
for some Christians, although passports were subsequently issued (see
section 2.d.). Jewish children on the island of Djerba were permitted
to divide their academic day between public secular schools and private
religious schools.
Jewish community leaders reported that the Government actively
protected synagogues, particularly during Jewish holidays. The
Government allowed the Jewish community freedom of worship and paid the
salary of the grand rabbi. The Government partially subsidized
restoration and maintenance costs for some synagogues. The Provisional
Committee of the Jewish community met weekly and performed religious
activities and charity work, although the Government had not granted it
permanent registration.
In March according to press reports and eyewitnesses, approximately
100 students shouted anti-Israel and anti-Jewish slogans during a
demonstration at Manouba University near Tunis at a ceremony to mark
the donation of books from the library of the late Jewish and citizen
historian Paul Sebag. After the incident the Manouba Student Union,
mainstream citizen journalists, and the Tunisian Human Rights League
strongly denounced the demonstration's anti-Jewish character.
While Baha'is do not consider themselves Muslims, the Government
regarded the Baha'i faith as a heretical sect of Islam and permitted
its adherents to practice their faith only in private.
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, the
Government refused to issue, renew, amend, or accept passports of some
dissidents, Islamists, and their relatives. The Government also may
impose a five year period of ``administrative controls'' at sentencing
on certain former prisoners that constituted a type of internal exile.
The law authorizes the courts to cancel passports and contains
broad provisions that both permit passport seizure on national security
grounds and deny citizens the right either to present their case
against seizure or to appeal the judges' decision. The Ministry of
Interior is required to submit to the courts requests to seize or
withhold a citizen's passport through the public prosecutor; however,
the ministry routinely bypassed the public prosecutor with impunity.
According to the constitution, no citizen can be exiled from the
country nor prevented from returning.
Many citizens reported difficulty applying for or renewing their
passports and accused the Government of blocking their applications
solely on the basis of political opposition. Some Christian converts
also reported unexplained delays in passport issuance or renewal.
Former Islamist leader Mohamed Sedki Labidi has been deprived of
his passport for the last decade without a court decision.
Administrative control measures, which take effect upon a convict's
release from prison, are similar to parole restrictions, except that
they may be applied to prisoners even after they have completed their
sentences. The Government requires those individuals to reside in a
place, chosen by the Government, which may be anywhere in the country,
and they are required to stay ``in the area of their residence.'' They
also may be required to report to a police station frequently each day,
at times determined only the previous evening. At the police station,
they may be forced to wait hours before they are allowed to sign in,
making normal employment impossible. Numerous Islamists released from
prison in recent years have been subjected to such continuing
punishment.
By law administrative control measures may only be imposed at
sentencing; however, a former high school teacher, Nouri Chniti,
claimed that, although his sentence did not include administrative
control, he has been subject to extrajudicial administrative control
measures since 1991 when he received a suspended sentence for
membership in An Nahdha. Some political opponents in self imposed exile
abroad were prevented from obtaining or renewing their passports to
return to the country. In 2005 a group of citizens abroad who had been
refused passports formed an organization called ``Tunisians Without
Passports'' and released communiques calling on the Government to allow
all citizens to receive passports.
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 cooperated to a certain degree with the office of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting approximately 100 refugees and asylum
seekers primarily from sub-Saharan Africa. However, the Government has
not established a system for providing protection to refugees or
foreign nationals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951
Convention and 1967 Protocol, but who still need some form of
international protection. In practice, the Government did not provide
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country
where they feared persecution.
AI reported that Adel Tebourski was forcibly returned to the
country from France after his request for asylum was rejected. In May
2005 Tebourski was sentenced in France to six years' imprisonment for
providing false identity documents to two alleged al-Qa'ida operatives
involved in the killing of Commander Massoud, leader of the Northern
Alliance coalition group in Afghanistan, on September 9, 2001. AI
reported that Tebourski was at grave risk of torture and other serious
human rights violations. On August 7, according to AI, Adel Tebourski
was deported back to the country and released after brief questioning
from the country's border police.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides that citizens shall directly elect the President
and members of the Chamber of Deputies for five year terms; however,
there were significant limitations on citizens' right to change their
government. Moreover, there were irregularities that routinely called
into question the legitimacy of elections.
Elections and Political Participation.--In the October 2004
national elections, President Ben Ali faced three candidates and
officially received 94.9 percent of the popular vote to secure a fourth
term. The third opposition candidate, Mohamed Halouani of the Et Tajdid
party, cited government restrictions and other irregularities to
explain why he received less than 1 percent of the official vote count.
According to official election returns, more than 90 percent of
registered voters went to the polls; however, independent NGOs
estimated that the actual turnout was closer to 30 percent.
The polling was characterized by irregularities. A coalition of
three local independent NGOs (LTDH, CNLT, and the Tunisian Association
of Democratic Women) cited as serious problems the opposition's lack of
media access during the campaign and media bias in favor of the ruling
party (see section 2.a.). Opposition candidates and other observers
also cited voter intimidation, restrictions on disseminating campaign
materials and organizing campaign events.
The Electoral Code significantly limits the number of individuals
eligible to run for President. A candidate must be Muslim and must
receive the endorsement of 30 sitting deputies or municipal council
Presidents to be eligible to run. By law 20 percent of the seats in one
house of the legislature (Chamber of Deputies) are reserved for
opposition party candidates. The ruling party's domination of state
institutions and political activity precluded any credible and
competitive electoral challenges.
In March 2005 the National Election Observatory, formed by the
Government in 2004 to monitor all stages of the 2004 elections, issued
its report, concluding that the electoral process in general proceeded
fairly and according to law. The report contained references to
opposition and NGO criticism of the election, including the non-
distribution of voting cards to opposition party members, the ruling
party's media advantage, the lack of transparency of the actual
balloting, and secret ballot counts. While the report refuted the
claims, it also listed 12 specific recommendations to address problems.
Independent human rights activists complained that the real purpose of
the observatory was to deflect criticism of the lack of independent or
international observers.
The ruling party has maintained power continuously since the
country's independence in 1956. It dominates the cabinet, the
legislature, and regional and local governments.
In July 2005 the Government conducted elections for the 126-seat
Chamber of Advisors, a second parliamentary chamber created by a 2002
constitutional amendment. The voters consisted of 4,555 officials,
including municipal counselors, deputies, and mayors, plus the 189
members of the Chamber of Deputies. Of the 4,555 voters, only 305
belonged to opposition parties. The constitutional amendment creating
the chamber specified that its 126 seats must be allocated among
various regional and professional organizations, including 14 seats for
the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT), which refused to name
candidates, citing a lack of independence and democracy in the
candidate selection process. The President directly appointed 41
candidates. The elected members of the new chamber were overwhelmingly
members or supporters of the ruling RCD party.
The President appoints the Prime Minister, the cabinet, and the 24
governors. The Government and the party are closely integrated; current
and former senior government officials constitute the top ranks of the
RCD. The President of the country is also the President of the party,
and the party's vice President and secretary general each hold the rank
of minister. All members of the RCD politburo hold ministerial rank
based on their current or former government service.
RCD membership conferred tangible advantages. For example, there
were widespread reports that RCD members and their families were much
more likely to receive educational and housing benefits, small business
permits, and waivers on zoning restrictions.
To reduce the advantages wielded by the ruling party, the Electoral
Code reserves 20 percent of seats in the Chamber of Deputies (37 of
189) for the seven officially recognized opposition parties, and
distributes them on a proportional basis to those parties that won at
least a single directly elected district seat. In the 2004 elections,
five of the opposition parties gained seats under that provision. The
RCD held the remaining 152 seats.
On March 3, authorities authorized the establishment of the Green
Party for Progress (PVP), the first new political party created since
2002. Many critics alleged that the party was loyal to the RCD,
particularly after its chairman told the media shortly after its
authorization that it did not have a platform because it was still in
the process of organizing. The Government refused to recognize the
environmentally-based political party, Green Tunisia, despite a long-
pending application.
The Government partially funded legal opposition parties. In
November 2005 the President announced an increase in the level of
support for opposition parties represented in the chamber. The
Government raised the public subsidy for operational costs of
opposition parties to $56,300 (75,000 dinars) per year, raised the
additional payment per deputy to $5,300 (7,500 dinars), and increased
the level of government funding for opposition newspapers to $112,500
(150,000 dinars). Opposition party PDP newspaper Al Mawqif did not
receive a subsidy since the PDP was not represented in the legislature
(see section 2.a.).
By law the Government prohibits the establishment of political
parties on the basis of religion, language, race, or gender. The
Government used the prohibition to continue to outlaw the An-Nahdha
party and to prosecute suspected members for ``membership in an illegal
organization'' (see sections 2.b. and 2.c.).
On a number of occasions, the President expressed the desire to
increase the level of representation of women in the Government to 25
percent. In April 2004 he appointed the country's first female
governor. There were 50 women in the 301 seat legislature, two women in
the 25-seat cabinet, and five women among the 18 secretaries of state
(regarded as junior cabinet members). Following municipal elections in
May 2005, more than one fourth of municipal council members elected
were women. Three women served as Presidents of chambers on the Supreme
Court, and two women served on the 15 member Higher Council of the
Magistracy.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There are 13 articles of
the penal code addressing corruption, and there were a small number of
corruption cases prosecuted throughout the year. On July 26, a
newspaper reported that the National Guard arrested a regional tax
control officer and prosecuted him on corruption charges after
allegedly taking bribes from merchants. The officer, who was not named,
was reportedly in detention, although he had not been sentenced at
year's end. In March 2004 the Minister of Interior announced creation
of the ``Higher Institute of Security Forces and Customs,'' tasked not
only with ``reinforcing human rights and improving law enforcement,''
but also reducing corruption. There were no public reports of the
organization's subsequent activities. There are no laws to provide
government documents to citizens. According to Transparency
International, human rights, and opposition groups, the public
perception that serious corruption existed within the Government
increased. Frequent complaints by citizens and articles in
international and unauthorized domestic media about corruption
corroborated these reports.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights has the lead on government
policy on human rights issues in the country, although other ministries
also had human rights offices. The ministry did not release any public
reports of cases or investigations. A government appointed and funded
body, the Higher Commission on Human Rights and Basic Freedoms,
received, addressed, and occasionally resolved human rights complaints
in regard to prison conditions, requests for amnesty from families of
prisoners, and other issues. The commission submitted confidential
reports directly to the President. The Government maintained several
government-run news sites that included sections on human rights, but
the sites were not identified as government-sponsored. However, the
Government continued to block access to the sites of domestic and
international human rights organizations (see section 2.a.).
The Government actively discouraged investigations of human rights
abuses by domestic and international groups, who generally were able to
investigate and publish their findings with difficulty. The Government
sought to monitor and control the activities of some foreign NGOs
within the country. There were approximately one dozen domestic human
rights NGOs, although only half were authorized. Some NGOs loyal to the
Government received government funding. The Government met with
registered domestic human rights NGOs and on occasion responded to
their inquiries; however, it also harassed, targeted, and prosecuted
some of them.
Citing a court ruling that stated the LTDH could not hold its
National Congress, the Government blocked its meetings and events
throughout the year. The LTDH traditionally was one of the most active
independent advocacy organizations, with 41 branches throughout the
country, although the blockage of LTDH activities by the Government
limited its operational effectiveness. The organization received and
investigated complaints and protested abuses, although the Government
rarely responded to LTDH communiques. The Government continued to block
a European Union grant to the LTDH, citing a law on NGO financing that
includes broad prohibitions on funding of NGOs without government
approval. On October 31, the Government sent an official communication
to all diplomatic missions in Tunis saying that the LTDH was subject to
a 2001 court decision that ``forbids all activity of the LTDH.''
However, the LTDH had conducted widespread activity since 2001.
Other independent human rights NGOs included: the legally
registered Arab Human Rights Institute; the Tunisian Association of
Democratic Women (ATFD); the unregistered AISPP; and the ALTT.
Since 1998 the Government has refused to authorize the CNLT's
registration as an NGO. The CNLT issued statements sharply criticizing
the Government's human rights practices. Government officials have
accused CNLT members of violating the pro forma submission requirements
by publishing communiques without prior government approval (see
section 2.a.).
During the year significant numbers of ruling party RCD members
joined and attempted to join independent NGOs such as the LTDH and
other civil society groups with the apparent intent of eventually
gaining control them (see section 2.b.).
Between April 18 and 22, the International Freedom of Expression
Exchange-Tunisia Monitoring Group (IFEX-TMG), a coalition of
international human rights and freedom of expression NGOs, conducted
fact-finding missions. The IFEX-TMG reported heavy police surveillance
of their activities and government interference with their mission.
Police prevented translators and private citizens traveling with the
group from attending some meetings.
On May 21, Yves Steiner, a visiting member of the Executive
Committee of the Swiss Section of AI, was arrested and expelled from
the country. According to AI, Steiner had delivered a speech on May 20
to members of AI's local chapter in which he condemned growing human
rights abuses in the country, notably restrictions on freedom of
expression and freedom of association. According to international
media, a government source said that Steiner had posed a threat to
public order.
In April 2005 following more than a year of negotiation, the ICRC
signed an agreement with the Government allowing the ICRC to conduct
visits to all prisons and detention centers in the country. Throughout
the year the ICRC conducted visits, including repeat visits to prisons
and detention centers previously visited, and reported that access and
cooperation with the Government were good (see section 1.c.). ICRC
submitted its first intermediary report to the Ministry of Justice in
February.
There were credible reports that police prevented some family
members of prisoners from visiting ICRC offices and monitored,
occasionally harassing, families that visited ICRC offices.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuse, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides that all citizens are equal before the law, and
the Government generally respected this provision, although in
inheritance and family law, biased gender based provisions in the civil
code adversely affected women.
Women.--Laws against domestic violence provide for fines and
imprisonment for assaults committed by a spouse or family member that
are double those for the same crimes committed by an unrelated
individual, but enforcement was lax, as police and the courts generally
regarded domestic violence as an internal family problem. Violence
against women and spousal abuse occurred, but there were no statistics
to measure its extent. The National Union of Tunisian Women (UNFT), a
government sponsored organization that ran a center to assist women and
children in difficulty, sponsored national educational campaigns for
women. The UNFT reported that its two shelters, in Tunis and Sousse,
handled 1,000 cases during the year. The ATFD, active in debating and
publicizing women's issues, operated a counseling center for female
victims and reported that its shelter assisted approximately 100 women
using the shelter for the first time during the year, in addition to a
continuing caseload from previous years.
The penal code specifically prohibits rape, including spousal rape,
and the Government enforced the laws vigorously, giving significant
press coverage to rape cases; however, there were no reports of
prosecution for spousal rape. The penalty for rape with the use of
violence or threat with a weapon is death. For all other rape cases,
the penalty is life imprisonment.
The penal code prohibits prostitution, although individuals were
rarely charged. There were government-sanctioned brothels, although
under the penal code there is a penalty for prostitution of up to two
years in prison. The law applies to both women and men and their
accomplices. There were no reported cases of trafficking or forced
prostitution involving women.
Sexual harassment was a problem, although there were no
comprehensive data to measure its extent. In 2004 the legislature
passed the country's first law making sexual harassment a criminal
offense. Civil society groups vociferously criticized it for being too
vague and susceptible to abuse.
Women enjoy the same legal status as men, and the Government
advanced those rights in the areas of divorce and property ownership.
The law explicitly requires equal pay for equal work, and although
there were no statistics comparing the average earnings of men and
women, anecdotal evidence indicated that women and men performing the
same work received the same wages. A slight majority of university
students were women.
On July 18, the Chamber of Deputies adopted a law that allowed some
female employees in the public sector to work part-time while still
receiving two-thirds of their original salary. The Government stated
that the law was motivated by a desire to allow women to balance family
and professional life. Women's rights activists, including the ATFD,
said that treating women and men differently under the law was a major
setback to women's rights in the workplace.
Women served in high levels of the Government as cabinet ministers
and secretaries of state, and President Ben Ali appointed the country's
first female governor in 2004 (see section 3). Women constituted
approximately 37 percent of the civil service and 24 percent of the
nation's jurists. However, women still faced societal and economic
discrimination.
Codified civil law is based on the Napoleonic code, although judges
often used Shari'a as a basis for customary law in family and
inheritance. Most property acquired during marriage, including property
acquired solely by the wife, was held in the name of the husband.
Married couples may choose between joint or separate property systems
when signing marriage contracts. Customary law based on Shari'a Muslim
prohibits women from marrying outside their religion. Application of
Shari'a inheritance law continued to discriminate against women, and
there was a double standard based on gender and religion: non Muslim
women and Muslim men who are married may not inherit from each other.
The Government considers all children from those marriages to be
Muslim, and forbids those children from inheriting from their mothers.
Female citizens can convey citizenship rights to their children
regardless of the father's citizenship.
The Ministry for Women's Affairs, Family, Children, and Senior
Citizens sponsored several national media campaigns to promote
awareness of women's rights. Nearly two thirds of its budget was
devoted to ensuring the legal rights of women, while simultaneously
improving their socioeconomic status. The Government supported and
funded the UNFT, the Center for Research, Documentation, and
Information on Women (CREDIF), and women's professional associations.
Several NGOs focused on women's advocacy and research in women's
issues, and a number of attorneys represented women in domestic cases.
Children.--The Government demonstrated a strong commitment to free
and universal public education, which is compulsory from age six to 16
years. According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), 95 percent of boys
and 93 percent of girls were in primary school, and approximately 73
percent of boys and 76 percent of girls were in secondary school. The
Government reported the rate of school attendance was approximately 99
percent. During the year female students graduated from secondary
school at a higher rate than males. There were schools for religious
groups (see section 2.c.). The Government sponsored an immunization
program targeting preschool age children and reported vaccinating more
than 95 percent of children. Male and female students received equal
access to medical care.
Convictions for abandonment and assault on minors carried severe
penalties. There was no societal pattern of child abuse.
Child labor and child prostitution were not significant problems.
There were two ministries responsible for rights of children: the
Ministry of Women's Affairs, Family, and Childhood; and the Ministry of
Youth, Sports, and Physical Training. Each had secretaries of state
responsible for safeguarding the rights of children.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
and there were no reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or
within the country.
In 2004 the legislature approved amendments to the 1975 law on
passports and travel documents. The law includes provisions for
sentencing convicted traffickers to prison terms of three to 20 years
and fines of $67,000 to $83,000 (80,000 to 100,000 dinars). The
amendments supplement Tunisian ratification of the United Nations
Protocol to Prevent, Supress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons.
Traffickers may be prosecuted under laws prohibiting forced
displacement of persons.
The Ministry of Interior and Local Development and the Ministry of
Social Affairs, Solidarity, and Tunisians Abroad were the agencies
responsible for antitrafficking efforts. There were no specific
government campaigns to prevent trafficking, although the Government
worked closely with its European neighbors to interdict smuggling, some
of which may include trafficking. The Government does not, however,
have measures to identify trafficking victims from among persons
smuggled voluntarily.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical or mental disabilities and mandates at
least 1 percent of public and private sector jobs be reserved for
persons with disabilities; however, leaders of NGOs dedicated to
persons with disabilities reported that this law was not widely
enforced, and many employers were unaware of its existence. There was
little discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, or in the provision of other state
services. All public buildings constructed since 1991 must be
accessible to persons with physical disabilities, and this was
enforced. The Government issued special cards to persons with
disabilities for benefits such as unrestricted parking, priority
medical services, preferential seating on public transportation, and
consumer discounts. The Government provided tax incentives to companies
to encourage the hiring of persons with physical disabilities, and the
Government strongly supported NGOs working to help persons with
disabilities.
Several active NGOs provided educational, vocational, and
recreational assistance to children and young adults with mental
disabilities. The Government and international organizations funded
several programs. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Solidarity and
Tunisians Abroad was responsible for protecting the rights of persons
with disabilities.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers the right to
organize and form unions, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice. The UGTT was the country's only labor federation.
There were some unauthorized, independent trade unions: the Democratic
Confederation for Labor; and the Tunisian Journalists Syndicate.
Approximately 30 percent of the work force belonged to the UGTT,
including civil servants and employees of state owned enterprises, and
a considerably larger proportion of the work force was covered by union
contracts. A union may be dissolved only by court order.
The UGTT and its member unions were legally independent of the
Government and the ruling party; however, they operated under
regulations that limited their freedom of action. The UGTT membership
included persons associated with all political tendencies. There were
credible reports that the UGTT received substantial government
subsidies to supplement union dues; however, UGTT leaders stated that
their only funding came from modest union dues and revenue from an
insurance company and a hotel owned by the union. Union members and
their families received additional support from the National Social
Security Fund (CNSS). The Government provided the UGTT with land for
its new headquarters and support for its construction. The central UGTT
leadership generally cooperated with the Government regarding its
economic reform program. Throughout the year the UGTT board showed some
independence regarding economic and social issues, and in support of
greater democracy. In 2005 the UGTT refused to submit a list of
candidates for 14 UGTT-designated seats for elections to the newly
created Chamber of Advisors, citing a lack of independence and
democracy in the selection process and an unfair distribution of seats
(see section 3). The UGTT supported the LTDH and agreed to let LTDH
regional chapters use UGTT facilities for conferences and meetings,
although the LTDH was unable to hold any conferences during the year
(see section 4).
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers, although
the UGTT claimed that there was antiunion activity among private sector
employers, such as firing union activists and using of temporary
workers to avoid unionization. In certain industries, such as textiles,
hotels, and construction, temporary workers accounted for a strong
majority of the work force. The labor code protects temporary workers,
but enforcement was more difficult than for permanent workers. A
committee chaired by an officer from the Labor Division of the Office
of the Inspector General approved all worker dismissals. The committee
is composed of representatives from the Ministry of Social Affairs,
Solidarity, and Tunisians Abroad, the UGTT, and the company dismissing
the worker.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
protects the right to organize and bargain collectively, and the
Government protected this right in practice. Wages and working
conditions are set in triennial negotiations between the UGTT member
unions, the Government and employers. Numerous collective bargaining
agreements set standards for industries in the private sector and
covered 80 percent of the total private sector workforce. During the
year the triennial labor negotiations with the UGTT, the Union of
Tunisian Employers (the private sector employer's association) and the
Government continued as the UGTT sought more favorable wage increases
for employees.
Unions, including those representing civil servants, have the right
to strike, provided that they give 10 days advance notice to the UGTT,
and it grants approval. The ICFTU has characterized the requirement for
prior UGTT approval of strikes as a violation of worker rights, but
such advance approval rarely was sought in practice. There were
numerous, short lived strikes over failure by employers to fulfill
contract provisions regarding pay and conditions and over efforts by
employers to impede union activities. While the majority of the strikes
technically were illegal, the Government did not prosecute workers for
illegal strike activity. The law prohibited retribution against
strikers. Labor disputes were settled through conciliation panels in
which labor and management were represented equally. Tripartite
regional arbitration commissions settle industrial disputes when
conciliation fails.
There are export processing zones (EPZs) subject to domestic labor
laws.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced and compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no
reports that such practices occurred. However, some parents of teenage
girls placed their daughters as domestic servants and collected their
wages (see section 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits the employment of children under 18 in jobs whose nature
and environment present a serious threat to their health, security, and
morality, and the UGTT and CNSS conducted inspection tours of factories
and industrial sites to ensure compliance with the law.
In April 2005 the Government amended the Household Workers Law to
prohibit the employment of children under the age of 16 years, which is
consistent with the age for completing educational requirements, and
inspectors of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Solidarity examined
the records of employees to verify that employers complied with the
minimum age law. However, there were no reports of sanctions against
offending employers. Child labor also existed in the informal sector
disguised as apprenticeship, particularly in the handicraft industry.
The minimum age for light work in the nonindustrial and
agricultural sectors during nonschool hours was 13 years. Workers
between the ages of 14 and 18 must have 12 hours of rest per day, which
must include the hours between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. In nonagricultural
sectors children between the ages of 14 and 16 years may work no more
than two hours per day. The total time that children spend in school
and work may not exceed seven hours per day. Nonetheless, young
children sometimes performed agricultural work in rural areas and
worked as vendors in towns, primarily during their summer vacation from
school.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The labor code provides for a
range of administratively determined minimum wages. In July the
industrial minimum wage was raised to $175 (231 dinars) per month for a
48 hour workweek and to $151 (200 dinars) per month for a 40 hour
workweek. The agricultural daily minimum wage was $5.74 (7.58 dinars)
per day for specialized agricultural workers and $6.04 (7.98 dinars)
per day for qualified agricultural workers. With the addition of
transportation and family allowances, the minimum wage provided a
decent standard of living for a worker and family, although that income
was only enough to cover essential costs. More than 500,000 workers
were employed in the informal sector, which was not covered by labor
laws.
Regional labor inspectors enforced standards related to hourly wage
regulations. They inspected most firms approximately once every two
years. The Government often had difficulty enforcing the minimum wage
law, particularly in nonunionized sectors of the economy. The labor
code sets a standard 48 hour workweek for most sectors and requires one
24 hour rest period per week.
Special government regulations governed employment in hazardous
occupations like mining, petroleum engineering, and construction, and
the Ministry of Social Affairs, Solidarity and Tunisians Abroad had
responsibility for enforcing health and safety standards in the
workplace. Working conditions and standards generally were better in
export-oriented firms than in those firms producing exclusively for the
domestic market. Workers were free to remove themselves from dangerous
situations without jeopardizing their employment, and they could take
legal action against employers who retaliated against them for
exercising this right.
The few foreign workers in the country had the same protections as
citizen workers.
__________
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven semi-
autonomous emirates, with a permanent resident population of 3.8
million of which less than 17 percent are citizens; there are at least
1.1 million additional nonpermanent residents. The seven emirate rulers
constitute the Federal Supreme Council, the highest legislative and
executive body. The Council selects a President and vice President from
its membership; the President, in turn, appoints the Prime Minister and
cabinet. In 2004 the Council selected Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-
Nahyan, Ruler of Abu Dhabi Emirate, as head of state for a five-year
term. Traditional rule in the emirates generally is patriarchal, with
political allegiance defined in terms of loyalty to the tribal leaders,
to the leaders of the individual emirates, and to the leaders of the
federation. There are no democratically elected legislative
institutions or political parties. There are no general elections;
however, citizens express their concerns directly to their leaders
through traditional consultative mechanisms such as the open majlis, or
council. A consultative body, the Federal National Council (FNC),
consists of 40 advisors, 20 of whom are elected by an appointed
electorate. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
The Government's respect for human rights remained problematic, and
significant human rights problems reported included: no citizens' right
to change the Government and no popularly elected representatives of
any kind; flogging as judicially sanctioned punishment; arbitrary
detention and incommunicado detention, both permitted by law;
questionable independence of the judiciary; restrictions on civil
liberties- freedom of speech and of the press (including the Internet),
and assembly; restrictions on right of association; restrictions on
religious freedom; domestic abuse of women, sometimes enabled by
police; trafficking in women and children; legal and societal
discrimination against women and noncitizens; corruption and lack of
government transparency; common abuse of foreign domestic servants; and
severe restrictions on and abuses of workers' rights.
The Government made progress in addressing the problem of human
trafficking, repatriating children identified to have been trafficked
to the UAE for use as camel jockeys.
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 torture, and there were no
reports that government officials employed it; however, courts applying
Shari'a (Islamic law) sometimes imposed flogging sentences on both
Muslims and non-Muslims as punishment for adultery, prostitution,
consensual premarital sex, and for pregnancy outside of marriage. On
March 13, a R'as al-Khaimah court sentenced a woman to five years and
150 lashes for adultery, and on June 11 a man was sentenced to be
stoned to death for adultery with a maid. The law allows for capital
punishment, and, unlike in previous years, capital sentences were
carried out.
Flogging was also imposed as punishment for defamation of
character, and drug or alcohol abuse. There were credible reports that
some authorities used leather straps and canes to administer floggings,
which left substantial bruising, welts, and open wounds on the
recipients' bodies. On March 22 a R'as al-Khaimah court ordered the
amputation (in absentia) of a man's hands on charges of theft.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions varied
widely from emirate to emirate. Some prisons were overcrowded and had
spartan living conditions. Again during the year there were reports of
prison overcrowding in Abu Dhabi and Dubai prisons. Between May and
August Dubai began to occupy a new 6,000 bed prison facility; Dubai
reportedly housed less than 3,000 prisoners at any given time during
the year. Noncitizens represented approximately 75 percent of all
prisoners. Conditions for women were equal to or slightly better than
those for men. Prisoners convicted on national security grounds were
held separately from the general populace in special sections of the
regular prisons. Conditions in these sections were not significantly
different from other parts of the prisons. There were credible reports
that government officials discriminated against prisoners with HIV by
not granting commuted sentences or parole that other prisoners with
similar records had received (see section 5, Other Societal Abuses and
Discrimination).
Police in Dubai and Abu Dhabi stated that non governmental
organizations (NGOs) and the International Committee of the Red Cross
have access to observe prison conditions if requested; however, there
were no reports of any requests for such visits during the year.
Representatives of religious and national communities regularly met
with prisoners. Representatives from the General Women's Union (GWU), a
local organization partially funded by the Government, regularly met
with female prisoners, helped them financially, and paid their airfare,
when necessary, to repatriate noncitizens after their release.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, there were reports that the
Government held persons in official custody without charge; and that
the Government charged individuals but denied them a preliminary
judicial hearing within a reasonable period. The law permits indefinite
routine prolonged incommunicado detention without appeal, and the
detainee only has the explicit right to contact with an attorney.
In 2005 there were reports that at least three persons were
detained without charge for several months. Abdullah Sultan al-
Subaihat, Mohammad Ahmad Saif al-Ghufli, and Sa'eed Ali Hamid al-Kutbi,
were arrested in August 2005 and released without charge on October 25.
No reasons were given for their being held in solitary confinement. On
January 6, Humeid Salem al-Ghawas al-Za'abi, a former air force
officer, was released without charge; he had reportedly been held
incommunicado and without charge since March 2004.
On August 23, Mohamed Abdullah Al-Roken, a human rights activist,
attorney, and former President of the Jurists Association, was detained
and questioned for 72 hours by State Security officials in Dubai before
being released without charge. He had previously been detained for 24
hours in July. In both instances, he was interrogated about his human
rights activities and public lectures (see sections 4 and 2.d.).
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The federal Ministry of
Interior oversees Police General Directorates in each of the seven
emirates; however, each emirate, via its corresponding Police General
Directorate, maintains its own police force and supervises the police
stations therein. While all emirate police forces theoretically are
branches of the ministry, in practice they operate with considerable
autonomy and varying degrees of efficiency. Police stations take
complaints from the public, make arrests, and forward most cases to the
public prosecutor. These cases are then transferred to the courts. In
cases involving foreign defendants, especially for crimes of moral
turpitude, authorities often summarily deported the defendants. All
cases are filed with the Ministry of Interior (MOI). While reported
incidents of police corruption are uncommon, the ministry intervened
several times in criminal cases to ensure local police were compliant
with federal law and policy. There were no reports that impunity was a
problem.
In May 2005 the Government created a 70-person antitrafficking
section within the Ministry of Interior, and in October 2005 Dubai
Police established a special Human Trafficking section that works in
conjunction with the Human Rights Care Department.
Arrest and Detention.--The law prohibits arrest or search without
probable cause, but the Government did not always observe these
provisions in practice. There were credible reports that security
forces failed to obtain warrants in many cases. Indefinite detention
without charge is permitted upon judicial review.
Under the Criminal Procedures Code, police are directed to report
arrests within 48 hours to public prosecutors, who must determine
within the next 24 hours whether to charge, release, or further detain
the suspect pending an investigation. In practice the 24-hour time
limit was not always met. Public prosecutors may order that detainees
be held up to 21 days without charge. In cases of felonies or
misdemeanors punishable by imprisonment, authorities must obtain court
orders after 21 days for additional detention. Courts may not grant an
extension of more than 30 days of detention without charge; however,
judges may continue to renew 30-day extensions to the detention period
indefinitely and without charge. Suspects have the right to protest any
extensions of their detention periods ordered in absentia, although
this right was not afforded in cases of incommunicado detention. A 2004
antiterrorism law allows public prosecutors to hold suspects in
terrorism-related cases without charge for six months, an increase over
the previous limit of three weeks. Once a suspect is charged, terrorism
cases are handled by the Supreme Court, which may extend the detention
period indefinitely.
As in the previous year, several diplomatic missions expressed
concern that authorities failed to provide consular notification when
their citizens were detained or arrested.
There is no formal system of bail; however, authorities can release
detainees temporarily who deposit money, an important document such as
a passport, or an unsecured personal guarantee statement signed by a
third party. Those arrested on nonsecurity charges were generally
allowed to telephone third parties and to have access to family members
at some point while in detention, although not generally promptly.
Defendants in cases involving loss of life, including involuntary
manslaughter, can be denied release in accordance with the law. Release
usually is permitted after a payment of compensation to the victims'
families, commonly called diya or ``blood money,'' which is a form of
financial penalty imposed on defendants in criminal cases involving a
killing.
A defendant is entitled to an attorney only after the police have
completed their investigation. As a result, police can question accused
persons sometimes for days or weeks without benefit of legal counsel if
the Prosecutor General approves.
Amnesty.--Rulers of the individual emirates regularly pardon and
pay the debts of prisoners on religious and national holidays. During
the year, at least 969 prisoners were pardoned, and over $1 million
(3.6 million dirhams) in debts were paid. Most pardoned foreign
nationals were deported.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, its decisions are subject to review by
the political leadership. The judiciary, composed largely of contracted
foreign nationals potentially subject to deportation, was not generally
considered independent. The law prohibits women from serving in the
judiciary.
There is a dual court system. Shari'a (Islamic law) courts
adjudicate criminal and family law matters based on each emirate's
interpretation of Islamic law; civil courts adjudicate civil law
matters. Civil courts generally are part of the federal system, except
in the Dubai and R'as al-Khaimah emirates, and are accountable to the
Federal Supreme Court, which has the power of judicial review as well
as original jurisdiction in disputes between emirates or between the
federal government and individual emirates. The emirates of Dubai and
R'as al-Khaimah have their own local and appellate courts, which have
jurisdiction over matters within their territories that the
constitution and federal legislation do not specifically reserve for
the federal system. The emirates of Dubai and R'as al-Khaimah do not
refer cases in their courts to the Federal Supreme Court for judicial
review, although they maintain a liaison with the federal Ministry of
Justice.
Each emirate administers Shari'a courts. In some emirates, these
courts consider all types of civil and commercial cases as well as
criminal cases and family matters. They act in accordance with their
interpretation of Islamic law but also are required to answer to the
Federal Supreme Court, with the exception of the emirates of Dubai and
R'as al-Khaimah. In criminal cases Shari'a is applied first and, if
evidence required by Shari'a is found insufficient, the Penal Code is
used. Dubai has a special Shi'a council to act on matters pertaining to
Shi'a family law (see section 5).
Trial Procedures.--The constitution does not provide accused
persons the right to a speedy trial but does provide the right to a
fair public trial. Civil defendants at times demanded same day
disposition of the cases filed against them. Authorities generally
brought criminal defendants to trial within two to three months, with
the exception of more slow-moving drug related cases, in which
authorities are required to inform the office of the ruler for the
emirate in which the offense was committed. There were credible reports
that these cases often took more than six months to go to trial.
Trials can last more than a year, depending on the seriousness of
the charges, number of witnesses, and availability of judges. In Abu
Dhabi Emirate, review of criminal cases by the local ruler's personal
office, or diwan, as well as an extralegal requirement that the diwan
approve the release of every prisoner whose sentence has been
completed, resulted in bureaucratic delays in processing or releasing
prisoners, and some prisoners served time beyond their original
sentences.
Approximately 50 percent of federal judges were noncitizen Arabs,
whose mandates were subject to periodic renewal by the Government. In
contrast, judicial positions held by citizens are permanent and are
subject to termination only for specific reasons set out in the
Judicial Authority law. The percentage of citizens serving as public
prosecutors and judges, particularly at the federal level, continued to
increase. Although each emirate varies, approximately 85 percent of
public prosecutors were citizens.
Defendants have a limited right to legal counsel. Under the
Criminal Procedures Code, the defendant has a right to request
government-provided counsel in all cases involving a capital crime or
possible life imprisonment, regardless of whether the defendant is
financially able to hire counsel. The Government may provide counsel,
at its discretion, to indigent defendants charged with felonies
punishable by imprisonment of three to 15 years. The Penal Procedures
Law states that defense counsel may be present during any
investigation, but only at the prosecutor's discretion. Defense counsel
is provided with access to relevant government held evidence.
Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. All trials
are before judges, not juries, and trials are public, except for
national security cases and those deemed by the judge likely to harm
public morality. By law all prosecutions are conducted in Arabic;
although the defendant has a procedural right to a translator, in
practice translation was often only provided at sentencing.
Each court system has an appeals process. Death sentences may be
appealed to the ruler of the emirate in which the offense is committed,
or to the President of the federation, although in the case of murder,
only the victim's family may commute a death sentence. The Government
normally negotiates with victims' families for the defendant to offer
financial compensation, or diya, to the victims' families to receive
their forgiveness and commute death sentences.
Non-Muslims who are tried for criminal offenses in Shari'a courts
can receive civil penalties at the discretion of the judge. Shari'a
penalties imposed on non-Muslims can be overturned or modified by a
higher court.
In cases in which a defendant is acquitted, the prosecutor may
appeal the acquittal to a higher court. The higher court may receive
additional evidence. An appellate court must reach unanimous agreement
to overturn an acquittal.
The local rulers' diwans, following traditional prerogatives,
maintained the practice of reviewing many types of criminal and civil
offenses before cases were referred to the prosecutor's office. The
diwans may review sentences passed by judges and return cases to the
court on appeal. The diwans' involvement, which typically occurs when
the case involves parties from two different emirates or a citizen and
a noncitizen, can lead to lengthy delays prior to and following the
judicial process.
The military has its own court system. Military tribunals try only
military personnel. National security cases are heard solely by the
Supreme Court.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--During the year there were no
reports of either political detainees or prisoners; however, there were
persons reportedly held incommunicado and without charge. It is unknown
why they were detained (see section 1.d.). Some human rights groups
claimed that at least four of these individuals were political
prisoners.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There was access to courts
to seek damages for, or cessation of, human rights violations. The
civil courts, like all other courts in the country, maintain
questionable independence. There were also administrative remedies
available for labor complaints; this was particularly common in cases
of physical abuse of domestic workers.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits entry into homes without
the owner's permission, except when police present a warrant in
accordance with the law; however, there were credible reports that
security forces sometimes failed to obtain warrants. Only police
officers and public prosecutors carrying a warrant are permitted entry
into homes. Officers' actions in searching premises are subject to
review, and officers are liable to disciplinary action if their actions
are judged to be irresponsible. Local custom and practice place a high
value on privacy, and entry into private homes without owners'
permission was rare. A female police officer is required to be present
during the search of a private home when male family members are
absent.
Authorities do not commonly screen private correspondence; however,
there have been reports of censorship of incoming international mail.
The government-owned Internet provider, Etisalat, regularly blocks
internet sites that censors determine to be ``objectionable'' (see
section 2.a.).
Family matters for Muslims are governed by Shari'a and the local
Shari'a courts. Muslim women are forbidden to marry non-Muslims. In
such cases, both parties can be arrested and tried. However, Muslim men
are free to marry all women ``of the book,'' i.e., Muslim, Christian,
and Jewish women (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; however, the Government restricted
these rights in practice. The Government drafts all Friday sermons in
mosques and censors private association publications (see section
2.c.). The law prohibits criticism of the rulers, and from acts to
create or encourage social unrest.
The Press and Publications Law covers all media including; print,
electronic, and book publishing. It governs content, requires that
publications be licensed and provides for prosecution under the Penal
Code. The law authorizes censorship of domestic and foreign
publications before distribution, and contains a list of proscribed
subjects: criticism of the Government, ruling families, and friendly
governments, as well as other statements that threaten social
stability. Government officials reportedly warned journalists when they
published material deemed politically or culturally sensitive.
By law, the Media Council, appointed by the President, licenses all
publications. The council is informed of the appointment of editors and
is responsible for issuing editors their press credentials. According
to Media Council and Dubai Police officials, journalists were not given
specific publishing instructions. Self-censorship was practiced, with
the ministry relying on editors' and journalists' discretion to refrain
from publishing problematic material that could cause them problems.
Two of the country's newspapers, Al-Ittihad and Al-Bayan, were
government-owned or affiliated. The privately owned media was heavily
influenced by the Government. The country's largest Arabic language
newspaper, Al-Khaleej, was privately owned but received government
subsidies. The country's largest English language newspaper, Gulf News,
was also privately owned. Newspapers often relied on news agencies for
material. The government-owned Emirates News Agency regularly provided
material that newspapers printed verbatim.
While self-censorship affected what was reported in the local
media, foreign journalists and news organizations operating out of the
Dubai Media Free Zone reported no restrictions on the content of print
and broadcast material produced for use outside the country. Broadcast
content within the Dubai Media Free Zone is regulated by the Free Zone
Authority for Technology and Media under published guidelines entitled
the ``Code of Guidance.'' There were reports that some broadcast
channels in the Media Free Zone broadcast songs and cellular short
message service (SMS) messages described as ``indecent'' by government
officials, which were accessed by the local audience.
Except for those located in Dubai's Media Free Zone and foreign
language media targeted to expatriates, most television and radio
stations were government-owned and conformed to unpublished government
reporting guidelines. Satellite receiving dishes were widespread and
provided access to international broadcasts without apparent
censorship. Media Council censors (previously under the Ministry of
Information) reviewed all imported media and banned or censored before
distribution material considered pornographic, excessively violent,
derogatory to Islam, supportive of certain Israeli government
positions, unduly critical of friendly countries, or critical of the
Government or ruling families.
Publication of books was treated in the same manner.
In January the case against Basma al-Jandaly, a Dubai-based
journalist, was dismissed. She was arrested for writing an article in
2005 in Dubai's leading English daily, Gulf News, about a man in
Sharjah Emirate who had stalked and stabbed women. The warrant issued
by Sharjah police contended that her article may have helped the
attacker escape by alerting him to the investigation.
Internet Freedom.--The Government restricted access to some Web
sites on the Internet. Internet chat rooms, instant messaging services,
and blogs were monitored. Individuals and groups engaged in peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by email, without
reports of government prosecution or punishment, although there was
self-censorship apparent in many chat rooms and blogs.
According to the NGO The Initiative for an Open Arab Internet,
Internet access was widely available. According to January 2005 press
reports, 37 percent of the country's population was connected to the
Internet provided through the state owned monopoly Etisalat. A proxy
server blocked material deemed inconsistent with the religious,
cultural, political and moral values of the country; information on how
to circumvent the proxy server; dating and matrimonial sites; and gay
and lesbian sites, as well as those concerning the Baha'i Faith and
those originating in Israel. The proxy server occasionally blocked
broad categories of sites including many that did not meet the intended
criteria. Etisalat populated its proxy server list of blocked sites
primarily from lists of Web sites purchased from commercial companies;
though individuals could also report offensive sites. In July 2005
Etisalat blocked a blog from within the country for the first time,
briefly blocking http://secretdubai.blogspot.com due to a compliant
that it contained ``nudity"-though the site contains no images.
Etisalat removed the block after the site's owner requested that the
block be reviewed. There were no other reports of local blogs, being
blocked. The politically oriented--and often critical -sites
Arabtimes.com and UAEprison.com remain blocked without explanation.
Etisalat denied having the authority to block any site, and
referred all complaints and suggestions to the Media Council. Internet
filtering policy and appeals are regulated by the Telecom Regulatory
Authority. Each blocked site provided an email address and Web site by
which a user could notify Etisalat if the site should not be blocked.
Some sites were unblocked following a review. Etisalat also blocked all
``voice chat'' and Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) Web sites and
services. The proxy server did not generally affect Internet access in
Dubai's Internet City and Media City.
In January the Government enacted the Information and Privacy
``cyber crime'' law which explicitly criminalizes the use of the
Internet to commit a wide variety of crimes. The law provides fines and
prison terms for Internet users who violate political, social and
religious norms in the country. In addition to criminalizing acts
commonly associated with ``cyber crimes'' such as hacking, phishing,
various scams and other forms of financial fraud, the law also provides
penalties for using the Internet to oppose Islam, proselytize Muslims
to join other religions, ``abuse'' a holy shrine or ritual of any
religion, insult any religion, or incite someone to commit sin. The law
further criminalizes use of the internet in transcending ``family
values'' by publishing either news or photos pertaining to a person's
private life or that of his/her family, or by promoting a program in
breach of public decency.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--Academic freedoms were
constrained. On February 14, a foreign lecturer at Zayed University was
fired for showing a series of cartoons from a Danish newspaper
portraying the Muslim prophet Mohamed and discussing the international
uproar caused by the cartoons. The lecturer's supervisor was also fired
but later reinstated.
Academic materials destined for schools were routinely censored.
Students were banned from reading texts featuring sexuality or pictures
of the human body. On March 6, the Ministry of Education banned and
confiscated all copies of a social studies book entitled ``World
Cultures'' from all private schools for containing materials that
``offend Islam and promote sentiments against tolerance and national
accord.''
In September 2000, 15 intellectuals and academics were banned from
publishing and teaching in the UAE, including Dr. Mohammed Al-Mansouri,
Dr. Mohammed Al-Roken, Dr. Ateeq Jakkah, Dr. Abdul Razzak Al-Faris, Dr.
Ali Al-Hammdi, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Shamsi, Dr. Abdul Rahman Shuhail, Dr.
Mohd Makklouf, Dr. Ahmed Al Olaimi, and Dr. Khalifa Al-Suwaidi. At
year's end only Khalifa Al-Suwaidi had been allowed to return to
teaching and writing. On September 21, the Government cancelled an
event in Fujairah organized by the Jurists' Association, where Mohammed
Al-Roken and Mohammed Al-Mansouri were scheduled to lecture on civil
rights, women's rights, and democracy. No reasons were provided for the
action (see section 2 b.).
Presentation of, and participation in, cultural events were also
restricted.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association. Organized public
gatherings require a government permit. No permits were given for
organized public gatherings for political purposes. In practice the
Government did not regularly interfere with informal nonpolitical
gatherings held without a government permit in public places, unless
there were complaints.
Freedom of Assembly.--During the year there were approximately 20
widely publicized, organized gatherings (primarily in Dubai) before the
Ministry of Labor building of workers complaining of unpaid wages and
unsuitable working conditions. These gatherings occurred without prior
government permission and also without government interference (see
section 6).
Citizens normally confined their political discussions to the
frequent informal gatherings, or majlises, held in private homes. The
Government did not permit public meetings or demonstrations for
political purposes. There were citizen's associations licensed by, and
subsidized by, the Government, that were able to organize for economic,
religious, social, cultural, athletic, and other purposes.
In September 2005, the Government cancelled an event in Fujairah
organized by the Jurists' Association on civil rights, women's rights
and democracy. No reasons were provided publicly for the action. (see
section 2.a.).
Freedom of Association.--There are no political organizations,
political parties, or trade unions (see sections 3 and 6.a.). All NGOs
are required to register with the Ministry of Social Affairs, after
which they receive subsidies from the Government based on the
membership size. Approximately 100 domestic NGOs were registered with
the ministry. However, despite the requirement, more than 20
unregistered local NGOs focused on non-political topics and operated
with little or no government interference. The percentage of citizen
membership in NGOs varied widely.
NGOs must be approved by the Ministry of Social Affairs. The first
quasi-independent human rights NGO in the country was approved during
the year (see section 4). All private associations, including
children's clubs, charitable groups, and hobby associations required
approval and licensing by local, municipal, or emirate level
governments. However, this requirement was enforced loosely in some
emirates (see section 4).
Private associations must follow the Government's censorship
guidelines and receive prior government approval before publishing any
material. Participation by NGO members in any event outside the country
is subsidized and directed by the Government. Participants must obtain
government permission before attending such events, even if they are
not speakers.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion in accordance with established customs, although these customs
restrict this right in practice. The constitution declares that Islam
is the official religion of all seven emirates. According to the 2001
census, 76 percent of the population was Muslim, 9 percent was
Christian, and 15 percent belonged to other religions.
The Government controlled all Sunni and Shi'a mosques, prohibited
the proselytizing of Muslims, and restricted freedom of assembly and
association, thereby limiting the ability of religious groups without
dedicated religious buildings to worship and conduct business. The
Government funded or subsidized approximately 95 percent of Sunni
mosques and employed their Sunni imams; approximately 5 percent of
Sunni mosques were entirely private, and several prominent mosques had
large private endowments. A committee of the Ministry of Justice,
Islamic Affairs, and Endowments drafts and distributes all Friday
sermons to Sunni and Shi'a imams (see section 2.b.). The Government
monitors all sermons for political content.
The Government supports a moderate interpretation of Islam;
however, as the state religion, Islam is favored over other religions,
and conversion to Islam is viewed favorably. All Sunni imams are
employees of either individual emirate departments or of the federal
Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs, and Endowments. Dubai's
department of Islamic affairs and endowments has approval authority
over preachers in that emirate's private mosques.
The Shi'a minority, concentrated in the northern emirates, was free
to worship and maintain its own mosques. All Shi'a mosques were
considered private and received no funds from the Government. The
Government did not appoint imams for Shi'a mosques, but it did monitor
all sermons closely. Shi'a Muslims in Dubai can pursue Shi'a family law
cases through a special Shi'a council rather than the Shari'a courts.
Individual emirates exercised considerable autonomy in religious
matters. According to the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and
Endowments, there is no formalized method of granting official status
to religious groups other than by granting them the use of land for the
construction of a building. Land grant applications are filed at the
local level but may include a letter from the General Authority.
Several non-Muslim groups own houses of worship where they can practice
their religion freely, although the local ruler owns the land. Groups
that did not have their own buildings were limited in their ability to
assemble for worship; they were required to use the facilities of other
religious organizations or worship in private homes. The police or
other security forces did not interfere with these gatherings.
Facilities for Christian congregations were far greater in number
and size than those for other non-Muslim groups, which significantly
outnumber the Christian population. There were at least 31 Christian
churches in the country, and Christian primary and secondary schools
operated in four emirates. There were two Hindu temples located in
Dubai, one of which was co-located with a Sikh gurudwara. There were no
Buddhist temples; however, Buddhists, along with Hindus and Sikhs in
cities without temples, conducted religious ceremonies in private homes
without interference. There were only two cremation facilities and
associated cemeteries for the large Hindu community, one in Dubai and
the other in Abu Dhabi. Official permission must be obtained to use the
facilities in every instance, which posed a hardship for the large
Hindu community.
The Government prohibits Muslims from converting to other
religions. Although non-Muslims in the country are free to practice
their religion, they are subject to criminal prosecution, imprisonment,
and deportation if found proselytizing or distributing religious
literature to Muslims. There are no specific laws against missionary
activities, and there were no reports of authorities revoking residence
permits of persons suspected of such activities. Missionaries have
performed humanitarian work since before the country's independence in
1971. There is no restriction on proselytizing non-Muslims.
The country's sole Internet service provider, Etisalat, sometimes
blocked Web sites containing religious information. These sites
included information on the Baha'i Faith, Judaism, negative critiques
of Islam, and testimonies of former Muslims who had converted to
Christianity (see section 2.a.).
There is a small resident noncitizen Jewish population of unknown
size; there are no synagogues. There were no reported acts of physical
violence against or harassment of Jewish persons, however, anti-
Semitism in the government-affiliated media was present and anti-
Semitic articles and editorial cartoons depicting demonic images of
Jews, negative images of Jews along with Jewish symbols, and
comparisons of Israeli leaders and Israel to the Nazis were published
throughout the year. These expressions occurred primarily in the
Government operated daily newspaper Al-Ittihad and the Government
affiliated periodical, Al-Bayan. These anti-Semitic articles and
depictions occurred without government response.
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
or relocation within the country, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice.
Unrestricted foreign travel and emigration is permitted for male
citizens, except those involved in legal disputes under adjudication.
Custom dictates that a husband can bar his wife, minor children, and
adult unmarried daughters from leaving the country by taking custody of
their passports (see section 5). However, there was no enforcement of
this custom at exit points unless there was a court order barring an
individual from traveling. All citizens have the right to return to the
country.
The constitution prohibits forced exile, and there were no reported
cases during the year.
There was a small population of ``stateless'' residents who either
were without citizenship or had no proof of citizenship for any
country. Many such persons had lived in the country for more than a
generation. Many stateless residents originally were from Iran and
South Asia. Other stateless residents included Bedouins and their
descendants who were unable to prove they originated in the country.
Since stateless residents do not have official identification
documents, they are unable to enroll in school, secure a work permit,
open a bank account, or travel outside the country, among other
hindrances.
There is no formal procedure for naturalization, although foreign
women may receive citizenship through marriage to a citizen after 10
years, and anyone may receive a passport by Presidential fiat. Since
naturalized citizens are not of the country's original tribal groups,
their passports and citizenship status may be revoked for criminal or
politically provocative actions. However, such revocations were rare,
and there were no reports of such occurrences during the year.
Children born to male citizens acquire citizenship at birth. The
same benefit does not extend to children of female citizens married to
noncitizens; however, female citizens under these circumstances can
apply to the Ministry of Presidential Affairs for citizenship for their
children. Passports are generally issued and citizenship is generally
received even though there is no provision in the law.
The widespread practice of employers forcing foreign national
employees to surrender their passports as a condition of employment
remained a serious problem. A 2003 ban on this practice was generally
not enforced. This practice prevented international travel or
repatriation by foreign national employees without their employers'
consent, and it especially affected employees in the resolution of
employment disputes. Citizens were not restricted in seeking or
changing employment. However, foreign nationals in most occupations are
not permitted to change employers without first leaving the country for
six months, unless the former employer agrees to waive the requirement
(see section 6.e.).
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 provide protection against
refoulement, or the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government did not grant refugee status or asylum.
Refugees generally were required to petition for settlement in
third countries. In the past the Government detained persons seeking
refugee status, particularly non-Arabs, while they awaited resettlement
in third countries.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law does not provide to citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, or to freely change the laws that govern them.
There are no democratic elections or institutions and citizens do not
have the right to form political parties. However, in December an
appointed electorate elected one-half of the 40-seat Federal National
Council. Federal executive and legislative power is in the hands of the
Federal Supreme Council, a body composed of the hereditary rulers of
the seven emirates that elects from its members the country's President
and vice President. Decisions at the federal level generally are made
by consensus among the rulers, their families, and other leading
families. The seven emirate rulers, together with their extended
families and those persons and families to whom they are allied by
historical ties, marriage, or common interests, hold political and
economic power in their respective emirates.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 the seven-member
Federal Supreme Council elected Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan as
head of state for a five-year term.
The rulers of the seven semi-autonomous emirates appoint the
Federal National Council (FNC), a 40-person advisory federal
consultative body. While the constitution requires that the President
call the FNC into session each year by the third week in November, the
FNC has not been in session since June 2005. The members are drawn from
each emirate in proportion to the population. The emirates of Abu Dhabi
and Dubai each have eight seats; the emirates of Sharjah and R'as Al
Khaimah have six; and the smaller emirates of Ajman, Umm Al Qaiwain,
and Fujairah each have four. Each FNC member serves a term of two
years. The FNC has no legislative authority, but generally reviews all
federal draft laws and decrees before they are officially adopted by
the Federal Supreme Council; the FNC does not have the power to draft
or reject legislation. It can, however, send legislation back to the
cabinet for amendment. The FNC also has the authority to question any
government minister. On December 16, 18, and 20, one-half of the FNC
was elected by an electoral college appointed by the rulers of each
emirate. The electoral college was established in September, and
consisted of 6,689 members, including 1,189 women. One woman was
elected to the FNC.
The ruling families, in consultation with other prominent tribal
figures, choose new emirate rulers. By tradition, rulers and ruling
families are presumed to have the right to rule, with their incumbency
ultimately depending on the quality of their leadership and their
responsiveness to their subjects' needs. Emirate rulers were
accessible, in varying degrees, to citizens with a problem or a
request.
There were very few women in senior government or business
positions. There were no female members of the judiciary. The Federal
Judicial Authority law prohibits women from working as judges or public
prosecutors. During the year women underwent public prosecution
training, and in August three women were appointed to senior
administrative positions in the Dubai Public Prosecutor's Office, but
not as prosecutors.
Other women in senior federal government positions included the
Minister of Economy, the Minister of Social Affairs, the secretary
general of the Cabinet of Ministers, and two assistant undersecretaries
in the Ministry of Education.
During the year there were 32 women, approximately 10 percent of
the diplomatic corps, serving as diplomats in the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. Although there was no law prohibiting women from being
diplomats, no women served as diplomats prior to 2001.
In Sharjah seven women served on the 40-seat Consultative Council,
and 2 women served as directors of local departments. In the other
emirates there were no women in non-federal senior government
positions.
Although the small minority of Shi'a citizens enjoyed commercial
success, there were no Shi'a in top positions in the federal
government.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were reports of
government corruption at the administrative level. An Abu Dhabi Police
study published in February 2005 cited a problem of ``rampant''
bribery, nepotism, embezzlement, and abuse of power throughout local
administrations. Subsequently, special anti-corruption sections were
established to investigate and prosecute violators. In December 2005
the Penal Code was amended to increase penalties for corruption-related
offenses, including mandatory prison time (minimum of one year) for any
government official accepting a bribe, up to five years for attempting
to bribe an official, and various prison terms for embezzlement. There
were no reports of prosecutions under the new Penal Code amendments.
The law provides for public access to government information, but
this provision was followed only selectively. Requests for access were
usually not denied, but simply went unanswered. Draft legislation was
not available to the public, nor was there any period for public
comment on proposed legislation.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There was one quasi-independent human rights organization based in
the country. In February the Ministry Social Affairs approved the
establishment of the Emirates Human Rights Association (EHRA), after
having failed to take action on two previous applications filed since
2004. The only other local human rights organization was the
government-subsidized Jurists' Association Human Rights Committee,
which focused on human rights education and conducted seminars and
symposia subject to government approval (see section 2.b.).
In July 2004 a group of citizens headed by Mohamed Al-Roken
petitioned the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to approve the
registration of an independent human rights NGO, the UAE Human Rights
Society. In April 2005 another group led by Khalifa Bakhit Al-Falasi,
applied to establish another human rights organization. According to
the Ministry's own regulations, it is required to act on all such
applications within 30 days of receipt of the applications, but it did
not act on either application by the end of the year. The NGO that was
finally approved, the EHRA, was initially composed of members drawn
from the first two applications of which the names had been vetted by
the Government. This application did not include either Al-Roken or Al-
Falasi and was filed by Mohammed Al-Daheri. Once approved, the
association's membership was open to any adult citizen who did not have
a criminal record.
There were claims that state security officials harassed human
rights activists including Mohamed Al-Roken for their lectures,
writings and activities regarding human rights and democratization. Al-
Roken was detained and questioned for two-days in July and three-days
more in August before finally being released without charge. On July
17, an arrest warrant was issued for Mohamed Al-Mansouri, a lawyer,
human rights activist and President of the Independent Jurists
Association, stemming from slander charges filed by the General Public
Prosecutor's Office for information published on the Web site of a
London-based think tank, civil society, and human rights organization
that Al-Mansouri chairs.
Domestic NGOs were charitable, social, and educational in their
purposes. They were required to register with the Government and were
subject to many regulations and restrictions. In practice these
restrictions, if violated, were often overlooked.
The Government did not allow international human rights NGOs to be
based in the country, but allowed international representatives to
visit with limited restrictions. The Government cooperated with
international governmental organizations and worked closely with both
UNICEF and UNODC on human rights programs. UNICEF representatives
specifically commended the country for their work on rescuing and
repatriating many children previously used as camel jockeys.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides for equality before the law without
regard to race, nationality, or social status; however, there was legal
and cultural discrimination based on gender and nationality.
Women.--There is broad legal and societal discrimination against
women. Islamic law governs the personal status of women, but civil law
governs their activities in the civic and commercial sphere. Muslim
women are forbidden to marry non-Muslims (see section 1.f.). Custom
dictates that a husband can bar his wife, minor children, and adult
unmarried daughters from leaving the country. All male citizens can
pass citizenship to their children at birth, whereas female citizens
married to noncitizens do not automatically pass citizenship to their
children (see section 2.d.). The Government was generally not effective
in enforcing women's rights and protecting women from abuse. There is
no data regarding the number of abusers who were prosecuted, convicted,
or punished.
Domestic abuse against women was a pervasive problem. A UAE
University study published in February 2005 indicated that as many as
66 percent of all women permanently residing in the country had been
subjected to domestic abuse. Almost 34 percent of respondents age 18 to
30 claimed to have been abused by a family member, and over 50 percent
of respondents said that they witnessed their mothers being abused in
the home.
Abuse and rape are criminal offenses, and offenders are prosecuted
and penalized. There were many press reports of spousal abuse. Rape is
punishable by death under the Penal Code, but is often not recognized
in Shari'a courts. The Penal Code does not specifically address spousal
rape. Assault without intent to kill is punishable by 10 years in
prison, seven years if it only results in disability, and one year if
only resulting in temporary injury.
There were no specific reports of honor crimes or killings,
although it was rumored to occur within the foreign population.
The law protects women from verbal abuse and harassment from men
outside the family; however, male guardians within the family have a
right in the Penal Code to discipline women and children family members
at their discretion, including use of physical violence. Violators
outside of the immediate family are subject to criminal action,
including up to one year in prison, a fine of not more than $2,750
(10,000 dirhams) and deportation if not a citizen. During the year the
press reported incidents of men being arrested and prosecuted for
harassing women in public. The Penal Code prohibits ``disgracing or
dishonoring'' a person in public, punishable by a minimum of one year
in prison, and 15 years if the person is under the age of 14. An
``infamous'' act against the rules of decency carries a penalty of six
months in prison, and dishonoring a woman by word or deed on a public
roadway results in up to one year in prison and a $2,700 (10,000
dirhams) fine.
Police units are stationed in major public hospitals so that
victims of abuse may file complaints, which fall under the jurisdiction
of the Shari'a courts. In addition, attending physicians may call
police to interview suspected victims of abuse. Social workers and
counselors, usually female, also maintained offices in public hospitals
and police stations. However, women sometimes were reluctant to file
formal charges for social, cultural, and economic reasons.
All Dubai police departments, and many police departments in other
emirates, have human rights and social support offices that provide
assistance to women and children who are victims of abuse. When abuse
is reported to local police, authorities may take action to protect the
complainant; however, the Government was generally not effective in
protecting women from abuse. There were several reports that police
authorities refused to protect women and instead encouraged them to
return home. In some cases the authorities contacted the allegedly
abusive husbands to transport their wives home.
The Government has not developed an effective method to screen and
identify real or potential trafficking victims at ports of entry or
after arrests, unless they come forward on their own. Identifying
victims relies almost exclusively on the willingness of a victim to
take the initiative in filing a complaint against a trafficker. The
Government grouped trafficking victims with other human rights cases.
Other than former camel jockeys, the Government did not know how many
trafficking victims it assisted during the year. The Government
maintained records of the number of persons arrested and prosecuted for
trafficking.
Some local and foreign employers physically and sexually abused
female domestic servants; in some cases, the situation rose to the
level of involuntary servitude (see section 6.e.). There were reports
from foreign embassies that some police authorities pressured victims
not to pursue complaints against their employers, and/or assisted the
employers in repatriating the victims to their home countries before a
criminal complaint could be filed.
No law prohibits female genital mutilation (FGM), which was
primarily practiced among Somali, Omani, and Sudanese expatriates. The
Ministry of Health prohibits hospitals and clinics from performing FGM;
however, some private clinics in the northern emirates and rural areas
continued to carry out the procedure.
Prostitution is illegal; however, it has become an increasing
problem in recent years, particularly in Dubai. Substantial numbers of
women reportedly arrived regularly from the states of the former Soviet
Union, Africa, South Asia, East Asia, Eastern Europe, and other states
of the Middle East for temporary stays, during which they engaged in
prostitution and other activities connected to organized crime.
Although there was credible evidence that many prostitutes entered the
country willingly for economic reasons, others were trafficked into the
country (see section 5, Trafficking).
While prostitution was widely acknowledged to exist, the Government
did not address the issue publicly because of societal sensitivities.
However, during the year, there continued to be press reports
highlighting the problems of prostitution and human trafficking.
In addition to increased policing and tightened immigration
procedures, authorities also restricted the number of visas issued to
single young women from certain countries of concern; however, problems
continued with more facile access at airports in the northern emirates
and with airline tourism companies reportedly continuing to obtain
tourist visas for prostitutes.
The Government's interpretation of Shari'a is applied in personal
status cases and family law. The law permits men to have more than one
wife, but not more than four at any time. When a woman marries, her
separate property (including her dowry, which is set by Presidential
decision at a maximum of approximately $13,700 (50,000 dirhams) and the
income of her separate property remain under her control and are not
commingled with the separate property of her husband. However, there
were several cases during the year where a woman's dowry exceeded this
maximum amount, ostensibly to make it far more difficult for a woman to
pay it back should there be a divorce. During the marriage, the husband
is legally obliged to provide a marital home and necessities for his
wife and children. In the event of divorce, a woman takes her separate
property, any amount she receives in a property settlement with her
husband, plus any allowance granted for her and her children's
maintenance.
Laws of inheritance according to the Government's interpretation of
Shari'a apply equally to men and women, although laws of distribution
may differ. For example, women normally inherit less than men; a
brother inherits double what the sister inherits when a parent dies.
Divorce is permissible, although it is often very difficult for a
woman to obtain. A woman may be granted a divorce if she can prove that
her husband has inflicted physical or moral harm upon her. A woman also
may sue for divorce if her husband has abandoned her for a minimum of
three months, or if he has not maintained her upkeep or that of their
children.
A July 2005 Personal Status Law enables women to obtain a khul'
divorce, or divorce by petitioning the Shari'a court, by paying
compensation, or by returning their dowry to their husbands. The law
also affects child custody guidelines, giving divorced women custody of
female children only until the age of 13 and male children only until
the age of 11. If the court deems the mother to be unfit, custody
normally reverts to the next able female relative on the mother's side.
A woman who remarries may forfeit her right to the custody of children
from a previous marriage.
Fornication is a crime. The Government may imprison and deport
noncitizen women if they bear children out of wedlock.
There are no legal restrictions on the travel of women. However, by
custom and tradition, a husband can bar his wife, minor children, and
adult unmarried daughters from leaving the country by taking possession
of their passports (see section 2.d.).
Neither the labor law nor the civil service law, which covers labor
matters in the public sector, prohibits the employment of women. A man
has no right under Shari'a to ban his wife from working if she was
employed at the time of their marriage; however, some government
administrations do not employ married women without their husbands'
written consent.
There are no legal prohibitions against women owning their own
businesses. Female citizens working as doctors, architects, and lawyers
typically did not face restrictions on licensing their own businesses;
noncitizens of either gender may not license a business. The Abu Dhabi
Chamber of Commerce, the UAE Businesswomen's Council, and the General
Women's Union (GWU) regularly conducted programs to encourage women
into small business entrepreneurship. Three women members of the Dubai
Chamber of Commerce served on the board of directors.
Women who worked outside the home sometimes did not receive equal
benefits. Women also reportedly faced discrimination in promotion.
Public sector employees may receive as much as two months' paid
maternity leave; however, citizen teachers receive only 45 days' paid
maternity leave, with a guaranteed position after maternity leave.
According to the Ministry of Planning, female citizens constituted
approximately 26 percent of the national workforce, an 11 percent rise
over the past 10 years. The Government publicly encouraged female
citizens to join the workforce and ensured public sector employment for
all that applied. According to government statistics, women comprised
approximately 42 percent of all employees in education, 34 percent in
the health sector, 20 percent in social affairs, 28 percent of all
civil servants, and 57 percent of citizens working in banking and
financial services.
Women constituted approximately three-fourths of all university
students. Coeducation is prohibited in public schools and universities
except at the UAE University Executive MBA Program. Several private
universities and institutions are coeducational.
Government-sponsored women's centers provided adult education and
technical training courses. Women were actively recruited to work as
police officers
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare, and expended resources on the welfare of citizen children;
however, noncitizen children received fewer benefits.
All children received free health care and all citizen children
also received free public education through the university level.
Noncitizen resident children were not permitted to enroll in public
schools unless they lived in rural areas that lacked private schools.
Many foreign workers in private sector employment received education
allowances as part of their salary packages. For those who did not
receive the extra salary benefit, the Government provided an annual
subsidy of approximately $1,600 (6,000 dirhams) per family to its
noncitizen employees for private school tuition.
Education is compulsory through the ninth grade. Citizen children
are required to attend gender-segregated schools through the sixth
grade, the last grade of primary education, when children can be as
young as 10 or 11 years old. However, compulsory education was not
enforced, and some children did not attend school. For the 2004-05
academic year, the Ministry of Education reported student dropout rates
as 9.9 percent of the 143,301 primary level students (grades one to
five); 8.3 percent of the 148,563 middle school students (grades six to
nine); and 9.3 percent of the 102,903 students at the secondary level
(grades 10 to 12).
Housing benefits were also routinely granted to citizens with
children. Some citizens opted for available government land grants and
interest-free loans to build their homes. Citizens employed by the
Government were also eligible to receive higher salaries to support
their children who were under the age of 18, were unmarried, or had
disabilities. The Government, through its Marriage Fund, encouraged
citizens to marry fellow citizens by providing significant funding to
subsidize dowries and to offset customarily high wedding expenses. The
media regularly published articles encouraging citizens to have large
families.
Child abuse was not prevalent. Trafficking of young, noncitizen
boys employed as camel jockeys was a serious problem in the past, with
the last known case of a child being used as a jockey occurring in
March 2005. (see section 5, Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--On November 10, the President issued a
comprehensive law prohibiting trafficking in persons. The law
prescribes punishments including jail sentences for those convicted of
trafficking, including trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation
and involuntary servitude. The new law generally follows the UN
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons. Prior
to the passage of the antitrafficking law, defendants were prosecuted
primarily under articles of the Penal Code addressing juvenile labor
and child welfare, forced labor, trafficking for slavery, and
kidnapping. Regardless of the change in law, the trafficking of men,
women, and children from South and East Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa,
and the Middle East for involuntary servitude and for sexual
exploitation continued to be serious problems.
The Government made progress in combating the problem of
trafficking. In addition to the new antitrafficking legislation, the
Government worked with UNICEF, source country embassies, and NGOs to
identify, rescue, rehabilitate, and repatriate approximately 1,069
children who had worked as camel jockeys. Since July 2005 the
Government provided in excess of $3 million for care and repatriation
of all the boys, which included financing of social services and
resettlement sites in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India to facilitate the
return of the children to their home countries. By year's end there
were no identified children remaining in rehabilitation shelters
awaiting repatriation.
During the year there were a number of local media reports of
trafficking in women and girls into the country, especially to Dubai,
for commercial sexual exploitation. Observers believed that trafficking
activity was conducted with the complicity of some of the women's
citizen sponsors and by non-citizen traffickers. For example, during
the year a Bangladeshi woman who came to work in the country as a
domestic servant was thrown from a fourth floor balcony by her five
Bangladeshi traffickers when she refused to become a prostitute.
As many as 10,000 women were sexually exploited for profit in the
country. Law enforcement, particularly in Dubai and Abu Dhabi,
investigated reports of trafficking in women for prostitution, but
prosecutions for sex trafficking remain extremely low relative to the
extent of the problem. In 2004 and during the year, Dubai police closed
39 hotels in Dubai and several massage parlors and night clubs
suspected of exploiting women for prostitution.
Unlike in previous years, instead of summarily deporting all women
arrested for prostitution, the Human Rights Care Department housed in
hotels women who identified themselves as victims of and could provide
evidence about trafficking until they could testify in trials against
the traffickers. The Government has not developed an effective method
to screen and identify actual or potential trafficking victims who do
not identify themselves to authorities. As a result, many victims are
believed to have been deported without access to protection services or
without being able to testify against their traffickers. Victims who
were unable to provide evidence of trafficking were also assisted until
they had acquired travel documents to return home.
In 2005 the Government convicted at least 12 persons, including at
least seven foreigners, of offenses related to trafficking in women and
sentenced them to prison terms of between two and five years (and in
one case 90 lashes) and deportation. No statistics were available for
the current year.
The Government also provided assistance to trafficking victims.
Counseling services were available in public hospitals and jails. The
Dubai police also sponsored a Crime Victims' Assistance Program, and
assigned program coordinators in police stations throughout the city.
In May 2005 the Government created a 70-person antitrafficking
section within the Ministry of Interior, and in October 2005 Dubai
Police established a special Human Trafficking section that works in
conjunction with the Human Rights Care Department.
Persons With Disabilities.--There is no federal legislation
requiring accessibility for persons with disabilities; however, most
public buildings provided access. There were no reported incidents of
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment,
education, or in the provision of other state services.
The Ministry of Labor operated five federal rehabilitation centers,
which were open only to citizens. The Ministry of Interior also
operated a training and employment center in Al Ain, and implemented a
program to educate 75 students with mental disabilities. There were
reported inadequacies in both public and private centers, including
unqualified teachers and supervisors, a lack of healthcare, and
unreasonably high costs of private centers.
One percent of all jobs in the federal government, and 2 percent of
government jobs in Abu Dhabi Emirate are reserved for persons with
disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Societal discrimination against
noncitizens, while not legally sanctioned, was prevalent and occurred
in most areas of daily life including employment, housing, social
interaction, and healthcare. National origin played an important role
in employment, immigration, and security policies, as well as cultural
attitudes towards noncitizens, who comprised approximately 85 percent
of the resident population. More than 50 percent of foreign workers
were estimated to have come from the Indian subcontinent.
The Government failed to provide many free or reduced-cost services
to noncitizens including child and adult education, health care,
housing, and social and recreational club memberships. While citizens
who contract HIV are afforded full, continuous, and free health care,
noncitizen migrant workers who contract the same disease are denied
health care and deported. Expatriate residents infected with HIV are
denied all healthcare benefits, quarantined, and deported.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Both civil law and
Shari'a criminalize homosexual activity. In November 2005 Abu Dhabi
Police arrested 26 men, 13 citizens and 13 other Arabs and Asians, for
alleged homosexual activity. Government officials reportedly said that
the men were transferred to the ministry's Social Support Center and
would ``be given the necessary treatment, from male hormone injections
to psychological therapies'' after their trial. The Ministry of
Interior later disavowed this statement. In May 12 of the 13 nationals
involved were sentenced to five years in prison; the other was given
six months, all for immoral activities. All 13 of the foreign nationals
involved were sentenced to a period equal to that which they had
already been imprisoned, and were deported to their home countries.
There were credible reports that government officials discriminated
against prisoners with HIV by not granting commuted sentences or parole
that other prisoners with similar records had received (see section
1.c.).
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The labor law, dating from 1980 does
not authorize workers to form or join unions, and none existed. The
labor law does not cover domestic servants, government workers, or
agricultural workers. Professional organizations do exist and
collective work dispute resolution is explicitly permitted (see section
6.b.). International affiliation by professional associations must be
approved by the Government. There have been no attempts to form labor
unions.
Since 1995 the country has been suspended from the U.S. Overseas
Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) insurance programs because of the
Government's noncompliance with internationally recognized worker
rights standards.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law does
not explicitly prohibit or permit strikes or collective bargaining
units for private sector employees. The law does provide for collective
work dispute resolution. Professional associations, organized by
profession (e.g., teachers, jurists, engineers, medical professionals,
and social workers), were the only workers' associations that existed
in the country. Although foreign workers may belong to these
associations, they do not have voting rights and cannot serve on the
boards of these organizations. The Government granted some professional
associations limited freedom to raise work-related concerns, to lobby
the Government for redress, and to file grievances with the Government.
The labor law does not forbid strikes but does allow an employer to
suspend an employee for temporarily striking. On September 10 there was
an administrative directive to ban employment of strike instigators. In
practice the Government did not prevent non-violent protests, and
generally did not take retributive action against striking workers.
Ministry of Labor officials reported that the law does not forbid
strikes, and if laborers feel they are denied their rights they can
stop working. In that case, however, such workers may be subject to
deportation for breach of contract. In September the Ministry of Labor
passed an administrative resolution stating that foreign workers who
instigate illegal strikes may be banned from employment for one-year.
There were no reports of groups of workers being deported for striking;
however, at least one worker was deported for continuing to incite his
coworkers to strike after the Ministry of Labor had begun to take
action on the case. Other employees who took part in the strike were
not deported after they returned to work.
In practice there were numerous strikes by private sector
employees. For example, during the year over 1,600 workers in Dubai
went on strike after not having been paid in four months and for living
in unhealthy conditions. The Ministry of Labor quickly met with both
labor and company representatives and ordered the company to
immediately pay all back wages. Another dispute in June involved 6,500
laborers who went on strike demanding a wage increase from $177 (650
dirhams) to $218 (800 dirhams). The ministry told them to return to
work or face deportation since the employer had met its obligations
under a valid work contract.
In addition, workers participated in organized and impromptu
gatherings almost daily in front of the Ministry of Labor in Abu Dhabi
and Dubai to complain of unpaid wages and hazardous or unfair working
conditions. Generally, the workers at these gatherings did not have a
permit to protest, but the Government did not punish any workers for
doing so. The Government prohibits strikes by public sector employees
on national security grounds. Almost all strikes were in response to
unpaid wages, and most involved construction companies (see section
6.c.).
Domestic workers' contracts were not covered by the labor law.
The Ministry of Labor distributed information to foreign workers,
available in five languages, both directly and through their sponsoring
companies' public affairs offices, outlining their rights under the
labor law and explaining how to pursue labor disputes, whether
individually or collectively.
An extremely small number of workers were eligible to pursue a
resolution of a collective labor dispute; due to the lack of unions,
many employees are never allowed the opportunity to pursue collective
resolutions. Employees covered by the labor law may file individual or
collective employment dispute complaints in Arabic with the Ministry of
Labor, which serves as the mediator between the parties. If the dispute
remains unresolved, the employee may file a complaint with the labor
court system. The labor law gives the ministry two weeks to resolve the
dispute or refer it to the courts, although in practice, it generally
takes a month or more. In all cases, complaints must be filed with the
ministry before they can be submitted to the court for consideration.
Parties in a collective work dispute may file complaints with the
Ministry of Labor. During the year the ministry settled approximately
85 percent of complaints. If the ministry is unable to mediate a
settlement within 10 business days, the complaint is to be submitted to
a Conciliation Committee for mediation, which consists of the manager
of the labor department, a member of the Chamber of Commerce, a member
of the vocational society chosen by the workers as a dispute
representative, and a nonvoting legal expert from the ministry.
Either the employee or employer can appeal the Conciliation
Committee's decision to a Supreme Committee of Conciliation whose
decision, while final, is only enforceable if both parties agree to the
decision. Either party can, at any time in the process, ask that his/
her dispute be referred to the Court of First Instance in the emirate
where the alleged violation occurred. If a case cannot be settled, it
is then referred to the court, where labor cases were quickly
adjudicated during the year and not subject to court fees. Rulings were
generally in favor of the workers and are fully possible to implement.
In practice, most cases were resolved through direct mediation, and if
that failed they were sent directly to the courts without going to the
Conciliation Council. When a case is delayed the Ministry grants the
worker temporary permission to legally continue employment in the
country. In November Dubai's ruler, Mohamed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum,
established a new court to hear labor disputes in Dubai.
The Ministry of Interior's Naturalization and Residency
Administration mandates use of standard contracts for noncitizen
domestic servants, clearly listing the salary, work requirements, and
duration of employment. Domestic workers may bring work-related
disputes to Conciliation Committees organized by the Ministry of
Interior or to the Court of First Instance. The Ministry of Interior
settles most disputes between employers and domestic servants. Labor
attaches at various foreign embassies indicate that most disputes were
settled in the employees' favor and were settled by allowing the worker
to transfer sponsors. There are no employer sanctions; if there is
physical or sexual abuse involved in the compliant, the matter is
turned over to the police for investigation/prosecution under criminal
statutes. There have been several reports that employers have
successfully pressured police authorities to deport the worker prior to
criminal charges being filed.
The labor law governs all private-sector employment outside the
free trade zones with the exception of domestic servants. According to
the Ministry of Labor, during the year approximately 2.7 million
workers were registered with the Ministry, and were covered by the
labor law. The Ministry estimated that there were approximately 100,000
persons working in the free trade zones, while 2004 International
Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates show that approximately 264,000 persons
worked in government services, and more than 200,000 domestic servants.
Although those working in government services were covered under a
separate Civil Service law, the 200,000 as domestic servants were not
covered under any labor law. Domestic servants and agricultural workers
have always been considerably disadvantaged in negotiating employment
contracts because the mandatory requirements contained in the labor law
do not apply. They also faced considerable difficulty in obtaining
assistance to resolve disputes with their employers. The law ties
workers' residency permission to their sponsorship by their employer.
Moreover, most employment contracts stipulate that for six months after
the end of employment, the employee is forbidden from working for a
``competitor,'' unless the former employee obtains a letter of ``no
objection'' from the former employer. This regulation has very severely
restricted foreign worker labor mobility inside the country. In August
the Ministry of Labor rescinded the six-month immigration ban for
workers who change sponsors without a ``no objection letter''; however,
the Ministry still waits six months to issue a new work permit with a
new sponsor unless the employee presents a letter of ``no objection''
from the former employer. A letter of no objection is not needed if an
employee proves that the previous employer has violated his/her labor
contract, such as a delay in payment. Fines were often substantial, and
more importantly often involved having all transactions cancelled with
the Ministry, which resulted in no new labor contracts during the year.
Businesses in the free trade zones do not have to comply with
federal labor statutes since they are considered a ``country within a
country.'' In practice, however, the federal law serves as the
guideline for any labor issues in the free trade zones. One difference
is in paid holidays: federal law dictates a minimum of 21 days paid
leave, while the free trade zone law provides for only seven days. The
MOL did not regulate the free trade zones; instead, each free trade
zone maintains its own labor department. These free zone labor
departments, although private, act as the Government regulating body
for free zone labor operations.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor for both adults and children; however,
employment agents continued to bring some foreign workers to the
country to work under forced or compulsory conditions. Women were
brought to the country under false promises of legitimate employment
and were instead forced into prostitution (see section 5). Low-paid
unskilled and semi-skilled workers were also victims of contract
switching, which occurs when a worker is offered a certain position,
often secretarial, but, for example, then receives a visa labor card to
work as a domestic servant instead.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
labor law prohibits employment of persons under the age of 15 and has
special provisions for employing persons 15 to 18 years of age. The
Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing the regulations. The
Government does not issue work permits for foreign workers under the
age of 18 years. Child labor was not generally a problem throughout the
year; however, there were reports of children laborers who came to the
country under their parents' work permits, and then were employed by
that same employer. During the year the Government carried out
extensive efforts to end the practice of trafficking in young foreign
boys as camel jockeys.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government does not impose a
minimum wage or have minimum wage guidelines and most of the workforce
does not earn compensation sufficient to provide a decent standard of
living for a worker and a family.
Ministry of Labor officials are required to inspect all contracts
covered by the labor law in order to ensure compliance with legally
required benefits, allowances, and time of payments. Officials do not
approve any labor contracts that stipulate ``substandard wages.''
Salaries depended on the occupation and employer and ranged from $109
(400 dirhams) per month for domestic or agricultural workers to $164
(600 dirhams) per month for construction workers to much higher
salaries for highly skilled and white-collar employees. Compensation
packages generally provided housing or housing allowances; however,
low-skilled employees were often provided with substandard living
conditions, including overcrowded apartments or lodging in unsafe and
unhygienic ``labor camps,'' often lacking electricity, potable water,
and adequate cooking and bathing facilities. Some low-paid workers did
not receive these benefits, even if stipulated in their contracts.
Local newspapers detailed numerous cases of non-payment of wages to
foreign workers.(see section 6.b.).
Most foreign workers do not earn the minimum salary required in
order to obtain residency permits for their families. The required
monthly minimum salary for an accompanying family to obtain residency
permits is $1,090 (3,924 dirhams); the minimum salary requirement is
$817 (2,941 dirhams) per month when the Government provides housing or
an additional housing allowance to the foreign worker.
Noncitizens comprised approximately 98 percent of the private
sector workforce. According to the Ministry of Labor, the country was a
destination for a large number of unskilled workers, including
reportedly as many as 300,000 domestic servants, most of them women
from South and East Asia, and a much larger number of unskilled male
workers from South Asia. These unskilled laborers actively competed for
jobs in the country, and were subject to poor working conditions.
Female domestic servants sometimes faced abusive working conditions.
The standard workday is eight hours per day, and the standard
workweek is six days per week; however, these standards were not
enforced. There was no legal provision requiring premium pay for
overtime, nor was there a prohibition on excessive compulsory overtime.
According to the Ministry of Labor and the labor law, employees are
entitled to two days of annual leave per month after completing each of
the first two 6-month periods on the job; after the first year,
employees are entitled to 30 calendar days of annual leave, in addition
to national holidays.
In 2005 the Ministry of Labor began inspecting construction and
outdoor worksites and identified at least 15 companies (of 80
inspected) that failed to enforce the break. These companies faced
fines of $2,700 (10,000 dirhams) for the first offense and were
prohibited from sponsoring any new workers. Throughout the summer the
press reported several companies that were fined for violating the mid-
day break. The Ministry of Labor did not provide any further details.
According to the press, failure to comply with any ministry regulation
results in all of a company's transactions with the ministry being
halted until the company is in compliance. During the year, however,
there were no reported examples of sponsorship being cancelled based
upon unlawful labor practices. Workers may file complaints with the
Ministry of Labor if these laws are not obeyed; the ministry reported
that workers did file complaints during the year. In Dubai emirate,
several construction workers died during the year from heatstroke.
Human Rights Watch stated that in 2004, 34 workers died at worksites
and that 880 construction workers' bodies were returned to their home
countries, according to the Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi
embassies.
In 2005 the Ministry of Labor received 17,360 complaints during the
year. The majority of complaints concerned unpaid wages. In 2004 the
media reported an estimate by unidentified municipal sources of a 61
percent increase in construction site accidents during the year, rising
to 149 accidents.
In 2005 the number of inspectors in the labor division of the
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs substantially decreased after many
of the inspectors resigned. Although inspectors attempted to enforce
health and safety regulations, there were insufficient inspectors and
resources to adequately enforce occupational health and safety codes in
each emirate; during the year there were 80 inspectors. There were
frequently reports in the press of cases of workers who were killed on
the job site as a result of inadequate safety measures. Workers' jobs
were not protected if they removed themselves from what they considered
to be unsafe working conditions. However, the Ministry of Labor can
force employers to reinstate workers who were dismissed for refusing to
perform unsafe work. Injured workers are entitled to fair compensation,
and all workers have the right to lodge labor-related grievances with
the Ministry of Labor, which mediates the dispute between the parties.
Either party has the right to end mediation at any time and have the
complaint referred to the Court of First Instance. Workers,
particularly unskilled workers, in disputes with their employers over
unpaid wages, generally agree to a mediated settlement for less money
than they are owed in order to avoid a protracted court battle.
However, workers in disputes with employers generally do not take
action due to fear of reprisals, including withdrawal of sponsorship or
deportation.
Domestic employees' contracts are regulated by the Ministry of
Interior. Some employers abused domestic workers by imposing excessive
work hours; nonpayment of wages; verbal, physical, and sexual abuse;
and restriction of movement. During the year the Government convicted
at least seven persons in separate cases involving abuse of domestic
workers.
Domestic workers may file complaints with the Ministry of Interior
or go to court, but they were likely to be fined or countercharged with
theft by their employers and deported. During the year the ministry
took action against hundreds of employers who abused or failed to pay
their domestic employees. According to new regulations, ministry
officials can ban an employer from further sponsorship of domestic
employees after receiving four reports of abuse.
Under the law, all workers who enter the country on a labor permit
are limited in the number of times that they may change employers under
that permit. The new regulations allow foreign workers holding graduate
or professional degrees to transfer jobs after one year, with no limit
on the number of times that they can change employers. Foreign workers
holding bachelor's degrees are allowed to change employment after two
years, with a maximum of two transfers. Foreign workers and laborers
without university degrees are permitted to change employment after
three years (allowing the employer more time to benefit from training
given to the unskilled laborers), but only once. In each case, leaving
the country for six months and filing for a new labor permit restarts
the process.
All workers wishing to change employment must either complete their
existing contract, provide a valid reason to dispute their existing
contract (such as the nonpayment of wages for at least two months), or
obtain a letter of ``no objection'' from their current employer. Any
worker not meeting one of these three criteria must leave the country
for at least six months and apply for a new work permit before changing
employers. Fees for changing sponsorship range from approximately $400
(1,500 dirhams) to $1,350 (5,000 dirhams), with the higher fees charged
for unskilled laborers to change employers. The law requires the
employer to pay this fee, but in practice the employer usually requires
the employee to pay the fee, which can be prohibitive for low-wage
earners.
On February 1, additional changes to the sponsorship law offered
domestics workers the opportunity to change sponsors without facing a
one-year work ban upon either completion of their contract or with an
employer's letter of ``no objection.'' These rules are implemented by
the Ministry of Interior.
The Ministry of Labor fines companies approximately $1,400 (5,000
dirhams) per year for each labor card that is expired. Failure to
comply with this regulation results in a cessation of all transactions
with the ministry. A ministry official reported that employers often
forced workers to pay the fine for an expired labor card and the fee
for a new labor card, under threats of reprisals, including a
cancellation of their sponsorship.
Employers historically have held their employees' passports, thus
preventing them from leaving the country without prior permission. In
2003 the Federal Supreme Court ruled that employers could not legally
withhold employees' passports because they were personal documents (see
section 5). The Ministry of Labor distributed pamphlets, in both
English and Arabic, to foreign workers advising them to report
employers who violated this regulation. However, withholding passports
from employees was still widely practiced. There have been no recent or
consistent attempts by the Ministries of Labor or Interior to enforce
the regulation.
The law requires that employers provide employees with a safe work
environment. During the year there were several complaints of poor
sanitation and lack of access to toilets for workers. Local medical
experts recommended that it was inadvisable for laborers to work
outdoors when the temperature exceeded 40 degrees Celsius, and that
employers provide safety helmets and adjust work hours to reduce
exposure to the sun. In 2005 the Ministry of Labor announced a decree
requiring a four-hour midday break (12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.) for
outdoor laborers during July and August, the hottest months of the
year. The break was reduced to two and one-half hours, from 12:30 p.m.
to 3:00 p.m.
The Government did not uniformly enforce health and safety
standards, or require every large industrial enterprise to employ a
certified occupational safety officer.
__________
YEMEN
Yemen, with a population of approximately 21 million, is a republic
under the leadership of President Ali Abdullah Saleh since 1978. The
law provides that the President be elected by popular vote from among
at least two candidates endorsed by parliament. On September 20,
citizens re-elected President Saleh to another seven-year term in a
generally open and competitive election, although there were multiple
problems with the voting process and use of state resources on behalf
of the ruling party. The President appoints the Prime Minister, who is
the head of government. The Prime Minister, in consultation with the
President, selects the cabinet, or Council of Ministers. Although there
is a multiparty system, the General People's Congress (GPC) dominates
the government. There were a few instances in which elements of the
security forces acted independently of government authority.
Significant human rights problems existed in some areas, such as
limitations on citizens' ability to change their government due to
corruption, fraudulent voter registration, and administrative weakness.
Torture and poor prison conditions existed in some prisons. Prolonged
pre-trial detention and judicial weakness and corruption were also
problems. There were some limitations on press freedom. Pervasive
corruption within the government, discrimination against women, and
instances of child labor and child trafficking occurred.
The government took several steps to reduce corruption, including
removing and investigating several judges accused of malfeasance,
passing a financial disclosure law for government officials, and
establishing an independent anticorruption authority with civil society
representatives.
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 one report
of the government committing an arbitrary or unlawful killing during
the year. There were no politically motivated killings by the
government or its agents; however, security forces reportedly killed or
injured suspects during apprehensions.
On September 28, traffic police officer Mohamed Said Abdu
reportedly died in Al-Ghaida (Mahra governorate) prison as a result of
torture, according to family members. He was arrested on September 25
for allegedly consuming alcohol. At year's end, the results of the
government's investigation into the death had not been made public.
Throughout the year intermittent and limited clashes between rebels
and government troops in the governorate of Sa'ada continued. No
estimates of rebels, security forces, and civilians killed in conflicts
in Sa'ada during the year were available at year's end, but government
and independent observers indicated that the number was well below 2005
levels (see section 1.g.).
Unlike in the previous year, there were no killings by security
forces during demonstrations.
On July 17, armed men murdered Abed al-Osaily, a journalist from
the newspaper Al-Nahar, after he wrote an article critical of local
officials' handling of a water project in the village of Belad al-
Qabael. Authorities reportedly attempted to arrest the suspects, but
failed after the individuals found refuge with a local official. There
were no developments by year's end.
Several killings were reported surrounding the September 20
Presidential and local council elections. On August 23, three people
killed each other in Al-Jawf province during an argument between a
ruling party local council candidate, an individual who wanted to take
that candidate's place on the ballot, and an election official, who was
a member of an opposition party. On August 28, unknown assailants in
Lahij killed the campaign manager of independent Presidential candidate
Ahmed al-Majidi. There were several confirmed reports of violence and
fatalities on election day in the provinces of al-Jawf and Dhamar
between elections officials and party supporters. There were no reports
of widespread violence by government officials, security forces, or
party supporters. At year's end no results of the government's
investigation into any of the killings had been made public.
Tribal violence resulted in a number of killings and other abuses,
and the government's ability to control tribal elements remained
limited (see section 5). In several caseslong-standing tribal disputes
were resolved through government supported mediation by nongovernmental
actors.
Other incidents of fatal shootings and violence continued
throughout the year. In most cases, it was impossible to determine the
perpetrator or the motive, and there were no claims of responsibility.
Although some may have had criminal, religious or political motives,
most appeared to involve tribal revenge or land disputes.
On November 24, 34 defendants were convicted on charges stemming
from the March and April 2005 Sana'a grenade attacks that killed five
civilians and injured 28 others. Three other defendants were found not
guilty. Reportedly, followers of the Shabab movement retaliated for
government actions in Sa'ada.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances; however, during the year there were some reports of
tribal kidnappings, traditionally committed to attract government
attention to a particular grievance.
On January 1, five Italian tourists were kidnapped by tribesmen in
Marib governorate and were released six days later after security
forces surrounded the kidnappers' compound. On September 10, four
French tourists were kidnapped by tribesmen while touring Shebwa
governorate and released several weeks later following negotiations. In
both cases captors demanded that the government release imprisoned
fellow tribal members.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, members of the
Political Security Office (PSO) and Ministry of Interior (MOI) police
forces tortured and abused persons in detention. Authorities used force
during interrogations, especially against those arrested for violent
crimes. Although penal law permits amputations and physical punishment
such as flogging for some crimes, which the government maintains is in
accordance with Shari'a (Islamic law), there were no reports of
amputations or floggings during the year.
The government acknowledged that torture occurred; however, it
claimed that torture was not official policy and that no complaints of
torture occurred during the year. Lack of training among police,
corruption, and pressure from superiors to produce convictions usually
played a role in cases where there was torture.
During the year torture continued to remain a problem in PSO
prisons, which were not systematically monitored by other government
agencies. There were credible reports pointing to a preferred use of
nonphysical methods, such as sleep deprivation and threats of sexual
assault, as the primary form of abuse in PSO prisons. There were
reports that the MOI's Criminal Investigative Department (CID)
routinely used torture to obtain confessions. Defense attorneys and
some human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) claimed that
most confessions introduced as evidence against defendants in criminal
courts were obtained through torture. Local NGOs claimed that in
several instances in which prison abuse cases were referred to the
Attorney General's office for prosecution, the complainants were
threatened and decided not to follow through on their cases. Government
sources denied this allegation.
In mid-April a military officer serving in Marib governorate was
convicted in a military court for torturing a soldier under his
command.
On July 12, seven Taiz police officers who were on trial for the
severe torture of a juvenile murder suspect in 2004, were tried and
acquitted of all charges.
There was no further information on the 2005 cases of seven police
officers who were referred to the courts for prosecution on charges of
torture.
In September 2005 two MOI officers were put on trial for the 1999
torture-induced death of an Aden bombing suspect. There was no further
information on this case at year's end.
During the year the government took new initiatives to curb torture
in MOI prisons. For example, the Ministry of Human Rights (MHR)
sponsored a group of lawyers, human rights activists, and NGO
representatives to tour MOI prisons across the country. On July 19, the
group released a report saying they found no instances of torture. The
report also contained recommendations to improve general prison
conditions.
During the year the government trained over 300 MOI officers on the
illegality of torture.
Security forces reportedly beat detainees in prison during the
year. On July 31, an international human rights group reported that
security forces allegedly beat Somali national Mohammed Abdel Qadir,
apparently for refusing to provide information about Associated Press
(AP) journalists in the country. In June authorities released Qadir,
who worked as a security guard at the AP office in Sana'a, from the
political security detention center in Sana'a, where he was detained
since August 2005.
In February 2005 CID forces investigating a theft case in Dhamar
governorate arrested five suspects who were reportedly beaten during
interrogation; four suspects were released. One suspect confessed to
the crime and was referred to the Attorney General's office for
prosecution. At year's end no further information on this case was
available.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Although some observers
noted improvements in MOI prison conditions during the year, local and
international observers reported that prison conditions remained poor
and did not meet internationally recognized standards. Although the MHR
and a number of NGOs were granted limited access to MOI prisons, the
government severely limited access to PSO prisons by independent human
rights observers.
Many prisons, particularly in rural areas, were overcrowded with
poor sanitary conditions, and inadequate food and health care. In some
cases prison authorities exacted bribes from prisoners to obtain
privileges or refused to release prisoners who completed their
sentences until family members paid them. There was one alleged death
in prison due to torture (see section 1.a.).
Although women were held separately from men, and conditions were
equally poor in women's prisons, their conditions differed in some
respects. By custom, young children and babies born in prison were
likely to remain with their mothers. Local tradition requires male
relatives of female prisoners to arrange their release; however, female
prisoners regularly were held in jail past the expiration of their
sentences because their male relatives refused to authorize their
release due to the shame associated with their behavior.
In some rural and women's prisons, children were held with adults,
and pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners. Security and
political detainees generally were held in separate facilities operated
by the PSO.
Unauthorized ``private'' prisons in rural areas, often controlled
by tribes, remained a problem. Tribal leaders misused the prison system
by placing ``problem'' tribesmen in ``private'' jails, either to punish
them for noncriminal actions or to protect them from retaliation. At
times such prisons were simply rooms in a tribal sheikh's house.
Persons were detained in such prisons often for strictly personal or
tribal reasons without trial or sentencing. Although senior government
officials did not sanction these prisons, there were credible reports
of the existence of private prisons in government installations.
Persons with mental illness who had committed crimes were
imprisoned without adequate medical care. In some instances authorities
arrested without charge persons with mental illness and placed them in
prisons with criminals. At year's end MOI-run prisons in Sana'a, Aden,
and Taiz operated in conjunction with the NGO Red Crescent
semiautonomous units for prisoners with mental illnesses; conditions in
these units were reportedly deficient.
Although limited access was granted to family members of PSO-held
detainees, requests for access by parliamentarians and NGOs were
routinely denied. Access to MOI prisons was at times permitted,
although parliamentarians and NGOs complained that it was subject to
several limitations. At times the government met with domestic NGO
monitors and responded to inquiries, particularly in matters relating
to prisoners. NGOs reported difficulty in gaining access to central
security prisons to investigate human rights violation claims; however,
individuals working for NGOs were allowed to meet with prisoners as
private visitors. NGOs had no access to PSO and CID prisons. In 2004
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) suspended a second
round of visitations to PSO prisons citing a lack of understanding of
its universally applied procedures; visits to MOI or PSO prisons had
not resumed by year's end.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, the government generally did not observe
these prohibitions. Enforcement of the law was irregular and in some
cases nonexistent, particularly in cases involving security offenses.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The primary state
security and intelligence gathering apparatus, PSO, and the National
Security Bureau (NSB) reported directly to the President. Many of NSB's
duties were not clearly delineated and appeared to overlap with the
PSO. The police CID reported to the MOI and conducted most criminal
investigations and arrests. The Central Security Organization, also a
part of the MOI, maintained a paramilitary force. Corruption was a
serious problem, and there were no government investigations of police
corruption during the year. Some police stations reportedly maintained
an ``internal affairs'' section to investigate abuses, and any citizen
had the right to raise an abuse case with the prosecutor's office.
Enforcement of the law and effective investigations were irregular.
Arrest and Detention.--The law provides that individuals cannot be
arrested unless apprehended in a criminal act or served with a summons.
Detainees must be arraigned within 24 hours of arrest or be released.
The judge or prosecuting attorney must inform the accused of the basis
for the arrest and decide whether detention is required. The law
stipulates that a detainee may not be held longer than seven days
without a court order. Despite the law, arbitrary arrest and prolonged
detention without charge or, if charged, without a public preliminary
judicial hearing within a reasonable time were common practices. For
example, on October 9, according to international human rights
organizations, authorities arrested human rights defender Ali al-
Dailami while he was traveling to Denmark to participate in a human
rights event. On November 6, al-Dailami was released from a PSO
facility, where he claimed he was tortured by security officials.
The law prohibits incommunicado detention and provides detainees
with the right to inform their families of their arrests and to decline
answering questions without an attorney present; however, these rights
were not always respected. The law states that the government must
provide attorneys for indigent detainees, but in practice, it often did
not do so. Almost all rural cases were settled out of court with tribal
mediators. There are provisions for bail; however, some authorities
abided by these provisions only if bribed.
Citizens regularly claimed that security officials did not observe
due process when arresting and detaining suspects and demonstrators
(see section 2.b.). Members of the security forces continued to arrest
or simply detain persons for varying periods of time without charge,
notification to their families, or hearing. Detainees were often
unaware of which agency was investigating them, and the agencies
themselves frequently complicated the situation by unofficially
transferring custodial authority of individuals to other agencies.
Security forces routinely detained relatives of fugitives while the
suspect was being sought (see section 1.f.).
The government failed to ensure that detainees and prisoners were
incarcerated only in authorized detention facilities. The MOI and the
PSO operated extrajudicial detention facilities. Unauthorized private
prisons also existed (see section 1.c.).
According to local NGOs, in March, following a Presidential
commutation of sentences, the government released virtually all al-
Houthi supporters, except for 36 persons on trial at year's end. Unlike
in the previous year, there were no reports that security forces
arrested hundreds of al-Houthi supporters and detained them without
charge.
There were no new developments in the April 2005 arrests of 22-
year-old Munif Damesh and his 50-year-old uncle Naif Damesh. Both men
were arrested and detained in April 2005 while working for two foreign
journalists.
Members of the security forces continued to detain journalists for
publishing articles or cartoons deemed controversial by the government
(see section 2.a.).
According to the European Union Election Observation Mission,
approximately 100 opposition supporters and two opposition candidates
were arrested during the September election campaign.
During the year the government also continued to detain suspects
accused of links to terrorism, but reportedly released a majority of
those individuals before the September 20 elections. The government did
not publish numbers of detainees held under suspicion of terrorist
affiliations or activities. On February 15, the MOI reported that 172
individuals were being held for suspected terrorism links, while NGOs
in 2005 estimated that the number was between 200 and 300 persons. At
year's end it was unknown how many people the government was holding on
suspicion of terrorist affiliation or activities. A large percentage of
the total prison population consisted of pretrial detainees, some of
whom had been imprisoned for years without charge.
In March, according to media reports, the government released
Muhammed Bashmilah, Salah Ali Qaru, and Muhammed al-Assad without
charges. All three citizens were arrested in 2003 on charges linked to
terrorism.
On July 8, according to media reports, 19 individuals were
acquitted on charges of planning attacks against foreign interests in
the country. The 14 citizens and five Saudis were arrested in early
2005.
On October 16, security authorities arrested eight noncitizens in
an alleged Al-Qai'da plot to smuggle weapons into Somalia. Seven
individuals were released by the end of the year, while one individual
remained detained without charge at year's end.
At year's end there were no further developments in the August 2005
arrest of 15 men in the Abyan governorate and 45 men in Aden
governorate for their alleged affiliations with Jihadist movements.
Throughout the year the government sponsored ideological dialogues
led by Islamic scholars as part of a re-education program aimed at
convincing detainees to renounce extremist beliefs. Detainees who
agreed to these conditions were released. These efforts reportedly had
limited success. According to a human rights NGO, some detainees who
were released under this program were re-arrested during the year.
Amnesty.--In March the government released over 600 al-Houthi
supporters (see section 1.a.) as part of a general commutation of
sentences announced by President Saleh in September 2005. In December
President Saleh released an additional 300 al-Houthi supporters.
On May 21, President Saleh pardoned two imams, Yahia Hussein al-
Dailami, who had been sentenced to death, and Muhammed Ahmad Miftah,
who had been sentenced to eight years imprisonment. The two were
originally convicted in May 2005 of establishing contacts with Iran to
harm Yemen. The two men publicly opposed the government's action in
Sa'ada and formed the Sana'a Youth Organization, a Zaydi religious-
based group that supported Houthism. Both men maintained that they only
advocated peaceful dissent against government action in Sa'ada.
According to press reports, President Saleh granted a general
amnesty and released 1,364 prisoners on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
``autonomous'' judiciary and independent judges; however, the judiciary
was weak and severely hampered by corruption and executive branch
interference. The government implemented a number of judicial reforms
throughout the year, including removing the President on June 14 as
head of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), the body charged with
administering the judiciary. In February the new Minister of Justice
retired or terminated the employment of a number of judges that the SJC
deemed ineffective. New judges were hired or promoted into positions at
all levels of the judiciary, including the Supreme Court. In mid-August
the SJC referred 10 judges to the Attorney General on suspicion of
corruption. On September 16, for the first time, a woman was named to
the Supreme Court.
During the year the UN Development Program (UNDP), in conjunction
with the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), expanded its model penal court
program to eight courts of appeal across the country. These courts,
which abided by higher standards of accountability and transparency
than normal courts, were designed to provide greater access to under-
represented groups such as women and the poor (see section 5).
Many litigants maintained, and the government acknowledged, that a
judge's social ties and occasional bribery influenced the verdict. Many
judges were poorly trained; some were closely associated with the
ruling party. The judiciary was hampered further by the government's
frequent reluctance to enforce judgments. Tribal members at times
threatened and harassed members of the judiciary.
The judicial system is organized in a three tiered court structure.
Courts of first instance are broadly empowered to hear all manner of
civil, criminal, commercial, and family matters. A single judge may
hear a case in these courts. Decisions taken in the courts of first
instance may be appealed to the courts of appeal, of which there is one
in each province and one in the capital. Each court of appeal includes
separate divisions for criminal, military, civil, and family issues.
Each division is composed of three judges. Above the courts of appeal
is the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court is empowered to settle jurisdictional disputes
between different courts, hear cases brought against high government
officials, and serve as the final court of appeal for all lower court
decisions. The Supreme Court has eight separate divisions:
constitutional (composed of seven judges including the chief justice),
appeals' scrutiny, criminal, military, civil, family, commercial, and
administrative. The Supreme Court has special panels empowered to
determine the constitutionality of laws and regulations.
In addition to the regular hierarchy of courts, there are courts
for military, juvenile, tax, customs, and labor matters, whose
decisions may be appealed to the courts of appeal.
A special court exists to try persons charged with kidnapping,
carjacking, attacking oil pipelines, and other acts considered to be a
``public danger,'' such as banditry and sabotage (see section 1.b.).
This court provides the defendants with the same rights provided in the
regular courts, but were more efficient and effective in enforcing
those rights than regular courts. There are no military or security
tribunals that try civilians.
Trial Procedures.--All laws are based on a mixture of Egyptian
laws, Napoleonic tradition, and Shari'a. The law, social custom, and
Shari'a, as interpreted in the country, discriminated against women,
particularly in domestic matters (see section 5, Women). There are no
jury trials. Judges, who play an active role in questioning witnesses
and the accused, adjudicate criminal cases. By law the government must
provide attorneys for indigent defendants in serious criminal (felony)
cases; however, in practice, this did not always occur. By law
prosecutors are a part of the judiciary and independent of the
government; however, prosecutors also investigate criminal cases. The
police were generally weak and played a limited role in developing
cases.
The security services continued to arrest, charge, and submit cases
to the prosecutor's office to try persons alleged to be linked to
shootings, explosions, and other acts of violence. Citizens and human
rights groups alleged that the security forces and judiciary did not
normally observe due process.
The accused are considered innocent until proven guilty. Defense
attorneys are allowed to counsel their clients, address the court, and
examine witnesses and any relevant evidence. All defendants, including
women and minorities, have the right to appeal their sentences. Trials
were generally public; however, all courts may conduct closed sessions
``for reasons of public security or morals.'' Foreign litigants in
commercial disputes complained of biased rulings.
In addition to regular courts, there is a system of tribal
adjudication for noncriminal issues; however, in practice, tribal
judges often adjudicated criminal cases. The results carried the same
if not greater weight than court judgments. Persons jailed under the
tribal system usually were not charged formally with a crime, but were
publicly accused of their transgression.
There were no reports of prosecutors being dismissed for violating
the law.
Parliament has exclusive jurisdiction over executive branch
officials and their representatives for crimes including bribery,
interference, and embezzlement. No government official was investigated
or tried under this law during the year.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The number of political
prisoners, if any, was unclear, and human rights activists were unable
to provide data on political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law provides for an
independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters; however, there
were limitations in practice. In July the National Organization for
Defending Rights and Freedoms (NODRF) filed the first ever civil suit
against the President on behalf of Ahmad Ali bin Maeili, who claimed
the PSO detained him without charge for six years. There was no further
information on the case by year's end.
In December Hamdan al-Derssi attempted to file a civil case against
Saleh al-Fasheq, a prominent local sheikh, in a Hodeida court, claiming
that al-Fasheq tortured and sodomized him with a stick. Derssi claimed
that the court rejected the case because the sheikh is politically
well-connected. Dersi then filed a complaint with the General
Prosecutor in Sana'a. The General Prosecutor had not taken any action
by year's end.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such action; however, PSO and MOI
police forces routinely searched homes and private offices, monitored
telephones, read personal mail, and otherwise intruded into personal
matters for alleged security reasons. Activities were conducted without
legally issued warrants or judicial supervision. PSO and MOI police
forces routinely detained relatives of suspects while the suspect was
being sought (see section 1.d.).
The government claimed that it did not monitor Internet usage;
however, the government occasionally blocked political Web sites and
those it deemed to be sexually explicit (see section 2.a.).
The law prohibits arrests or the serving of a subpoena between
sundown and dawn; however, there were reports that persons suspected of
crimes were taken from their homes without warrants in the middle of
the night.
No citizen may marry a foreigner without permission from the MOI
(see section 5), but this regulation does not carry the force of law
and appeared to be enforced irregularly.
In other cases detention of family members continued while the
concerned families negotiated compensation for the alleged wrongdoing.
Arbitration and mediation by families, tribesmen, and other
nongovernmental interlocutors was commonly used to settle such cases.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal and External
Conflicts.--Throughout the year there were intermittent and limited
clashes between rebels and government troops in the Sa'ada governorate.
The armed rebellion with separatist tendencies was led by the Shabab al
Moumineen (the Believing Youth), a movement that follows the teachings
of Zaydi (Shiite) cleric Hussein Badr Eddine al Houthi, who was killed
by security forces in 2004. Following the government's release in March
of over 600 al-Houthi supporters who had been detained in 2004 and 2005
(see section 1.d.), there were a few small-scale skirmishes throughout
the remainder of the year. Throughout the year the government began
allowing aid organizations into the region to assist with rebuilding
and resettlement efforts. No estimates of rebels, security forces, and
civilians killed in conflicts in Sa'ada during the year were available
at year's end, but government and independent observers indicated that
the number was well below the levels of 2005, when an estimated 500 to
800 troops, 600 rebels, and 100 civilians were killed. Some opposition
media and political leaders claimed that the government used excessive
force in suppressing the rebellion.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press ``within the limits of the law'';
however, the government did not respect these rights in practice. The
1990 Press and Publication Law criminalizes ``the criticism of the
person of the head of state. [that] does not necessarily apply to
constructive criticism,'' the publication of ``false information'' that
may spread ``chaos and confusion in the country,'' and ``false stories
intended to damage Arab and friendly countries or their relations''
with the country. The country's security apparatus, including the NSB
and elements of the military, threatened and harassed journalists to
influence press coverage.
The Ministry of Information influenced the media through control of
printing presses, subsidies to newspapers, and ownership of the
country's sole television and radio outlets. Three independent
newspapers and no opposition newspapers owned their own presses. There
were eight government controlled, 41 independent, and 30 party-
affiliated newspapers. There were approximately 90 magazines of which
45 were private, 27 were government-controlled, and 18 were party-
affiliated. The government selected the items to be covered in news
broadcasts, and it often did not permit broadcasts critical of the
government. The government televised parliamentary debates and
occasionally permitted broadcasts of aggressive criticism of
ministries. During the Presidential and local council campaigns prior
to the September 20 elections (see section 3), the government-
controlled broadcast media generally provided equal, largely unedited
coverage to opposition and independent Presidential candidates;
however, observers recorded various violations of media freedom,
including Internet censorship, biased media coverage, and government
interference with media.
Press law specifies that newspapers and magazines must apply
annually to the government for licensing renewal and that they must
show continuing evidence of approximately $4,375 (700,000 riyals) in
operating capital. There were no reports of registrations being denied
during the year. However, there were reports in 2005 that the
government did not act on the license applications of at least two
independent newspapers.
While physical attacks against journalists decreased during the
year, government harassment, including threats against journalists and
their families, brief imprisonment, and personal surveillance
continued.
On February 7, several journalists, including reporters and
cameramen from Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, were briefly detained by
security forces while attempting to report on the February escape of 23
suspected Al-Qai'da supporters from a PSO prison.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ),
authorities continued to harass and intimidate Editor-in-Chief Jamal
Amer of the independent Al-Wasat newspaper. On April 10, while Amer was
traveling out of the country, a known political security officer and
four other men asked Amer's neighbors for personal information on Amer
and his family.
Although the MOI promised to investigate the matter, there were no
new developments by year's end into Amer's August 2005 abduction by
unidentified persons reportedly linked to security forces. During his
abduction Amer was beaten, urinated on, interrogated about his contacts
with foreign embassies, and threatened with death if he continued
writing articles critical of the government. The attack came after Al-
Wasat published an article on government scholarships being routed to
government officials' children. Military sources publicly denied
involvement in the abduction.
On June 29, several singers and music sellers reported being
briefly detained by security officials for distributing audio tapes
that contained songs that were critical of the government.
In mid-September opposition media reported that cassette tapes with
songs and speeches critical of the ruling party were banned, while
similar progovernment cassettes were sold.
On October 10, according to media reports, member of Parliament
(MP) Hamid bin Hussein al-Ahmar threatened Ali Hassan al-Shater,
editor-in-chief of the 26 September weekly, for publishing an allegedly
insulting poem in his newspaper. On December 14, according to media
reports, al-Ahmar and al-Shater agreed to settle the dispute out of
court.
On November 28, a MOI officer attacked Al-Jazeera television
correspondent Ahmad al-Shalafi in Sana'a. Security forces briefly
detained Shalafi, along with his cameraman Ali al-Baidhani, in December
2005 while they were filming a protest by employees of a public textile
company. The ministry had not conducted any investigations into the
attack by year's end.
Other unidentified parties were also responsible for press
harassment. On March 11, several unknown assailants abducted and
assaulted Qaed al-Tairi, journalist for the Socialist Party weekly Al-
Thawri, allegedly due to his February 26 and March 8 comments at
conferences advocating the right of women to run in the country's
elections. According to al-Tairi, the assailants threatened him with
further violence and warned they would kidnap members of his family.
Al-Tairi filed a police report and awaited results at year's end.
According to CPJ, journalist Abdulfatah al-Hakimi suffered
respiratory problems after an early April attack in which two
unidentified men sprayed him with gas through his car window. He was
taken to a hospital in Aden, where he remained for more than a week.
Al-Hakimi, who was deputy editor of the state-controlled daily 14
October, was fired last year after his writings became more critical of
the authorities.
Abed al-Mahthari, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Al-
Deyar, reported to CPJ that he was targeted on April 19 by suspected
weapons traffickers in Sa'ada. Al-Mahthari had investigated weapons
trafficking in the past and allegedly received several death threats.
Al-Mahtari filed a police report and awaited results at year's end.
There were no new developments in the case of opposition journalist
Nabil Sabaie. In November 2005 Sabaie was stabbed in both shoulders by
armed men on a main street of the capital. A MOI official attributed
the attack to criminals attempting to steal Sabaie's cell phone.
There were no new developments in the case of journalist Muhammed
Sadiq al-Odaini. In December 2005 al-Odaini was attacked by armed men
near his house in the capital and held hostage in his house until early
morning of the next day. Security forces did not arrive until the day
after the perpetrators had gone. A MOI source attributed the attack to
al-Odaini's landlord; Odaini had refused to leave his apartment.
In 2005 in an attempt to counter dissent, elements close to the
government or security apparatus cloned two newspapers, Al-Shura and
Al-Thawri, by publishing newspapers with similar names, fonts, and
colors as the targeted newspapers, but that carried more progovernment
editorials and stories. The Al-Thawri clone ceased publication in 2005
after several weeks, but the Al-Shoura clone continued publishing at
year's end.
Journalists were tried and sentenced for writing articles critical
of the President or for reporting on sensitive issues. On February 6,
the government temporarily imprisoned three journalists for reprinting
Danish cartoons caricaturing the prophet Mohammed and charged them,
along with a fourth journalist who was not arrested, with violating a
law that forbids the publication of any thing that ``prejudices the
Islamic faith.'' On November 25, a lower court convicted Kamal al-Olufi
of Al-Rai al-Am and sentenced him to a one-year prison term, closed the
paper for six months, and barred him from writing for six months. On
December 6, Mohammed al-Assadi, editor of the Yemen Observer, was
convicted and fined approximately $2,500 (500,000 riyals). On December
13, a lower court convicted two journalists from Al-Hurriya, Akram
Sabra and Yehya al-Abed, who received a suspended sentence, one month
closure of the newspaper, and a one month writing ban. At year's end
all three cases were being appealed.
According to CPJ, on July 20, a Sana'a court ordered the opposition
weekly Al-Wahdawi to pay $2,550 (500,000 riyals) in compensation to the
Ministry of Defense, fined the paper $255 (50,000 riyals), and banned
editor in chief Ali al-Saqqaf from practicing journalism for six
months. The case against Al-Wahdawi stemmed from an August 2005 article
alleging misdemeanors by members of the Republican Guard in seizing
land in Dhamar Province. The Ministry of Defense, which brought the
case against Al-Wahdawi, accused the newspaper of revealing military
secrets.
Throughout the year, Al-Thawri and/or its editor in chief, Khalid
Salman, were defendants in over 14 ongoing civil suits. The paper
published a series of articles critical of corruption and the
President. On February 15, Al-Thawri journalist Mustapha Bedir was
fined approximately $750 (150,000 riyals) for an article on alleged
corruption in the national air force. In 2005 more than 12 cases were
lodged against Al-Thawri and/or Khalid Salman, and in November 2005 a
Taiz court fined the paper $3,800 (750,000 riyals) for libeling a Taiz
city finance director.
By year's end the government had not followed through on its 2004
pledge to prosecute journalists whom it deemed supportive of the rebel
cleric al Houthi.
The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) defended freedom of the
press and publicized human rights concerns. The YJS was vocal in
condemning recent government actions that closed several publications
and imprisoned journalists. Women Journalists Without Chains also
publicly supported human rights and press freedoms.
At times customs officials confiscated foreign publications
regarded as pornographic or objectionable due to religious or political
content. During the year there were some reports that authorities
monitored foreign publications and banned those deemed harmful to
national interests.
Authors of books were required to obtain a certification from the
Ministry of Culture (MOC) for publication and also were required to
submit copies to the ministry. At times publishers did not deal with an
author who had not yet obtained a certification. Most books were
approved, but the process was time consuming. There were reports that
both the MOC and the PSO monitored and sometimes removed books from
store shelves after publication. In 2005 publishers were banned from
distributing some books that espoused Zaydi-Shiite Islamic doctrine
(followed by approximately 30 percent of the population and of which
al-Houthi was a follower) or were deemed pornographic. The government
denied that the media was subject to censorship by any security
apparatus.
Internet Freedom.--The government restricted Internet use by
intermittently blocking access to some political and religious sites
and Web sites deemed immoral (see section 1.f.). According to local
human rights observers, the government blocked some Web sites during
the Presidential and local council campaigns prior to the September 20
elections. The government limited what Internet content its citizens
could access by using commercially available filtering technology and
by controlling its two Internet service providers, TeleYemen (operators
of the service YNET) and YemenNet, through the Ministry of
Telecommunications. Human rights and other NGOs complained that the
government restricted what journalists may write and how citizens used
the Internet through a variety of means of intimidation. Internet
access was readily available from homes or Internet cafes.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The government restricted
academic freedom, claiming it was necessary due to the politicization
of university campuses. Political parties frequently attempted to
influence academic appointments, as well as university faculty and
student elections. In August 2005 the President of Sana'a University
forbade new student associations, citing a law forbidding campus
partisanship. Opposition sources contended that this regulation was not
enforced against GPC-affiliated organizations.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly; however, the
government limited this right in practice. The government required a
permit for demonstrations, which it issued routinely. Government
informers monitored many meetings and assemblies. For the first time
opposition Presidential candidates were allowed to stage rallies across
the country, many of which were attended by tens of thousands of
supporters.
The government banned and disrupted some demonstrations, allegedly
to prevent them from degenerating into riots and violence. In July the
government rejected a request for a demonstration in Sa'ada province
following Israeli attacks in Lebanon, reportedly for security reasons.
On August 7, the government ``postponed'' a protest march organized
by the Yemeni Teacher's Union, reportedly for security reasons. On two
occasions during the Presidential election campaign, the government
denied the opposition use of the capital's largest parade ground, which
was located near the Presidential palace, for campaign rallies.
President Saleh however, staged several rallies on the same parade
ground. The opposition also accused the government of blocking roads
into provincial capitals where opposition candidates staged rallies.
In July 2005 riots protesting gas prices erupted after the
government lifted fuel subsidies. The violence resulted in
approximately 43 deaths and 471 injuries. Press reports asserted at
least 23 civilians were killed, including a 12-year-old child. On July
23, the government reported that at least 255 security personnel and
120 protesters were injured. Parliament submitted an inquiry to the MOI
on the shooting deaths of demonstrators. The investigation was pending
at year's end.
In December 2005 one person was reportedly killed after MOI
security personnel removed approximately 300 demonstrators who had been
encamped in front of the Sana'a UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) headquarters, demanding resettlement in third countries. Nine
persons, four MOI security personnel, and five demonstrators were
injured during the resulting violence. In November 2005 MOI security
forces injured one female protester in clashes with the demonstrators.
There was no additional information at year's end.
In 2004 a member of the security forces shot into a crowd of
protesters in front of an Aden court. One person was killed and another
wounded. The protesters were monitoring the trial of a member of an
intelligence agency who was accused of murder. Police claimed that the
crowd was out of control. A fact finding committee was set up to
investigate the incident the same week. There was no further action on
the incident by year's end.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the government nominally respected this right in
practice; however, the ruling party retained control of professional
associations and NGOs by influencing internal elections and subsidies
(see section 6.b.). According to local observers, there were
approximately 20 NGOs independent of the ruling party operating in the
country.
An association or NGO must register annually, usually a routine
matter, with one of four ministries: Labor and Social Affairs (MLSA),
Culture, Education, or Vocational Training and Technical Education.
The government cooperated to some extent with legally recognized
NGOs, which by law were provided with an annual stipend. Some NGO
professionals claimed that NGOs that did not agree with government
policy were subject to different registration and funding criteria than
those deemed loyal by the ruling GPC party leadership.
All political parties must be registered in accordance with the
Political Parties Law, which stipulates that each party must have at
least 75 founders, verified in a court of law, and 2,500 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 some restrictions. The constitution declares that Islam is
the state religion and that Shari'a is the source of all legislation.
Government actions to counter the increase in political violence
restricted some religious practice. The government took actions to
counter the increase in political violence as a result of the June 2004
and March 2005 uprisings by the Shabab al-Moumineen (the Believing
Youth) in the northern governorate of Sa'ada and the ensuing attacks
against government officials in the capital. The government banned for
the second consecutive year the celebration of Ghadeer Day, a holiday
celebrated by some Shi'a, in parts of the Sa'ada Governorate.
The government also reportedly limited the hours that mosques were
permitted to be open to the public, reassigned some Imams who were
thought to espouse radical or Zaydi doctrine, and increased
surveillance and detention of members of the Shabab.
Followers of religions other than Islam were free to worship
according to their beliefs and to wear religiously distinctive
ornaments or dress; however, Shari'a, as interpreted by the government,
forbids conversion from Islam and prohibits non Muslims from
proselytizing, and the government enforced this prohibition. The
government required permission for the construction of all places of
worship and the constitution prohibited non Muslims from being elected
to the presidency or parliament. Non-Muslim citizens may vote but may
not hold elected office.
Under Islam, as interpreted by the government, the conversion of a
Muslim to another religion is considered apostasy, which the government
considers a crime punishable by death. There were no reports of cases
in which the crime was charged or prosecuted by authorities.
Official policy does not prohibit or prescribe punishment for the
possession of non Islamic religious literature; however, during the
year there were reports of persons being harassed and temporarily
detained for possession of religious materials with the intent to
proselytize.
Catholic, Protestant, and Ethiopian Orthodox Christians and Jewish
services were held without government interference.
Public schools provided instruction in Islam, but not in other
religions; however, most non Muslims were foreigners who attended
private schools.
During the year the government continued its efforts to prevent the
politicization of mosques and schools and to curb religious extremism.
This included the monitoring of mosques for sermons that incited
violence or other political statements considered harmful to public
security. By year's end the government closed over 3,000 unlicensed
religious schools deemed to have deviated from formal educational
requirements or promoted militant ideology. During the year the
Ministry of Religious Affairs reportedly opened government-sanctioned
schools in the same areas as the schools that had been closed. Private
and national schools were prohibited from teaching courses outside of
the officially approved curriculum.
The government also deported foreign students found studying in
unlicensed religious schools. In May the Ministry of Endowments and
Religious Guidance trained 500 male and female religious instructors on
moderate Islam and religious tolerance. There were credible reports
authorities banned publishing of some materials that promoted Zaydi-
Shiite Islam (see section 2.a.).
Shari'a based law and social customs discriminated against women
(see section 5).
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Unlike in the previous year,
there were no reported incidents of anti-Semitism. Jewish children in
the town of Raidah usually rode to school in a covered truck to protect
them from stones thrown by villagers.
Jewish citizens, only a few hundred of which remained in the
country, were socially banned from certain occupations, allowed to live
in only certain parts of towns, and were legally forbidden to serve in
the military or government.
In 2005 after the ruling party tried to put forward a Jewish
parliamentary candidate, the General Election Committee adopted a
policy barring all non Muslims from running for parliament (see section
3).
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, Repatriation, and Exile.--The law provides for these
rights, and the government respected them with some restrictions. The
government limited the movement of women, foreigners, and tourists. The
two latter groups were required to obtain government permission before
leaving the country. In practice the government did not obstruct
domestic travel; however, the army and security forces maintained
checkpoints on major roads.
In certain areas armed tribesmen occasionally either manned their
own checkpoints or operated alongside military or security officials
and subjected travelers to physical harassment, extortion, or theft.
Although not required by law, women customarily were asked by
government officials if they had permission from a male relative before
applying for a passport or leaving the country. One women's rights NGO
asserted that a husband or male relative could bar a woman from leaving
the country upon a husband's or male relative's request and that this
requirement was strictly enforced when women traveled with children.
During the year there were several reports of women who were turned
away at the airport because they did not have the permission of or were
unaccompanied by a male relative.
Immigrants and refugees traveling within the country often were
required by security officials at government checkpoints to show that
they possessed resident status or refugee identification cards.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the government did not use it.
During the year the government continued to deport an unknown
number of foreigners studying at Muslim religious schools and believed
to be in the country illegally. The government claimed that these
persons were suspected of inciting violence or engaging in criminal
acts by promoting religious extremism. The government used existing
laws requiring foreigners to register with the police or immigration
authorities within a month of arrival.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of refugee status or asylum in accordance with the UN 1951 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 generally provided protection
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution. In December however, the government stopped its
practice of allowing UNHCR to perform refugee status determinations for
non-Somalis. A limited number of non-Somalis have since been deported.
The government continued to grant prima facie refugee status to Somalis
who arrived in the country after 1991.
The government also provided temporary protection to thousands of
individuals from Iraq and the Darfur region of Sudan who may not
qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol,
although there were some reports of deportations. There were also
reports that some Iraqis were blocked from reuniting with their
families when denied readmission into the country.
Refugees were allowed to work and travel freely within the country,
although they faced some difficulties. There were reports of refugees
being refused employment or passage at checkpoints because they lacked
legal documentation.
The government cooperated with the UNHCR in assisting refugees and
asylum seekers. The government, in cooperation with UNHCR, established
six reception centers throughout the year to register and provide
greater legal protection to refugees. There were credible reports of
isolated incidents of harassment and abuse by security forces at a
Somali refugee camp. UNHCR reported the incidents to the government,
but no action was taken by year's end. At times authorities arrested
without charge and imprisoned an unknown number of undocumented
refugees while their cases were pending with UNHCR (see section 2.d.).
Refugees were generally released from prison upon the completion of
UNHCR processing.
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 based on universal suffrage;
however, there were limitations in practice. Decision making and
effective power was held by the executive branch, particularly the
President, who has held office since 1978. The President appoints the
Prime Minister, who presides over a 35-member cabinet (Council of
Ministers), chosen by the President. In practice the President in
association with the ruling GPC party dominated the government. The
parliament, in which three parties were represented, was not an
effective counterweight to the executive branch and can be dissolved by
the President.
Elections and Political Parties.--According to local and
international observers, the September 20 Presidential and local
council elections were considered open and genuinely competitive, and
an improvement over previous elections. For the first time opposition
candidates contested the Presidential elections and had equal coverage
on government-owned broadcast and print media. There were problems
however, with voter registration, redistricting, ballot counting,
isolated incidents of election-related violence, and use of state
resources on behalf of the ruling party.
Ali Abdullah Saleh was elected President to a seven year term in
the country's second nationwide direct Presidential election on
September 20, securing 77 percent of the votes. According to the
constitution, Saleh may not run for a third term in office. Faisal bin
Shamlan, candidate of the opposition coalition Joint Meetings Party
(JMP), gained 22 percent. The remaining three opposition and
independent candidates each had less than one percent each. According
to the Supreme Commission on Elections and Referenda (SCER),
approximately 65 percent of eligible voters participated in the
elections, of which approximately 42 percent were women. The
constitution provides that the President is elected by popular vote
from at least two candidates endorsed by parliament.
International NGOs and the European Union Observer Mission
characterized polling as an important and unprecedented step in the
country's democratic development. In its final post-election report,
the EU noted that the GPC had an unfair electoral advantage, because
significant state resources were put at the disposal of GPC candidates
for use during their campaigns. Opposition parties, while regretting
irregularities, also hailed the elections as the first genuinely
competitive contest in the country's history. Unlike in previous years,
international and local observers did not report significant
difficulties in accessing voting centers or filing their reports.
An international NGO reported that the voter registration process
conducted in April was marred by poorly trained administrative staff,
registration of a large number of underage voters, and interference by
security officials. The NGO also reported that the opposition coalition
JMP refused to participate in the voter registration process due to
allegations of bias on the part of the SCER, which conducted voter
registration. The SCER therefore recruited staff members on short
notice, and was not able to provide them with meaningful training
before voter registration began.
On June 18, the JMP and the GPC agreed on several items of
contention, including the formation of a joint committee to review
voter lists with the SCER and decide which names to be removed due to
technical errors. Although the SCER requested that the courts expunge
more than 200,000 names identified as underage or duplicate voters, a
searchable electronic copy of the registration list was never provided
to opposition parties or local constituencies so that they could verify
voter lists before the election. There were reports that the SCER
mistakenly removed eligible voters from lists in several
constituencies.
In addition, many constituencies were redistricted a month before
the election, in a manner that was not transparent to the public,
international observers, or the opposition parties. Opposition and
independent observers noted redistricting resulted in the allocation of
more local council representatives for constituencies that were viewed
as progovernment.
Whereas ballot counting for the Presidential election was reported
to be generally fair and accurate, there were numerous reports that
ballots for the local council elections went uncounted in some
constituencies or were not secured after the count, rendering a recount
or inspection of the ballots impossible.
Election-related violence during the 30-day campaign period and on
election day was markedly lower than in previous elections. The SCER
reported that seven people were killed in election-related violence. On
August 24, one election official (who was a member of the opposition),
and two ruling party members killed each other in an election-related
dispute in al-Jawf. On election day two people were killed in clashes
between government and opposition party supporters in Taiz governorate,
and two in Amran governorate. The SCER reported that an election
official died in Hajja governorate on election day, but at year's end,
the SCER had not yet determined if the official was killed for
election-related reasons.
On August 29, the campaign manager of independent candidate Ahmed
al-Majidi was killed in Lahij (see section 1.a.), but the SCER did not
count this as an election-related killing. At year's end no results of
the government's investigation into this murder had been made public.
There were no reports that government security agents killed anyone for
election-related reasons either before or after election day.
The law mandates that political parties be viable national
organizations that cannot restrict their membership to a particular
region. The constitution prohibits the establishment of parties that
are contrary to Islam, oppose the goals of the country's revolution, or
violate the country's international commitments.
The law stipulates that each party have at least 75 founders and
2,500 members. Parties based on regional, tribal, sectarian, class,
professional, gender, or racial identities are not permitted.
Candidates from any party could declare their candidacy for elections.
The government provided financial support to most of the 23 political
parties, including a small stipend to publish party newspapers.
The ruling GPC was the dominant party since unification of the
country and controlled 238 of the 301 seats in parliament, which was
elected in 2003. Islah is the only other significant party, and it
controlled 46 seats. At times tribalism distorted political
participation and influenced the central government's composition.
Observers noted that persons were often selected to run for office or
given jobs in particular ministries based on their tribal affiliations.
Because tribal areas were still run by patriarchal systems, some tribal
leaders reportedly influenced tribal members to vote for certain
candidates.
Although there were no formal restrictions limiting opposition
participation, the government made it difficult for some parties to
organize. At year's end the government continued to hold substantial
assets of the opposition Yemeni Socialist Party, including land and
buildings, which were seized after the 1994 civil war. In May 2005 the
President publicly accused two minor parties of attempting to overthrow
the government by fomenting the al-Houthi uprising. The headquarters of
the Union for Popular Forces was seized by armed men and the party
forcibly recreated under dubious circumstances.
Although women voted and held office, cultural norms rooted in
tradition and religious interpretation often limited their exercise of
these rights. Although the number of women in government and politics
increased since 2005, it did not correspond to their percentage of the
population (see section 5). There was one woman in the 301-seat
parliament. There were three women in the cabinet, including the
Minister of Human Rights, the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, and
a Supreme Court justice. In 2005 the SCER established a Women's
Department responsible for addressing gender equality in the electoral
process. The department conducted informational campaigns on the
importance and mechanism of voting in the campaign prior to the
September elections. In the September 20 elections, 164 women ran for
and 38 won seats on local and provincial councils.
Many Akhdam, a small ethnic minority descended from east Africans,
did not participate in the political process due to socioeconomic
factors. There were no members of minority groups in parliament or the
cabinet. There were no reports that persons with disabilities were
prohibited from participating in the political process.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There is a widespread
perception of corruption in every branch and level of government.
Government officials and parliamentarians alike were presumed to
benefit from insider arrangements and embezzlement. Procurement was a
regular source of corruption in the executive branch. In March the
Central Organization for Control and Audit (COCA), the country's
investigative body for corruption, reported that between its creation
in 1999 and 2005, COCA had investigated 518 official cases of
corruption, of which 361 were filed with COCA in 2005, which resulted
in a loss to the treasury of $24.7 million (4.86 billion riyals). At
year's end of the 518 cases, 490 had been sent to the judiciary for
action, while the remaining 28 cases were still under COCA's
consideration. COCA's reports were rendered to the parliament but were
not made accessible to the general public. Only low-ranking officials
had been prosecuted for corruption since COCA's inception. The actual
number of corruption cases was generally considered to be significantly
higher than what was reported by COCA.
Unlike in 2005 when parliament challenged the executive for the
first time on a number of high-profile corruption cases, during the
year parliament did not challenge the executive on allegations of
corruption. No legal or legislative action resulted from parliamentary
inquiries in 2005.
Petty corruption was widely reported in nearly every government
office. Job candidates were often expected to purchase their positions.
Tax inspectors were reported to undervalue their assessments and pocket
the difference. Many government officials received salaries for jobs
they did not perform or multiple salaries for the same job.
On December 9, in an effort to combat corruption, MPs, the
government, and foreign diplomats met at a symposium in Sana'a to
discuss the government's progress in fighting corruption. The event
aimed to raise awareness of corruption in the government and to develop
serious political commitment to combat it.
On December 25, the President ratified an anticorruption law,
creating an independent authority to investigate cases of official
corruption. The new authority will be headed by a council of
government, civil society, and private sector representatives.
The law requires a degree of transparency and public access to
information, and the Press and Publications Law provides for
journalists to have some access to government reports and information;
however, in practice the government offered few procedures to ensure
transparency. On August 19, parliament passed a law requiring public
disclosure of government officials' assets, but it had not yet been
implemented by year's end. The government provided limited information
on Internet sites; however, few citizens had access to the Internet.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Domestic and international human rights groups generally operated
with varying degrees of government cooperation and without government
restriction. NGOs reported there was often a lack of response to their
requests. The Law for Associations and Foundations regulates the
formation and activities of NGOs.
The law permits some foreign funding of NGOs and requires
government observation of NGO internal elections. During the year the
MHR sponsored several initiatives to further cooperation with local
NGOs.
Several domestic human rights NGOs operated throughout the year.
Groups included the Human Rights Information and Training Center, the
National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms, the Arab
Foundation for Supporting Women and Juveniles, and the Civic Democratic
Foundation. Although pro-government NGOs were supported by the
government or ruling party, others were clearly supported by opposition
parties or were fully independent.
A few NGOs practiced self censorship. Some ministries reportedly
harassed NGOs critical of the government by delaying the procedures
required for annual registration/licensing and through bureaucratic
funding criteria (see section 2.b.). The government requires NGOs to
register annually or be declared illegal. In some instances the
government reportedly registered a pro-government ``clone'' version of
an NGO, immediately recognizing the clone as the legitimate NGO,
thereby preventing the original NGO from renewing its registration
under its original name. In such cases registration applications must
be re-filed under a new name. In some instances during the year, the
government reportedly did not act upon some registration applications,
and reportedly placed unofficial freezes on new licenses ahead of the
September elections.
The government monitored NGO finances. The government reportedly
used financial reviews as a pretext to harass or close NGOs, and some
NGOs reportedly kept less than transparent records. Several NGOs
reported being singled out as ``agents of foreign powers'' in pro-
government media after publishing reports critical of the government.
During the year Women Journalists without Chains, HOOD, Arab Sisters
Forum, and the Observatory for Human Rights were all named as ``foreign
agents'' in progovernment media.
The government gave Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch,
the Parliament of the European Union, and the CPJ access to officials,
records, refugee camps, and prisons (see section 1.c.). AI visited the
country several times during the year. The ICRC maintained a resident
representative to inspect prisons during the year, although access to
PSO prisons was restricted. AI and Freedom House International
published reports on the country's human rights record during 2005. The
ICRC also issued a report on its 2005 activities in the country. In
September the government responded to the AI report.
The MHR attempted to raise awareness of human rights via public
information campaigns, training of human rights activists and security
forces, and participation in numerous conferences.
The parliament's committee on human rights was largely inactive
during the year.
The Consultative Council also had a committee on human rights, but
it was largely inactive during the year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides for equal rights and equal opportunity for all
citizens; however, discrimination based on race, gender, and disability
existed. Entrenched cultural attitudes often limited women's ability to
enjoy equal rights.
Women.--The law provides women with protection against violence;
however, the law was rarely enforced. The government continued to
support women's rights as exemplified by local law and the expansion of
the public role of women. Although spousal abuse occurred, it generally
was undocumented. Violence against women and children was considered a
family affair and usually went unreported to the police. Due to social
norms and customs, an abused woman was expected to take her complaint
to a male relative (rather than to the authorities) to intercede on her
behalf or provide her sanctuary. A small shelter for battered women in
Aden assisted victims, and telephone hot lines operated with moderate
success in Aden and Sana'a.
The law criminalizes rape; however, it was a problem. The
punishment for rape is imprisonment for up to 15 years; however, it was
seldom imposed. The law does not address spousal rape.
The press, women's rights activists, and the MHR continued to
investigate and report on violations of women's rights. During the year
NGOs, in conjunction with each other and the MHR, sponsored several
women's rights conferences dealing with issues such as violence against
women, increasing the political representation of women, and economic
empowerment. In March the government-sponsored Women's National
Committee (WNC) organized a conference to discuss implementation of
recommendations made during a December 2005 regional conference on
women's rights.
The penal code allows leniency for persons guilty of committing a
``crime against honor,'' a violent assault or killing committed against
females for perceived immodest or defiant behavior. Legal provisions
regarding violence against women state that an accused man should be
put to death for killing a woman. However, a husband who kills his wife
and her lover may be fined or imprisoned for a term of one year or
less.
The law prohibits female genital mutilation (FGM); however, it was
practiced to a limited degree. The prevalence of the practice varied
substantially by region. Government health workers and officials
actively discouraged the practice. The WNC and the Ministry of
Religious Endowments created a manual for religious leaders on women's
health issues, including the negative health consequences of FGM.
Prostitution is illegal; however, it was a problem. The punishment
for prostitution is imprisonment of up to three years or a fine.
There are no laws prohibiting sexual harassment and it was a
problem in the workplace.
Social custom and local interpretation of Shari'a discriminated
against women. Men were permitted to take as many as four wives,
although very few did so. By law the minimum age of marriage is 15
years; however, the law was not widely enforced, and some girls married
as early as age 12 (see section 5, Children).
Husbands may divorce wives without justifying their action in
court. A woman has the legal right to divorce; however, she must
provide a justification, and there are a number of practical, social,
and financial negative considerations.
Women who seek to travel abroad must customarily obtain permission
from their husbands or fathers to receive a passport, and to travel
(see section 2.d.). Male relatives were expected to accompany women
when traveling internationally; however, enforcement of this
requirement was not consistent. Some women reported that they traveled
freely without male escorts.
Some interpretations of Shari'a prohibit Muslim women from marrying
a non Muslim man; however a Muslim man is allowed to marry a non Muslim
woman. Women do not have the right to confer citizenship on their
foreign born spouses; however, they may confer citizenship on children
born of foreign born fathers if the father dies or abandons the child.
The foreign wife of a male citizen must remain in the country for two
years to obtain a residence permit.
According to a MOI regulation, any citizen who wishes to marry a
foreigner must obtain the permission of the ministry. A woman wishing
to marry a foreigner must present proof of her parents' approval to the
MOI. A foreign woman who wishes to marry a male citizen must prove to
the ministry that she is ``of good conduct and behavior'' and ``is free
from contagious disease.''
On September 16, the President appointed the first female judge to
the Supreme Judicial Council. On March 21, the first woman was also
admitted to the Higher Judicial Institute, which is responsible for
training all newly appointed judges. Most female judges served in staff
positions, in the Attorney General's office, and in the juvenile court
system.
The President strongly encouraged women to vote and supported a
special office to address gender equality in the electoral process. The
government and NGOs held numerous conferences, workshops, and awareness
campaigns to increase the role of women in political life. Throughout
the year a number of NGOs trained prospective female candidates for
local council seats on effective campaign strategies. The national
elections commission and several NGOs also conducted voter awareness
campaigns to encourage women to register and vote.
During the electoral process women served as election commissioners
for the first time, overseeing the voter registration and polling
process across the country. Three women announced their intention to
run for President, but all withdrew their applications before the
beginning of the official campaign season. There were credible reports
of party officials intimidating women who attempted to run as
independent candidates, after they did not secure their party's
nomination.
According to 2003 government statistics, approximately 83 percent
of women were illiterate, compared with approximately 43 percent of
men. The high illiteracy rate had a significant effect on women's
participation in the September elections, limiting access to
information on campaigns and political rights. Election observers also
noted that illiteracy helped perpetuate the belief that women were
incapable of holding public office. The fertility rate was 6.67
children per woman. Most women had little access to basic health care.
In general women in the south, particularly in Aden, were better
educated and had somewhat greater employment opportunities than their
northern counterparts. However, since the 1994 war of secession, the
number of women in government in the south has declined, due to
cultural pressure from the north, as well as stagnation of the economy.
According to the UNDP, female workers accounted for 23 percent of the
paid labor force in 2003.
The law stipulates that women are equal to men in employment
rights; however, female activists and NGOs reported that discrimination
was a common practice in the public and private sectors. Mechanisms to
enforce equal protection were weak or nonexistent.
According to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor there were
over 170 NGOs working for women's advancement. On February 4, the
Women's Forum for Research and Training held a regional conference with
female academics to discuss barriers to women's full participation in
society. The Arab Sister's Foundation worked regionally with women's
groups to strengthen women's roles in local government. The Yemeni
Women's Union conducted workshops for women on commercial and tax law.
Children.--While the government asserted its commitment to
children's rights, it lacked the resources necessary to ensure adequate
education, health care, and welfare services for children. The law
provides for universal, compulsory, and free education from age 6 to 15
years; however, compulsory attendance was not enforced. Public
schooling was available to children through the secondary school level.
Attendance was mandatory though the ninth grade; however, many
children, especially girls, did not attend primary school. According to
2005 government statistics, average student attendance in primary
schools was 81 percent for boys and 60 percent for girls.
The law provides for free medical care for citizen children;
however, this was not always enforced. Malnutrition was common.
According to 2005 UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) statistics, the infant
mortality rate was 76 deaths per 1,000 births. Male children received
preferential treatment and had better health and survival rates.
FGM was performed in some instances (see section 5, Women).
Child marriage was a significant social problem in the country. The
law requires that a girl be 15 years of age to marry; however, it was
not enforced, and marriages of girls as young as age 12 occurred. In
2005 UNICEF estimated that approximately 37 percent of citizen children
under the age of 15 were married. According to the Ministry of Labor
and Social Affairs, the government had not yet embarked on public
awareness campaigns on the negative effects of child marriage due to
the cultural sensitivity of the issue.
The law does not prohibit child abuse, and it was a problem;
however, there was no reliable data on the extent of child abuse.
Child labor was a problem. The Child Rights Law prohibits child
labor; however, the law has not been implemented, and children as young
as four years of age worked in workshops, agriculture, or as street
vendors (see section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not explicitly prohibit
trafficking in persons, but other sections of the country's criminal
code can be applied to prosecute trafficking offenses. There were
credible reports of trafficking in children for forced begging,
unskilled labor, and street vending, and unsubstantiated reports of
trafficking in women and children for commercial sexual exploitation.
The law, which does not differentiate between children or adult
victims, allows for a prison sentence of up to 10 years for anyone
convicted of crimes constituting trafficking in persons. Other laws
forbid and severely punish kidnapping and sexual assault. The Child
Rights law mandates the protection of children from economic and sexual
exploitation.
According to a local human rights NGO, it was possible that citizen
women were trafficked from their homes to other regions within the
country for the purposes of prostitution, including those under the age
of legal consent. The same NGO also believed that such prostitution may
have been organized and speculated that low-level government and
security officials operated or were complicit in sex trafficking within
the country. Notably, the government reportedly detained and prosecuted
victims of trafficking under anti-prostitution laws.
There were no official statistics available on the number of
children trafficked out of the country. Press and NGO reports claimed
that children mostly from northern governorates were trafficked out of
the country to work as street beggars, vendors, or domestic help in
Saudi Arabia at a rate of approximately 200 children per week. Children
were trafficked by individuals, other children, and loosely organized
syndicates who helped them cross the border by donkey, automobile, or
foot.
Government investigations revealed that extreme poverty was the
primary motivation behind child trafficking, and the victims' families
were almost always complicit. The traffickers were often well known by,
if not related to, the family; parents were either paid or promised
money in exchange for allowing their children to be trafficked. Many
cases were also later discovered to be instances of illegal
immigration.
During the year the government increased its efforts to combat
child trafficking. In June government and Saudi officials met for the
first time to discuss combating child trafficking. The government, in
cooperation with UNICEF and the International Organization for
Migration, also trained border and airport officials to identify and
prevent child trafficking. The MHR ran a hot line for persons to report
child trafficking.
To combat child trafficking, the MLSA conducted a campaign in
regions known as points of origin of trafficked children. The MLSA
warned potential victims' parents against the dangers of allowing their
children to work in Saudi Arabia.
Persons With Disabilities.--Several laws mandate the rights and
care of persons with disabilities; however, there was discrimination
against them. Five percent of government jobs should be reserved for
persons with disabilities, and a law mandates the acceptance of persons
with disabilities in universities, exempts them from paying tuition,
and requires that schools be made more accessible to persons with
disabilities. It was unclear to what extent these laws have been
implemented. No national law mandates the accessibility of buildings
for persons with disabilities.
The government's Social Fund for Development and Fund for the Care
and Rehabilitation of the Disabled, administered by the MLSA, provided
limited basic services and funded over 60 NGOs to assist persons with
disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Akhdam (an estimated 2 to 5
percent of the population) were considered the lowest social class.
They lived in poverty and endured persistent social discrimination. The
government's Social Fund for Development provided basic services to
assist the group.
During the year tribal violence continued to be a problem, and the
government's ability to control tribal elements responsible for acts of
violence remained limited. Tensions over land or sovereignty in
particular regions, which periodically escalated into violent
confrontations, continued between the government and a few tribes.
During the year human rights groups reported that some immigrants of
African origin had difficulty in securing MOI permission to marry
citizens (see section 1.f.).
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides that citizens have
the right to form and join unions; however, this right was restricted
in practice.
The law permits trade unions to organize. Although not required by
law, all current unions are federated within the General Federation of
Trade Unions of Yemen (GFWTUY), a national umbrella organization. The
GFWTUY claimed approximately 350,000 members in 14 unions and denied
any association with the government; however, it worked closely with
the government to resolve labor disputes through negotiation.
The politicization of unions and professional associations
continued to hamper the right of association. In some instances the GPC
ruling party attempted to control professional associations by
influencing internal elections or placing its own personnel, usually
tied to the government, in positions of influence in unions and
professional associations.
The law dictates that labor unions can only be dissolved by court
order or its own members; however, the government did not respect this
right in practice. In 2004 the government unilaterally dissolved and
seized the assets of the Sana'a Medical Association after its members
elected a chairman associated with the opposition Islah party.
Subsequently the government formed an alternative medical association
and threatened former members with judicial action if they associated
with the dissolved union. At year's end some association members
continued attempts at reorganizing.
The law generally protects employees from antiunion discrimination.
Employers do not have the right to dismiss an employee for union
activities. There were reports that private sector employers
discriminated against union members through transfers, demotions, and
dismissals.
Employees may appeal any dispute, including cases of antiunion
discrimination, to the MLSA. Employees also may take a case to the
Labor Arbitration Committee, which is chaired by the MLSA; it is
composed of an employer representative and a GFWTUY representative.
Such cases often were disposed favorably toward workers, especially if
the employer was a foreign company. Neither GFWTUY nor the MLSA were
able to provide statistics on how many unionized employees used this
system during the year.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The labor law
provides workers, except public servants, foreign workers, day
laborers, and domestic servants the right to organize and bargain
collectively without government interference. The government permitted
these activities; however, at times it sought to influence them by
placing its own personnel inside groups and organizations. Unions may
negotiate wage settlements for their members, and may resort to strikes
or other actions to achieve their demands. Public sector employees must
take their grievances to court. During the year two Central Bank
employees sued the government for wrongful termination. The court ruled
in favor of the employees, who were reinstated. The MLSA has veto power
over collective bargaining agreements. Several such agreements existed.
Agreements may be invalidated if they are ``likely to cause a breach of
security or to damage the economic interests of the country.''
The labor law provides unions the right to strike only if prior
attempts at negotiation and arbitration fail, and workers exercised
this right by conducting legal strikes. The proposal to strike must be
submitted to at least 60 percent of all concerned workers, of whom 25
percent must vote in favor. Strikes for explicit ``political purposes''
were prohibited. During the year there were reports of at least 36
peaceful strikes.
Throughout the year the Yemen Teachers Union staged a number of
demonstrations and strikes demanding that the government adhere to the
2005 Salaries and Wages Strategy Law, which grants them higher salaries
and allowances. During and after the strikes, schools' headmasters,
allegedly instigated by the government, harassed and abused teachers to
deter participation in strikes. Headmasters tried to prevent teachers
from signing in to work during strike day, effectively blocking their
pay for those days. The headmasters locked the teachers and students
inside the school, preventing teachers from participating in the
strikes. On June 4, one teacher involved in a worker's rights dispute
with a headmistress of a school died when his home was intentionally
burned down. His son, wife, and sister (both also teachers) were
seriously injured. The headmistress' husband and son were accused and
detained for setting the fire.
MSLA, aware of the problems encountered by the Teachers Union, did
not interfere on their behalf when the union asked for assistance due
to their unregistered status. According to the MSLA, the ministry's
role is to monitor and give advice to unions.
Throughout August and December, the Yemeni Physicians and
Pharmacists Syndicate (YPPS) staged a number of sit-ins in front of
government offices, demanding higher wages. In March 2005 the YPPS
staged a similar strike which was suspended after the government agreed
to fulfill the demands of the syndicate within three months. According
to the YPPS, the government had not followed through on its pledge by
year's end.
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
Child Rights Law prohibits child labor; however, it has not been
effectively implemented.
The established minimum age for employment was 15 years in the
private sector and 18 years in the public sector. By special permit,
children between the ages of 12 and 15 years could work. The government
rarely enforced these provisions, especially in rural and remote areas.
The government also did not enforce laws requiring nine years of
compulsory education for children.
Child labor was common, especially in rural areas. Many children
were required to work in subsistence farming due to family poverty.
Even in urban areas, children worked in stores and workshops, sold
goods, and begged on the streets. Many children of school age worked
instead of attending school, particularly in areas in which schools
were not easily accessible.
The Child Labor Unit at the Ministry of Labor was responsible for
implementing and enforcing child labor laws and regulations; however,
the unit's lack of resources hampered enforcement.
During the year the Ministry of Labor estimated that there were
over 500,000 working children, ages 6 to 14 years, and that working
children equaled 10 to 15 percent of the total work force. The
government was an active partner with the International Labor
Organization's International Program to Eliminate Child Labor. During
the year this program offered remedial education, vocational training,
counseling, and reintegration of child laborers into schools.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no established minimum
wage. The labor law provides equal wages for workers and civil
servants. Private sector workers, especially skilled technicians,
earned a far higher wage. The average daily wage did not provide a
decent standard of living for a worker and family. During the year the
minimum civil service wage did not meet the country's poverty level.
The law specifies a maximum 48 hour workweek with a maximum 8 hour
workday; however, many workshops and stores operated 10 to 12 hour
shifts without penalty. The 35 hour workweek for government employees
was 7 hours per day from Saturday through Wednesday.
The Ministry of Labor is responsible for regulating workplace
health and safety conditions. The requisite legislation for regulating
occupational health is contained in the labor law. However, enforcement
was weak to nonexistent due to the need for capacity building in the
MSLA. MSLA has a Vocational Safety Department that relies on committees
to conduct primary and periodic investigations of safety and health
conditions in workplaces. Many workers regularly were exposed to toxic
industrial products and developed respiratory illnesses. Some foreign
owned companies and major manufacturers implemented higher health,
safety, and environmental standards than the government required.
Workers have the right to remove themselves from dangerous work
situations and may challenge dismissals in court. According to
government officials, these laws were generally respected in practice.
__________
SOUTH CENTRAL ASIA
----------
AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan is an Islamic republic with a population of
approximately 30 million. In October 2004 Hamid Karzai was elected
President in the country's first Presidential election under its
January 2004 constitution. In September 2005 the country held its first
parliamentary elections in over two decades. While neither the
Presidential nor the parliamentary elections fully met international
standards for free and fair elections, citizens found the parliamentary
elections to be credible and the Presidential elections acceptable.
Afghanistan's human rights record remained poor due to a deadly
insurgency, weak central institutions, and the country's ongoing
recovery from two-and-a-half decades of war. While civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces, there
were instances in which elements of the security forces acted
independently of government authority.
The Taliban and antigovernment elements continued to be responsible
for threatening, robbing, attacking, and killing villagers, government
officials, foreigners, and nongovernmental organization (NGO) workers.
While the Government expanded its authority over provincial centers, a
few areas remained under the control of regional commanders or the
Taliban following insurgent offensives. During the year, over 1,400
civilians died as a result of terrorist activities, including suicide
attacks, roadside bombs, and gun assassinations. There continued to be
instances in which security and factional forces committed
extrajudicial killings and torture. Human rights problems included:
extrajudicial killings; torture; poor prison conditions; official
impunity; prolonged pretrial detention; abuse of authority by regional
commanders; restrictions on freedoms of press, religion, movement, and
association; violence and societal discrimination against women,
religious converts, and minorities; trafficking in persons; abuse of
worker rights; and child labor.
The Government continued to develop and professionalize its army
and police force. Increased monitoring of police by internal and
external monitors helped to prevent abuses. Human rights training
became a normal aspect of training and education for most police.
Extensive reporting of human rights abuses led to increased arrests and
prosecutions of abusers. The Government continued to make strides
towards upholding human rights standards and took action to remove
corrupt officials. In some areas of concern, even where there was
commitment from the Government, resources restricted the ability to
uphold those standards.
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 or extrajudicial killings by the Government or
its agents.
In February inmates at Pol-e-Charkhi prison rioted for five days
resulting in the death of six inmates and injuries to 44, according to
the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC); many
reported that these were the result of excessive force on the part of
Afghan Security Forces. There was no official investigation into the
riot.
In September there was a death in custody in Ghazni province; an
investigation was ongoing at year's end.
In November 2005 Kabul's Police Chief General Abdul Jamil Junbesh,
allegedly tortured and killed a civilian named Hussain. In December
2005 police beat and killed a detainee at the Kabul police station. In
both cases human rights activists characterized official investigations
as ineffective and no formal charges were made. However, in June, the
President removed Junbesh from office.
The shortage of effective and trained police, poor infrastructure
and communications, instability, and insecurity hampered investigations
of unlawful killings, bombings, and civilian deaths. There were no
reliable estimates of the numbers involved.
Complaints of serious human rights violations committed by
representatives of national security institutions, including arbitrary
arrest, unconfirmed reports of torture, and illegal detention were
numerous.
There were allegations that local commanders operated private
prisons where they abused individuals in detention, in some cases
resulting in their death (see section 1.c.).
There were no updates to the 2004 hanging of four alleged bandits
in Farah, the 2004 killings of four detainees in Herat, or the 2004
investigation of the 17 bodies found at the Shindand market place.
In February police killed four protesters in Kabul and one in
Maymana when demonstrations turned violent over satirical cartoons of
the Prophet Mohammad.
Increased violence involving terrorists and insurgents, including
Taliban, al-Qa'ida, and Hizb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, killed more civilians
than in the previous year. Violence included an increasing number of
terrorist attacks including suicide bombs, which killed civilians (see
section 1.g.). Attacks on government security forces, international
organizations, international aid workers and their local counterparts,
and foreign interests and nationals increased during the year and
prompted some organizations to leave areas of the country.
For most of the year insurgents appeared to be targeting Provincial
Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) and construction crews, rather than NGOs,
as a means to hamper reconstruction efforts and drive the international
assistance community out of the country. Toward the end of the year,
however, there was more evidence of direct threats and attacks on NGOs
by insurgents.
Over a dozen Afghans and foreigners were beheaded by the Taliban
for alleged ``crimes'' ranging from espionage to supporting the Karzai
government (see section 1.g.). The Taliban also began to hold ``court''
in some areas and hand down its own sentences. In August the Taliban
publicly executed a man for his alleged involvement in a murder case in
Helmand province (see sections 1.g. and 4).
Government officials remained under attack by insurgents during the
year with over a dozen losing their lives in numerous incidents (see
section 1.g.).
The Ministry of Education (MOE) reported that a total of 54
teachers, students, or other school employees were killed during the
year (see sections 1.g and 5, Children).
Religious figures also faced ongoing threats and violence. During
the year the Taliban killed over 20 clerics, including over a dozen
clerics in Kandahar alone. Suicide bombings around mosques occurred;
for example, in September a suicide bomber detonated himself outside a
mosque in Kandahar. In October and November 2005 five progovernment
mullahs were killed for speaking publicly against the Taliban and al-
Qa'ida (see section 2.c.).
Societal violence continued to be a problem with over 50 documented
cases of ``honor killings'' during the year (see section 5). In
December media outlets reported that villagers in Kunar province killed
a boy and girl for having illicit sexual relations.
b. Disappearance.--Abductions and disappearances continued during
the year. The Taliban, allied militias, and other unknown assailants
continued to kidnap NGO and other development workers for political and
criminal gain (see section 1.g.).
Italian journalist Gabriele Torsello was kidnapped on October 12
and released on November 3. It was not known if he was targeted due to
being a journalist. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists
(CPJ), his kidnappers originally demanded the return of Abdul Rahman
from Italy in exchange for his release.
According to a UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Report,
there were also a few documented cases of abduction of young boys for
sexual exploitation by men.
In April 2005 members of the Taliban abducted and killed a British
contractor.
There were no updates and none were expected in the 2004 abduction
of an NGO driver or the abduction of many women and girls taken by the
Taliban from 1998 to 2001.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, there were
reports of abuses. For example, human rights organizations reported
that local authorities in Herat, Helmand, Badakhshan, and other
locations continued to routinely torture and abuse detainees. Torture
and abuse consisted of pulling out fingernails and toenails, burning
with hot oil, beatings, sexual humiliation, and sodomy.
Violence and instability due to the insurgency hampered relief and
reconstruction efforts in different parts of the country and led to
numerous human rights abuses. NGOs reported that security forces
continued to use excessive force during their fight against Taliban and
al-Qa'ida remnants, including looting, beating, and torturing
civilians.
Reports of abuse by local commanders continued in Faryab. Villagers
in Kata Kala reported local commanders imprisoned and tortured them for
15 days to extort money. Some were beaten and others were locked in
dark rooms for hours. Victims were also repeatedly threatened with
death if they did not cooperate.
In Balkh province, residents alleged that local commanders were
running private prisons to extort money. Abuse generally consisted of
beatings, resulting in some cases in death.
In June in Balkh province, unknown assailants beat Member of
Parliament Faizullah Zaki. There were many allegations that this attack
was politically motivated; however, by the end of the year, there was
no investigation into the attack.
In the fall, residents of the village of Galouch claimed that
Afghan National Police (ANP) and Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers
seeking a local commander entered villagers' homes, were verbally
abusive, and stole personal items from the residents (see section
1.f.).
There was no official investigation following the September 2005
Human Rights Watch (HRW) report that security forces arbitrarily
detained civilians and committed cruel, inhumane, and degrading acts, a
claim based on reports from family members of detained civilians and
released detainees themselves.
There were no further developments in the 2005 alleged torture of
Abdul Rahman by local authorities during his four-month detention (see
section 2.c.). There were no developments in the 2005 UN report that a
commander and former district governor severely beat a group of
teachers and detained them in his private jail.
In August the Government announced it was considering the
establishment of a Department for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion
of Virtue within the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MRA). Under the
Taliban an entity with the same name was a much feared organization
known for its extremely harsh treatment of women. The proposal to
establish a Vice and Virtue Department would require a Presidential
decree, and at year's end, it rested in the President's office.
A local vice and virtue commission was established in Khost
Province during Ramadan (see section 1.d.).
There were continued allegations of rape and sexual abuse in
government detention although investigations did not result in charges.
The AIHRC reported that in 2005 one woman was granted medical treatment
after she was sexually exploited by police who provided the woman to
men. In a separate incident, a young male prisoner was raped by other
prisoners and two police officers.
According to UN reports, in some cases where there were no local
detention facilities, women accused of crimes were reportedly placed in
``private detention,'' sometimes in the house of the head of the
village, where they were treated as prisoners and forced to work for
the family. These women were sometimes forced into slave-like
conditions outside the reach of the law and were reportedly subject to
sexual and physical abuse (see section 5, Trafficking).
According to an AIHRC report, children who were in detention
centers were exposed to sexual exploitation. According to the AIHRC,
during the Pol-e-Charki prison riots, a prison official working in the
women's wing of the prison raped one female inmate.
Several well-known commanders were rumored to be involved in the
exploitation of young men; however, given cultural sensitivities these
rumors were impossible to confirm. Several media outlets reported on
the Taliban Rule Book this year. Rule 19 states, ``Mujahideen are not
allowed to take young boys with no facial hair onto the battlefield or
into their private quarters,'' implying that sexual exploitation of
young men was a common practice among Taliban commanders.
As in other parts of the country, insurgents issued ``night
letters'' issuing threats to foreigners, women employed by PRTs and
other foreign organizations, as well as ANA and ANP officers around
Ghazni City. There were also night letters issuing threats against the
provincial director of education in Ghazni. Additionally, threats were
issued against the directors of the provincial Departments of Women's
Affairs in the provinces of Paktika, Kandahar, Helmand, Khost, Laghman,
Kapisa, Wardak, and Nuristan. Other government employees also received
threats in Sari-Pul, Farah, and Uruzgan.
On September 26, a suicide bomber detonated himself at the guard
gate leading to the governor's compound in Lashkar Gah. Nineteen
persons died in the incident, including three ANP officers, four ANA
soldiers, and 12 civilians.
On October 19, militants robbed and murdered eight employees of the
Korengal Outpost while they were on their way home for the Eid holiday.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor; prisons were decrepit, severely overcrowded, and unsanitary.
Prisoners shared collective cells and were not sheltered adequately
from severe winter conditions. Living conditions did not meet
international standards. Some prisons held more than twice their
capacity. In district prisons, shipping containers were frequently used
when other structures were unavailable. Prisoners were reportedly
beaten, tortured, and denied adequate food. Prison guards routinely
denied visitors, food, and outside exercise as a means of discipline
and to ensure good behavior. The AIHRC continued to report that
inadequate food, water, poor sanitation facilities, insufficient
blankets, and infectious diseases were common conditions in the
country's prisons. Infirmaries, where they existed, were under-equipped
and the supply of quality medicine was insufficient. Contagious and
mentally ill prisoners were rarely separated from other prisoners.
The AIHRC believed over 40 private and illegal detention centers
had been closed between 2001 and year's end. During the year the AHIRC
allegedly discovered private prisons in Kabul, Jalalabad, Kandahar,
Herat, Kapisa, Badakhshan, and Baghlan provinces and reported in a
December meeting that it believed all of these secret prisons had been
closed. Credible sources noted that at least one other private prison
may exist in or around Kabul. HRW and other organizations reported the
presence of secret or unofficial prisons through 2005. International
media reports assert that detainees and prisoners in Musa Qala were
held in a Taliban jail, because there were no other facilities
available. A riot at Pol-e-Charkhi prison resulted in six deaths and
many injuries (see section 1.a.).
The Government reported 31 active rehabilitation centers for
juveniles. Approximately 14 detention centers housed female prisoners.
Children under 12 years of age were incarcerated with their mothers.
However, adequate separate housing for women, accompanying children,
and juveniles remained an issue as prisons did not have the capacity to
separate prisoners. In Pol-e-Charkhi prison many juveniles were
detained with adult prisoners. According to authorities, juveniles at a
Kabul jail were kept locked in a separate cell to protect them from the
rest of the prison population. In general, juveniles charged with
murder were detained in adult facilities; however, if space permitted,
they were assigned to a separate area within the facility. Prisoners
waiting for trial generally should be separated from the rest of the
inmate population but often were not.
According to an AIHRC report, children were normally kept in
detention centers which lacked appropriate facilities and they were
exposed to physical and sexual exploitation. There were about 134
juvenile offenders in correction facilities, but in 12 provinces of the
country specialized correction centers were non-existent and the
offending children were kept in detention with adults. A number of
children who had not committed any offences were detained in jail with
their mothers because there was no one to care for them at home. In
November Pol-e-Charki prison held approximately 65 women inmates, 55 of
whom were accompanied by their children, who had not committed any
crimes. A local NGO tried to provide kindergarten activities for some
of the children; however there was not enough space in the classrooms
to accommodate all of the children. According to prison staff, the
official policy was that children could only stay with their mothers
until the age of two and were then transferred to a rehabilitation
center; however, space constraints at the rehabilitation center
sometimes prevented the transfer, thus prolonging children's' time in
Pol-e-Charki with their mothers. According to a Report of the UN-
appointed independent expert of the Commission on Human Rights,
individuals being held in pretrial detention were often held in
detention with hardened criminals. In addition, children and juveniles
were commonly held in the same cells as violent adult criminals.
According to the UN Commission independent expert on Human Rights,
many districts didn't have detention facilities for women, and women
found to be guilty of acts that may not constitute legal offences were
confined to the personal custody of tribal leaders and others. The
report states: ``Because of the absence of detention facilities for
women in the districts, women found to be guilty of acts that may not
constitute legal offences were confined to the personal custody of
tribal leaders and others. These women are sometimes forced into slave-
like conditions outside the reach of the law and are reportedly subject
to sexual and physical abuse. The charges brought against them are
reported to arise in large part out of allegations of `immoral
conduct,' which did not, however, constitute a legal violation.'' In
addition, some cases allegedly involved crimes committed by spouses and
fathers for which the women were forced to accept responsibility. Women
were sometimes detained in private homes as the result of decisions
taken by customary law actors or forced to marry as compensation for
killings, creating highly abusive situations.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had permission
to visit all prisons operated by the National Directorate of Security
(NDS), Ministry of Interior (MOI), and Ministry of Justice (MOJ), and
the ICRC conducted such visits during the year. The AIHRC monitored
prison conditions regularly during the year independent of the MOJ;
however, the AIHRC reported that in some areas representatives were not
granted full access or were required to provide additional proof of
authorization.
In the provincial prison in Bamyan, sentenced inmates were held
together with those awaiting trial and appeal. The women who had been
arrested for ``illegal sexual relations,'' activities not actually
prohibited by law but often punished under local custom or Shari'a law,
lived in an adjoining building and were supervised by a female
caretaker. The captain in charge was aware that minors and adults
should be kept in separate facilities, as should serious offenders be
detained separately; however, he reported that the prison did not have
adequate space to meet these rules.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest or detention; however, both remained serious problems.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The ANP, under the MOI,
had primary responsibility for internal order; however, some local and
regional commanders maintained considerable power since the Government
did not control security nationwide. During the year the Government
attempted to expand its reach through the use of auxiliary police in
some areas. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) remained in
control of the UN sanctioned International Security Assistance Force
(ISAF). In October ISAF took over control of Regional Command East from
the Coalition Command, the last of the four regional commands to be
handed over.
The ANP, administered under the MOI, was the predominant government
institution responsible for security in the country. Its performance
engendered mistrust among the local population, and reports of
corruption and mistreatment of citizens in custody were widespread. In
response, this year the MOI assigned General Atmar as the new head of
its Human Rights Unit in an effort to re-energize efforts to ensure the
ANP was compliant with human rights standards. Atmar began his tenure
with plans to place in each province at least two ANP officers trained
to recognize and report human rights violations, and one in each
checkpoint in Kabul. At year's end, these persons were in place in
several provinces. Communication and coordination of reports between
the provinces and MOI headquarters in Kabul remained a concern.
Additionally, during the year the MOI initiated rank and pay reform in
order to remove officers involved in human rights violations and high
level corruption. The reform resulted in the removal of more than 70
senior level officers. International support for recruiting and
training of new ANP was conditional upon new officers being vetted in a
manner consistent with international human rights standards to generate
a more professional police force.
Fueled in part by inadequate and irregular payment of salaries,
corruption and official impunity remained pervasive problems. Illegal
border checkpoints to extort bribes continued to be a problem. Human
rights groups and detainees reported that local police extorted bribes
from civilians in exchange for their release from prison or to avoid
arrest. There was a unit within the MOI set up to review these claims.
The international community worked with the Government to develop
training programs and internal investigation mechanisms to curb
security force corruption and abuses. In July Kabul officials arrested
five traffic officers on charges of corruption and forging vehicle
documents. In September President Karzai appointed a new Attorney
General, Dr. Abdul Jabar Sabit. In October, under Sabit's leadership,
eight government officials were arrested in Herat for corruption and
embezzlement. Also in Herat, a senior police officer was arrested for
taking bribes. During a November visit to Asadabad, Sabit arrested
eight low-level timber smugglers. He also ordered the arrests of a
former mayor for skimming city revenues during his tenure, a local
director of Hajj and mosques, and two provincial prosecutors. In
December, Sabit arrested several government officials in Nangarhar,
including a former head of the Health Department on charges of
misappropriation of $400 U.S. (20,000 Afghani), and a candidate who had
been designated to serve as Nangarhar's next Afghan border police
chief. In December Sabit also arrested the mayor of Herat for his
alleged involvement in an embezzling ring involving two major projects,
the construction of a five-star hotel and expansion of the national
garden. Sabit accused the mayor of skimming several thousand dollars
from the contracts issued, as well as altering records for fuel
consumed by city vehicles during the national garden project.
In November 2005 the Government created a Professional Standards
Unit (or Internal Affairs Unit) to help investigate offenses. The
Government, with foreign assistance continued to develop a model police
station in Kabul to exemplify best practices and train police. During
the year the AIHRC provided human rights training to members of the
ANP, ANA, and the NDS.
Arrest and Detention.--Judicial and police procedures and practices
for taking persons into custody and bringing them to justice were
unregulated and varied depending on the area and local authorities.
Some areas, such as the major regional centers, had a more formal
judicial structure than others.
The law provides for access to legal counsel, the use of warrants,
and bail; however, all three were inconsistently applied. There were
213 licensed defense attorneys nationwide, and only 100 to 150 of them
practiced law.
The press and human rights organizations reported arbitrary arrest
in most provinces. There was little consistency in the length of time
that detainees were held before trial or arraignment.
Arbitrary arrest and detention remained problems. For example,
Mohammed Ibrahim Sahdat, a lawyer from the Human Rights Commission for
Afghanistan, said that the biggest problem in Helmand was false
arrests. He cited the case of Jalaludin, whose home was near the scene
of an explosion and who was accused of having ordered it. Sahdat stated
that Jalaludin was landless and poor, which was why he was arrested.
Jalaludin was hung by his feet for 10 hours, beaten, and subjected to
electric shocks. He was later released.
Police often detained women at the request of family members for
crimes of running away, or ``zina,'' a term used broadly to refer to
actions that include defying the family's wishes on the choice of a
spouse, running away from home, fleeing domestic violence, eloping, or
for other ``moral'' offenses such as adultery or premarital sex. There
were also reports that women were detained when they reported crimes
perpetrated against them and as substitutes for their husbands or male
relatives who were convicted of crimes. An unknown number of women were
imprisoned for these reasons. Some were placed in custody to prevent
violent retaliation by family members (see section 5, Women).
During Ramadan, a locally established ``morals and rules
commission'' in Khost province arrested individuals for selling alcohol
to Muslims, possessing and selling pornography, and displaying ``other
improper ethics.'' Minister Shahrani stated that this local ``vice and
virtue department'' was not connected to the ministry in Kabul. Khost
Governor Jamal stated that the squad was temporary, with a limited
mandate during Ramadan to enforce existing laws.
Detainees were often able to bribe their way out of custody before
their case was prosecuted. Others were released due to lack of
sufficient evidence.
The authorities did not respect limits on lengths of pretrial
detention. Arbitrarily lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem in
part because of the inadequacy of the legal system, which was unable to
guarantee a speedy trial. The UN Human Rights Commission, ICRC, and
AIHRC all reported that arbitrary and prolonged detentions were a
frequent occurrence throughout the country. According to the Interim
Criminal Procedure Code, police have the right to detain a suspect for
a maximum of 72 hours to complete a preliminary investigation. If they
decided to pursue a case, the file was transferred to the prosecutor's
office, which had to see the suspect within 48 hours. The investigating
prosecutor could continue to detain a suspect without formal charges
for 15 days from the time of the arrest while continuing the
investigation. Prosecutors had to file an indictment or drop the case
within 30 days of arrest. The court then had two months to hear the
case. An appeal had to be filed within 20 days, and the appellate court
had two months to review the case. A second appeal had to be filed
within 30 days, after which the case went before the Supreme Court,
which could take up to five months to conclude the trial. In many
cases, however, courts did not follow these deadlines. NGOs continued
to report that prison authorities detained individuals for several
months to over a year without charging them. There were credible
reports in 2005 that police continued to detain prisoners in Kabul and
Ghazni after they were found innocent.
While accurate statistics did not exist, lengthy trial procedures
stemmed in large part from gross inadequacy of the judicial system.
Varied reports from international NGOs estimated that no more than 150
defense lawyers were practicing in the entire country, compared to 1400
judges and between 2000 to 2500 prosecutors nationwide, most of whom
lacked any formal legal training. According to the MOJ, there were a
total of 9,604 people detained in correctional facilities nationwide,
of which 5,342 had been tried and convicted; the remaining 4,262 were
still awaiting trial. There were also widespread shortages of judges.
Bamyan province, for example, reported no judges in four of its
districts and that seven districts were 75 percent understaffed. In
May, there were 1412 judges appointed who served throughout the
country. Because of the corruption he encountered among provincial
judges, Attorney General Sabit lobbied the Supreme Court to move to
Kabul several of the trials for arrests of government officials made in
Herat, Nangarhar, and Konar. At year's end, this decision was pending
in the Supreme Court. Another significant barrier was detainees' own
lack of awareness of their own rights under the 2004 Interim Criminal
Procedure Code.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, but in practice the judiciary was underfunded,
understaffed, and subject to political influence and pervasive
corruption. Pressure from public officials, local commanders, and the
families of accused persons, as well as bribery and corruption,
threatened judicial impartiality. Justice was administered on an
intermittent basis according to a mixture of codified law, Shari'a
(Islamic law), and local custom.
According to the United States Institute of Peace, the formal
justice system was relatively weak in the urban centers where the
central government was strongest and in the rural areas that house
approximately 75 percent of the population. Functioning courts, police
and prisons were an exception. The judicial system lacked the capacity
to handle the large volume of new and amended legislation. The courts
were hindered by a lack of qualified judicial personnel. Judges had
minimal training and often based their judgments on their personal
understanding of Islamic law and tribal codes of honor.
In October the Attorney General's office launched an investigation
of Judge Gholam Rabbani, who was in charge of the Paghman District
Court. Officials suspended Rabbani's license and he was in detention,
pending further investigation of bribery allegations. The Attorney
General also suspended and detained Judge Mohammed Dawood, a member of
the District 11 Court on charges of bribery. At year's end the case was
still under investigation. According to the personnel office at the
Supreme Court, a clerk in District 12 Court faced accusations of
bribery and was fired. The clerk remained in detention at year's end
and was under investigation by the Attorney General's office.
The judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court, high courts
(appeals courts), and primary courts, the structure and authorities of
which are determined by law. Judges are appointed with the
recommendation of the Supreme Court and approval of the President. The
Supreme Court has overall responsibility for the national court system.
The President appoints Supreme Court members with the approval of the
house of representatives (Wolesi Jirga). A national security court
tried terrorists and other cases, although details were limited on its
procedures. In December 2005 the President passed by decree an
antinarcotics law that formally created a separate central court for
narcotics prosecutions.
In some remote areas not under government control, the Taliban
enforced its own judicial system by means of unsanctioned ``shuras''
(community councils). These included districts at the Pakistani border
in Helmand province.
Many municipal and provincial authorities relied on some
interpretation of Islamic law and traditional tribal codes of justice.
In major cities, courts primarily decided criminal cases, although
civil cases were often resolved in the informal system. In rural areas
local elders and shuras were the primary means of settling both
criminal matters and civil disputes; they also sometimes allegedly
levied unsanctioned punishments. Some estimates suggested that 80
percent of all cases went through the shuras, leaving many vulnerable
to violation of their legal rights, as customary shuras or ``jirgas''
did not adhere to the constitutional rights of citizens and often
violated the rights of women and minorities. The informal justice
system played a vital role in society. Due to the undeveloped formal
legal system, the informal justice system was often used to resolve
disputes.
Trial Procedures.--Court procedures generally did not meet
internationally accepted standards for fair trials. The administration
and implementation of justice varied in different areas of the country.
Trials were usually public, and while juries were not used, decisions
made through the shura system were made collectively by groups of local
elders. Defendants have the right to be present and to appeal; however
these rights were inconsistently applied. Defendants also have the
right to consult with an attorney at public expense when resources
allowed. This right was inconsistently applied mainly due to a lack of
trained personnel. Defendants were not allowed to confront or question
witnesses. Citizens' lack of awareness of their constitutional rights
was a problem, and there was no functioning public defender system.
Defendants and attorneys were entitled to examine the documents related
to their case and the physical evidence before trial. Defendants were
presumed innocent until evidence proved otherwise. The courts
reportedly heard cases in sessions that lasted only a few minutes. In
cases involving murder and rape, judges generally sentenced convicted
prisoners to execution, although relatives of the victim could instead
choose to accept other restitution or could choose to enforce the
verdict themselves; however, under the new constitution, capital
punishment is conditional upon approval of the President. Local elders
and shuras sentenced persons to unsanctioned punishment. In contrast to
previous years there were no confirmed reports of flogging or death by
stoning. The practice of ordering the defendant to provide compensation
in the form of young girls in marriage to a victims' family continued.
In such proceedings, the accused typically had no right to legal
representation, bail, or appeal. In cases lacking a clearly defined
legal statute, or cases in which judges, prosecutors, or elders were
simply unaware of the law, courts and informal shuras enforced Shari'a
law; this practice often resulted in outcomes that discriminated
against women (see section 5, Women).
HRW reported that the February 26 trial of Asadullah Sarwari, the
communist-era intelligence chief and a notorious human rights abuser,
was seriously flawed. Sarwari was sentenced to death in a summary one
day trial in which he did not have legal representation. Sarwari had
been detained since 1992; he was held without charges until December
26, 2005. This sentence was the first attempt to hold a senior
government official accountable for past crimes in the country.
In December 2005 the Government developed the country's National
Action Plan for Truth, Justice and Reconciliation, in coordination with
the AIHRC and the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan
(UNAMA). The plan was designed to promote transitional justice in the
country. The plan's five points included: symbolic measures, such as
the creation of national memorial sites and a national museum;
institutional reform by vetting civil service employees for involvement
in past atrocities, and reform of the judiciary; truth-seeking
documentation of past atrocities; promotion of national reconciliation
and unity through public debate and awareness; and the establishment of
accountability mechanisms to bring to justice those responsible for
grave human rights abuses. At year's end, following very little
progress in implementing the plan, President Karzai declared December
10 as a national day of remembrance for the victims of past human
rights atrocities, and worked with the AIHRC to re-energize efforts to
implement the plan.
In March Abdul Rahman was put on trial for the crime of apostasy-
conversion from Islam to Christianity-which is punishable by death,
according to Shari'a law. The charges were eventually dropped after a
finding that Rahman was unfit to stand trial (see section 2.c.).
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were reports that a
number of regional commanders affiliated with the Government held
political prisoners and detainees. There were no reliable estimates of
the numbers involved. Political prisoners were reportedly not given the
same protection as other detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Citizens had limited
access to justice for constitutional and human rights violations, and
interpretations of religious doctrine often trumped human or
constitutional rights. In civil matters the judiciary remained
ineffective due to a lack of capacity and severe corruption.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such interference; however, there
were no legal protections for victims. Antigovernment elements, police
officials, and local commanders forcibly invaded and looted the homes
and businesses of civilians with impunity. In Farah and Balkh provinces
local commanders repeatedly interfered with civilians. In Badakhshan a
local commander pressured a family to marry off its 13-year-old
daughter to the son of a prominent politician. The girl refused, and
local villagers threatened to stone her. The case eventually went to
the Supreme Court, where several residents from Badakhshan traveled in
order to pressure authorities to weigh in against the girl. Following
discreet negotiations, including some action by the central government
to advocate for the girl's wishes, the case was dropped. In the south
and east, Taliban and other antigovernment elements frequently forced
locals to provide food and shelter to their fighters. The Taliban also
continued to loot schools, radio stations, and government offices
throughout the country. The law provided for wiretapping.
In 2005 forced resettlement from areas of conflict occurred for
safety reasons.
The Government's willingness to recognize the right to marry varied
by nationality, gender and religion. For example, the family court
would register a marriage between a foreign woman and a Muslim man, but
required the couple to accept a Muslim ceremony, or ``nekah.'' Muslim
men could marry a woman who was Jewish or Christian, but a woman of any
other faith had to first convert to Islam before marrying a Muslim man.
The court would not register a marriage between a Muslim woman and a
non-Muslim man. The court also would not register a marriage for
Afghans who stated they were not Muslim, even if they were born into
other faiths in the country or elsewhere. Non-Afghans could marry, and
foreigners were permitted a civil ceremony as long as neither was
Muslim.
There were reports that individuals, often women, were arrested and
sentenced to jail time for crimes committed by other family members.
There were scattered reports of theft by national security forces
while conducting raids and searching homes. In August ANP officers in
Uruzgan province raided a local bazaar to seize contraband items,
including poppy. Several storekeepers and shoppers reported being
harassed and having their money and goods stolen. During a subsequent
inspection of the ANP provincial headquarter's evidence locker, only
small amounts of the contraband were present.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
During the year ongoing internal conflict and the continued use of
excessive force caused civilian deaths, abductions, prisoner abuse,
property damage, and the displacement of residents. At year's end the
MOI's Human Rights Office reported its continuing investigation of a
case of excessive force in Ghazni province. According to HRW the
majority of citizens cited the numerous regional warlords as the
greatest source of insecurity.
Killings.--Interfactional fighting between regional commanders,
persistent Taliban and al-Qa'ida activity, and criminal activity
resulted in unlawful killings and numerous civilian casualties.
Terrorist attacks were responsible for the deaths of over 1,400
civilians. Militants targeted and killed foreigners and local NGO
employees. There was a significant increase in militant suicide attacks
this year, 140 compared to only 15 in 2005 and four in 2004. Insurgents
targeted provincial governors, women's affairs officials, and ministry
officials during the year. Overall attacks against non-combatants
(government officials, civilians, religious figures, teachers, and
students) increased slightly from 635 in 2005 to 664 during the year.
Over 12 government officials were targeted and killed, in addition
to at least one foreign diplomat. Government officials killed include
Governor Taniwal of Paktia province, Director of Women's Affairs in
Kandahar Safia Ama Jan, as well as a district police chief, an
intelligence officer, and an administrator in the eastern province of
Nangarhar. They died when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle
while they were en route to check on a school that had been torched.
Coalition and ISAF forces faced frequent attacks on their convoys. The
Taliban also beheaded over a dozen Afghans for allegedly acting as
coalition spies. On January 15, antigovernment forces targeted a
coalition convoy killing Canadian diplomat Glynn Berry. Later in the
month Taliban forces beheaded the headmaster of a coed high school in
Zabul Province (see section 5, Children).
In February fighting between two commanders left one man dead and
two wounded in Kapisa. August fighting between rival warlords in the
north killed at least four and displaced hundreds. The fighting lasted
a few weeks and allegedly involved former commanders Abdul Rashid
Dostum and Abdul Malik. In March Commander Abdul Razaq of Kandahar
province was removed from his post for allegedly attacking 16 rivals
under the pretext that they were Taliban militants. The 16 men were
Pakistani citizens who had traveled to Afghanistan for Afghan New Year
celebrations. They belonged to a clan in Pakistan that Razaq blamed for
the death of his brother two years earlier.
In February a local official was shot dead by unknown gunmen in
Helmand province. Later in the month two intelligence officials were
found beheaded in the desert near the Iranian border. On February 7, a
Turkish engineer, an Indian, and their driver were killed when a
roadside bomb hit their vehicle in Farah province.
In March the head of the senate was targeted in a suicide attack;
Speaker Mojadeddi escaped unharmed but four others died in the attack.
Also in March unknown assailants shot and killed a local administrator
in Paktia province and an ex-police chief in Zabul. On March 11, the
Taliban abducted two policemen from their homes and later beheaded and
left them in the desert. On March 19, 15 people were killed in separate
attacks on Ghazni's former and then-current governor. Taliban shot and
killed former Governor Taj Mohammad, but did not succeed in killing
then-Governor Sher Alam Ibrahimi. Nine police officers and four
companions of Taj Mohammad were also killed. Taliban insurgents
abducted three Albanians and one German national. All four were later
found dead. Five policemen also died while trying to return the bodies
to Kabul when a roadside bomb hit their convoy.
On the evening of March 31, unidentified gunmen shot and killed the
provincial council speaker of Takhar province, Sayed Sadiq Agha. In two
separate incidents the same week Taliban fighters shot and killed two
intelligence officials. On April 3, Taliban militants pulled a Turkish
engineer from his car, shot and killed him, and then set the body on
fire. On April 10, militants killed five health workers when they
attacked a clinic in Badghis province. On April 30, the body of a
kidnapped Indian engineer was found beheaded. The Taliban claimed he
was killed while trying to escape.
In May antigovernment elements shot and killed a senior judge in
Farah province. On May 9, the Taliban targeted the director of the
Department of Women's Affairs in Helmand province. She escaped unhurt
but the male business manager for the office died from the attack. In
May antigovernment elements attacked the vehicle of Ghazni's deputy
governor, injuring one policeman. They also attacked, a convoy carrying
Helmand's deputy governor a few days later. This was allegedly the
tenth attack on police and government officials in Ghazni over a 20 day
period. On May 14, the Taliban targeted another intelligence official
in Kandahar province killing him and wounding one teacher. The same day
gunmen killed a religious leader in Paktia province. UNICEF also
reported that in May one of their Afghan drivers and a doctor were
killed in a rocket attack. On May 28, Taliban forces kidnapped and
killed three policemen in Ghazni province.
On June 9, a roadside bomb hit the convoy of a top intelligence
official killing three bystanders.
On July 3, a suicide bomber hit a checkpoint in Kandahar killing a
policeman and injuring six. On July 4, militants ambushed and killed
five laborers and wounded another as they were on their way to deliver
lumber to a coalition military base. On July 17, a suicide bomber
attacked and killed two justice officials and a third employee in
Helmand province. In Khost province, a grenade was thrown into a
wedding party killing one man and wounding 16. Also in July a time bomb
killed one female student and injured six others at Herat University.
On July 22, Aryana television cameraman Abdul Qodus died along with
several other civilians in a double suicide bombing in Kandahar.
On August 8, antigovernment elements shot and killed a teacher in
Ghazni province (see section 5.).
In September a suicide attacker assassinated the Governor of Paktia
Province, Hakim Taniwal, along with two others, the first assassination
of a governor during the year despite several attempts on others. In
another suicide attack over a dozen Hajj pilgrims were killed outside
the governor's compound in Helmand province. On September 7, a suicide
bomber killed a teacher and policemen when he jumped on the hood of a
taxi and self-detonated. On September 9, two foreign soldiers, and 16
others were killed in a suicide attack outside a foreign embassy
compound in Kabul. On September 21, the body of a kidnapped Turkish
worker was found in Kandahar. On September 22, militants attacked a bus
killing 19 construction workers in Kandahar. The Taliban executed a man
for his alleged involvement in a murder case in Helmand province. On
September 25, two unknown gunmen shot and killed Safia Amajan, director
of the Kandahar Department of Women's Affairs. According to The
Independent, Taliban Commander Mullah Hayat Kahn called her death ``an
execution.''
On October 7, Karen Fischer and Christian Struwe, two German
journalists, were shot and killed in Baghlan province in a tent they
had pitched near a road in the north. The MOI stated that the motive
wasn't clear, and they were conducting an investigation.
On December 9, two female teachers were gunned down in their home
in Kunar (see section 5, Children).
There were other documented incidents during the year of officials
being targeted for killings, in which they survived the attacks,
including the governor of Faryab on March 23 and a district police
chief of Faryab on April 29. In a separate apparent assassination
attempt, a vehicle exploded outside the Nangarhar governor's office but
failed to kill any one in the vicinity.
On October 14, a failed assassination attempt against Laghman
Governor Gulab Mangal resulted in the death of another provincial
government official, Engineer Rohullah, who was shot in the forehead
while standing between the governor and his deputy.
On October 22, an RPG attack was carried out on a convoy of two
vehicles carrying regional Pashtun warlord Amunallah Khan, his son, and
other escorts. This attack was followed by small arms fire close to
Gardana and Larga villages in Herat province.
The Taliban continued to behead individuals throughout the year for
allegedly spying.
During the year antigovernment elements continued to attack pro-
government religious leaders (see section 2.c.).
The investigation into the 2004 kidnapping of three Turkish
construction workers by unknown assailants remained open at year's end.
The kidnappers killed one worker and released two others.
Abductions.--One hundred ninety abductions were reported in the
last six months of the year, at least 12 of which resulted in the death
of the hostage. However, most abductions were not reported. The Taliban
and commanders abducted security forces, civilians and at least one
journalist for both political and financial gain. Many were killed but
some were allowed to live if they vowed to resign and join
antigovernment elements. In January the Taliban abducted five civilians
but later abandoned them after coming under attack from the police. In
February two Nepalese security workers were abducted in Kabul. Their
employer negotiated the release of one, but the other died of a heart
attack while in custody. In July Taliban forces abducted and severely
beat six men for teaching girls. They were later released but some
remained handicapped as a result of the beatings.
The case of the May 2005 kidnapping of a foreign aid worker
remained under investigation at year's end. In June 2005, she was
released unharmed in Kabul.
Mines.--Landmines and unexploded ordnance caused deaths and
injuries, restricted areas available for cultivation, and impeded the
return of refugees to mine-affected regions. The most heavily mined
areas were the provinces bordering Iran and Pakistan.
The UN Mine Action Center for Afghanistan (UNMACA) reported that
landmines and unexploded ordinances killed or injured an average of 62
persons each month. Mine explosions over the past two decades affected
4.2 million with an estimated 1.5 million casualties.
The UN, with funding from international donors, organized and
trained mine detection and clearance teams, which operated throughout
the country. UN agencies and NGOs conducted many educational programs
and mine awareness campaigns for women and children in various parts of
the country. HALO Trust has cleared 554 million square meters, or 5.96
billion square feet of land. There were almost 723 million square
meters, or 7.78 billion square feet of uncleared land remaining at
year's end, according to UNMACA.
Treatment of Victims and Prisoners.--During the year there were
scattered reports of the Government providing some compensation to
civilian victims of fighting between the Government and the Taliban.
Other Abuses.--During the year suspected Taliban members fired on
NGO vehicles, attacked NGO offices, and killed at least 31 aid workers
(see sections 1.a. and 1.g.). International NGO and UN workers and
recipients of NGO assistance were attacked on 57 occasions. NGO
personnel were not necessarily the intended targets of insurgent
violence but often victims of misidentification. Insurgents largely
used attacks on PRT sites and construction crews, rather than NGOs, to
hamper reconstruction efforts and drive away the international
assistance community.
In March armed men set fire to UN food trucks in Uruzgan province.
On March 5, six armed men dragged a UN engineer from his car and killed
him in Farah. In April Taliban forces beat an NGO worker and burned his
office in Paktika. On July 23, armed men looted a Danish Committee for
Aid to Afghan Refugees office in Wardak Province. In August the Taliban
kidnapped 15 health workers in Kandahar, but they were later freed.
Numerous others working on the road system were killed around the
country. There were reports in Kandahar that antigovernment forces
increasingly attacked those accepting foreign assistance, causing
villagers to begin refusing aid.
Militants used women and children as human shields by forcing them
into the line of fire. Violence and instability hampered relief and
reconstruction efforts in different parts of the country. NGOs reported
that some local commanders charged them for the relief supplies they
were bringing into the country. Assistance efforts were also limited by
the difficulties in moving relief goods overland to remote areas.
The World Health Organization and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)
reported concerns that the security situation in the south presented a
high risk to health workers seeking to gain access to the southern
provinces in order to vaccinate children. In July, President Karzai
initiated a Policy Action Group (PAG), charged with assessing and
coordinating a local and international response to security concerns in
the South.
There were unconfirmed reports of teenagers under 18 falsifying
their identification records to join the ANA, which had a legal age
limit of 18; however, there have been no reports of forced child
conscription since the 2003 Presidential decree prohibiting it (see
section 5, Children).
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 instances of governmental
and local commander intimidation of journalists to influence their
reporting. According to independent media and observers, government
repression and armed groups prevent the media from operating freely by
demanding that news be broadcast a certain way. The Afghan Independent
Journalists Association and Center for International Journalism
reported fifty registered cases of intimidation and undue influence by
commanders and government officials. The law prohibits information that
could insult ``the sacred religion of Islam and other religions.'' The
ambiguity over what was considered offensive material offered the
potential for abuse of press freedom. Under the 2004 media law, new
newspapers and printers had to get a license from the information
ministry and foreign investment in the media was strictly limited.
There was concern within the media community that a draft media law
under consideration in parliament at year's end would place greater
restrictions on media content and create an overall climate of
potential government intimidation and media self-censorship. Elements
of the latest draft included: language that seeks to keep Radio-
Television Afghanistan under the rubric of the Government, rather than
converting it to independent Public Service Broadcasting; the
elimination of three committees that protected journalists from
politically-motivated reprisals; and the designation of certain
categories of content as ``prohibited.'' Under the previous law, a
complaints commission existed which examined complaints against
journalists and decided whether the dispute could be resolved or should
be forwarded to the courts for prosecution. This committee provided an
extra layer of protection for journalists from those influential
politicians who might otherwise use their influence to enact reprisals
against journalists for publishing unfavorable stories.
Some media observers stated that individuals could not criticize
the Government publicly or privately without fear of reprisal. A
combination of influential political leaders and a weak judicial system
caused individuals to feel vulnerable.
The independent media were active and reflected differing political
views, although the extent varied from region to region. Factional
authorities tightly controlled media in some parts of the country, and
the degree of freedom of expression varied significantly among regions.
The Ministry of Information and Culture and some provincial governors
exercised control to varying degrees around the country. Observers
noted tighter controls especially in the larger provinces of Mazar-e-
Sharif, Kandahar, Herat, and Nangarhar. The Government owned at least
35 publications and most of the electronic news media. Many other
newspapers were published only sporadically, and many were affiliated
with different provincial authorities. During the year there were
approximately 400 publications, 50 private radio stations, five news
agencies, and eight television networks, though not all were
independently owned and operated. While some independent journalists
and writers published magazines and newsletters, circulation largely
was confined to Kabul, and many publications were self-censored. The
foreign media were covered under the freedom of speech law; however,
they were restricted from commenting negatively on Islam and from
publishing materials that were considered a threat to the President.
Approximately a dozen international stations broadcast in Dari or
Pashto, including the BBC, Voice of America, Radio Liberty, and Radio
Free Afghanistan, which were available throughout the country. In 2004
business leaders inaugurated the first independent radio station
established entirely by private sector funds in Ghazni province. At
least 32 other community-based independent radio stations have been
created.
During the year various government officials, foreign governments,
regional commanders, and the Taliban subjected members of the press to
harassment, intimidation, and violence. Threatening calls and messages
against media organizations also remained common, some resulting in
actual violence. In February police beat two journalists in Herat while
they were covering sectarian violence. In May a member of parliament
from Ghazni beat up reporter Noorullah Rahmani and cameraman Omed
Yakmanish who were trying to cover a debate on atrocities allegedly
committed by parliamentarians. In July armed men, allegedly working for
a member of parliament, beat three members of a television crew for
covering a land grab story outside Kabul.
Nongovernmental actors also interfered in the operations of
journalists. In February militants blew up a television transmitter and
generator in Nangarhar province. There were also allegations that Iran
bribed and threatened reporters in the western provinces to increase
the number of antigovernment stories and decrease the number of anti-
Iranian stories. On October 7, two German journalists were shot dead by
unknown attackers in the north. BBC reported that they were believed to
be the first foreign reporters to be killed in the country since 2001
(see section 1.g.). Italian journalist Gabriele Torsello was kidnapped
on October 12 and released on November 3 (see section 1.b.).
In September 2005 members of the President's security forces
allegedly beat two Sada-e-Afghan reporters and detained them for eight
hours for taking illegal pictures and not having an invitation to the
event they were attending. No actions were taken against the
authorities.
In October 2005 police arrested and convicted journalist Ali
Mohaqiq Nasab of blasphemy for publishing un-Islamic materials,
specifically for publishing a different interpretation of Shari'a law
and describing the harsh punishments imposed on individuals accused of
adultery and theft, as well as the right of Muslims to convert to other
religions (see section 2.c.). In December 2005 authorities released
Nasab from jail with a suspended six-month sentence, under the
condition that he repent and not do it again. Nasab has since moved to
Iran.
In 2005, Radio Bamyan, an independent radio station, received
occasional threats because the station provided programming deemed un-
Islamic. Also, in July the Taliban contacted a radio station in Paktika
wanting direct airtime. The Taliban had previously requested that the
station broadcast traditional Muslim religious programs and prayers.
The station complied by broadcasting the Koran for one hour in the
morning and one hour in the evening.
In January Afghan TV was fined $1,000 (49,000 Afghanis) by the
media monitoring commission for broadcasting un-Islamic material.
According to an Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) report the
Government cracked down on the private television station in Kabul for
violating traditional values. The fine was levied by a special media
commission, composed of six members from various government organs, and
headed by the Minister of Information and Culture. In February two
local television stations were warned against programming that ran
counter to local culture and did not conform to conservative views held
by many in their respective localities.
On June 12, the National Security Department summoned several
journalists to a meeting. Journalists were presented with a list of
recommendations for press conduct including restrictions on some
material, such as reporting on the country's deteriorating security
situation; negative propaganda, interviews, or reports against the
international coalition forces and ISAF; and materials which
deteriorate the morale of the public, cause security problems, or were
against the national interest. These proposed new government
regulations also included restrictions on interviews with the Taliban
and other antigovernment elements for reasons of public security. The
NDS later distributed a copy to journalists that was accompanied by a
demand that it not be copied or distributed. On June 19, President
Karzai's office issued a statement denying the Government had issued
restrictions, instead characterizing the directive as a request
reflecting the need to help the nascent media sector develop.
Proposed changes to the 2005 Media Law included the designation of
five additional categories of ``prohibited broadcasts'' (the December
2005 draft had four), including material that ``jeopardizes stability,
national security or territorial integrity, provides false information
that might disrupt public opinion, publicizes or promotes any religion
other than Islam, damages the physical, psychological, or moral well-
being of the people, especially children and youth, or was deemed
slanderous and insulting to people.'' These categories were added to
those in the 2005 draft, which prohibited material that was ``contrary
to Islam, offensive to other religions and sects, disclosed the
identity of victims of violence and rape, or constituted false
accusations or defamation.''
Members of the media reported that they did not interview Taliban
commanders or leaders due to government restriction. Observers also
report self-censorship by obscuring parts of female images when
broadcasting certain pieces, such as music videos. For example, Tolo TV
opted to stop broadcasting performances by Latin music star Shakira
amid complaints that her performances were too provocative.
Members of the media noted their concern that current laws did not
include clear definitions of libel and defamation, additions that would
make journalists less vulnerable to prosecution for criticism of
influential political or other leaders.
In June 2005 the Media High Council prosecuted Massood Qiam, a Tolo
TV journalist, for defaming the country's former chief justice. The
charges were later dropped at the request of the Minister of
Information, Culture, and Tourism. The stated purpose of the Media High
Council was to plan and approve media policy. The Minister of
Information, Culture, and Tourism chaired this council, which also
included members of the Supreme Court, Ministry of Communications, and
parliament. There was also a Private and Personal Media Commission
responsible for monitoring the performance of private and personal
media and dealing with complaints against such media.
In 2004 the Ministry of Information and Culture announced the
creation of a Commission of Religious Clergy to monitor the media, but
the commission's authority to censor content remains unclear.
The Government pressured media outlets not to broadcast material
that could be deemed as Taliban propaganda, and there were reports of
journalists being detained and questioned for having contacted Taliban
officials.
Cumbersome licensing procedures restricted operations of publishing
houses.
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 by electronic mail.
Internet access was unavailable to most citizens, and computer literacy
and ownership rates were miniscule, although Internet cafes were
increasingly popular. Years of fighting and extreme poverty limited the
infrastructure available to support the provision of Internet service.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--Through its appointment of
university officials, the Government was able to informally restrict
academic freedom, by censoring or restricting course content that it
deemed un-Islamic. During the year police dropped all charges in the
case of two students expelled from Herat University and arrested
following a classroom discussion in which they debated the role of
Christianity in Muslim society.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association; however, this right
was restricted in practice. Increased Taliban, al-Qa'ida, and other
antigovernment activity, particularly in the south and east, forced UN
agencies and NGOs to temporarily cancel or curtail activities at times
during the year.
Freedom of Assembly.--A lack of physical security and interference
from local authorities inhibited freedom of assembly in areas outside
Kabul.
In February protests took place around the country in response to
Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad. Police killed four
protesters around the country while attempting to protect foreigners
from violent protesters. In March the demonstrations continued in Pul-e
Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province, as well as other parts of the
country.
In May riots broke out in Kabul after a traffic accident involving
a Coalition military convoy. The riots killed 17 people and injured
over 200. There was no official investigation into the May 2005 riots,
a separate incident, in which security forces killed 16 protesters.
Freedom of Association.--The political parties law obliges parties
to register with the MOJ and required political parties to pursue
objectives that were consistent with the principles of Islam. Political
parties based on ethnicity, language, Islamic school of thought, and
religion were not allowed. Parties generally were able to conduct
activities throughout the country without opposition or hindrance,
except in regions where antigovernment violence affected overall
security (see section 3). However, the International Crisis Group
reported some instances of obstruction of registration. For example,
the registration of the United National Party led by Noorul Haq Olomi,
a former Parchami general, was delayed by almost a year and a half. At
year's end there were 91 registered political parties.
In August Interior Minister Zarar called for two parties run by
rival warlords to be disbanded after allegations surfaced connecting
them to violence in the northern provinces. Members of the National
Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, known locally as ``Junbish'' and
headed by General Abdul Rashid Dostum and the Freedom Party of
Afghanistan, run by General Abdul Malik, protested, and the parties
never dissolved.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law proclaims that Islam is the
``religion of the state,'' but allows non-Muslim citizens the freedom
to perform their rituals within the limits determined by laws for
public decency and peace. This right was not respected in practice. For
example there were no overt foreign missionaries or other non-Islamic
religiously oriented organizations in the country. These groups opted
to operate discreetly for fear of societal persecution. The law also
declares that no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of
Islam. The Government requires all citizens to profess a religious
affiliation and assumes all Afghans to be Muslim. According to Islamic
law, conversion from Islam is punishable by death. In recent years this
sentence was not carried out in practice.
As Afghan Christians were forced to remain underground, they did
not openly practice their religion or reveal their identity. During the
year there were sporadic reports of harassment and threats against
Christians.
Members of the Government called for the execution of Christian
converts. In February Abdul Rahman was arrested for converting to
Christianity and faced the death sentence. The court determined that
Rahman was unfit to stand trial, and he was given asylum in Italy.
During his detention, Rahman accused authorities of beating him with
hoses and their bare hands. In conjunction with this case, there was
some publicly displayed anger, in particular a protest in Mazar-e-
Sharif attended by hundreds of people.
There were no laws forbidding proselytizing, although authorities
viewed proselytizing as contrary to the beliefs of Islam, and
authorities could punish blasphemy and apostasy with death.
The Government did not require women to wear burqas. Although some
women continued out of personal choice to wear the burqa, many other
women felt compelled to wear one due to societal or familial pressure.
Cases of local authorities policing aspects of women's appearance to
conform to a conservative interpretation of Islam and local custom
continued to diminish.
Public school curricula continued to include religious subjects.
Non-Muslims were not required to study Islam, and there were no
restrictions on parental religious teaching. Members of some minority
groups, such as the Sikhs, operated private schools to avoid harassment
and to provide religious and cultural education to members of their
community.
During the year antigovernment elements continued to attack
progovernment religious leaders. Antigovernment elements killed over a
dozen clerics in Kandahar and over 20 nationwide. These attacks also
injured 40 other religious officials.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Anti-Semitism.--Non-Muslims
faced discrimination in schools. The Shi'a religious affiliation of the
Hazaras historically was a significant factor contributing to their
repression, and there was continued social discrimination against
Hazaras (see section 5). The AIHRC continued to receive numerous
reports that students belonging to the Sikh and Hindu faiths stopped
attending schools due to harassment from both teachers and students,
and the Government did not implement measures to protect these
children. Sikhs and Hindus returning to the country faced difficulties
in obtaining housing and land in Kabul and other provinces, and these
communities reportedly continued to face acts of discrimination.
However, during the year, the Government provided Sikhs and Hindus free
electricity for their places of worship. Historically the majority
Sunni population discriminated against the minority Shi'a community.
According to a UNHCR report the Sikh and Hindu communities complain of
experiencing harassment. They face intimidation and verbal as well as,
at times, physical abuse in public places. In terms of property, many
homes and businesses were lost or occupied during the fighting.
Commanders still occupied the properties of some Sikhs and Hindus and
Kabul. In both Jalalabad and Kabul, the community representatives have
expressed concerns that they will not be able to accommodate returning
families. While Hindus and Sikhs did have recourse to dispute
resolution mechanisms such as the Special Land and Property Court, in
practice the community feels unprotected. Hindus and Sikhs generally
chose not to pursue matters through the courts for fear of retaliation,
particularly where commanders occupied their property. Hindus and Sikhs
have generally chosen not to pursue matters through the courts for fear
of retaliation. Hindus also complained of not having a place to cremate
the remains of their dead, a Hindu religious custom, and being
prevented from enrolling in some educational institutions. While Hindus
reported being harassed by neighbors in their communities, there were
no known reports of discrimination against Hindus by the Government.
On February 9, sectarian violence erupted in Herat during a
gathering for the Shi'a holiday of Ashura, which resulted in six deaths
and more than 150 persons injured, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty. Local officials believe the violence was preplanned to
instigate the Sunni community against Shi'as and propel the situation
beyond the governor's control. According to the MOI, a former commander
of General Ismail Khan, a former Director of Education, a former
Director of Public Works, and the son of General Ismail Khan planned
the riots. The MOI reported that only four were killed and 147 injured.
Police in Herat arrested 11 individuals and handed them to the NDS's
custody.
In July several hundred Korean evangelical Christians arrived in
Kabul with plans to hold a nationwide ``Peace Festival'' with rallies
in Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif, and Herat in early August. In response to
concerns about societal violence against them, government agencies
worked with ISAF and the international community to develop a
comprehensive security contingency plan to prevent violent clashes
between the demonstrators and Afghanistan's Muslim communities. The MOI
deployed several hundred additional police officers in the cities of
Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif, and Herat where the Koreans had assembled to
maintain peace. The Government housed the Christians in clusters around
each city but took measures to prevent them from assembling in large
groups. After talks with several foreign embassies, the Christian group
decided against holding the rally in favor of their security.
There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts. There was only one
known Jewish resident who lived in Kabul where he was caretaker of a
local synagogue. He maintained that the synagogue's Torah was
confiscated by Taliban officials several years ago, and he has received
no response to his efforts to retrieve it.
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, certain laws limited citizens' movement and the Government
limited citizens' movement when justified by security interests.
The passport law requires a woman to obtain permission from a male
family member before having a passport application processed. In some
areas of the country women were forbidden by local custom or tradition
to leave the home except in the company of a male relative.
The greatest restriction to movement in the country was the lack of
security. Insurgent violence, banditry, and landmines hampered travel
within the country. In many areas antigovernment forces made travel
difficult and extremely dangerous, and the population did not travel at
night due to fear.
Taxi, truck, and bus drivers complained that security forces and
armed militants operated illegal checkpoints and extorted money and
goods. The number of such checkpoints increased at night, especially in
the border provinces. In Kunduz the customs department had no control
of the many illegal crossings, and states the corruption of border
police permits smuggling of drugs, weapons, and other commodities.
Residents reported having to pay bribes to ANP and border police
officials at checkpoints and border crossings between Jalalabad and
Pakistan. Ethnic Hazaras have reported being asked to pay additional
bribes at Afghan border crossings where Pashtuns were allowed to pass
freely.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government generally did
not use it in practice.
According to the AIHRC female deportees from Iran must remain in
custody until their citizenship can be verified or guaranteed by
family.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Approximately 40,000 to
50,000 persons were estimated to be internally displaced. Year-end
figures for residual battle-affected IDP caseloads ranged from
132,000--135,000. According to the UN 80 to 90,000 people fled their
homes due to fighting in Helmand, Kandahar, and Uruzgan provinces
during the year.
The main causes of internal displacement were the ongoing drought,
which left 1.9 million people in 22 provinces facing chronic water and
food insecurity; the urbanization of the country's returning refugee
population, which lived in urban centers and acquired new skills while
living in exile and subsequently preferred to live in cities; and
fighting in the south between Taliban insurgents and ISAF. Local
government provided assistance to conflict-affected IDPs through the
Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, in coordination with
the UNHCR, Institute of Migration, UNAMA, and UNICEF. There were no
reported cases of IDPs being denied access to domestic or international
humanitarian organizations; however there were scattered instances of
corruption in rural areas interfering with the local distribution of
assistance to IDPs. During the year the highest numbers of IDP assisted
returns occurred in the provinces of Jawzjan, Faryab, Herat, Zabul, and
Kandahar.
Protection of Refugees.--The 1951 Convention on the Status of
Refugees was ratified in 2005; however, there are no local laws
providing for the granting of asylum or refugee status. In practice the
country was in the process of trying to repatriate and provide services
for its own returning refugees. There were no known cases of other
nationals seeking official government assistance in obtaining
protection or refugee status.
The Government had not established a system for providing
protection for refugees or those seeking asylum. 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, 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. Over the past five years 4.7 million refugees were
repatriated to the country. During the year over 224,000 refugees
returned, and UNHCR assisted over 139,000. The UNHCR estimated that
approximately 3.4 million refugees were still living in Iran and
Pakistan. Women and children constituted 75 percent of the refugee
population. During the year the number of UNHCR assisted returns
decreased significantly, while spontaneous returns decreased only
slightly. In August, September, and October 2005 refugees returned in
large numbers to the country, as all refugee camps in the Federally
Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan were closed. A fifth of these
people were living without shelter at the end of 2005. Other Afghan
refugee camps within Pakistan remained open. Sporadic fighting and
related security concerns, as well as drought, discouraged some
refugees from returning to the country. In Pakistan the four Afghan
refugee camps scheduled for closure during the year remained open.
Ethnic Hazaras continued to prevent some Kuchi nomads from
returning to traditional grazing lands in the central highlands, in
part because of allegations that the Kuchis were pro-Taliban and thus
complicit in the massacres perpetrated against Hazaras in the 1990s.
During the year returning refugees from Pakistan settled in Tangi,
Nangarhar. Governor Sherzai of Nangarhar made a verbal commitment to
give the land to the returned refugees, who were originally from Kunar,
a province just to the north of Nanagar; however, ethnic Kuchis
protested, claiming that the land was theirs. At year's end the dispute
remained unresolved.
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
for the first time in over 30 years in the September 2005 parliamentary
elections.
Elections and Political Parties.--In September 2005 citizens
elected 249 members of the Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of the
National Assembly, in an election viewed as credible by the majority of
citizens. Members of the Meshrano Jirga, the upper house, were selected
through Presidential and provincial council nomination. Since the
parliament was inaugurated in December 2005, members generally worked
together cooperatively. In 2004 citizens chose Hamid Karzai to be the
first democratically elected President in an election that was
acceptable to the majority of the country's citizens, though observers
did note irregularities, including pervasive intimidation of voters and
candidates, in particular women.
The AIHRC and the UNAMA reported that local officials tried to
influence the outcome of the 2004 and 2005 elections. The Electoral
Complaints Commission received 5,397 complaints during the
parliamentary election season and disqualified 37 candidates (of over
6,000) from the campaign, including three for committing election
offenses. Militants targeted civilians and election officials in a
campaign to derail national elections. According to HRW, in the south
and southeast, antigovernment forces opposed to the elections managed
to drive down participation to nearly a third of registered voters. A
Taliban spokesman declared that all parliamentary candidates were high
priority targets, and in 2005 antigovernment forces killed seven
parliamentary candidates, two parliamentarians-elect, and at least four
election workers. There were no developments in the investigations of
the June 2005 killing of a provincial council candidate from Uruzgan
province by unknown assailants, the August 2005 attempt on the life of
a female parliamentary candidate from Kandahar, or the August 2005
shooting and injuring of Hawa Alam Nuristani, a female candidate in
Nuristan. While some alleged that the governor of Balkh province was
involved in the assassination, three other suspects were detained for
the attack. According to the MOI, three men were arrested in connection
with the September 2005 killing of parliamentary candidate Mohammad
Ashraf Ramazan. The MOI subsequently released one suspect; the other
two remain in the custody of the NDS at year's end.
There was no established tradition of political parties, but
political groups continued to develop in the National Assembly. Many
former warlords and commanders were active members of the parliament.
There were reports that some used fear and intimidation to influence
other members to vote according to their preferences.
Unlike in previous years, the Government did not ban any political
parties, other than the Taliban. Over 90 accredited political parties
were registered with the MOJ.
Political parties generally were able to conduct activities
throughout the country, except in regions where antigovernment violence
affected overall security. AIHRC and UNAMA reported that officials
sometimes interfered with political parties, mainly because of a lack
of awareness of citizens' political rights. Political parties also
exercised significant self-censorship. Political activities were
visibly discouraged or curtailed in some parts of the country.
Throughout the year, conditions for political parties continued to
improve.
Of the 249 seats in the Wolesi Jirga, the law requires that 68
seats be allocated to women. Approximately 25 percent of the total
seats were also reserved for women on each provincial council. Five
provincial seats reserved for women remained vacant due to the lack of
women candidates in three provinces. In the Meshrano Jirga, 17 of the
34 seats appointed by the President were reserved for women. There was
one woman in President Karzai's cabinet at the end of the year. There
were no female members appointed to the supreme court, but during the
year the Attorney General appointed the first female chief prosecutor
to Herat. There were 249 total members, including 68 women in the
Wolesi Jirga and 102 members, including 22 women in the Meshrano Jirga.
There was one female governor in Bamyan province.
While women's political participation gained a degree of
acceptance, there were elements that continued to resist this trend.
Women active in public life faced disproportionate levels of threats
and violence from the Taliban. In February a female member of
parliament was attacked in Parwan province but escaped unharmed. Others
were forced to move around constantly to avoid assassination attempts,
violence, and death threats. In September Safia Ama Jan, the director
of the Kandahar Department for Women's Affairs, was assassinated on her
way to work. In November there was an unsuccessful attempt to kill a
female provincial councilmember in Kandahar. Threats have been made
against five heads of the Department of Women's Affairs across the
southern and eastern parts of the country. The female director of
education in Ghazni also received several death threats. In 2005
antigovernment forces targeted women associated with the electoral
process for violent attacks and threats. Of the 633 female candidates,
51 withdrew their candidacy.
Of the 249 seats in the Wolesi Jirga, the law requires that 10
seats be allocated to Kuchis. There were no laws preventing minorities
from participating in political life; however, different ethnic groups
complained of not having equal access to jobs in local government in
provinces where they were in the minority. For example Pashtuns, who
constitute a majority along several provinces in the South, alleged
that they were not given equal opportunities to work for local
government in the provinces of Herat and Kapisa, where they were not in
the majority. By contrast, other provinces, such as Ghazni prided
themselves on the representation of several ethnic groups within local
government.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was widespread
public perception of government corruption, including ministerial level
involvement in the illegal narcotics trade. The President replaced
several governors, police chiefs and other officials, reportedly
because of their corrupt practices. Border Police Commander Haji Zahir
was asked to leave during the summer, due to allegations of corruption
but refused to do so. The MOI stopped salary payment to the officers
operating under Zahir; however, Zahir continued to pay their salaries
and funded over 1000 additional officers, essentially forming a private
militia, reportedly from his own funds. The newly-appointed attorney
general arrested several government officials on charges of corruption.
Government corruption was exacerbated by a lack of political
accountability and capacity to monitor government spending, coupled by
low salaries and substantial influx of international funding which
ministries were not prepared to audit. During the year the parliament
reviewed proposals to dismiss or consolidate certain ministries and
raise the overall salaries of civil service employees. Observers
alleged that governors with involvement in the drug trade or past
records of human rights violations served in various Presidential
appointments with relative impunity. On December 12, HRW released a
press statement naming several prominent government officials as gross
human rights violators during the mujaheddin period and called for a
special court to try them. President Karzai defended these officials,
stating his belief that the officials in question had played a positive
role in ensuring peace in the country. The allegations and response
marked a resurgence in the country's debate over transitional justice.
At year's end, the MOI was reviewing the dismissal of several
provincial police chiefs on charges of corruption and human rights
abuses.
The constitution provides citizens the right to access government
information, except in cases where this right might violate the rights
of others. The Government generally provided access in practice, but
officials at the local level were less cooperative to requests for
information. Lack of government capacity also severely restricted
access to 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 groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. There were cases in
which government officials were cooperative and responsive to their
views. Some of these human rights groups were based in Pakistan with
branches inside the country. The lack of security and instability in
parts of the country severely reduced NGO activities in these areas.
NGO and international assistance workers or recipients were
attacked on 57 occasions. 31 NGO staff members were killed, down from
33 in 2005 but up from 23 in 2004. For most of the year NGOs were not
the direct target of insurgents. Towards the end of the year, however,
there was more evidence of direct threats and attacks against NGO
workers by insurgents (see sections 1.a. and 1.g.).
In June 2005 the Government passed a new NGO law in an effort to
reduce the number of for-profit companies operating as NGOs. Many NGOs
supported this action as a way to differentiate themselves from those
organizations taking advantage of the system to pose as NGOs. In
February the Government stripped the licenses of more than 1,600 NGOs
accused of economic fraud and corruption. Local employees ran several
international NGOs, including HRW, which monitored the human rights
situation inside the country. The Government did cooperate with
international governmental organizations and permitted them to visit
the country.
The constitutionally mandated AIHRC continued its role in
addressing human rights problems within the country. The nine-member
appointed commission generally acted independently of the Government,
often voicing strong criticism of government institutions and actions,
and accepting and investigating general complaints of human rights
abuses. The AIHRC operated 10 offices outside Kabul. The AIHRC remained
a reasonably influential organization, effective in its ability to
document cases, raise public awareness, and influence national policy
regarding human rights. This was evidenced by the December 10 launching
of the National Action Plan for Truth, Justice and Reconciliation, a
plan for transitional justice that was partly drafted by (in
conjunction with the UN) and heavily promoted by the AIHRC. Dr. Sima
Samar, Chairwoman of the AIHRC, unofficially holds status equivalent to
a government minister and routinely met with President Karzai. During
the year the AIHRC began development of a comprehensive database that
will allow them to produce reliable statistics on various types of
abuses as of early 2007. The AIHRC did not have adequate resources to
focus on advocacy of human rights or intervention in individual cases
reported to it.
There are three parliamentary committees that deal with human
rights in the Wolesi Jirga: the Gender, Civil Society, and Human Rights
Committee; the Counternarcotics, Intoxicating Items, and Ethical Abuse
Committee; and the Judicial, Administrative Reform and Anticorruption
Committee. In the Meshrano Jirga, the Committee for Gender and Civil
Society addresses human rights issues. During the year these committees
vetted several draft laws that went before parliament and also
conducted confirmation hearings on several Presidential appointees.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution states that any kind of discrimination between
citizens is prohibited. The law provides for the equal rights of men
and women; however, local customs and practices that discriminated
against women prevailed in much of the country. Equal rights based on
race, gender, disability, language, or social status was not explicitly
mentioned in the law. There were reports of discrimination based on
race and gender. The severity of discrimination varied from area to
area, depending on the local leadership's attitude toward education for
girls and employment for women and on local customs. The minority Shi'a
faced discrimination from the majority Sunni population. Ethnic Hazaras
faced discrimination at border checkpoints. Women entrepreneurs
reported discrimination when seeking to purchase raw materials at local
bazaars where they were quoted higher prices.
Women.--Women in urban areas continued to make strides towards
greater access to public life, education, health care, and employment;
however, the denial of educational opportunities during the Taliban
years, as well as limited employment possibilities, continued to impede
the ability of many women to improve their situation. The Government
and NGOs continued to promote women's rights and freedoms whenever
possible; however, the number of female cabinet members was reduced
from three (Minister of Women's Affairs, Minister of Martyrs and
Disabled, and Minister of Youth) to one (Minister of Women's Affairs).
According to the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA), women made up less
than 25 percent of government employees nationwide. There were no women
serving in the Supreme Court. A woman held the position of Second
Deputy Speaker of the Wolesi Jirga in the Parliament. Women,
particularly in villages and rural areas, nevertheless still faced
pervasive human rights violations and remained uninformed of their
rights under the law and constitution.
There were no regulations explicitly outlawing domestic violence
and no accurate statistics for the number of women affected by domestic
violence. The director of the Women's Skills Development Center, which
runs a shelter for victims of domestic violence, noted that it occurs
in most homes but goes largely unreported due to societal acceptance of
the practice. Domestic violence usually occurs in the form of beating
of women and children and, less often, in the burning of women by other
family members. During the year the AIHRC initiated additional efforts
to collect statistics on violence against women. In a one-month pilot
project 96 cases were reported in the cities of Kabul and Kandahar,
compared to only 362 cases reported through existing channels
nationwide. The Government, with the help of the United Nations
Population Fund, also established its first special police unit to
address the needs of women and children. The unit, which was created in
January, was designed to provide assistance to victims of violence
against women and children. Policewomen staffed the unit and kept
complaints confidential.
According to Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), four
shelters in Kabul were home to more than 100 women and girls. The
centers were supported by the MOWA and other agencies and were designed
to give protection, accommodation, food, training, and healthcare to
women who were escaping violence in the home or were seeking legal
support due to family feuds. According to the MOWA up to 20 women and
girls were referred to the MOWA's legal department every day. But space
at the specialized shelters was limited. Many of the women who could
not find a place in the four secure hostels in Kabul end up in prison.
One shelter in Kabul reported that while it only had capacity for 20
women, it held 26 women and 8 children during the year. Approximately
120 women and girls have passed through the shelter seeking refuge
since its opening in 2003.
Some women's advocacy groups reported informal intervention from
the central government in the form of letters to their local courts
explaining domestic and Shari'a law in favor of several women facing
trial for domestic violence cases or forced marriages.
The law criminalizes rape, which is punishable by death, although
this punishment did not extend to spousal rape. According to the MOI
260 cases of rape were reported during the year. Of those, 146 cases
were of rape against females and 114 cases were of rape against males.
The MOI reported 409 arrests in connection with rape cases; however,
statistics on convictions were not available. Rapes were difficult to
document in view of the associated social stigma against the victims of
rape; however, rape against women and boys and domestic violence
against women remained serious problems. The majority of rape cases
were never reported because victims face stringent societal reprisal,
often being deemed unfit for marriage or even punished as a result of
having been raped.
In northern areas, commanders targeted women, especially from
Pashtun families, for sexual violence. In 2005 there were at least four
credible reports of soldiers and commanders loyal to local warlords
raping girls, boys, and women in provinces in the eastern, northern,
and central part of the country. In one of these cases police arrested
two perpetrators, but the case remained open at year's end. A total of
21 such cases were reported to the AIHRC during 2005. During the year
an additional 12 were reported. The MOI recorded 134 cases of rape
against women and 103 cases of rape against boys.
Societal violence against women persisted, including beatings,
rapes, forced marriages, kidnappings, and honor killings. Such
incidents generally went unreported, and most information on the abuse
was anecdotal. For example in November 2005 Farid Majid Naia beat and
killed his wife Nadia Anjuman, a poet, in Herat. While Naia admitted
beating Anjuman, he claimed he stopped before she died. Naia claimed
Anjuman ingested poison, but he did not allow an autopsy. There was no
available information about the ongoing investigation against Naia at
year's end. Forced marriages were often intertwined in a cycle of
violence and family problems for continuing generations. For example
the AIHRC reported the case of a Kabul family in which the husband
repeatedly beat his wife over a period of 25 years. The couple's four-
year-old daughter was diagnosed with psychological problems as a result
of witnessing the violence, and the 20-year-old son eventually ran away
from home.
According to NGO reports hundreds of thousands of women continued
to suffer abuse at the hands of their husbands, fathers, brothers,
armed individuals, parallel legal systems, and institutions of state
such as the police and justice system. Violence against women was
widely tolerated by the community and is widely practiced. Abusers were
rarely prosecuted and investigations were rarely carried out for
complaints of violent attacks, rape, murders, or suicides of women. If
the case did come to court, the accused were often exonerated or
punished lightly. Women who reported rape face being locked up and
accused of having committed crimes of zina.
Forced marriages continued to be a widespread problem. Previous
AIHRC reporting estimated that 60 to 80 percent of all marriages were
forced. The AIHRC estimated that approximately 40 percent of marriages
were forced, and distinguished this category from another 20 percent of
marriages that were ``arranged,'' in which the woman was not allowed to
choose her own spouse but may opt not to marry the man chosen for her
by her family. During the year the AIHRC recorded 213 cases of forced
marriages. There were 106 reported cases of self-immolation, several of
which were women protesting a forced marriage.
Exchanging or selling women or girls remained a customary method of
resolving disputes or satisfying debts, even though it was outlawed by
Presidential decree. For example, according to the UN Development Fund
for Women (UNIFEM), Rosina, 18, was sold into marriage by her father to
a man in his fifties. When she refused she was beaten.
During the year the AIHRC recorded 41 cases of women being given to
another family to settle disputes; however, the AIHRC believes the
number of actual cases to be much higher. In the early part of the
year, there was a very high-profile case involving a 13-year-old who
was engaged to the son of an influential politician in Badakhshan
province. She refused to marry the man and was threatened with stoning
by residents of her village. The case eventually went to the Supreme
Court; however, quiet negotiations involving local and central
government led the case to be dropped and mediated informally. The girl
did not have to marry the politician's son.
Honor killings also continued to be a problem. The AIHRC documented
a total of 50 cases throughout the year. During the year the AIHRC
reported a case in which a girl was raped by her brother. A resulting
pregnancy forced the girl to reveal the incident to her parents. In
order to save the family's reputation the parents set the girl on fire.
She died three days later. At year's end authorities had not
investigated this case. There were no further developments in the
December 2005 case of an honor killing in the Watapour District of
Konar Province.
According to MOI statistics at year's end there were 234 women
detained around the country, of which 172 had been convicted and
sentenced to jail time, while the remaining 62 had not yet had trials.
Many women were imprisoned at the request of a family member, including
those incarcerated for opposing the wishes of the family in the choice
of a marriage partner, on adultery charges, or bigamy charges from
husbands who originally granted a divorce but changed their minds when
the divorced wife remarried. Women also faced bigamy charges from
husbands who had deserted their wives and then reappeared after the
wives had remarried. Many imprisoned women were also accused of
murdering their husbands.
In 2005 police in Ghazni Province discovered Agela, a 13-year-old
girl who was sentenced to five years in prison after her much-older,
former husband had the girl and her new husband arrested. At five years
of age, Agela's family had married her to a 55-year-old man. When Agela
was eight, the man changed his mind about the marriage and arranged for
Agela to marry a younger man. She obtained a divorce and remarried.
However, after returning from two years in Pakistan, the older man
changed his mind and had her and her new husband arrested.
Some women resided in detention facilities because they had run
away from home due to domestic violence or the prospect of forced
marriage. Several girls between the ages of 17 and 21 years of age
remained detained in Pol-e-Charkhi prison because they were captured
after fleeing abusive forced marriages.
The concept of women's shelters was still not widely accepted in
society, as many people treated them with distrust and did not
understand their utility. As a result, many of the shelters were not in
publicly disclosed locations. Policewomen trained to help victims of
domestic violence complained that they were instructed to do no
outreach to victims but simply to wait for victims to show up at police
stations. This significantly hindered their work as reporting domestic
violence was largely not socially accepted. On January 24 UNIFEM
reported that a new Family Response Unit dealing with family violence,
children in trouble, and female victims of crime started operating in
Kabul. It allowed policewomen to address violence and crimes towards
women and children; interrogate, detain, and investigate female
suspects; and provide support to female victims of crime and ensure the
security of women in communities.
There were growing concerns about women committing self-immolation,
most often to escape from oppressive family circumstances such as
forced marriage. Although comprehensive statistics remained
unavailable, the AIHRC documented at least 106 cases of self-immolation
nationwide this year, and other organizations have reported an overall
increase over the past two years. According to the AIHRC, Herat
demonstrated the highest number of documented cases; however, AIHRC
officers believed that incidence was actually higher in Kandahar
province, although fewer cases were reported because it was less
acceptable in more conservative areas like Kandahar to draw public
attention to family disputes. In Herat the average number of cases was
18 to 20 per month but not all were formally reported. The AIHRC found
most self-immolations occurred to escape abusive marriages and to avoid
marrying husbands that the victims did not want to marry. UNIFEM
reported that over 65 percent of the 50,000 widows in Kabul view
suicide as their only option to staying in abusive or forced marriages.
Prostitution was illegal but common. Many observers, journalists,
and international organizations also believed that ``temporary
marriages'' were a form of prostitution. Temporary marriages allowed
for short-term marriages, from a day to a few months, in exchange for a
dowry. Some Chinese restaurants were believed to serve as fronts for
brothels where prostitutes were solicited.
Trafficking in persons remained a growing problem. The Ministry of
Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and International Organization for Migration
(IOM) reported that there was an increase in the trafficking in women
for commercial sexual exploitation during the year (see section 5,
Trafficking).
There was no law specifically prohibiting sexual harassment. Sexual
harassment of Muslim women was not generally viewed as socially
acceptable. There were reports of harassment of foreign women.
The MOWA is the primary government agency responsible for assessing
and combating the needs of women and had provincial offices open in
most provinces; however, the organization suffered from a severe lack
of capacity and clear definition of how it could best meet the needs of
women. Several international organizations and foreign embassies were
working to address its funding and capacity needs. The (MOFA) also had
a unit that deals with women's issues.
While local family and property law is not explicitly
discriminatory towards women, in most parts of the country where
knowledge of the actual law was minimal, elders relied on Shari'a law
and tribal custom, which often was discriminatory towards women. For
example rape cases require that a woman produce multiple witnesses to
the incident while the man can simply claim that it was consensual sex
often convicting the woman of adultery without any witnesses. On the
whole, women reported having little to no access to justice at all in
tribal shuras, where all presiding elders were men, and women in some
villages were not allowed to approach them for dispute resolution.
Discrimination against women in some areas was particularly harsh. Some
local authorities excluded women from all employment outside the home,
apart from the traditional work of women in agriculture; in some areas,
women were forbidden to leave the home except in the company of a male
relative (see section 2.d.). In 2005 according to the Institute for
Media, Policy and Civil Society, women in Logar were prohibited from
traveling to the area of town where a community radio station was
based, and male journalists often were not allowed to interview women
for their reports. Also in 2005 in Paktika Province, female
parliamentary candidates reported that women were not allowed to leave
their homes, were forbidden from attending schools, and needed the
permission of their male elders to conduct activities outside the home.
UNAMA reported that male relatives had forbidden some female students
in Kabul from attending universities outside the country. During the
year fewer girls were permitted to attend school in the southern
provinces than in other parts of the country.
In 2004 the Government established the first unit of female police,
and small numbers of women began to join the police force during the
year. However, there were reports that female police officers found it
difficult to be accepted as equals among their colleagues. For example
in 2005, six female police officers in Kunduz faced discrimination and
hostility, and spent the first four months on the job cleaning the
police station. They were paid $60 (3,000 AFNs), $10 dollars (495 AFNs)
less than their official salary, and they were forced to wear burqas
over their uniforms under threats of violence. The MOI reported that
female recruitment was difficult because of cultural differences.
Female officers often complained of disparate treatment by superiors
and a lack of respect from their colleagues. There was one female
Brigadier General among the ranks of the ANP.
While some women continued out of personal choice to wear the
burqa, many other women felt compelled to wear one out of fear of
harassment, violence, or bringing shame to their families. Cases of
local authorities policing aspects of women's appearance to conform to
a conservative interpretation of Islam and local custom continued to
diminish.
The Department of Commerce had a Department of Women's
Entrepreneurship. Several women served on the board of the Chamber of
Commerce.
Children.--The Government demonstrated an increasing commitment and
willingness to address the concerns of vulnerable children and their
families; however, a report released early this year by the AIHRC
asserted that the country's civil code did not adequately address the
rights of the child independent of family or property management
issues. On May 16, the Government launched its National Strategy for
Children at Risk (NSFCAR), which was designed by the Ministry of
Martyrs, Disabled and Social Affairs, with support from UNICEF and
other partners, in order to improve care for vulnerable children and
families.
The law makes education up to the secondary level mandatory, and
provides for free education up to the college, or bachelor's degree
level. According to the MOE there were 9033 basic and secondary
schools. Local authorities made some progress in school attendance. A
back-to-school campaign launched by the MOE increased school enrollment
from 4.2 million children in 2003 to over 5.2 million during the year.
This year UNICEF estimates that two million children (54 percent) were
out of school, including 1.3 million girls. According to figures from
the MOE, 40 percent of teachers were professionally accredited.
The MOE estimated female attendance at 40 percent this year. UNICEF
estimates break this down further to show that 40 percent of girls
attended primary school, while only 5 percent went on to attend
secondary school. The World Bank and many NGOs estimated female
attendance at 32 to 35 percent. Estimates of female literacy varied
from 5 to 13 percent.
In most of the country girls' enrollment may have increased as a
result of international donor efforts in school rehabilitation, teacher
training, and increased education provision using NGOs. Current
accurate nationwide enrollment information was not available at the end
of the year. Nearly a third of districts and some provinces had no
schools for girls to attend, and even in secure areas such as Kabul,
some male family members did not allow girls to attend school. Even
though the number of girls attending school increased, large
disparities in access still remained from province to province, with
enrollment as low as 15 percent in some areas.
In most regions boys and girls attended primary classes together,
but were separated for intermediate and high school level education.
According to the UN schools continued struggling with high drop-out
rates and serious shortages of teachers, especially female teachers.
The MOE reported that, on average, girls in cities stopped attending
school after completing high school and, in the villages, girls stopped
attending school at the age of 12 and 13.
Violence continued to impede access to education in some parts of
the country where Taliban and other extremists threatened or physically
attacked schools, officials, teachers and students, especially in
girls' schools. The majority of school-related violence occurred in 11
provinces in the south (Helmand, Farah, Zabul, Kandahar, Uruzgan,
Ghazni) and the border region (Paktia, Paktika, Khost, Kunar, Logar).
The MOE reported that 198 schools were attacked during the year and a
total of 370 schools had been closed during the year due to attacks,
preventing almost 220,000 students from receiving an education.
On January 3, militants beheaded Malim Abdul Habib, the headmaster
of a coed high school in Zabul province. Prior to his murder, Habib had
also been warned to stop teaching girls at the school. In July
militants abducted six teachers and blindfolded and beat them. Also in
July a time bomb killed a female student at Herat University. On August
8, unknown attackers kidnapped the district-level director of education
from the district of Qarabagh in Ghazni province. He was found dead two
days later, having been beaten and shot. His assailants had apparently
warned him to stop educating girls prior to killing him, but he had
refused. ``Night letters,'' a common form of intimidation by posting
anonymous letters issuing threats around a town during the late hours,
have also surfaced threatening the female provincial Director of
Education for Ghazni, Fatima Mushtaq. On December 9, two female
teachers were killed in Kunar province. According to press reports the
two women had received death threats warning them to stop educating
girls but had refused to obey. Gunmen reportedly entered their home and
killed the two teachers, along with three other family members. At
year's end the Government was still investigating this case.
According to a HRW report on attacks on schools, there were entire
districts where attacks by Taliban and other insurgents led to the
closing of all schools. In others female pupils were being withdrawn
because of a lack of security. Even more common were threatening
``night letters,'' alone or preceding actual attacks, distributed in
mosques, around schools, and on routes taken by students and teachers,
warning them against attending school and making credible threats of
violence. Physical attacks or threats against schools and their staff
caused schools to close, either because the building was destroyed or
because the teachers and students were too afraid to attend. Schools in
the surrounding area frequently shut down as well. Afghan education
officials have stated that attacks averaged one school a day. In areas
where students did attend school, the quality of education was
extremely low. Where schools did remain open, parents were often afraid
to send their children--in particular, girls-?to school.
Children did not have adequate access to health care; only one
children's hospital existed in the country, and it was not readily
accessible to those outside Kabul. Infant mortality statistics remained
bleak. UNICEF estimated that one child out of four did not survive to
his or her fifth birthday. A Ministry of Health survey revealed that 54
percent of children under age five were chronically malnourished.
Child abuse was endemic throughout the country, ranging from
general neglect, physical abuse, abandonment, and confinement to work
in order to pay off family debts. For example, in 2005 a six-year-old
girl's parents traded her to another family to work as a housemaid
after the girl's brother backed out of an engagement with that family's
daughter. Although against the law, corporal punishment at schools was
not uncommon. Some children reportedly had their hands struck while
others were tied and had the soles of their feet beaten. According to
July news reports, a nine-year-old girl in Herat was beaten so many
times in school she was scared to go back. According to a recent UNHCR
report, the practice of using young boys as objects of pleasure by
commanders, tribal leaders, and others was more than a rare occurrence.
Such relations were often coercive and opportunistic in that more
influential, older men were taking advantage of the poor economic
situation of some families and young males, leaving them with little
choice. There were also a few documented cases of abduction of young
boys for sexual exploitation by commanders. The MOI recorded at least
130 cases of rape of young boys during the year. There were no child
labor laws or other legislation to protect child abuse victims (see
section 6.d.).
Prevention of child abuse was addressed in the NSFCAR. The Ministry
of Public Health trained over 1,600 health workers on prevention of
child abuse and violence against children. UNICEF and Save the Children
supported the MOE's efforts to prevent violence in schools by doing
workshops on alternatives to corporal punishment and degrading children
to encourage good behavior. The Government also participated in the
South Asia Regional Consultation on Violence Against Children in both
2005 and this year.
The legal age for marriage was 16 for girls and 18 for boys.
International and local observers estimated that 60 percent of girls
were married before 16. There is no clear provision in the Criminal
Procedure Law to penalize those who arrange forced or underage
marriages. Article 99 of the Law on Marriage states that marriage of a
minor may be conducted by a guardian. Measures were taken to
standardize the legal age for marriage for both boys and girls. At
year's end, the AIHRC and women and child advocacy groups had
negotiated a draft law that would change the legal age of marriage for
both girls and boys to 18. At year's end, the draft legislation had not
yet been passed.
Previous draft legislation set the legal age at 18 for boys but 17
for girls. According to 2005 UN and government figures, most marriages
continued to involve girls below the age of 16, many of them forced.
Surveys conducted by the AIHRC found that many girls aged six to seven
were forced to marry men several decades older. In June the Government
set up a working group on ``early and forced marriages'' under the
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MOLSA) and the Ministry of
Martyrs and Disabled (MOMD). Additionally President Karzai made several
public statements that it was an unjust practice that was contrary to
Islam.
The AIHRC conducted a study on child sexual abuse this year
revealed that girls were more vulnerable than boys. Sixty percent of
child sexual abuse victims were girls, whereas 35 percent were boys
(the remainder of victims surveyed did not record their gender).
Eighteen percent of respondents knew of other children who had suffered
sexual abuse. Five percent of victims said a female cousin had been
sexually abused, and 2.7 percent of victims said a male cousin had also
been sexually abused. When asked where the abuse took place, 45.5
percent of child victims had been sexually abused at home. Abuse in
alleys or villages (27 percent), by shopkeepers in stores (10.8
percent), mountainous areas (8.3 percent), and hotels (2.7) percent was
also common. Only 29 percent of victims had approached relevant
authorities for help after the abuse, citing a lack of trust in the
judicial system, fear of consequences and lack of family permission as
the main reasons. Only 35 percent of victims who did file complaints
were satisfied with the outcome. Article 427 of the penal code reads
that ``any person who conducts adultery or sodomy with a female or
sodomy with a male shall be sentenced to lengthened imprisonment in
accordance with the circumstances.'' Article 247 authorizes lengthened
punishment (not to exceed ten years), ``if the victim has not attained
the age of 18.'' Article 430 more explicitly criminalizes sexual
exploitation of children: ``Any person who incites a male or female,
who has not completed the age of 18, to engaging in debauchery as a
profession or facilitates such an engagement, shall be sentenced to
intermediate imprisonment, no less than three years.''
While there were no documented cases of child trafficking during
the year, most experts believe the practice was widespread and
continued to be a problem during the year (see section 5, Trafficking).
A 2003 Presidential decree prohibited the recruitment of children
and young persons under the age of 22 into the army; in the middle of
the year the legal recruitment age was changed to 18. There were
unconfirmed reports of children under 18 falsifying their
identification records to join the national security forces, which was
a large-scale source of new employment opportunities during the year.
There were no reports of forced child conscription. UNICEF maintained
that efforts to assist the Government in creating a national birth
registry and ID system would greatly mitigate this problem.
Beginning in 2004 an estimated 8,000 former child soldiers were
demobilized under a UNICEF-initiated program. This year UNICEF
supported educational and skills training for over 3,750 demobilized
child soldiers and other war-affected children (1,162 of which were
girls) in eight provinces. Since 2004 over 12,090 children affected by
war have been supported through UNICEF's reintegration project in 28
provinces.
Child labor remained a problem (see section 6.d.). According to
UNICEF estimates, at least 20 percent of primary school age children
undertake some form of work.
Living conditions for children in orphanages were not satisfactory,
and they did not have access to health services, recreational
facilities, or stimulation. According to a study conducted by UNICEF
and MOLSA in 2003, 8,000 children were living in residential care
facilities. The MOLSA operated 52 orphanages across the country. UNICEF
estimates that some 80 percent of the 8,000 children currently living
in orphanages have at least one living parent. Thus, the NSFCAR
strongly advocates for taking most children out of these orphanages and
promoting community-based care options; however, the existing capacity
of social workers and child welfare services was extremely weak.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in
persons; however, traffickers could be prosecuted under other laws,
including statutes against kidnapping. In late 2005 the AIHRC worked
with the Government to draft a National Plan of Action that included
benchmarks and objectives for each governmental organization to work
towards. One of those objectives included having the country removed
from the UN blacklist. The country was a source and transit point for
trafficked persons. Trafficked children were believed to most
frequently be sent to Pakistan, Iran, and the Gulf states for
commercial sexual exploitation, forced begging, or camel jockeying. The
lack of systematic monitoring prevented a quantitative assessment of
the scale of the problem. What little data were available suggested
that trafficking in children, mainly boys for labor, was the
predominant form of trafficking across borders. Buying and selling of
women and girls also continued. Internal trafficking of children for
commercial sexual exploitation, forced begging, and bonded labor
remained a problem. There were no official estimates of the number of
children involved in the sale and trafficking of drugs, however
children under 18 have been arrested for drug trafficking related
charges (see section 6.d). The Government did little to combat
trafficking in persons, mainly as a result of a lack of capacity in the
Government, a corrupt, weak judicial system, and the poor security
situation. The MOI reported 231 cases of trafficking during the year
for which 340 people were arrested. There were no available statistics
on convictions.
There were continued reports of poor families promising young girls
in marriage to satisfy family debts. There were a number of reports
that children, particularly from the south and southeast, were
trafficked to Pakistan to work in factories, or internally for
commercial sexual exploitation in brothels.
A 2005 Presidential decree mandates the death penalty for child
traffickers convicted of murder and provides for lengthened prison
terms for child traffickers. Although prosecutions of traffickers
reportedly continued to increase, and the Government devoted greater
attention to trafficking in persons during the year, prosecution of
perpetrators also continued to be inconsistent. At year's end work on a
new trafficking in persons law was pending completion. Between March
and December 2005, the AIHRC and UNICEF received more than 150 reports
of child trafficking, and reported approximately 50 arrests of child
traffickers. The AIHRC tracked and investigated cases of child
abduction and worked to assist in international investigations of
trafficking. The MOI, MOLSA, and MOFA have units responsible for
monitoring and combating trafficking issues. There is an inter-
ministerial committee on trafficking comprised of these ministries as
well as the MOJ, MOWA, MRA, Ministry of Refugees and Returnees, and
Ministry of Finance.
Some government officials were believed to be involved in
trafficking in persons, particularly border guards who took bribes to
allow traffickers to cross into Iran and Pakistan with victims and
officials who issued false marriage licenses to traffickers.
Trafficking victims, especially those trafficked for sexual
exploitation, faced societal discrimination, particularly in their home
villages. The country did not have a shelter dedicated for trafficking
victims, and some adult victims were arrested and jailed for engaging
in prostitution.
In 2005 authorities repatriated 317 children from Saudi Arabia,
Pakistan, Zambia, UAE and Oman. The MOLSA, with the assistance of
UNICEF, set up a transit center to assist with these returns, and other
agencies such as the AIHRC helped with the children's reunification and
reintegration.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law requires the state to assist
persons with disabilities and protect their rights, including
healthcare and financial protection under the constitution. The
Government took no measures to mandate accessibility to buildings for
persons with disabilities.
According to the MOMD sample surveys estimated a total disabled
population of 2 million persons, 25 percent of whom had disabilities
caused by the country's two-and-a-half decades of conflict. Domestic
NGOs offered privately funded trade classes. Although community-based
health and rehabilitation committees continued to provide services to
approximately 100,000 persons, their activities were restricted to 60
out of 330 districts, as a result they were able to assist only a small
number of those in need. The MOMD worked within the framework of the UN
Development Program's National Program for Action and Disability (NPAD)
to coordinate and develop policy strategies that create employment
opportunities, access to education, health care, and greater mobility
for disabled citizens; however, during the year, the MOMD reported that
the scope of NPAD was greatly reduced due to a lack of funds. Ministry
services currently extend to only 16 of the 34 provinces. Disabled
groups repeatedly protested the inaction of the minister for the
martyred and disabled.
The Afghanistan Landmine Monitor Report stated that the
rehabilitation and reintegration needs of mine survivors and other
persons with disabilities also were not being met. For every one person
with a disability who received assistance, 100 more reportedly did not
receive assistance. Disability services existed in only 20 of the 34
provinces.
In the Meshrano Jirga two of the 34 seats appointed by the
President were reserved for persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--During the year claims of
social discrimination against Hazaras and other Shi'as continued. The
Hazaras accused President Karzai, a Pashtun, of providing preferential
treatment to Pashtuns and of ignoring minorities, especially Hazaras.
There were no further developments in the 2004 accusation by Pashtuns
in Herat Province that then governor, ethnic Tajik Ismail Khan,
discriminated against and abused their ethnic group. The nomadic Kuchis
expressed concern that the voter registration process underrepresented
their population; however, the Government and the Joint Electoral
Management Body worked to address their concerns.
A recent UNHCR paper reported that while attempts were made to
address the problems faced by ethnic minorities and there were
improvements in some areas, there was still a well-founded fear of
persecution. Confiscation and illegal occupation of land by commanders
caused displacement in isolated situations. Discrimination, at times
amounting to persecution, by local commanders and local power-holders
continued in some areas, in the form of extortion of money through
illegal taxation, forced recruitment and force labor, physical abuses
and detention. Other forms of discrimination concerned access to
education, political representation and civil service employment.
Also according to a recent UNHCR report, while Ismailis were not
generally targeted or seriously discriminated against, they continued
to be exposed to risks. In Baghlan Province, local commanders occupied
or confiscated and then sold Ismaili land, and Ismailis were unable to
reclaim their property. The Baghlan provincial court and other
provincial authorities refused to dispense justice for Ismailis in
land-related cases. Ismailis faced illegal taxation and extortion by
local commanders. In Tala-wa-Barfak District, cases of rape of Ismaili
women have been reported, with perpetrators acting with impunity.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law criminalizes
homosexual activity; however, the prohibition was only sporadically
enforced. However, a recent UNHCR report noted that, homosexual persons
commonly hid their sexual orientation. Many observers believed that
societal disapproval of homosexuality was partly the cause for the
prevalence of rape of young boys. During the year the Taliban published
a new set of rules that explicitly forbade the recruitment of young
boys for sexual pleasure.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides broad provisions for
protection of workers; however, little was known about their
enforcement. Labor rights were not understood outside of the Ministry
of Labor, and workers were not aware of their rights. There was no
effective central authority to enforce them. The largest employers in
Kabul were the minimally functioning ministries and local and
international NGOs. Labor law does allow unionization and the formation
of associations that pursue mutual vocational interests.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--As a
consequence of 25 years of war, occupation, and civil strife, the
industrial base was long since erased by the time the Taliban fell in
2001; the social role of unions was ruined along with the economy.
There was only one semi-active union, the Central Council National
Union Afghanistan Employees (CCNUAE). This union was a Soviet-era
organization, which formally separated from the Government after the
fall of the Taliban. CCNUAE reported membership of 200,000 government
workers and employees of state-owned enterprises. As a practical
matter, this membership was more theoretical than real; most government
workers did not consider themselves members of CCNUAE, and according to
CCNUAE, fewer than 40 percent paid dues. The union survived mostly on
proceeds from real properties and other investments. The Government
allowed CCNUAE to operate without interference. The country lacked a
tradition of genuine labor-management bargaining, and the law does not
provide for the right to strike. There were no known labor courts or
other mechanisms for resolving labor disputes. Wages were determined by
market forces, or, in the case of government workers, dictated by the
Government.
There were 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, Children). There
were reports of women being given away as laborers to other family in
order to settle disputes.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law recognizes the standard legal age for work as 15, but there are
provisions for 13 and 14-year-olds to work as apprentices, provided
they only work 35 hours per week. Children under 13 may not work under
any circumstances. There was, however, no evidence that authorities in
any part of the country enforced labor laws relating to the employment
of children. In 2005 UNICEF reported there was an estimated one million
child laborers under the age of 14 in the country. UNICEF estimate, at
least 20 percent of primary school age children undertake some form of
work. An AIHRC report released this year estimated that most child
laborers worked as street vendors (13 percent) or shop keepers (21
percent). Other common forms of labor were workshop hands, blacksmiths,
farming, auto repair and tailoring. In cities, a larger proportion of
child laborers were involved in collecting paper, scrap metal, and
firewood; shining shoes; and begging. Some of these practices exposed
children to the danger of landmines. Eighty-six percent of child
laborers were boys, and 14 percent were girls.
While no statistics exist, children under 18 have been arrested for
drug trafficking related charges. AIHRC reported that in Kabul there
were about 60,000 child laborers, the majority of whom migrated to the
city from other provinces. Many of them worked under unscrupulous
employers who subjected the children to sexual exploitation and forced
labor. UNHCR reported that many children worked on the streets of
Kabul, Jalalabad, and Mazar-i-Sharif with numbers increasing. The child
labor force was predominantly boys aged 8-14 with a smaller number of
girls 8-10 years old.
According to a UNHCR report, the majority of child laborers were
involved in domestic work. MOLSA officials reported that the Government
was working to tackle the problem of child labor. The NSFARC addressed
child labor and demanded the creation of diversified services for
vulnerable families to prevent family separation and exploitation of
children. MOE efforts in promoting universal basic education also
contributed to the prevention of exploitative child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--No information existed regarding
a statutory minimum wage or maximum workweek, or the enforcement of
safe labor practices. Many employers allotted workers time off for
prayers and observance of religious holidays. Minimum wage was 5,000
Afghani per month (approximately U.S. $100/month), including a stipend
for lunch and transportation expenses. The law provides workers the
right to receive wages, annual vacation time in addition to national
holidays, health compensation for injuries suffered in the line of
work, overtime pay, health insurance for the employee and immediate
family members, per diem for official trips, daily transportation, food
allowances, night shift differentials, retirement rights, and
compensation for funeral expenses in case of death while performing
official duties. Article 30 of the Labor Rights Law defines the
standard workweek as 40 hours per week, 8 hours per day with one hour
for lunch and noon prayers. Reduced standard workweeks were stipulated
for youth, pregnant women, breast feeding mothers, miners and other
occupations that present health risks to laborers. Enforcement
mechanisms for these laws remained weak and citizens were not generally
aware of the full extent of their labor rights under the law.
__________
BANGLADESH
Bangladesh is a parliamentary democracy of 147 million citizens.
Khaleda Zia, head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), stepped
down as prime minister on October 27 when her five-year term of office
expired, and she transferred power to a caretaker government that would
prepare for general elections in 2007. The civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government's human rights record remained poor, and the
Government continued to commit numerous serious abuses. Extrajudicial
killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, and politically motivated
violence were among the most egregious violations. Security forces
acted with impunity, and committed acts of physical and psychological
torture. In addition violence against journalists continued, as did
infringement on religious freedoms. Government corruption remained a
significant problem. Violence against women and children also was a
major problem, as was 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.--Security forces
committed numerous extrajudicial killings. The police, Bangladesh
Rifles (BDR), and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) used unwarranted
lethal force.
Although there was a decrease in the number of killings by security
personnel (see section 1.c.), nearly all incidents received only
administrative investigation. According to local human rights
organizations, no case resulted in criminal punishment, and in the few
instances in which charges were levied, punishment of those found
guilty was predominantly administrative. The resulting climate of
impunity remained a serious obstacle to ending abuse and killings.
According to press reports and law enforcement agencies, the RAB, a
paramilitary group composed of personnel from different law enforcement
agencies, killed 355 persons. The deaths, all under unusual
circumstances, occurred to accused persons while in custody or during
police operations; however, the Government described the deaths of some
identified criminals as occurring in exchanges of gunfire between the
RAB or police and criminal gangs.
``Crossfire'' became a euphemism in the local media for
extrajudicial killings, particularly by the RAB. Press reports of
crossfire followed a similar pattern: members of the RAB arrested or
ambushed suspects, who were then killed in the crossfire as they tried
to escape. Law enforcement officials were responsible for 355 deaths,
290 of which were attributed to crossfire. The RAB was responsible for
181 crossfire deaths; members of the police were responsible for 100;
other security forces were responsible for nine crossfire deaths. Since
2004 when the Minister for Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs
stated that crossfire under RAB or police custody could not be
considered custodial death, no member of the RAB has been prosecuted
for a killing. According to press reports, citizens filed 145 formal
complaints against the RAB this year. At year's end 45 of these had
been dismissed and the rest were pending.
Between January and April, security forces killed 17 people and
injured over 100 civilians in Kansat, Chapainawabgonj, during
demonstrations against electricity shortages. The deputy inspector
general of police of Rajshahi Division dismissed Shahabuddin Khalipha,
officer-in-charge of the Shibiganj police station, for his role in the
deaths.
On March 9, members of the RAB shot and killed Iman Ali as he was
leaving his court hearing. The RAB unit claimed that Ali was killed in
a crossfire shooting, but witnesses contested this claim. On March 22,
Iman's brother Nazrul Islam lodged a petition with the Metropolitan
Session Judge's Court, alleging that his brother was killed by the RAB.
As of year's end, there had been no investigation of this case.
On September 1, according to the Asia Human Rights Commission
(AHRC), members of the RAB shot and killed Abdul Hawladar and Md Shamin
in Khulna. The RAB claimed that Hawladar and Shamin were involved in
extortion using mobile phones, a charge that local human rights
observers contested. RAB officials claimed that once they arrested
Hawladar and Shamin and took them to the Baro Khalpar area, terrorists
opened fire on the RAB, which responded with gunshots. At year's end
the Government had taken no action to investigate this case.
In June the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court issued a
judicial inquiry into the case of Abdul Kalam Azad in response to a
petition filed by the family of an Awami League (AL) member killed in
2005. In May 2005 citizens found the body of an individual named Sumon,
a member of the opposition AL youth front, in Banosree, a day after his
arrest by a RAB team in Khilgaon. While eye-witnesses told independent
human rights investigators that the RAB arrested Sumon at work, RAB
members said Sumon was working with a gang of criminals and alleged he
died in crossfire.
There were no updates for the February 2005 death in custody of
Delawar Hossain; the July 2005 extrajudicial killing by the detective
branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) of Khandker Iqbal
Hossain; or the 2004 extrajudicial killings by RAB forces of Sumon
Ahmed Majumder and Pichchi Hannan.
Violence often resulting in deaths was a pervasive element in the
country's politics (see sections 1.c. and 3). Supporters of different
political parties, and often supporters of different factions within
one party, frequently clashed with each other and with police during
rallies and demonstrations. According to human rights organizations,
politically motivated violence accounted for 224 deaths and 13,152
injuries during the year (see sections 1.c., 1.d., and 2.a.).
On July 2 during an opposition-organized transportation blockade, a
police officer and an opposition activist were killed in separate
incidents (see section 2.b.).
In two incidents in September, clashes between opposition activists
and police resulted in hundreds of injuries (see section 2.c.).
On September 23, unknown assailants shot Aftab Ahmad, a Dhaka
University professor of political science, in his home in Dhaka. He
later died from his wounds. Aftab was well-known for his progovernment
political views, and police suspected a political motive for the
attack. At year's end no action had been taken on this case.
There were several developments regarding the January 2005 deaths
of former finance minister and AL leader Shah A.M.S Kibria and four
others in Habinjanj. In April 2005 police charged 10 persons, mostly
local BNP leaders, for their alleged involvement in the attack. Eight
of the 10 were arrested, and the remaining two remained at large.
During the year the case against the eight persons arrested went before
the Sylhet Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal. During the trial the
complainant, Abdul Majid Khan, asked the tribunal for reinvestigation
of the case, which the judge rejected. The following day the tribunal
judge adjourned the trial because the complainant filed a petition
asking for a four-week suspension to appeal the rejection for
reinvestigation to the Supreme Court. On November 7, the Supreme Court
hearing began.
On September 3, police arrested four members of the banned militant
Islamist organization Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJi) for complicity in
the 2004 bombing of a Muslim shrine in Sylhet. One of the four people
arrested admitted involvement in the Kibria murder. Press reports
alleged that the HuJi planned to kill top AL leaders as part of a plan
to kill secular leaders in the country.
There was no investigation of charges filed in the May 2005 killing
of Khorshed Alam Bachchu, who was shot by unknown gunmen near his home
in Dhaka. Bachchu was the AL's Dhaka legal affairs secretary.
There were several developments related to the August 2005
coordinated bombings in 63 of the country's 64 districts, when two
persons were killed and approximately 100 others were wounded. Leaflets
found at the sites of the bombings indicated that the Jamiatul
Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a recently outlawed Islamic militant group
seeking to impose Islamic law (Shari'a), coordinated the attacks. At
year's end 698 people had been arrested in connection with these and a
subsequent series of bombings attributed to the JMB (see section 1.e.).
The courts issued 32 death sentences, 62 life imprisonment sentences,
and 59 other sentences of varying durations. Those sentenced to death
included Bangla Bhai, a vigilante who in 2004 began his own anticrime
campaign, initially with the support of the police, and later with the
support of JMB leader Shaikh Abdur Rahman.
There were several developments regarding the 2004 grenade attack
at a rally in Dhaka which killed at least 20 persons, including the AL
women's affairs secretary, Ivy Rahman, and injured several hundred
others. By the end of 2005, authorities had arrested 20 persons in
connection with this attack. As of September all but three persons had
been released, and no charges had been brought against anyone in the
attack.
On September 3, police arrested four suspects allegedly involved in
the 2004 explosion at a Muslim shrine that killed several persons and
injured dozens of others, including the British high commissioner to
the country. The four persons arrested later admitted involvement in
the attack. The four were linked to HuJi. One of the four arrested was
also linked to the Kibria killing.
Vigilante killings were common. Newspapers reported 66 such
incidents in the first eight months of the year. According to newspaper
reports, on September 11, robbers broke into a house in Banshkhali. A
neighbor called for help by using the local mosque's speakers, and a
group of villagers intercepted several of the robbers, killing two and
injuring a third. On May 18, three persons attempted to steal a
motorcycle in Sylhet. Local villagers placed a barricade in the road to
stop the theft, and captured the three muggers. The villagers beat the
men, and one of them, Selim Ahmed, died the next day from his injuries,
according to press accounts.
Violence along the border with India remained a problem. According
to local human rights organizations, the Indian Border Security Force
(BSF) killed 147 citizens and injured 144. According to human rights
organizations, BSF members and Indian-based gangs believed to be
affiliated with the BSF killed approximately 600 persons and injured
675 in border villages from January 2000 through year's end.
b. Disappearance.--Disappearances and kidnappings remained serious
problems during the year. According to human rights organizations, 411
people were kidnapped during the year. Of those 48 were kidnapped
allegedly for political reasons, and five persons were believed to have
been killed. Child kidnapping for profit also continued to be a
problem. According to local human rights organizations, during the year
93 children were kidnapped.
On May 7, Chhatak police in the Sunamganj district allegedly
neglected to act on the report of Tera Mian's disappearance. The
previous night, according to the AHRC, police refused to file a report
regarding the disappearance after they were informed. On May 8,
villagers found Mian's body in Haor, and police filed a complaint
against the alleged perpetrators. According to local human rights
organizations, police failure to act on the initial report of
disappearance may have contributed to Mion's death.
On August 22, in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, supporters of the
United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) engaged in a gunfight with
supporters of the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (PSJSS).
During the clash an armed UPDF group abducted six PSJSS supporters. By
year's end, all had been released.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--While the law prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman, or
degrading punishment, security forces, the RAB, and police routinely
employed severe treatment as well as psychological abuse during arrests
and interrogations. Abuse consisted of threats and beatings and the use
of electric shock. According to human rights organizations, security
forces tortured 45 persons during the year, 14 of whom died. (see
sections 1.a., 1.d., and 2.a.). The Government rarely charged,
convicted, or punished those responsible, and a climate of impunity
allowed such police abuses to continue.
On February 15, RAB members arrested Asraf Hossain Khan, a local AL
official in Munshigonj, on suspicion of theft. According to human
rights organizations, security forces transferred Khan to the Vuggykul
RAB-8 office, where they blindfolded and beat him. Security forces
brought Khan to a field outside of town and twice used the threat of a
staged crossfire death against him. Khan was released after local
supporters blocked a road into town and demanded his release. A doctor
who treated Khan verified that he appeared to have been mistreated. No
charges were filed against the RAB.
On July 20, members of the RAB arrested and severely injured
Kishore Kumar Das. The RAB reportedly searched Kishore's house and
found several tin tobacco containers, which RAB officials said were
handmade bombs. On July 23, the RAB transferred Kishore to police who
found Kishore to have severe injuries. The RAB claimed that Kishore was
injured while attempting to flee at the time of his arrest. The High
Court Division of the Supreme Court asked that authorities explain the
grounds on which Kishore was arrested and whether he was held
illegally. The President of the Bangladeshi nongovernmental
organization (NGO) Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB), Manzil
Murshid, filed an affidavit as plaintiff against the Government,
claiming the RAB failed to follow the Code of Criminal Procedures. The
court directed the law enforcers, specifically the RAB, to follow the
Code of Criminal Procedures in future arrests.
On June 22, according to the AHRC, police in Kurigram District
arrested Tajul Islam. When his brother, Kasim Uddin, went to the police
station to request Islam's release, the subinspector allegedly kicked
Uddin in the genitals. Subsequently, other police beat Uddin with
sticks and boots until he died. Kurigram District officials said they
arrested and suspended Si Hakim, the police officer in charge. Uddin's
family reportedly was unable to get a copy of Uddin's report of death
from Kurigram District Hospital.
Odhikar, a local human rights NGO, recorded two incidents of rape
by law enforcement personnel from January to August. Most NGOs believed
the actual number of sexual assaults was higher than reported due to
strong social taboos.
There were developments in the July 2005 rape case against Nurul
Islam. In July 2005, Nurul Islam, a riot police officer, told a woman
he found at a bus station in Dhaka that he wanted to hire her as
domestic help. Instead of escorting her to his home, the officer took
her to a hotel and raped her with the assistance of a male hotel
employee. The woman filed a rape case that resulted in the arrests of
Islam and the hotel employee. At year's end Islam was in jail pending
trial, and the hotel employee had been released on bail.
Law enforcement personnel accused of rape and torture generally
were not investigated. In some cases police detained women in safe
custody after they reported a rape, but the safe custody often
translated as confinement in jail cells where they endured poor
conditions and were sometimes abused and raped again (see section 5).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
abysmal and were a contributing factor to custodial deaths. According
to press reports, 52 persons died in prison and 162 died while in the
custody of police and other security forces (see section 1.a.). All
prisons remained overcrowded and lacked adequate facilities. According
to the Bangladeshi Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights (BSEHR),
the existing prison population of 72,013 was more than 250 percent of
the official prison capacity. Of the entire prison population, 23,659
had been convicted, but the rest were either awaiting trial or detained
for investigation. In most cases cells were so crowded that prisoners
slept in shifts.
Juveniles were required by law to be detained separately from
adults; however, in practice due to a lack of facilities, many
juveniles were incarcerated with adults.
Although the law prohibits women in safe custody from being housed
with criminals, in practice, no separate facilities existed.
In general the Government did not permit prison visits by
independent human rights monitors, including the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Government-appointed committees of
prominent private citizens in each prison locality monitored prisons
monthly but did not release their findings. District judges
occasionally visited prisons but rarely disclosed their findings.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, authorities frequently violated these
provisions, even in nonpreventive detention cases. The law specifically
allows preventive detention, with specified safeguards, and provides
for the detention of individuals on suspicion of criminal activity
without an order from a magistrate or a warrant. The Government
arrested and detained persons arbitrarily and used national security
legislation such as the 1974 Special Powers Act to detain citizens
without filing formal charges or specific complaints.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Police were organized
nationally under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA) and had a mandate
to maintain internal security and general law and order. Police were
generally ineffective, reluctant to investigate persons affiliated with
the ruling party, and used frequently for political purposes by the
Government.
The RAB, a better-equipped paramilitary unit drawing personnel from
various police units and security agencies, including the military,
developed plans for overall police reform, but few concrete steps were
taken to address human rights problems. The RAB committed serious human
rights violations.
There was widespread police corruption and a severe lack of
training and discipline. The police often acted outside the law. For
example, police frequently beat rickshaw drivers with batons for minor
infractions or punctured their tires. Victims of police abuse were
reluctant to file cases against police, as there was no independent
body charged with investigation of criminal allegations against members
of the police force. There were no developments during the year
regarding the legality of the Joint Drive Indemnity Act, which barred
persons from seeking remuneration for human rights violations that
occurred during Operation Clean Heart in 2003.
Police abuse of authority was common. For example, on October 2,
police entered the National Shooting Federation Complex in Dhaka and
severely beat 25 club members, including Commonwealth Games gold
medalist Asif Hossain Khan. The incident began when the wife of police
Special Branch Deputy Inspector General Sadiqur Rahman had her driver
park her official vehicle in front of the complex. A security guard
asked the driver to move, and a fight ensued. According to press
reports, police, led by Subinspector Jasim and Gulshan Deputy
Commissioner (DC) Obaidur Rahman Khan, used batons to beat club
members. Asif was detained along with five others and taken to the
Gulshan police station. According to Asif the police severely beat
those detained with sticks. The five were later admitted to the
hospital with arm fractures, head wounds and other injuries. The police
filed charges against three club members, including Asif. At year's end
there has been no investigation of police conduct.
There were also widespread reports of increased politicization of
the police. According to media reports, in August the Home Ministry
sent letters to all district superintendents of police asking for
analyses of the results of the last three elections, including the
deficiencies of losing candidates and positive attributes of the
winners. The superintendents reportedly passed the requests to the
field for officers to collect the data.
Police often used unwarranted force to suppress demonstrations. For
example on March 30, police attacked opposition protestors in Dhaka.
The protestors were staging a sit-in around the Government secretariat
building in defiance of a court order banning the demonstration. Police
initially tried to use batons to disperse the crowd and then fired tear
gas shells and rubber bullets at demonstrators. Clashes spread from the
secretariat to other parts of Dhaka as police pursued the protestors.
Over 100 people, including protestors, police, and journalists, were
injured in the day-long series of clashes.
On August 26 in Phulbari, police and members of the BDR opened fire
on a crowd protesting the establishment of an open-pit coal mine,
killing five persons and injuring 100 others. After several days of
violence, the Government began negotiations with the protesters and
eventually announced the cancellation of the mining project. No charges
were filed against the police, BDR, or magistrates for the deaths of
the protesters.
Plaintiffs rarely accused police in criminal cases due to lengthy
trial procedures and from fear of retribution against them or their
families. This created a climate of impunity for police.
Arrest and Detention.--The law does not provide for the use of
warrants in all cases. Section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code and
Section 86 of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Ordinance provide for
detention of persons on suspicion of criminal activity without an order
from a magistrate or a warrant, and the Government regularly arrested
persons without formal charges or specific complaints. Section 144
limits gatherings of more than four people. Authorities misused
ordinances during the year, and mass arrests, often politically
motivated, continued to occur. According to official statistics, the
RAB made more than 11,000 arrests since April 2004, including five
individuals whom the Government termed ``top terrorists'' and 419
``other terrorists.''
According to Odhikar, during the year police arrested more than
3,900 persons under Section 54. According to the local human rights
organization Ain o Shalish Kendro (ASK), the Government used Section
144 to ban assemblies of more than four people 164 times during the
year.
Authorities sometimes used Sections 54 and 86 to detain persons on
false charges in order to suppress the expression of views critical of
or different from those of the Government. According to ASK police in
Dhaka arrested large numbers of opposition party members prior to
opposition rallies throughout the year. The law provides for the right
to a prompt judicial determination; however, this was rarely enforced.
According to Odhikar police detained 28,651 people in mass arrests
throughout the year. On June 11, according to 14 local human rights
organizations, the Government began a program of mass arrests in Dhaka
ahead of an opposition-organized rally. According to these groups, law
enforcement officials used block raids and checkpoints to arrest over
700 people coming to Dhaka to participate in the rally. Human rights
organizations reported that these persons were later released.
In September according to local human rights organizations, in
anticipation of opposition protests in Dhaka, the Government
indiscriminately arrested hundreds of persons, including opposition
activists and NGO supporters, on old cases or false charges such as
theft. Most detainees were released within a few days. Human rights
organizations reported that the arrests were used to intimidate
opposition activists from coming to Dhaka to participate in the
protests.
In mid-September police throughout the country arrested 172 workers
at different offices of the NGO Proshika, according to press reports.
The Government allegedly launched the crackdown because it believed
Proshika intended to participate in an opposition protest at the Prime
Minister's office on September 12. The accused were detained on
suspicion of theft, vandalism, and destruction of property. The
Government closed 200 offices of Proshika because employees feared
arrest. All Proshika employees arrested were freed or released on bail
pending the filing of charges.
Under the Special Powers Act, the Government or a district
magistrate may order that a person be detained for 30 days to prevent
the commission of an act that could threaten national security;
however, detainees were held for longer periods. In these cases the
magistrate must inform the detainee of the grounds of his detention,
and an advisory board is required to examine the detainee's case after
four months. Detainees had the right to appeal.
There was a functioning bail system in the regular courts, although
under certain security and criminal law, a non-bailable period of
detention existed. Criminal detainees were granted access to attorneys;
however, detainees were not entitled to be represented by an attorney
before an advisory board. State-funded defense attorneys rarely were
provided, and there were few legal aid programs to offer financial
assistance. Lawyers usually were allowed only after charges were filed.
Legal representatives were granted access to their clients arrested
under Section 54, but in practice police rarely allowed lawyers to
confer with their clients arrested under these sections of the law.
Arbitrary arrests were common. The Government also used serial
detentions to prevent the release of political activists (see section
4).
The Government used Sections 54 and 86 to harass and intimidate
members of the political opposition and their families. Police detained
opposition activists prior to and during demonstrations without citing
any legal authority, holding them until the event was over (see section
2.b.).
It was difficult to estimate the total number of those detained for
political reasons. Many activists were charged with crimes, and many
criminals claimed to be political activists. Most such detentions
appeared to last for several days or weeks, and defendants in most
cases received bail; however, acquittal or dismissal of wrongful
charges took years.
Arbitrary and lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem. The
backlog of criminal cases was approximately 43,000 in Dhaka alone. In
addition, the Ministry of Law estimated that approximately 1,200
prisoners had made no court appearance in at least six months, and many
had served longer in pretrial detention than they would have had they
been convicted and given the maximum sentences for their alleged
crimes. According to Odhikhar approximately 75 percent of prison
inmates were in pretrial detention.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary; however, in practice a longstanding temporary
provision of the constitution places the lower courts under the
executive, and the courts were subject to executive influence largely
because judges' appointments and their pay were dependent on the
executive. The higher levels of the judiciary displayed some
independence and often ruled against the Government in criminal, civil,
and politically controversial cases. Corruption, judicial inefficiency,
targeted violence against judges, and a large case backlog were serious
problems.
In November 2005 a suicide attack killed two judges in Jhalakati.
Also that month, four suicide attackers killed two policemen at the
courthouse in Chittagong and several attorneys inside the courthouse in
Gazipur. In December 2005 unknown assailants attacked the municipal
complex in Gazipur housing the courthouse. On May 29, an additional
district and sessions court judge in Barisal gave death sentences to
seven people, including Bangla Bhai and Shaikh Sabdur Rahman, for their
roles in the Jhalakati incident (see section 1.a.).
The court system has two levels: the lower courts and the Supreme
Court. Both hear civil and criminal cases. The lower courts consist of
magistrates, who are part of the executive branch, and session and
district judges, who belong to the judicial branch. The Supreme Court
is divided into two sections: the high court and the appellate court.
The high court hears original cases mostly dealing with constitutional
issues and reviews cases from the lower courts. The appellate court has
jurisdiction to hear appeals of judgments, decrees, orders, or
sentences of the high court. Rulings of the appellate court are binding
on all other courts.
The Government continued to delay action on the Supreme Court order
asking that administrative measures be put in place separating the
judiciary from the executive. In October 2005 the Supreme Court refused
to entertain the Government's 21st appeal seeking another extension.
However, at year's end the Government had failed to pass legislation or
provide procedures to comply with this decision to separate the
judiciary from the executive. In September 2005 a High Court panel
rendered unconstitutional an amendment to the constitution that
legitimized martial law in the 1980s. The Prime Minister's office
arranged for a stay of the ruling because of its ramifications for the
legacy of former President Ziaur Rahman, the late husband of the Prime
Minister.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides accused persons with the right
to be represented by counsel, to review accusatory material, to call
witnesses, and to appeal verdicts. There is no jury trial, and all
cases are tried by judges. Trials are public, and defendants have the
right to an attorney; however, state-funded attorneys are rarely
provided. Under the provisions of the public safety act, the Law and
Order Disruption Crimes Speedy Trial Act (STA), and the Women and
Children Repression Prevention Act, special tribunals hear cases and
issue verdicts. Cases under these laws must be investigated and tried
within specific time limits, although the law was unclear regarding the
disposition of the case if it was not finished within the allotted time
period. Defendants are presumed innocent, have the right to appeal, and
have the right to see the Government's evidence against them.
The court system was plagued by corruption and a substantial
backlog of cases, and trials were typically marked by extended
continuances. These conditions effectively prevented many persons from
obtaining a fair trial due to witness tampering, victim intimidation,
and missing evidence. A September 2004 Transparency International
survey revealed that magistrates, attorneys, and court officials
demanded bribes from defendants in more than 67 percent of the cases
filed under the STA (see section 1.d.).
In July 2004 parliament codified the use of Alternative Dispute
Resolution (ADR) for civil cases and extended its use to Sylhet and
Chittagong. ADR allows citizens to have the opportunity to present
their cases before filing for mediation. According to government
sources, wider use of mediation in civil cases quickened the
administration of justice. While the ADR system has popular appeal, no
independent entity conducted an assessment of its fairness or
impartiality. The Muslim Family Ordinance codifies traditional Islamic
law concerning inheritance, marriage, and divorce for registered
marriages for members of the Muslim community. There are similar sets
of laws in place for the Hindu and Christian communities.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The Government stated that it
held no political prisoners; however, opposition parties and human
rights monitors claimed the Government arrested many political
activists and convicted them on unfounded criminal charges (see section
1.d.). NGOs did not have access to prisoners.
In April 2005 a Dhaka court granted bail to and released journalist
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who was detained at the airport for his
attempted 2003 travel to Israel. Choudhury claimed to have been
tortured during his 15-month imprisonment that began in 2003. His trial
on sedition charges was scheduled to begin in September but was
postponed (see section 2.a.).
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The Government did not
interfere with civil judicial procedures.
Property Restitution.--During the year the Government did not take
any measures to implement the 2001 Vested Property Return Act providing
for property restitution to persons, mostly Hindus, who had their
property seized by the Government after the 1965 India-Pakistan war
under the Vested Property Act. Approximately 2.5 million acres of land
were seized from Hindus, and almost all of the 10 million Hindus in the
country were affected. In April 2001, parliament passed the Vested
Property Return Act, stipulating that land remaining under government
control that was seized under the Vested Property Act be returned to
its original owners, provided the original owners or their heirs who
remained resident citizens. The Government was required to prepare a
list of vested property holdings by October 2001. In 2002 parliament
passed an amendment to the Vested Property Return Act, which allowed
the Government unlimited time to return the vested properties and gave
control of the properties, including the right to lease them, to local
government employees. The Government did not publish a list of vested
property under its control and as a result, the original land owners
could not reclaim their entitled property (see section 2.c.).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law allowed intelligence and law enforcement
agencies to tap phones with the permission of the chief executive of
MOHA. The ordinance also gives the Government, in the interest of
national security, the authority to prevent telephone operators from
delivering messages. In case of national emergency, the Government can
revoke any permit to provide communications services without providing
compensation to the holder of the license. The ordinance went into
effect during a recess in parliament but must be approved as soon as
parliament returns to become permanent law.
Police, even in cases not affiliated with the Special Powers Act,
rarely obtained warrants, and officers violating these procedures were
not punished. RSF claimed that police monitored journalists' e-mail.
The Special Branch of the police, National Security Intelligence, and
the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence employed informers to
report on and conduct surveillance on citizens perceived to be
political opponents of the Government.
The Government forcibly resettled people. On March 2, according to
press reports, Dhaka City Corporation authorities evicted the dwellers
of a slum in the Dhalpur area of Dhaka and demolished their shelters.
Two platoons of police and 30 eviction laborers participated in the
evictions. The evicted people protested the action.
On June 21, according to press reports, the Capital City
Development Authority of Dhaka, a semi-autonomous government
development agency, evicted several thousand individuals, including
women, children and the elderly, from a slum in the Gulshan area of
Dhaka. The shanties were subsequently bulldozed for a development
project. Police used batons to quell the eviction victims when they
protested.
Police sometimes threatened members of the families of individuals
who were wanted by police. During the year there were instances of
physical abuse or detention of family members by law enforcement
personnel to extract information regarding wanted relatives.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and press; however, in practice the Government limited these
rights.
Individuals were not always able to criticize the Government
publicly without fear of reprisal, and the Government often attempted
to impede criticism by prohibiting or dispersing political gatherings.
There were hundreds of daily and weekly independent publications.
Many newspapers were at times critical of government policies and
activities, including those of the Prime Minister. In addition to one
official government-owned news service, there were two private news
services, United News of Bangladesh, which is affiliated with Agence
France-Presse, and BD News.
Newspaper ownership and content were not subject to direct
government restriction. The Government owned or significantly
influenced one radio and some television stations; however, unlike in
previous years, these stations did not focus the bulk of their coverage
on the Government.
There were six private satellite television stations in operation,
and two private radio stations began broadcasting a few hours a day on
a trial basis. There were also two foreign-based and -licensed
satellite television stations that broadcast into the country and
maintained domestic news operations. Cable operators generally
functioned without government interference; however, cable operators
were forced to drop several international channels, allegedly for
nonpayment of taxes. All private stations were also required to
broadcast, without charge, selected government news programs and
speeches by the Prime Minister and the President as a condition of
operation.
Attacks on journalists and newspapers and efforts to intimidate
them by the Government, political party activists, and others occurred
frequently. Attacks against journalists by political activists were
common during times of political violence, and many journalists were
injured by police. According to Odhikar, one journalist was killed, 183
journalists were injured, six were arrested, 53 were assaulted, and 114
were threatened during the year.
In its 2005 ranking of press freedom, Reporters Without Borders
(RSF) ranked Bangladesh 151 out of 167 countries reviewed. This ranking
reflected the lack of freedom for journalists and news organizations
and the absence of efforts undertaken by the state to respect and
ensure respect for such freedom.
On January 13, gunmen shot and wounded S. Changma Sattyajit,
President of the Panchhair Press Club and correspondent of the Daily
Samakal, in front of his house in Nalkata. According to media reports,
no charges were filed in the case.
On April 16, police injured 20 journalists at a cricket match
against Australia. The clash occurred during a protest of a previous
attack by police against Prothom Alo photojournalist Shamsul Haq Tanku.
According to press accounts, during a lunch break journalists demanded
an apology from the police allegedly responsible for the attack on
Shamsul. Police, led by Deputy Commissioner Ali Akbar, attacked the
journalists, chasing them into a dressing room. Much of the attack was
captured on film and received considerable international coverage,
particularly in Australia. No charges were initially filed, but as a
result of public pressure, on July 12, Home Minister Babar ordered
administrative action against Akbar and the other police involved in
the incident. The home minister also distributed financial compensation
to the victims.
On May 29, BNP activists injured over 25 journalists in Kushtia
during a support rally for local journalists at the public library. The
rally had been called to support journalists who were being sued for
defamation by Member of Parliament Shahidul Islam of the BNP. Earlier
in May police had closed a local paper, Andoloner Bazar, critical of
Islam, claiming that the paper did not have proper permits. According
to video footage, on May 29, a group of men gathered outside the BNP
headquarters across the street from the rally, scaled the walls of the
library property, and beat individuals with sticks, chairs, and bricks.
Police were present but did not intervene once the attack began. Among
the injured was Bangladesh Observer editor and then-President of the
Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury.
Despite the taped footage of the attack, no charges were filed. On July
12, at a meeting chaired by Home Minister Lutfozzaman Babar, Islam
formally apologized to Chowdhury and the other journalists for the
attack and agreed to withdraw the defamation cases against the local
journalists. However, at year's end the cases had not been dropped.
On May 30, police in Satkhira dispersed a silent procession of
journalists protesting the Kushtia attack. Police used batons on the
protestors as they tried to enter the deputy commissioner's office to
present a letter protesting the Kushtia attack. The journalists then
regrouped and formed a human chain to protest the police action.
On October 31, according to press reports, members of the RAB
arrested and tortured Focus Bangla journalist Shafiqul Islam, citing
section 54 of the criminal code as justification for his detention.
While torturing Shafiqul members of the RAB allegedly cited staff
reporters from The Daily Star, Sangbad, and Janakantha as their next
targets. When he was taken before a judge, Islam said that he was
tortured with electric shocks for eight hours by an RAB official.
Authorities accused Islam of being in contact with Islamic extremists.
Violence against journalists intensified during the November
transition to an interim government. From November 13 to 22, six
journalists were targets of attacks and threats. For example, on
November 16, local militiamen in Mymensingh attacked and severely beat
four journalists: Niamul Kabir Sajal of Dainik Prothom Alo; Babul
Hossain of Dainik Janakantha; Mir Golam Mostafa of Dainik Shamokal; and
a photographer known as Nuruzzaman. All four journalists were
hospitalized and later filed complaints. Authorities arrested six of
the assailants, but the leader remained at large. Also, on November 22,
six or seven youths armed with bamboo sticks beat Hasibur Rahman Bilu,
a reporter for the Daily Star, Radio Today, and Radio Deutsche Welle,
as he was leaving a bank in Bogra. Bilu was hospitalized for leg and
back injuries. The youths, who were allegedly affiliated with a BNP
rally nearby, accused Bilu of reporting against the BNP.
On January 4, the court ordered a new investigation into the 2004
killing of Daily Janmabhumi editor Humayun Kabir Balu in Khulna. A
trial had started in the Khulna Speedy Trial tribunal in October 2005,
but the public prosecutor was accused of an improper investigation and
insufficient evidence. At year's end two suspects were in custody, four
had not been located, and two were killed in October and December 2005
in RAB crossfires.
On March 21, the Chittagong Speedy Trial tribunal sentenced one
person to death and 11 others to life imprisonment for killing
journalist Kamal Hossain in 2004. Fourteen others were acquitted of the
crime.
The sedition case of journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury was
scheduled to begin in January 2007. In 2005 a Dhaka court granted bail
to and released Choudhury, who was detained at the airport in 2003 on
charges of sedition and attempting to travel to Israel (see section
1.e.).
There were no developments in the 2004 killing of Khulna Press Club
President Manik Chandra Saha or the 2004 killing of Daily Durjoy Bangla
editor Dipanker Chakrabarty.
Both the BNP and the AL attempted to control access to the media.
Both the Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina
selectively denied specific television stations access to political
meetings.
On October 10, the Government banned the import, marketing, or
reprinting of the October 2 issue of the Indian biweekly magazine Desh.
On July 22, Jatiya Party activists seized and destroyed copies of
the daily newspaper Prothom Alo after it ran a story claiming that
Jatiya Party leader and former President H.M. Ershad had evaded taxes.
According to press reports, Jatiya Party supporters barricaded a main
road in Magura and stole over 11,000 copies of the paper from a bus.
Sagar Gazi, supervisor of the bus company, filed a case with Magura-
Sadar police station, accusing the Jatiya Party's district unit general
secretary, Hasan Seraj Suja, and 70 others in the crime. No information
was available regarding the status of the case.
Foreign publications and films were subject to review and
censorship. A government-run film censor board reviewed local and
foreign films and had the authority to censor or ban films on the
grounds of state security, law and order, religious sentiment,
obscenity, foreign relations, defamation, or plagiarism. Video rental
libraries and DVD shops stocked a wide variety of films, and government
efforts to enforce censorship on rentals were sporadic and ineffective.
Over the course of the year, the Government increased efforts to
tighten censorship laws. In September the Government passed an act that
enabled the Government to suspend broadcast of any private satellite
channel for the ``public interest.'' The law permits the Government to
shut stations broadcasting ``indecent'' movies and programs and
prevents the sale of foreign products. The Government also amended the
Censorship of Films Act, increasing penalties for showing films,
posters or advertisements without censor certificates. In March the
Information Ministry ordered an intensification of efforts to censor
vulgarity in films playing in movie theaters.
The Government followed no clear policy on issuing television
licenses and rarely granted licenses to persons unaffiliated with the
Government.
The Government exercised censorship most often in cases of immodest
or obscene photographs, perceived misrepresentation, defamation of
Islam, or objectionable comments regarding national leaders.
Novelist Taslima Nasreen remained abroad in Kolkata after being
freed on bond in 2004 for criminal charges that she allegedly insulted
Muslim beliefs (see section 2.c.).
The review of a 2004 ban on Ahmidiyya publications remained pending
in the high court at year's end.
Government figures frequently used defamation charges to curb
freedom of speech. For example, on February 2, BNP Public Works
Minister Mirza Abbas filed a defamation case against the editor of
Prothom Alo. Abbas filed the case after the editor published a story
alleging that Abbas objected to the construction of a police complex in
Razarbagh. The publisher had refused to allow Abbas to publish a
response to the story.
On April 2, the chief whip of the parliament, Khondaker Delwar
Hossain of the BNP, sued the editors of Prothom Alo, Janakatha,
Sangbad, Jugantor, and Ajker Kagoj for defamation because the
newspapers had accused Hossain of abusing entertainment allowances and
parliament resources for personal gain. Authorities released the
editors and staff on bail. The Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate's Court
eventually dismissed the charges, but Hossain filed an appeal petition
which was pending at year's end.
In June BNP MP Abdul Mannan filed a defamation case against the
editor, publisher, and other staff from the Dainik Jugantor. Mannan
accused staff members of the paper of defamation because they published
a story on May 31 linking him to heroin smuggling.
Internet Freedom.--There were no direct 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. According to RSF police often misused surveillance of
journalists' e-mail (see section 1.f.).
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government did not limit
academic freedom or cultural events; however, authorities discouraged
research on sensitive religious and political topics.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, subject to restrictions in the
interest of public order and public health; however, the Government
frequently limited these rights.
Freedom of Assembly.--The law allows the Government to ban
assemblies of more than four persons, and according to Ain O Shalish
Kendro, a local human rights NGO, the Government banned rallies for
security reasons 164 times during the year. The Government also used
mass arrests to deter demonstrators from participating in protests (see
section 1.d.).
There were frequent clashes between police and opposition
supporters during the year. The opposition led by the AL organized
numerous ``agitation programs'' protesting against the Government,
including ``sieges'' of government institutions and transportation
blockades of cities and the Chittagong port, and it enforced work
stoppages (hartals) (see section 2.d.). During these protests police
and demonstrators often clashed, resulting in deaths and injuries.
On July 2, a police officer and an opposition demonstrator were
killed during an AL-organized transportation blockade of roads, rivers,
and railways. Demonstrators throwing stones killed police Subinspector
Abul Bashar at Murgapara in Narayanganj. Goman Mustafa Milon, an AL
activist, died in a separate clash in Dhaka the same day. In addition
to the deaths, dozens of cars and a train were damaged or destroyed by
demonstrators. Over 100 others were wounded throughout the country.
On September 6, police and demonstrators clashed in Dhaka during an
AL-organized ``siege'' of the Election Commission. According to media
accounts, the clash occurred when demonstrators tried to break through
barricades and approach the Election Commission offices. Over 100
opposition activists and 15 police were injured in the fighting. Among
the opposition supporters injured was Saber Hossain Chowdhury,
political secretary to the head of the AL.
On September 12, police and demonstrators clashed in Dhaka during
an AL-organized ``siege'' of the Prime Minister's office. Demonstrators
and police clashed in various locations throughout the city. Over 150
AL supporters, including former home minister Mohammad Nasim and AL MP
Asaduzzaman Noor, were injured during the demonstration. Ten policemen
were also injured. A day earlier the Government had declared a ban on
gatherings or protests in the vicinity of the Prime Minister's office.
There were no developments related to the February 2005 case of
police abuse during an AL Jubo League (JL) procession. Police wounded
the JL's general secretary along with 30 other activists and two police
officers.
There were no reported developments in the March 2005 police attack
against buses carrying AL activists in which 50 people were injured.
There were no charges filed related to the June 2005 case in which
BNP activists sabotaged a meeting of the Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh Party
(BDB) by damaging the meeting's venue.
There were no charges filed in the November 2005 case in which BNP
activists and police disrupted the march of AL supporters on their way
to an AL rally. Such obstructions took place in at least three sites
within an hour's travel of Dhaka, specifically Dhamrai, Keraniganj, and
Manikganj.
By year's end the 2004 case in which police fired on a procession
of tribal people protesting an eco-park project and killed Piren Snal,
a member of the Garo tribe, in Tangail district, was still pending.
Authorities conducted a judicial investigation, and the court dismissed
the case due to insufficient information. At year's end Snal's family
filed another petition contesting the legitimacy of the report.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for the right of every
citizen to form associations, subject to ``reasonable restrictions'' in
the interest of morality or public order, and the Government generally
respected this right. Individuals were free to join private groups.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law establishes Islam as the state
religion and also stipulates the right, subject to law, public order,
and morality, to practice the religion of one's choice. The Government
generally respected this right in practice. Although the Government was
secular, religion influenced politics. Discrimination against members
of religious minorities existed at both the Governmental and societal
level, and religious minorities were disadvantaged in practice in such
areas as access to government jobs, political office, and access to
justice.
Shari'a (Islamic law) was not implemented formally and was not
imposed on non-Muslims but played an influential role in civil matters
pertaining to the Muslim community. Family laws concerning marriage,
divorce, and adoption differed slightly depending on the religion of
the persons involved. Each religion had its set of family laws. The
Muslim Family Ordinance codifies traditional Islamic law concerning
inheritance, marriage, and divorce for registered marriages of members
of the Muslim community. Muslim men may marry up to four wives;
however, a Muslim man must get his first wife's signed permission
before taking a second wife. Under Hindu law, unlimited polygamy is
permitted, and while there is no provision for divorce and legal
separation, Hindu widows may legally remarry. There were no legal
restrictions on marriage between members of different faiths. Marriages
in rural areas often were not registered because of ignorance of the
law.
Religious organizations were not required to register with the
Government, but the Government required all NGOs, including religious
organizations, to register with the Ministry of Social Welfare.
Additionally, NGOs must register with the NGO Affairs Bureau if they
received or planned to receive foreign funds for social development
projects. The Government had the legal authority to cancel the
registration of an NGO or to take other actions such as dissolving its
executive committee, freezing its bank accounts, or canceling projects;
however, the Government rarely used such powers.
Government protection of Ahmadiyyas improved, although
discrimination continued. The Government ban on publishing of Ahmadiyya
literature continued to be stayed by the high court, effectively
allowing Ahmadiyyas to publish their materials (see section 2.a.).
As in previous years, the Government failed to prepare a list of
property that was expropriated by the Government from Hindus following
the 1965 India-Pakistan War (see section 1.e.).
Foreign missionaries were allowed to work in the country, but their
right to proselytize was not explicitly protected by the law. Some
missionaries faced problems in obtaining visas or renewing visas, which
must be done annually. Some foreign missionaries reported that internal
security forces closely monitored their activities; however, there were
no reports of other government harassment during the year. The
Government allowed various religions to establish places of worship,
train clergy, travel for religious purposes, and maintain links with
co-religionists abroad. The law permitted citizens to proselytize.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Discrimination against
Ahmadiyyas, Hindus, and Christians occurred during the year.
On June 23, approximately 1,500 members of the anti-Ahmadiyya
organization International Khatme Nabuwat Movement Bangladesh (IKNMB)
attempted to seize the Ashkona Ahmadiyya mosque in Uttara. The
Government deployed over 3,000 police to prevent violence and cordon
off the Ahmadiyya complex. Eventually, the demonstrators left the
Uttara area and attempted to block the main entrance to Dhaka-Zia
International Airport. Police dispersed the demonstrators, injuring 20.
In September shortly before the annual Hindu festival of Durga
Puja, the media reported that several idols of the Hindu goddess Durga
were vandalized in various parts of the country, including Cox's Bazar,
Nilphamari, Maulvi Bazar, and Tongail.
On October 6, IKNMB demonstrators attempted to seize the Ahmadiyya
mosque in Nakhalpara in Dhaka. Police prevented the protesters from
approaching the mosque, and the demonstrators dispersed without major
incident.
Police arrested eight persons throughout the year in connection
with the June 2005 arson and bombings at Ahmadiyya mosques in Nator,
Brahhmanbaria, and Bhadugarh.
No action was taken nor charges filed related to the July 2005
deaths of two employees of the Christian Life Bangladesh NGO who were
allegedly killed because they showed an evangelical film. Police
initially arrested several suspects for the killing, but they were
later released, and no charges had been filed at year's end.
There was no corrective action taken related to the 2004 violence
against Hindus. Armed attackers led by a local BNP leader set 20 Hindu
houses on fire, injuring 30 persons. Victims alleged that the attack
originated over a pending property dispute.
There were no developments related to the 2004 death of Joseph
Gomes, a Christian convert, near his home in Jamalpur district. Police
arrested a local madrasah teacher, Maulana Abdus Sobhan Munshi, for the
killing, held him for two weeks, and released him.
Religious minorities were disadvantaged in seeking government jobs
and political office. Selection boards for government services often
lacked minority group representation.
While there is no known local Jewish community, anti-Semitic
commentary sometimes appeared in the press.
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 these rights in practice; however,
there were instances in which the Government restricted these rights.
The opposition frequently used enforced transportation blockades
and hartals or enforced strikes as political tactics. These
extrajudicial methods of protest, sanctioned by party leaders and often
enforced with violence, obstructed freedom of movement.
On July 2, for example, the AL-led 14-Party Alliance declared a
country-wide transportation blockade. Supporters barricaded major
streets as well as rail lines. Demonstrators also attempted to damage
rail lines and attacked trains running throughout the country. On
September 20, the opposition declared another transportation blockade
that stopped all traffic into major cities from dawn to dusk.
According to Odhikar, 23 people died and 1,522 people were injured
in election-related violence from mid-October to December. In late
October when the BNP-led government stepped down, the AL launched a
series of violent demonstrations in Dhaka to prevent former chief
justice K.M. Hassan from taking over as chief advisor of the caretaker
government. Sheikh Hasina and other AL leaders called for supporters to
come to Dhaka with their ``sticks"-a reference to the oars that are a
symbol of the party. From October 27 to 29, there were violent clashes,
resulting in 16 deaths. On October 29, after Hassan declined to assume
the position of chief advisor, President Iajuddin was sworn in to lead
the caretaker government. In November the 14-Party Alliance declared a
country-wide transportation blockade in protest after the interim
government announced the election date.
Throughout December the AL and its partners continued an agitation
program that included transportation blockades, enforced strikes, and
``sieges'' of public buildings such as the President's office. On
December 18, the opposition alliance expanded with the addition of two
other parties, forming the Grand Alliance. On December 23, the Grand
Alliance declared that it would participate in elections in spite of
all its demands not being met, and it cancelled further agitation
programs through the rest of the year.
As in previous years, numerous opposition work stoppages were
declared over the course of the year. During the stoppages the
organization or group calling for the action generally permitted only
emergency services and nonmotorized vehicles on the streets. Cars and
buses on the road were often attacked and burned. Most shops, banks,
schools, universities, and other public and private offices were forced
to close for safety reasons (see section 2.b.).
The law does not provide for exile, and it was not used. The
country's passports were invalid for travel to Israel.
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. Working with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), the Government provided temporary protection to individual
asylum seekers whom UNHCR interviewed and recognized as refugees on a
case-by-case basis.
During the year the Government denied asylum to Rohingyas from
Burma. The Government categorized these refugees as illegal economic
migrants and turned back as many persons as possible at the border.
According to UNHCR, some refugees returned by the Government were
entitled to refugee status. Some unregistered persons in UNHCR camps
returned illegally after their official repatriation to Burma, sharing
food and lodging with relatives who received rations as registered
members of the camps. On a number of occasions, camp officials
transferred some of the unregistered persons over to police, who
imprisoned them under the Foreigners Act. There were 71 Rohingya
refugees in local prisons in the Cox's Bazar area at year's end. Of
these persons five had been sentenced and 66 remained detained. In
addition, at year's end there were two Rohingya refugees in local
prisons in Comilla and two in Chittagong. Another two Burmese not
registered with UNHCR were currently serving prison sentences, and
another 261 had been detained pending trial.
According to the Government, 21,322 Rohingya refugees remained in
the two official camps administered by the Government in cooperation
with UNHCR. However, a preliminary UNHCR estimate placed the number
closer to 28,000. According to international aid organizations active
in the area, there are approximately 200,000 Rohingyas not officially
recognized as refugees living in the surrounding area of Teknaf and
Cox's Bazaar. There were no repatriations of Rohingyas to Burma.
Conditions in the refugee camps continued to deteriorate until
September. There was some progress at the end of the year regarding the
Government's attitude towards the Rohingya refugee camps near Cox's
Bazar. After government personnel changes, UNHCR and the Government
were able to reach a consensus on making improvements. For example, a
pilot project was launched to build replacements for shelters that were
sinking into the ground. A project to build new latrines was launched,
and the Government agreed to improve education standards and to permit
NGOs to work in the camps again. In addition, the Government indicated
a new willingness to cooperate with UNHCR and other international
organizations and NGOs to improve standards in the camps.
According to UNHCR there were many reported cases of refugee abuse
including rape, assault, domestic abuse, deprivation of food ration
entitlements, and documentation problems.
The Government did not take corrective action related to the March
2005 case in which UNHCR received reports that a police inspector and
his staff severely beat and attempted to rape six females, including
two girls aged eight and 12. UNHCR strongly protested to camp
authorities, but the Government took no action.
According to Refugees International (RI), the Government, and
specifically the former local refugee relief and repatriation
commissioner in Cox's Bazar, Shoyebur Rahman, placed excessive
restrictions on refugees' freedom of movement and ability to work or
earn a livelihood. During his tenure which ended in August, Rahman
created obstacles for UNHCR to work in the camps and blocked access to
the camps by certain NGOs and programs designed to relieve poor
conditions. After Rahman's departure the Government worked to address
several of the most pressing concerns in the refugee camps.
As in previous years, the Government continued to ignore UNHCR
requests to allow Rohingya refugees who were unable to return to Burma
to work locally, benefit from local medical programs, or participate in
the education system. The Government insisted that all Rohingya
refugees remain in camps until their return to Burma. The Government
claimed Rohingyans were not allowed to possess money and that money in
their possession could be confiscated at any time.
The Government repeatedly rejected a UNHCR proposal to grant
refugees rights for temporary stay and freedom of movement under a
self-reliance program.
Approximately 300,000 non-Bengali Bihari Muslims who emigrated to
the former East Pakistan during the 1947 partition and who supported
Pakistan during the 1971 war continued to live in camps throughout the
country. According to RI, these persons lived in unsanitary living
conditions with little access to both education and medical resources.
Some Biharis declined citizenship in 1972 and were awaiting
repatriation to Pakistan, where the Government was reluctant to accept
them. Many of the stranded Biharis born after 1971 assimilated into the
mainstream Bengali-speaking environment.
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, albeit with significant instances of violence.
Members of parliament are elected at least every five years. The
parliament has 345 members, 300 of whom are directly elected at-large.
The remaining 45 are reserved seats for women nominated by the
political parties, based on their proportional representation within
the 300-member group of directly elected MPs. Party leaders appoint
candidates for elections; some candidates allegedly purchased
nomination from party leaders with generous campaign contributions or
personal gifts.
Elections and Political Participation.--Khaleda Zia, leader of the
BNP, became prime minister following parliamentary elections in 2001,
deemed to be free and fair by international and domestic observers. The
2001 elections, supervised by a nonparty caretaker government, took
place in a climate of sporadic violence and isolated irregularities.
The BNP formed a four-party coalition government with the Jamaat-e-
Islami, Bangladesh Jatiya Party, and the Islami Oikko Jote; however,
the BNP and the opposition AL dominated the political scene.
Throughout the year, AL legislators participated in meetings of the
parliamentary standing committees in various ministries but continued
to boycott by-elections and staged frequent walk-outs of parliamentary
sessions. In June 2004 the AL returned to parliament after a year's
boycott; however, the AL walked out of parliament again in September
2004, alleging the speaker's biased role in favor of the ruling party.
AL members attended a parliamentary session for a few minutes in
February to protest the January 27 killing of former finance minister
Shah A.M.S. Kibria (see section 1.a.). AL leaders complained of
government restrictions and interference in their political activities
including their right to organize (see section 2.b.).
There were seven women directly elected to parliament in 2001. In
September political parties nominated 45 more women to fill in the
newly established reserved seats for women created through the 14th
constitutional amendment, ratified in May 2004. The AL, which did not
participate in the debate on adding the 45 seats, did not accept its
share of reserved seats, saying that the amendment fell short of the
promise to make a provision for women to be elected directly by the
people. Some women's rights groups also protested the amendment on
similar grounds and challenged its validity in the high court. The
Supreme Court dismissed the writs.
In the parliament dissolved in October, there were two women with
the status of minister-the Prime Minister and the leader of the main
opposition party; the latter enjoyed the status of a cabinet minister.
Four of the 76 judges of the Supreme Court were women.
There was no provision for providing parliamentary seats for
minorities. Members of minority groups constituted approximately 12
percent of the population but held less than 3 percent of parliamentary
seats.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained a
problem throughout the Government. Transparency International
Bangladesh (TIB) indicated in a July report that systemic corruption
continued to pose a serious challenge to good governance. A TIB sample
survey identified reports of corruption in 38 sectors and ranked 10
sectors as ``most corrupt'' or ``very corrupt'' based on the number of
reports. Data on financial loss was available in 20 percent of the
reported cases and totaled more than $79 million. The report identified
the Ministry for Local government and Rural Development as the most
corrupt based on financial loss. A survey of primary education in two
districts documented that 63 percent of students entitled to a
government education stipend had to pay a bribe to receive the stipend.
The study also documented the collection by school authorities of
$31,000 in illegal monthly fees. In April TIB released a two-year study
of bribery at the country's two major land ports, concluding that
exporters and importers paid over $1.4 million in bribes.
The three-member anticorruption commission, established in 2004,
had little effect on combating corruption and focused in the past two
years largely on organizational challenges.
There was no law providing for public access to government
information. Instead, 1923 the Official Secrets Act protected
government officials from public scrutiny in the name of national
security, hindering transparency and accountability at all levels.
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 independently and without government restriction,
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases.
While human rights groups were often sharply critical of the
Government, they also practiced self-censorship, particularly on
politically sensitive cases and subjects. Unlike in previous years, the
Government did not pressure individual human rights advocates by filing
false allegations against them or by delaying reentry visas for
international human rights activists. Some local human rights
organizations, however, reported that they believed the Government was
tapping their telephones and e-mail accounts.
There were many examples of harassment by the intelligence
agencies. For example, the Government threatened to block foreign
funding to the PRIP Trust NGO unless the organization, which championed
minority rights during the 2001 general election, agreed to change the
membership of its board of directors.
In mid-September police arrested 172 workers of the NGO Proshika
because, according to media reports, the Government believed Proshika
workers intended to participate in an opposition protest (see section
1.d.).
On July 9, the Government strongly criticized the local office of
TI after TI announced its annual ``corruption perceptions'' index and
named the country the most corrupt to do business in for the fifth year
in a row. Several government ministers also accused the local TI
representatives of corruption. On several occasions in August and
September, the Government strongly criticized the Center for Policy
Dialogue (CPD), which partnered with the World Economic Forum (WEF),
because the WEF published critical comments regarding corruption in
foreign investment in the country.
At year's end, Asudullah Al-Aalib was awaiting trial for the
February 2005 attack on several offices of leading NGOs, such as the
Grameen Bank and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC).
Authorities in 2005 charged Al-Galib, the leader of Ahle Hadith, a
local Islamic group, for bombing the Grameen and BRAC offices and for
targeting a series of cultural events and organizations. The Government
cooperated with international organizations such as the UNHRC and the
ICRC; however, the ICRC did not visit the country during the year. In
December 2004 the Asia Pacific director of the UNHCR visited the
country to investigate the status of the Rohingyas. Despite its
election pledge and repeated public announcements, the Government did
not enact legislation establishing an independent National Human Rights
Commission. Previous legislation authorizing the establishment of a
human rights ombudsman remained dormant.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination; however, the Government did not
strongly enforce laws aimed at eliminating discrimination. Women,
children, minority groups, and persons with disabilities often
confronted social and economic disadvantages.
Women.--Laws specifically prohibit certain forms of discrimination
against women, provide for special procedures for persons accused of
violence against women and children, call for harsher penalties,
provide compensation to victims, and require action against
investigating officers for negligence or willful failure of duty;
however, enforcement of these laws was weak. In 2003 parliament passed
an amendment to the current law, weakening provisions for dowry crimes
and addressing the issue of suicide committed by female victims of acts
of dishonor. On October 3, parliament passed a law allowing release on
parole of women prisoners of certain categories and their eventual
freedom from imprisonment on fulfillment of certain conditions (see
section 1.c.).
Domestic violence was widespread. Although violence against women
was difficult to quantify, recent research showed that up to 50 percent
of all women experienced domestic violence at least once. Some of the
reported violence against women continued to be related to disputes
over dowries. From January to December, Odhikar reported 243 dowry-
related killings.
The law prohibits rape and physical spousal abuse but makes no
specific provision for spousal rape. From January to December according
to local NGOs, there were 639 reported incidents of rape. The press
reported that 126 of the rape victims were killed and that another 13
committed suicide after being raped. Human rights monitors insisted
that the actual number of rapes was higher, as many rape victims did
not report the incidents in order to avoid social disgrace. Prosecution
of rapists was uneven. In January 2005 at a workshop organized by
BSEHR, then-attorney general A.F. Hassan Ariff said ``judges consider
the seriousness of rape to be the same as theft, robbery, and other
crimes.''
On January 29, a Dhaka court sentenced two persons, Belal Hossain
and Shah Alam, to 30 years' rigorous imprisonment for raping a 15-year
old garment factory worker in January 2002.
In April according to international observers, traffic police
constable Azadul Islam raped a 12-year-old girl. The girl had fled from
the house of Tajul Islam, a businessman in Islampur for whom she was
working and whose family reportedly beat her. When Islam found the
girl, he offered to take her to stay at his rented house in East
Bashabo. On April 15, Islam's neighbors found the girl in his house and
learned that she had been raped several times during her stay. The
neighbors filed a case at the Shabuzbagh police station. Islam was
suspended from service, but the case was not submitted to a court until
July 22, at which point the accused had fled.
Prostitution was legal and remained a problem during the year. The
minimum age of 18 for legal prostitution was commonly ignored by
authorities and circumvented by false statements of age. Procurers of
minors were rarely prosecuted, and large numbers of underage girls in
prostitution worked in brothels. UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated
in 2004 that there were 10,000 underage girls used in commercial sexual
exploitation in the country, but other estimates placed the figure as
high as 29,000 (see section 5, Children). Trafficking of women
internally and internationally remained a problem (see section 5,
Trafficking).
According to government sources, the Social Welfare Department ran
six homes for vagrants and one training center for destitute persons,
with a total capacity of 2,300 individuals. In addition the Ministry of
Women and Children Affairs ran six shelters for abused women and
children, one each in the six divisional headquarters.
NGOs, such as the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers' Associations
(BNWLA), also ran facilities to provide shelter to destitute persons
and distressed women and children. According to BSEHR persons in safe
custody were no longer housed in prisons. Courts sent most of them to
shelter homes. In a few cases, they were sent to the prison as a
transit for short periods.
Islamic tradition dictated that only those muftis (religious
scholars) who have expertise in Islamic law were authorized to declare
a fatwa. However, village religious leaders sometimes made declarations
in individual cases and called the declaration a fatwa. Sometimes this
resulted in extrajudicial punishments, often against women, for their
perceived moral transgressions, particularly in rural areas.
Incidents of vigilantism against women--sometimes led by religious
leaders (by means of fatwas)--occurred, particularly in rural areas
(see section 1.c.). Acid attacks remained a serious problem. Assailants
threw acid in the faces of women and a growing number of men, leaving
victims disfigured and often blind. From January to December, according
to Odhikar, 161 persons were attacked with acid. Of these 105 of the
victims were women, 36 were men, and 20 were children. According to
Acid Survivors' Foundation (ASF), authorities prosecuted 36.
The 2002 Acid Crime Control Law provides for speedier prosecutions
in special tribunals and generally does not allow bail. The act also
seeks to control the availability of acid and reduce acid violence
directed towards women, but lack of awareness of the law and poor
enforcement limited its effect. While the special tribunals were not
entirely effective, according to the Acid Survivors Foundation,
tribunals convicted 36 persons for acid attacks since 2002.
Women remained in a subordinate position in society, and the
Government did not act effectively to protect their basic rights (see
section 1.e). Employment opportunities increased at a greater rate for
women than for men in the last decade, largely due to the growth of the
export garment industry. Women made up approximately 80 percent of
garment factory staff. Programs run by the Government and NGOs
extending microcredit to rural women improved their economic power. Pay
was generally comparable for men and women.
Children.--The Government was generally responsive to children's
rights and welfare. Many of these efforts were supplemented by local
and foreign NGOs, and these joint efforts allowed the country to make
significant progress in improving health, nutrition, and education;
however, slightly more than half of all children were chronically
malnourished.
Under the law children between six and 10 years of age must attend
school through the fifth grade. Primary education was free and
compulsory, but the implementation of compulsory education fell short
in part because parents kept children out of school, preferring that
they work for money or help with household chores. Government
incentives to families sending children to school contributed
significantly to the rise in the enrollments in primary schools in
recent years. According to 2001 statistics provided by Campaign for
Popular Education, 80 percent of school-age children were enrolled in
schools with almost an equal male-female ratio. In a 2002 report, the
Campaign for Popular Education stated that 70 percent of the children
completed education up to the fifth grade and that the dropout rate was
24.3 percent. According to Education Ministry statistics, 97 percent of
school-age children were enrolled in primary schools during the year.
The Government expanded incentives for female education by making
education free for girls up to grade 12 and using a stipend system from
grades six to 12. Boys received free education only to grade five.
There were a few government hospitals designated exclusively for
children, but boys and girls had equal access to medical care in
government hospitals.
While the legal age of marriage is 18 for girls and 21 for boys,
underage marriage was a significant problem. Reliable statistics
concerning underage marriage were difficult to find because marriage
registrations were sporadic and birth registrations to verify a
person's age were far from universal. One local human rights NGO, Mass
Line Media, conducted a survey in 2004 that estimated 40 percent of all
marriages could be considered child marriages. In an effort to prevent
child marriage, the Government offered stipends for girls' school
expenses if parents promised to delay their daughters' marriage until
at least age 18.
According to human rights groups, 93 children were abducted, 366
were killed, 139 were injured in violence, 227 were raped, 20 were
victims of acid attacks, and 134 others were missing. According to
child rights activists, violence against children declined to some
extent due to growing awareness regarding child rights.
According to human rights monitors, child abandonment, kidnapping,
and trafficking continued to be serious and widespread problems.
Despite certain advances, trafficking of children continued to be a
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor remained a problem; it frequently resulted in the abuse
of children, mainly through mistreatment by employers during domestic
service and occasionally included servitude and trafficking for
commercial sexual exploitation abroad (see sections 6.c. and 6.d.).
According to the Bangladesh Institute of Labor Studies, attacks on
children constituted over 50 percent of the deaths, injuries, and
sexual assaults reported among domestic workers during the year.
According to a 2002 report published by the Government news agency
Bangladesh Shongbad Shongsta, there were approximately 400,000 homeless
children, of whom as many as 150,000 had no knowledge of their parents.
Few facilities existed for children whose parents were incarcerated.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, trafficking remained a serious problem affecting men, women,
and children. Trafficking in children for ``immoral or illegal
purposes'' carries the death penalty or life imprisonment, and the
Government took measures for the expeditious prosecution of
traffickers. During the year 78 trafficking cases were adjudicated by
the special courts dealing with incidents of repression against women
and children. Courts convicted 42 persons and ordered sentences ranging
from death to 10 years in prison. Other than the police, the coast
guard, BDR, the RAB, and a number of NGOs rescued and assisted victims
of trafficking.
There was extensive trafficking in both women and children,
primarily to India, Pakistan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE),
Kuwait, and destinations within the country, for commercial sexual
exploitation and involuntary servitude. Men were also trafficked for
the purpose of involuntary servitude in the garment industry in Jordan
and the construction industry in the UAE. Similarly, entire families
were victims of bonded labor throughout the country.
According to government sources, law enforcement personnel rescued
256 victims of trafficking from January to December. Since August 2005,
a cooperative effort between NGOs, the Government, and the UAE resulted
in the repatriation of 168 camel jockeys, 167 of whom were reunited
with their biological parents. Some of the rescued victims remained in
government homes or at NGO-run shelters and received social and
vocational skills training while NGOs attempted to locate their
families.
BNWLA rescued 43 trafficking victims, including a Nigerian boy,
from within the country and repatriated 27 others from the UAE and
India during the year. The number of persons arrested for trafficking
was difficult to obtain, as charges against traffickers were sometimes
for lesser crimes, such as crossing borders without proper documents.
According to the Centre for Women and Child Services, most trafficked
boys were under 10 years of age, while most trafficked girls were
between 11 and 16 years of age.
The exact number of women and children trafficked was unknown. Most
trafficked persons were lured by promises of good jobs or marriage, and
some were forced into involuntary servitude outside of and within the
country. Parents sometimes willingly sent their children away to escape
poverty. Unwed mothers, orphans, and others outside of the normal
family support system were also susceptible. Traffickers living abroad
often arrived in a village to marry a woman, only to dispose of her
upon arrival in the destination country, where women were sold into
bonded labor, menial jobs, or commercial sexual exploitation. Criminal
gangs conducted some of the trafficking. The border with India was
loosely controlled, especially around Jessore and Benapole, continuing
to make illegal border crossings easy.
Large numbers of children were used in brothels for commercial
sexual exploitation, and procurers of minors were rarely prosecuted.
UNICEF estimated in 2004 that there were 10,000 children forced into
commercial sexual exploitation in the country, but other estimates
placed the figure as high as 29,000 (see section 5, Children).
Government corruption greatly facilitated the process of
trafficking. Police and local government officials often ignored
trafficking in women and children for commercial sexual exploitation
and were easily bribed by brothel owners and pimps (see sections 1.c.
and 5).
Although a lack of resources hindered investigations, the
Government expanded antitrafficking police units to every district to
encourage victims to testify against their traffickers and to compile
data on trafficking. In response to inadequately trained police and
prosecutors, the Government worked with legal experts to provide
specialized training to prosecutors and with the International
Organization on Migration to develop a trafficking course for the
National Police Academy.
The Government continued its efforts to combat trafficking in
persons through the trafficking monitoring cell at police headquarters,
a monthly interministerial committee headed by the secretary of the
Home Ministry. The cell monitored the activities of the police and
assisted in prosecuting relevant cases. The Government had district
monitoring committees headed by an additional deputy commissioner in
all 64 districts. Among their other responsibilities, these committees
transmitted to Dhaka monthly progress reports on arrests, convictions,
acquittals, and repatriation of trafficked victims.
Arrests, prosecutions, and convictions continued steadily. During
the year the Home Ministry reported 221 persons arrested on trafficking
charges and 42 convictions. Of those four resulted in death sentences,
28 in life sentences, and 10 in sentences of varying durations.
Nevertheless, the Government's capacity to address this issue remained
limited. Government projects included conducting awareness campaigns,
research, lobbying, and rescue and rehabilitation programs.
Additionally, the secretary of the Home Ministry met monthly with NGOs
working on antitrafficking issues to facilitate coordination and
cooperation between the Government and civil society. The Home
Ministry also adopted an awareness and motivation campaign policy
to combat trafficking in persons.
The Government convened two special interministerial committees,
with the cooperation of local and international NGOs, to monitor the
repatriation, rehabilitation, and social integration of repatriated
camel jockeys. The Government also formed community care committees
headed by local female government officials to help with their
rehabilitation process. While the Government provided support for
returning trafficking victims, government-run shelters were generally
inadequate and poorly run. The Government increasingly referred
repatriated victims to private shelter homes for care.
Many NGOs, community-based organizations, and local government
leaders worked on trafficking through prevention, research, data
collection, documentation, advocacy, awareness creation and networking,
cross-border collaboration, legal enforcement, rescue, rehabilitation,
and legislative reform. Despite constraints such as lack of birth and
marriage records at the village level, trafficking cases were
prosecuted. There was limited success in increasing shelter capacity
and developing rehabilitation programs.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law provides for equal treatment
and freedom from discrimination for persons with disabilities; however,
in practice persons with disabilities faced social and economic
discrimination. The law focuses on prevention of disability, treatment,
education, rehabilitation and employment, transport accessibility, and
advocacy.
The Ministry of Social Welfare, the Department of Social Services,
and the National Foundation for the Development of the Disabled were
the Government agencies responsible for protecting the rights of
persons with disabilities. The Ministry of Social Welfare set up a task
force, composed of government officials and members of NGOs, that
adopted an action plan in 2004 to improve the overall welfare of the
disabled. The plan awaits cabinet approval.
Government facilities for treating persons with mental handicaps
were inadequate. Several private initiatives existed in the areas of
medical and vocational rehabilitation, as well as employment of persons
with disabilities.
Indigenous People.--Tribal people had a marginal ability to
influence decisions concerning the use of their lands. Despite the 1997
Chittagong Hill Tracks Peace Accord, which ended 25 years of insurgency
in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, law-and-order problems and alleged human
rights violations continued, as did dissatisfaction with the
implementation of the Peace Accord. The Land Commission dealing with
land disputes between tribal individuals and Bengali settlers did not
function effectively in addressing critical land disputes. Tribal
leaders remained disappointed with the lack of assistance provided to
those who left the area during the insurgency.
During the year according to a human rights organization, 29
persons died and 361 were injured in violence in the Chittagong Hill
Tracts. Moreover, 22 persons were kidnapped, three women were raped,
and 42 persons were arrested.
On April 3, a group of Bengali settlers clashed with tribal people
in Saprue Karbaripara and two neighboring villages in Khagrachhari
district, leaving 12 persons injured. According to a tribal group, the
clash erupted after a group of Bengali women attempted to build a house
on land owned by tribal villagers.
On June 12, security forces killed 10 individuals, reported to be
members of an insurgent group from India in a raid on a camp inside
Rangamati hill district close to the Indian border. The joint team of
army and RAB personnel recovered arms and ammunition from the camp
after a gunfight.
There was no corrective action relating to the 2004 case of
violence against Bengalis in Rangamati.
Tribal people in other areas also reported loss of land to Bengali
Muslims. Government initiated ecoparks and national park projects on
land traditionally owned by indigenous communities continued to develop
in the Moulvibazar and Modhupur forest area despite the resistance
efforts of indigenous groups. On August 21, forest guards shot and
injured Sisilia Snal, a Garo woman, while she collected firewood in
Madhupur forest. According to BSEHR, police refused to file a case
against the forest guards.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexual acts are
illegal; however, in practice the law is rarely invoked. The law states
that ``whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of
nature with any man, woman, or animal, shall be punished with
imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a
term which may extend to ten years, and shall be liable to fine.''
There were a few informal support networks for homosexual men, but
organizations to assist lesbians were almost non-existent.
Incidents of attacks on homosexuals were difficult to track because
victims' desired confidentiality and local human rights groups did not
monitor this area, but they were known to occur. Government safeguards
in this area were nonexistent. There were few studies on homosexuality
in the county, and information was difficult to collect. According to
one report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) in 2002, homosexual men were
subject to harassment and rape by police and local criminals without
proper methods of recourse, due to societal discrimination. HRW also
found that homosexual men often faced threats of extortion. According
to HRW considerable official and societal discrimination existed
against those who provided HIV prevention services and against high-
risk groups likely to spread HIV/AIDS.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right to
join unions and, with government approval the right to form a union;
however, the Government did not always respect this right in practice.
The total work force was approximately 65 million persons, of whom 1.8
million belonged to unions, most of which were affiliated with
political parties. There were no reliable labor statistics for the
large informal sector, in which the vast majority (75 to 80 percent) of
citizens worked. Special legislation on unionization prohibited unions
in the country's export processing zones (EPZs), but effective November
1, legislation permitted unions, called ``workers' associations,'' to
have limited collective bargaining rights but with effective
limitations to their right to affiliate with international and other
local unions. EPZ management restricted individual EPZ factory unions,
members, and representatives from affiliating, communicating, or
meeting with other EPZ factory unions.
The new labor law enacted during the year consolidated laws from
eight separate acts into one law. According to the consolidated law, a
workplace must have 30 percent union participation for union
registration but is restricted to no more than three trade unions at
the same time. Labor activists contended that this reduced the ability
of workers to shift registrations from one union to another. Would-be
unionists technically are forbidden to engage in many activities such
as member advocacy prior to registration and legally are not protected
from employer retaliation during this period. Labor activists protested
that this requirement severely restricted workers' rights to organize,
particularly in small enterprises and the private sector, and the
International Labor Organization (ILO) recommended that the Government
amend the 30 percent provision.
During the year the ILO recommended that the Government amend
provisions that bar registration of a union composed of workers from
different workplaces owned by different employers. An estimated 15
percent of the approximately 5,450 labor unions were affiliated with 25
officially registered National Trade Union (NTU) centers. There were
also several unregistered NTUs.
Unions were generally highly politicized and were strongest in
state-owned enterprises and in such institutions as the government-run
port of Chittagong. Civil service and security force employees were
forbidden to join unions because of their highly political character.
Teachers in both the public and the private sector were not allowed to
form trade unions. The new labor law allowed workers in specialized
fields in civil aviation and on ocean going vessels to form trade
unions under certain conditions.
The Registrar of Trade Unions has the right to cancel registration
of a union with the concurrence of the labor court, but no such actions
were known to have taken place during the year. However, the law
afforded unionists the right of appeal in the case of denial of
registration, were it to occur.
There were provisions in the Industrial Relations Ordinance for the
immunity of registered unions or union officers from civil liability.
Enforcement of these provisions was uneven. In past illegal work
actions, such as transportation blockades, police officers arrested
union members under the Special Powers Act or regular criminal codes.
Trade unionists were required to obtain government clearance to
travel to ILO meetings.
During the year the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
continued to note a number of exclusions of international trade union
rights under the Industrial Relations Ordinance. These exclusions
include restrictions on membership in unions and election of union
officials, restrictions on activities of public servants' associations,
and restrictions on the basic labor rights in the EPZs.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law does
not protect unions from conducting their organizing activities free
from interference by employers. In practice, private sector employers
usually discouraged any union activity, fired workers suspected of
organizing or sympathizing with unions, placed informants in work
areas, and in some cases, intimidated workers using plain-clothed
security forces working in collaboration with local police. The ITUC
and trade unionists cited the requirement for 30 percent of the
workforce to agree to unionization as an overly restrictive regulation
on the right to organize. The right to strike is not recognized
specifically by the law, but strikes were a common form of workers'
protest and were recognized as a legitimate avenue for addressing
unresolved grievances by the Industrial Relations Ordinance of 1969.
The Registrar of Trade Unions rules on union-organizing
discrimination complaints. In a number of cases, the labor court
ordered the reinstatement of workers fired for union activities.
However, the labor court's overall effectiveness was hampered by a
serious case backlog. Alternative dispute resolution techniques began
to be used to decrease the backlog.
Collective bargaining was legal on the condition that unions
legally registered by the Registrar of Trade Unions as collective
bargaining agents represent workers. The law simplified and clarified
the procedure for selecting a collective bargaining agent (CBA) and
specified time limits for specified steps in the process. Collective
bargaining occurred occasionally in large private enterprises such as
pharmaceuticals, jute, or textiles, but due to concerns over job
security, most workers did not practice collective bargaining.
Collective bargaining in small private enterprises generally did not
occur.
In addition, opposition political parties used general strikes to
pressure the Government to meet political demands. Some employees
organized in professional associations or unregistered unions went on
strike during the year.
The Essential Services Ordinance permits the Government to bar
strikes for three months in any sector it declares essential. During
the year the Government continued to impose the ordinance on the Power
Development Board, the Dhaka Electric Supply Authority, Bangladesh
Biman Airline, the Chittagong Port Authority, and the Bangladesh
Petroleum Corporation.
The Government continued its ban on collective bargaining authority
in jute mills during production time. In the past the Government had
applied this ban to national airline pilots, water supply workers, and
shipping employees. The Government is empowered to prohibit a strike or
lockout at any time before or after the strike or lockout begins and to
refer the dispute to the labor court.
Mechanisms for conciliation, arbitration, and labor court dispute
resolution are established under the Industrial Relations Ordinance and
consolidated in the new labor law. The consolidation was intended to
enhance and speed up the process of dispute resolution. Workers have
the right to strike in the event of a failure to settle. If the strike
lasts 30 days or longer, the Government may prohibit it and refer the
dispute to the labor court for adjudication, although this had not
happened in recent years.
There are EPZs in the country. In July 2004 the Government enacted
the EPZ Workers' Association and Industrial Relations Act (the ``EPZ
law'') allowing limited freedom of association rights in EPZs. The
country's eight EPZs are exempt from the application of the Employment
of Labor (Standing Orders) Act, the Industrial Relations Ordinance, and
the Factories Act, thereby excluding workers in the zones from
protection for their rights to organize and bargain collectively, and
from coverage by laws governing wages, hours, and safety and health
standards. While substitutes for some of the provisions of these laws
are implemented through EPZ regulations, EPZ officials interpreted the
EPZ regulations and law narrowly. The EPZ did not permit Worker
Representation and Welfare Committee (WRWC) members to meet with WRWC
members in other factories, did not permit them to meet with outside
labor organizations on their own time after the completion of the work
day, and did not consistently afford time for WRWC members to meet
together in their factories. Contrary to the law, individual factory
owners fired members of the WRWC without prior authorization of the
BEPZA Executive Chairman.
Under the EPZ law, effective November 1, workers are permitted to
form workers' associations, which would have the legal right to strike,
to conduct collective bargaining, or to enjoy unlimited affiliation
with other labor organizations. At year's end EPZ officials had not
appointed a labor tribunal or a labor tribunal pursuant to the EPZ law.
Workers in EPZs do not have any legal recourse for filing worker
complaints since they are not allowed to file cases in labor courts.
In May and June, labor unrest occurred in areas surrounding the
Dhaka EPZ. In the wake of the unrest, EPZ managers conducted acts of
intimidation and abuse, arbitrarily locked-out employees, and fired
workers and WRWC members without the prior approval of the executive
chairman in violation of the EPZ law.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or bonded labor, including by children; however, the Government
did not enforce this prohibition effectively. The Factories Act and
Shops and Establishments Act created inspection mechanisms to
strengthen laws against forced labor, but these laws were not enforced
rigorously, partly because resources were scarce. There was no bonded
or forced labor in large-scale enterprises; nevertheless, numerous
domestic servants, including many children, worked in conditions that
resembled servitude and many suffered physical abuse, sometimes
resulting in death. There continued to be numerous reports of violence
against domestic workers. The Government brought criminal charges
against employers who abused domestic servants. Many impoverished
families settled instead for financial compensation. Trafficking of
women and children was a problem (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are numerous laws regulating child employment depending on the
type of work and the child's age. Because of widespread poverty, many
children began to work at a very young age. The Government's 2003
National Child Labor Survey estimated that approximately 3.2 million
children between the ages of five and 14 years worked in 200 different
types of activities. During the year the ILO released a 2005 Baseline
Survey for Determining Hazardous Child Labor Sectors, which estimated
that of the 2.2 million workers in 45 targeted hazardous sectors,
532,000 child workers aged five to 17 did hazardous labor. According to
the survey, no children worked in ship breaking, manufacture of
cigarettes, manufacture of pesticides, or fireworks manufacture during
the survey period. According to the study, child labor was prevalent in
hazardous establishments such as saw milling, battery recharging,
welding, metal works, and carpentry. In addition the report concluded
that children often were subjected to verbal and physical abuse.
According to consistent anecdotal reports, several thousand
children worked in the fish drying industry for five months of the year
under harsh conditions and supervised by abusive adults. There were
government efforts to prevent this practice, mitigate the harsh
conditions, and punish abusive employers.
Children routinely performed domestic work. The Government
sometimes brought criminal charges against employers who abused
domestic servants. Under the law every child must attend school through
grade five or the age of 10 years. However, there was no effective
mechanism to enforce this provision. The National Labor Committee
alleged that Harvest Rich Enterprises employed child workers in its
garment factories, but the company denied the allegations.
There was virtually no enforcement of child labor laws outside the
export garment sector. Penalties for child labor violations were
nominal fines ranging from an estimated four to 10 dollars (taka 228 to
taka 570). Most child workers were employed in agriculture and other
informal sectors, where no government oversight occurred.
Before the new labor law consolidated various labor laws, the legal
age of employment varied by sector and ranged from 12 to 16 years of
age. Under the new law, employment of anyone under 15 years of age in
any sector is prohibited.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no national minimum
wage. Instead, the National Wage Board, which convenes sporadically,
sets wages and benefits industry by industry, using a range based on
skill level. In most cases private sector employers ignored this wage
structure. In the garment industry, it was common practice for smaller
factories to force workers to work overtime, delay their pay, or
receive trainee wages well past the maximum three months. The wages in
the EPZs were higher than wages outside the zones. During the year the
ITUC reported that wages outside the EPZs were not sufficient to
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The
National Wage Board announced an increase in the minimum wage, but
there was widespread opposition from manufacturers towards its
implementation as well as protests from workers who perceived the
increase as insufficient.
The September 2005 law that mandated a five-day, 40-hour work-week
was unevenly enforced. The law applied to government employees, banks,
NGOs, and other office workers. Factory workers continued to labor
under the old law, a 48-hour workweek, with a mandated one day off and
up to 12 hours of overtime.
During the year a number of factory fires killed over 100 workers
and injured many more. The Factories Act nominally sets occupational
health and safety standards. Factory owner association efforts to
improve safety were ineffective, according to local NGOs. The law is
comprehensive but was largely ignored by employers. Workers may resort
to legal action for enforcement of the law's provisions, but few cases
were prosecuted. Enforcement by the Labor Ministry's industrial
inspectors was weak, due both to the low number of labor inspectors and
to endemic corruption and inefficiency among inspectors. Due to a high
unemployment rate and inadequate enforcement of the laws, workers
demanding correction of dangerous working conditions or refusing to
participate in perceived dangerous activities risked losing their jobs.
__________
BHUTAN
Bhutan is a hereditary monarchy with a population of 672,000. On
December 9, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck signed a royal decree handing
power over to his son, Crown Prince Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. The
King governs with the support of a National Assembly, a cabinet, and a
Council of Ministers. As head of state, the King is responsible for
matters relating to the country's security and sovereignty. Citizens
elected 106 of the 150 representatives in the National Assembly in
2003, with 10 ministers elected by the National Assembly, 10
representatives nominated by the central Buddhist clergy, and 24
government officials nominated in their ex-officio capacity by the King
to represent government and other secular interests. The civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
The following human rights problems remained noteworthy: limited
right to change government; restrictions on assembly and association;
restrictions on freedom of religion, limited political expression,
restrictions on political parties and discrimination against the ethnic
Nepali minority.
Political changes took place throughout the year as the country
laid the ground work for its transition to a parliamentary democracy.
In June and July, Parliament passed four legislative acts including the
Anti-Corruption Act that launched a countrywide education and advocacy
program; the Audit Act that enhanced the organizational and functional
independence of the Royal Audit Authority; the Information,
Communications and Media Act that contains provisions for freedom of
speech and the press; and the Office of the Attorney General Act, which
made the Office an autonomous agency. At the end of the year, the
National Assembly also enacted the Labor and Employment Act.
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
reportedly were satisfactory, and buildings and installations remain in
fairly good condition. In December the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) conducted its 24th round of visits to the Lodrai Sub-
district Jail and Chamgang Central Jail. In both places authorities
kept prisoners incarcerated for politically motivated crimes in areas
separate from common criminals.
During the year the Government extended the ICRC prison visits
program for another year, as it had done annually since a five year
Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the ICRC and the Government
in 1998. Authorities allowed the ICRC unhindered access to prisons.
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 Royal Bhutan
Police, under the control of the Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs,
had responsibility for internal security. The Royal Bhutan Army had
responsibility for external threats but also had some internal security
responsibilities, such as guarding forests, providing VIP protection,
and conducting counterinsurgency operations. Corruption and impunity
were not problems during the year.
Arrest and Detention.--Under the law police may not arrest a person
without a warrant, must immediately inform the accused of the charge,
must make a reasonable effort to inform the person's family of the
arrest, and must bring an arrested person before a court within 24
hours, exclusive of travel time from place of arrest. The police
normally respected the law in practice. There were no reports of
arbitrary arrest or detention during the year.
An undetermined number of Nepal-based refugees who attempted to
return to the country were turned over to Indian authorities and
returned to camps in Nepal. ICRC and the Nepal Red Cross Society
continued to partially reimburse fare for the families of the detainees
living in United Nations UNHCR) run camps in Nepal wishing to visit
their relatives detained in Chamgang.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law does not provide for an
independent judiciary, but in practice the judiciary generally enforced
the right to a fair trial.
The judiciary is overseen by the National Judicial Commission
(NJC).
The judicial system consists of three branches, the sub-divisional
court, the district court, and a high court. Local headmen and
magistrates (thrimpon) hear cases in the first instance. Appeals may be
made to a six-member High Court (also known as the Royal Court of
Justice). From the High Court, a final appeal may be made to the King.
Only the King can pardon or commute a sentence. The King appointed
judges to the High Court and 20 district courts on the recommendation
of the NJC. The judges may be removed, suspended, or censured by the
King only at the request of the NJC. The chief justice, using
recommendations of the Judicial Service Council, made judicial
appointments to the sub-divisional courts.
The Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) is the judicial support
department of the Government and conducted state prosecutions, drafted
and reviewed legislation, and rendered legal counsel. The OLA consists
of a legal services division with domestic, international, and human
rights sections, and a prosecution division with a criminal section and
a civil section.
Trial Procedures.--The law stipulates that defendants receive a
fair and speedy trial, as long as it does not limit the ability of the
accused to prepare an adequate defense, and these conditions generally
were respected. Bail is also available depending on the severity of
charges, the suspect's past criminal record, likelihood of flight, and
potential threat to the public. A preliminary hearing must be convened
within 10 days of registration with the appropriate court. Before any
guilty or no contest plea is registered, the court must determine that
the accused is mentally sound and understands the consequences of such
action. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence and all cases must
be proved to the ``beyond a reasonable doubt'' standard. Juries were
not used. Punishments included imprisonment, probation, fines, or
restitution. Defendants have the right to appeal to the High Court and
may make a final appeal to the King, who traditionally delegated the
decision to the Royal Advisory Council. Trials were conducted publicly,
except for family law and cases involving juveniles.
Citizens generally had the right to a fair trial. Courts
adjudicated criminal cases and a variety of civil matters under both
customary law and the legal code. State-appointed prosecutors filed
charges and prosecuted cases for offenses against the state. In other
cases the relevant organizations and departments of government filed
charges and conducted the prosecution. Defendants and their attorneys
had access to government-held evidence.
Defendants may choose legal representation from a list of 165
government-licensed advocates. The OLA stated that most defendants
sought legal assistance only in serious criminal cases. Legal counsel
is not free; therefore, many citizens unable to afford representation
did not receive professional legal assistance. Village headmen, who had
the power to arbitrate disputes, constituted the bottom rung of the
judicial system. Magistrates, each with responsibility for a block of
villages, could review the decisions of village headmen. Magistrates'
decisions could be appealed to district judges, of which there was one
for each of the country's 20 districts.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--By year's end 43 persons
remained incarcerated under the National Security Act of 1992 and the
Supreme Law of the Land (Chinchun Chempo) in connection with violence
associated with political dissidence from 1991 to 92. They were all
sentenced, and the Government permitted ICRC regular access to them.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Criminal matters and most
civil matters are resolved by application of the 17th century legal
code as revised in 1957 and in 2001. Precedence is not used in the
delivery of justice. Questions of family law are governed by
traditional Buddhist or Hindu law. Minor offenses are adjudicated by
village headmen.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice. Only an authorized
agent of the Government may search mail without a warrant and only if
there is cause to suspect that the parcel contains narcotics,
contraband such as weapons or explosives, or information that could be
harmful to public health or security. Wiretapping is not allowed
without a warrant.
Human rights groups argued that the Government interfered with
individual rights by requiring all citizens, including minorities, to
wear the traditional dress of the ethnic majority in all public places.
The Government strictly enforced the law only for Buddhist religious
buildings, government offices, schools, official functions, and public
ceremonies; otherwise, the enforcement of this law was sporadic, and it
was common to see people in nontraditional dress throughout the country
(see section 5).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--In July the National Assembly
adopted the Information, Communications and Media Act that contains
provisions to ensure the freedom of speech and press. Individuals were
able to criticize the Government publicly; however, the Government did
at times attempt to impede criticism and monitor political meetings.
During the year two independent newspapers started publication. On
April 30, The Bhutan Observer, an English weekly newspaper, began
printing, and on June 2, The Bhutan Times, a weekly newspaper published
in English and in Dzongkha, began publication. The two new newspapers
were critical at times of the Government. Along with Kuensel, a pro-
government private biweekly newspaper, they reported stories on a daily
basis through online editions. On November 11, Bhutan Now, a monthly
periodical, began publication. As reported in previous years, according
to the editorial staff and management of Kuensel, publication was
independent, funded entirely through advertising and subscription
revenue, and was free to report on any subject. During the year Kuensel
often published stories critical of the Government and highlighted
societal problems. Its board consisted of senior civil servants and
private individuals. Kuensel was published in English, Dzongkha, and
Nepali. Foreign newspapers and magazines were available.
On September 28, a private FM radio station, Kuzoo FM 90, began
operating 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. The state-owned Bhutan
Broadcasting Service ran other radio and television stations. The
Government limited the number of television channels available,
although a large variety of television programming was available in the
country, including CNN, BBC, and a number of Indian news services.
There were no private broadcasters. The Government did not censor
content.
Internet Freedom.--Internet access was growing and was
unrestricted. There were no reports of government restrictions on
access to the Internet; however, the Government regulated all material
on the Internet that it considered pornographic. 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--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law does not provide for freedom of assembly, and the
Government restricted this right in practice.
Freedom of Association.--The law does not provide for freedom of
association, and the Government restricted this right in practice by
not permitting the creation of political parties and organizations;
however, the Government allowed civic and business organizations to
function freely. The Government regarded political parties organized by
ethnic Nepalese exiles--the Bhutan People's Party, the Bhutan National
Democratic Party, and the Druk National Congress--as illegal,
terrorist, and antinational. These parties, which sought the
repatriation of refugees and democratic reforms, were unable to conduct
activities inside the country.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion;
however, there were allegations that the Government restricted this
right in practice and Mahayana Buddhism was the state religion.
The Government subsidized monasteries and shrines of the Drukpa
sect and provided aid to approximately one-third of the Kingdom's
12,000 monks. The Government also provided financial assistance for the
construction of Drukpa Kagyupa and Ningmapa Buddhist temples and
shrines. The Government maintained that it supported the monastic
establishment in accordance with an agreement it made with the
Buddhists in 1956 when the Government seized land from them for
redistribution to landless citizens. In exchange the Government
committed to providing financial support to the monasteries. Societal
pressure for conformity with Drukpa Kagyupa norms was prevalent.
The King declared one major Hindu festival a national holiday and
the royal family participated in it. There was only one Hindu temple in
Thimphu. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported that permission
from the Government to build religious temples was required but rarely
granted for non-Buddhist religious buildings, with the last reported
Hindu temple constructed in the early 1990s. Followers of religions
other than Buddhism and Hinduism were free to worship in private homes
but could not erect religious buildings or congregate in public.
International Christian relief organizations and Jesuit priests were
active in education and humanitarian activities. Proselytism and
conversion, particularly through the provision of financial and
economic incentives, were deemed illegal by the Government due to the
National Security Act, which prohibits ``words either spoken or
written, or by other means whatsoever, promotes or attempts to promote,
on grounds of religion, race, language, caste or community, or on any
other ground whatsoever, feelings of enmity or hatred between different
religious, racial or language groups or castes and communities".
Violating the act is punishable with up to three years' imprisonment,
although it was not clear that the Government enforced this provision
of the act.
On January 7, authorities arrested two civil servants for
proselytizing Christianity in the village of Nago in the Paro District.
The Government found them guilty of falsely calling a village meeting
on the pretext of holding an official meeting, proselytism, maligning
the Spiritual Head of Bhutan, posing as officials on business, and
giving false information. Authorities released the prisoners on July
29.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--According to dissidents living
outside the country, the Government permitted only Buddhist religious
teaching in schools. Some dissidents claimed that Buddhist prayer is
compulsory in all government-run schools; however, the Government
contended that Buddhist teaching was permitted only in monastic schools
and that religious teaching was forbidden in other schools. Although
students take part in a prayer session each morning, the sessions are
nondenominational and non- compulsory. Government authorities sometimes
asked applicants for government services to state their religion before
services were rendered. The Government required all civil servants to
take an oath of allegiance, did not have religious content but was
administered by a Buddhist Lama (see section 5).
The country does not have a 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, but
the Government placed limits on them in practice. There were highway
checkpoints in districts that bordered China or Assam at which persons
were required to show their citizenship identity cards. Citizens
traveling in border regions were required to show these cards at
immigration check points.
The law does not address forced exile. Although the Government
officially does not use formal exile, in previous years many political
dissidents freed under government amnesties stated that they were
released on the condition that they depart the country. The Government
denied this. Many of those released subsequently registered at refugee
camps in Nepal, while some relocated to India.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide 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 not
established a system for providing or denying protection to refugees.
There are no reports that the Government provided or denied protection
against refoulement, the return of persons to a county where they
feared persecution.
The Government restricted emigration and prohibited the return of
citizens who left the country. The country's citizenship laws state
that persons who have left the country of their own accord, without the
knowledge or permission of the Government, or whose names are not
recorded in the citizenship register maintained in the Ministry of Home
Affairs (MHA), will not be considered citizens of the country. Some
dissidents claimed that this law was created specifically to deny
citizenship to ethnic Nepalese Bhutanese. Over the years local
government offices gave many such persons identity cards without
registering them with the central offices of the MHA.
Implementation of a nationwide census in 1980s, rather than changed
citizenship requirements, resulted in the denaturalization of many
ethnic Nepalese residents. The census, which was initially conducted
across the country in 1985, was re-conducted in 1988-1989 in the
southern districts. At that time people were required to demonstrate
land documents from 1958. Those who lost citizenship under the 1985 law
were permitted to apply for citizenship provided that certain
conditions were met, including 20 years of residency, proficiency in
speaking and writing Dzongkha, a ``good moral character,'' and no
record of having spoken or acted against the King, country, and its
people. Those who could not meet the new citizenship requirements were
deemed to be illegal immigrants. In addition, citizens who voluntarily
emigrated without government approval lost their citizenship. Beginning
in 1988 the Government expelled large numbers of ethnic Nepalese under
the 1985 citizenship law.
From 1990 to 1993, more than 80,000 ethnic-Nepalese Bhutanese
entered Nepal seeking refuge. When they first arrived between 1990 and
1991, prior to the establishment of camps and the provision of
international assistance, the ethnic-Nepalese Bhutanese refugees lived
in harsh conditions. Numerous refugees told UNHCR that they want to
return to Bhutan. Approximately 15,000 additional ethnic-Nepalese
Bhutanese fled Nepal to India, but UNHCR did not accord them refugee
status. Since 1993 the country has had a series of negotiations with
Nepal, conducted under the auspices of the Joint Verification Team
(JVT) to resolve the refugee problem; however, the JVT process has been
delayed since 2003.
The Citizenship Act provides for the revocation of the citizenship
of any naturalized citizen who ``has shown by act or speech to be
disloyal in any manner whatsoever to the King, country, and people of
Bhutan.'' The Home Ministry later declared in a circular that any
nationals leaving the country to assist ``anti-nationals,'' and the
families of such persons, would forfeit their citizenship. Human rights
groups alleged that these provisions were used widely to revoke the
citizenship of ethnic Nepalese who subsequently were expelled from or
otherwise departed the country.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
Citizens do not have the right to change their government. The
country is a monarchy with sovereign power vested in the King. However,
in 2005 the Government released a draft constitution stipulating a
constitutional monarchy with limited right to change the Government, a
separation of powers, and protection of human rights. The Government
stated it would enact the constitution in 2008 and began establishing
institutions required by the draft constitution.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2003 citizens elected
106 members of the 150-member National Assembly. Of the remaining 44
seats, the Buddhist clergy nominated 10, the National Assembly elected
10 ministers, and the King nominated 24. The National Assembly has the
power to remove ministers whom the King nominates, but it has never
done so. Political authority has devolved to the National Assembly,
which can pass legislation; however, ultimate control remained with the
King and the cabinet, which is composed of the Royal Advisory Council
and the Council of Ministers.
The National Assembly, which convenes twice a year, elects the
Council of Ministers and the Royal Advisory Council. A special session,
if necessary, can be called at any time.
Each national assembly constituency consisted of a number of
villages. Each village was permitted to nominate one candidate,
conducted by secret ballot, according to national election law. There
is no provision for self nomination, and the law states that no person
may campaign for the candidacy or canvass through other means. The
Government did not allow political parties. The Government banned
parties established abroad by ethnic Nepalese and eastern Bhutanese
(see section 2.b.).
The King nominates all cabinet ministers who are then elected by
the National Assembly. A minister's term is limited to five years,
after which he or she must pass a vote of confidence in the National
Assembly to remain in office. The National Assembly, by a two-thirds
vote of no confidence, can require the King to abdicate to be replaced
by the next person in the line of succession. The position of chairman
of the council of ministers rotates on a yearly basis, beginning with
the minister who received the most votes. The chairman serves as prime
minister and head of government. In September Foreign Minister Lyonpo
Khandu Wangchuck became chairman and prime minister.
There were 15 women in the 150-member National Assembly and two
women on the High Court. Women constituted 23 percent of civil service
employees, and women held more than 30 percent of positions at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There was no provision for allocating a
set number or percentage of parliamentary seats for women or members of
minority groups.
All major ethnic groups were represented in the National Assembly,
including 14 ethnic Nepalese. Nevertheless, NGOs reported that ethnic
Nepalese were underrepresented in the assembly.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were reports of
government corruption during the year. The Government took an active
role in addressing the issue through the Public Accounts Committee in
the National Assembly and the Royal Audit Authority, which monitored
the use of government funds. The anticorruption fraud alert system
allowed citizens to post information on its Web site regarding corrupt
practices. In December 2005 the King created an Anti-Corruption
Commission by royal decree. The Government stated during the transition
to a parliamentary democracy, ``it is very important to curb and root
out corruption from the very beginning.'' On July 3, the Government
passed the Anti-Corruption Bill creating a framework for investigating
and prosecuting corruption. The bill allows the Government to freeze
assets of suspects, blacklist companies from participating in
government tenders, revoke licenses, and manage anticorruption
policies.
There is no law providing for public access to government
information; however, NGOs reported that the Government regularly
provided unclassified information upon request.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were no legal human rights organizations in the country. The
Government regarded human rights groups established by ethnic Nepalese
exiles--the Human Rights Organization of Bhutan, the People's Forum for
Human Rights in Bhutan, and the Association of Human Rights Activists-
Bhutan--as political organizations and did not permit them to operate
in the country.
ICRC representatives conducted an annual prison visit, and the
Government provided them unhindered access to detention facilities,
including those in southern districts inhabited by ethnic Nepalese. The
ICRC stated that the Government was open and forthright during prison
visits and, as of this year, stopped biannual checks.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, sex,
disability, language, or social status.
Women.--The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence
against women; however, the provisions of criminal law generally cover
such crimes. Women have the same legal rights as men, and NGOs reported
that women faced no overt discrimination and had equal access to health
care, education, and public services. There was no evidence that rape
or spousal abuse were extensive problems. However, NGOs reported that
many women did not report rape because of cultural taboos or because
they were unaware of their legal options.
The Rape Act contains a clear definition of criminal sexual assault
and specified penalties. In cases of rape involving minors, sentences
range from five to 17 years in prison. In extreme cases a rapist may be
imprisoned for life. Spousal rape is illegal. There were few reported
instances of sexual harassment.
Women were accorded respect in the traditions of most ethnic groups
and participated freely in the social and economic life of the country.
Inheritance law provides for equal inheritance among all sons and
daughters, but traditional inheritance practices, which vary among
ethnic groups, may be observed if the heirs choose to forego legal
challenges. For example traditional inheritance laws for the majority
of Buddhists stipulate that daughters inherit family land. As a result,
60 percent of rural women hold land registration titles. These
inheritance practices favoring daughters reportedly accounted for the
large numbers of women who owned shops and businesses. Tradition
dictates that the most capable member of the family runs the household,
which often resulted in the mother or eldest daughter holding this
position. Within the household men and women were relatively equal.
Female school enrollment was 48.3 percent and was growing in response
to government policies encouraging and funding universal attendance.
Women in unskilled jobs generally were paid slightly less than men in
the same positions. In 2004 women constituted approximately 30 percent
of the formal work force. Dowries were not customary, even among ethnic
Nepalese Hindus.
Questions related to family law, including divorce, child custody,
and inheritance, were adjudicated by the Marriage Act of 1996. The
minimum age of marriage for women was 18 years. The law provides for
equal treatment for both men and women. Polygamy is allowed provided
the first wife gives her permission. Polyandry is permitted but rare.
Marriages may be arranged by the marriage partners themselves as well
as by their parents. The law requires that all marriages be registered.
The National Women's Association of Bhutan tried to encourage women
to improve their living standards and socio-economic status. In 2004
the Government created a National Commission for Women and Children,
which actively defended the rights of women and children during the
year.
Children.--The law provides for children's rights, and the
Government's policies generally supported these provisions.
There are 512 educational facilities with approximately 190,000
students in the country. There was tremendous growth in the number of
non-formal education (literacy courses) centers. In 1992 there were six
institutions with 300 students; there are now 646 institutions with
18,550 students. The Government provides 11 years of universal, free,
and compulsory primary school education, and primary school enrollment
increased 4.2 percent per year since 1995. The Ministry of Education
reported that enrollment of girls at every level of general education
(except government schools) is approximately 48 percent. During the
year the participation rate for children between the ages of six and 12
in primary schools was approximately 80 percent. Completion rates for
girls continued to surpass that of boys. Rural areas were home to over
80 percent of all primary schools.
There is no law barring ethnic Nepalese children from attending
school; however, the Government denied security clearance forms to
children of ethnic Nepalese whom the Government claimed were anti-
nationals, thus denying them higher education. Exile groups claimed
that Nepalese secondary-level students scoring highly on national
exams, because of their inability to obtain a passport, were not always
given the same advantages as other students, such as the chance to
study abroad at government expense, particularly if they were related
to prominent dissidents or refugees. The Government refuted this claim,
stating that all scholarships were merit based.
The law prohibits the employment of children, but child labor was
present (see section 6.d.). Child abuse was rare.
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 does not specifically protect
the rights of citizens with disabilities; however, there was no
evidence of official discrimination against persons with disabilities
in matters of employment, education, access to health care, or in the
provision of other state services. The law stipulates that new
buildings must be constructed to allow access for persons with
disabilities; however, the law was not always enforced. Under the
Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Program, the Government seeks
to provide medical rehabilitation for all types of disabilities,
promote integration of children with disabilities into normal schools,
support activities for vocational rehabilitation of adults with
disabilities, and foster community awareness and social integration of
persons with disabilities in community activities.
There are special educational institutes for students with
disabilities. The National Institute for the Disabled (NID) in Khaling
educates visually handicapped children. The institute had an enrollment
of 45 students and 12 teachers. There was a Deaf Education resource
unit at In Drukgyel in Paro. In Changangkha in Thimphu, special
education facilities were constructed to meet the needs of physically
and mentally challenged children. While there were no government-
sponsored social welfare services available for people with
disabilities, the National Pension and Provident Fund entitles benefits
to people with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--In the late 1980s and early
1990s, the Government committed numerous abuses against ethnic
Nepalese. This led to the departure or involuntary expulsion of an
estimated 100,000 ethnic Nepalese, although the Government asserted
substantially fewer left. At the time the Government claimed it was
concerned about the rapid influx and associated political agitation of
ethnic Nepalese. Since then the Government claimed that ethnic and
gender discrimination in employment was not a problem. It stated that
ethnic Nepalese constituted 25 percent of the population and comprised
16 percent of the civil service and government employment; however,
human rights groups active outside the country claimed that ethnic
Nepalese actually make up approximately one-third of the country's
population and that the Government deliberately underreported their
numbers. Ethnic Nepalese claimed that they were subject to
discrimination and prejudice.
The law requires that the national dress be worn for official
occasions and as a school uniform and that the Dzongkha language be
taught as a second language in all schools. No instruction in Nepali as
a second language was required or offered. After the expulsion of many
ethnic Nepalese in the early 1990s, discriminatory measures with regard
to ethnic minority communities continued.
The Government has resettled Drukpa Bhutanese in the southern part
of the country on land vacated by the ethnic Nepalese living in refugee
camps in Nepal. Human rights groups maintained that this prejudiced any
eventual outcome of negotiations over the return of the refugees to the
country. The Government maintained that it occasionally resettled
ethnic Nepalese from the south on more fertile land in other parts of
the country. In the same fashion the Government's one-time only policy
on the forced retirement of refugee family members in government
service and the resettlement of Drukpa on land vacated by expelled
ethnic Nepalese in the south reinforced prejudice against ethnic
Nepalese. The Government claimed that the resettlement scheme was part
of a nationwide program to discourage migration to urban centers and
reduce landless people's dependence on migrant farming.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form or
join unions; however, there were no labor unions operating in the
country during the year. The Government maintained that, with very
little industrialization, there was little labor to be organized. The
Ministry of Employment reported in 2004 that the total labor force
numbered 216,500 persons, 166,200 of whom worked in rural areas.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law does
not authorize collective bargaining or the right to strike.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Government
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there
were no reports that such practices occurred. The Government required
community service to build local roads, schools, and hospitals. The
Government and NGOs stated that rural workers often volunteered to work
on national projects and were paid slightly above the minimum wage of
$2.50 (112.70 ngultrums) per day. There was no evidence to suggest that
the Government subjected domestic workers to coerced or bonded labor.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits the employment of children; however, child labor was
prevalent. There is no minimum age for employment. Children under 18
often performed agricultural work and chores on family farms and shops
after school and during holidays. NGOs estimated that there were
approximately 45,000 persons under 18 who were working. A large
majority of these children worked for their families.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--A 1994 circular establishes wage
rates, the regulations for payment of workers' compensation. Wage
rates, which were revised periodically, started from a minimum of
roughly $2.50 (112.70 ngultrums) per day plus various allowances paid
in cash or kind. The national minimum wage provided a decent standard
of living for a worker and family. The workday is defined as eight
hours with a one-hour lunch break, and employers must grant regular
days of leisure. Work in excess of this must be paid at one and one-
half times normal rates.
Civil service regulations require equal pay for equal work for men
and women. All citizens are entitled to free medical care. The
Government transported persons who could not receive adequate care
within the country to other countries (usually India) for treatment.
Workers are eligible for compensation in the case of partial or total
disability, and in the event of death, their families are entitled to
compensation. Existing labor regulations do not grant workers the right
to remove themselves from work situations that endanger health and
safety without jeopardizing their continued employment.
__________
INDIA
India is a longstanding and stable multiparty, federal,
parliamentary democracy with a bicameral parliament and a population of
approximately 1.1 billion. Manmohan Singh was named prime minister
following his Congress Party-led coalition's victory in the 2004
general elections, which were considered free and fair, despite
scattered episodes of violence. Serious internal conflicts affected the
state of Jammu and Kashmir, as well as several states in the northeast.
The Naxalite conflict affected Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and
eastern Maharashtra. While the civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces, there were
frequent instances in which some elements acted independently of
government authority.
The Government generally respected the rights of its citizens;
however, numerous serious problems remained. Major problems included
extrajudicial killings of persons in custody, disappearances, torture
and rape by police and security forces. The lack of accountability
permeated the Government and security forces, creating an atmosphere in
which human rights violations often went unpunished. Although the
country has numerous laws protecting human rights, enforcement was lax
and convictions were rare. Poor prison conditions, lengthy pretrial
detention without charge, and prolonged detentions while undergoing
trial remained significant problems. Government officials used special
antiterrorism legislation to justify the excessive use of force while
combating terrorism and active, violent insurgencies in Jammu and
Kashmir and several northeastern states. Security force officials who
committed human rights abuses generally enjoyed de facto impunity,
although there were investigations into individual abuse cases as well
as punishment of some perpetrators by the court system. Corruption was
endemic in the Government and police forces, and the Government made
little attempt to combat the problem, except for a few instances
highlighted by the media. The Government continued to apply
restrictions to the travel and activities of visiting experts and
scholars. Attacks against religious minorities and the promulgation of
antireligious conversion laws were concerns. Social acceptance of
caste-based discrimination remained a problem, and for many, validated
human rights violations against persons belonging to lower castes.
Domestic violence and abuses against women such as dowry-related
deaths, honor crimes, female infanticide and feticide, and trafficking
in persons remained significant problems. Exploitation of indentured,
bonded, and child labor were ongoing problems.
Separatist guerrillas and terrorists in Kashmir, the northeast, and
the Naxalite belt committed numerous serious abuses, including killing
armed forces personnel, police, government officials, judges, and
civilians. Insurgents also engaged in widespread torture, rape, and
other forms of violence, including beheadings, kidnapping, and
extortion.
In June 2005 the Government passed the Right to Information Act
(RTI), mandating stringent penalties for failure to provide information
or affecting its flow, and requiring agencies to self-reveal sensitive
information. The implementation of the act marked a departure from the
culture of secrecy that traditionally surrounded the Government's rule
making.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Government forces
continued arbitrary and unlawful deprivation of life of those in their
custody. Police and prison officers also committed extrajudicial
killings of suspected insurgents and suspected criminals by staging
encounter killings. Terrorist and insurgent groups killed members of
rival factions, government security forces, government officials, and
civilians in Jammu and Kashmir, several northeastern states, and in the
Naxalite belt in the eastern part of the country (see section 1.g.).
According to the Jammu and Kashmir Human Rights Commission, it received
1,867 complaints of human rights violations since 2002.
Security forces often staged encounter killings to cover up the
deaths of captured non-Kashmiri insurgents and terrorists from Pakistan
or other countries, sometimes after torturing them. Circumstances
around allegedly faked encounter killings were often in dispute. On May
18, the Defense Ministry reported that it was aware of two fake
encounter killings that occurred in 2003, and it court martialled the
officers involved. However, Human Rights Watch (HRW) could find no
instances of a public prosecution leading to a conviction of those
alleged to be responsible for fake encounter killings in Jammu and
Kashmir. Human rights groups accused security forces of targeting
suspected terrorists, insurgents and their suspected supporters. There
were no widely accepted data on the magnitude of extrajudicial killings
in Jammu and Kashmir, as estimates or reports depended on the political
orientation of the source. However, according to Asia Centre for Human
Rights (ACHR), only a minuscule percentage of encounter killings
resulted in a trial or conviction. Some trials of security forces for
alleged staged encounters in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab have lingered
for over a decade.
According to an NGO in Kashmir, security forces were responsible
for seven extrajudicial killings in Jammu and Kashmir during the year.
According to the Public Commission on Human Rights, it ordered 73
inquiries since the new Jammu and Kashmir government was elected in
2002, but by the year's end, it had only received information on six
cases.
In January, members of the Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and the Special
Operations Group (SOG) allegedly killed three persons in Shopian
District of Kashmir and buried them without a proper investigation.
Authorities ordered an inquiry but at year's end had not conducted an
investigation.
There was a consistently high rate of encounter killings by law
enforcement and security forces in the northeast--particularly in the
states of Assam and Manipur--as law enforcement attempted to combat
insurgent groups, many of whom financed their operations through
criminal activities such as extortion, kidnapping and trafficking in
narcotics.
On August 22, Maharashtra police shot and killed an alleged
Pakistani national, Abu Osama, in what appeared to be a staged
encounter. Several journalists claimed that the police arranged the
encounter and that the person killed was associated with the July 11
perpetrators of the terror attack on Mumbai trains. There were no
further developments in this case by year's end.
Human rights groups noted that police officials often refused to
turn over bodies in cases of suspected staged encounters. The bodies
were often cremated before their families could view them. Most police
stations failed to comply with a 2002 Supreme Court order requiring the
central government and local authorities to conduct regular checks on
police stations to monitor custodial violence.
According to human rights activists, press reports, and anecdotal
accounts, the bodies of persons suspected of terrorism and detained by
security forces in Jammu and Kashmir often had bullet wounds or marks
of torture, although according to the South Asian Human Rights
Documentation Center (SAHRDC) and ACHR, the number of such incidents
had declined in recent years in Jammu and Kashmir.
On January 12, according to press reports, security forces
allegedly abducted and killed a youth in the Barramulla District of
Jammu and Kashmir. The media reported that the youth was blindfolded
and tortured. They subsequently arrested and tortured a second youth
and gave him a gun in order to claim he was a terrorist. Jammu and
Kashmir police filed a First Information Report (FIR) against the
accused soldiers, and at year's end the army opened an investigation.
In January police ordered an inquiry and charged two RR soldiers
for torturing and killing a Kashmiri, Fayaz Ahmad Bhat. On January 16,
RR troopers picked up Bhat and Abdul Majid Parray in Baramulla
District. Parray died as a result of torture the same day. Bhat's
relatives later told the media that the army had tried to rearrest Bhat
while he was recovering in a Srinagar hospital, apparently wanting him
to change his statement. Army officers claimed that they wanted to move
Bhat to an army hospital. Bhat later died in an encounter with the RR.
In early March police killed two suspected Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LET)
terrorists in Delhi, claiming the two were responsible for the October
bomb attack on a Hyderabad police station. The Hyderabad-based Civil
Liberties Monitoring Committee reported that the encounter was staged.
Border Security Forces (BSF) operating along the Indo-Bangladesh
border killed 17-year-old Musaruddin Molla while he was working in his
field. According to the ACHR, to conceal his death, BSF officers
allegedly took six cattle from their camp and accused Molla of stealing
them. The case was under review at year's end.
There were no developments in the January 2005 killings of five
passengers by soldiers on a moving train near Shikohabad railway
station near Uttar Pradesh.
There were no developments in the July 2005 killing of three
teenage boys by security forces who allegedly mistook them for
terrorists in the Kupwara area of Kashmir.
In September 2005 Udayakumar, a citizen from Kerala, died in police
custody allegedly due to torture during interrogation. According to the
Confederation of Human Rights Organizations, police picked up Udaykumar
for suspicious movements in a nearby park, questioned, beat, and killed
him. After preliminary investigations, authorities arrested three
police constables and charged two with murder. The Kerala government
announced compensation of $6,500 (Rs 287,000) to his family (see
section 1.c.).
In August 2005 the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
recommended the prosecution of four army officers, including Senior
Superintendent of Police Farooq Khan, for the killing of five civilians
in a staged encounter death in 2000. The Central Administrative
Tribunal ruled the related 2003 suspension of Senior Superintendent of
Police Khan as illegal and reinstated him. On May 11, the CBI filed
charges of murder, abduction with intention to murder, wrongful
confinement, criminal conspiracy, and destruction of evidence against
the officers. The investigation was ongoing at year's end.
Custodial deaths remained a serious problem, and authorities often
delayed prosecutions.
According to data available with the National Crime Records Bureau
(NCRB), there were 121 custodial deaths in 2003, 94 in 2004, and 144 in
2005. On December 15, a court convicted three former Delhi police
officers for their role in a 1987 custodial death of Mahender Kumar.
Retired senior Delhi police officer Rishi Prakash Tyagi was sentenced
with the death penalty and KP Singh and sub-inspector Tej Singh were
sentenced to one and three years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of
$566 and $680 (Rs 25,000 and Rs 30,000) for shielding Tyagi and
destroying evidence.
On May 9, the army began the court-martial of Brigadier Suresh Rao
for allegedly ordering his subordinates to fake terrorist killings to
garner awards, citations, and positive public relations.
From January 2005 through July of the year, the Home Ministry
reported 139 deaths in police custody. However, the National Human
Rights Commission (NHRC) confirmed 1,730 deaths in police and judicial
custody during the same time period.
Although Andhra Pradesh police recorded an 11 percent decrease in
custodial deaths in 2005 compared with the previous year, they also had
the largest number of deaths in judicial and police custody with a
total of 145. In 2004 in Maharashtra, according to media reports,
Mumbai police transferred officers linked to encounter killings from
the crime branch; as a result, staged encounter killings in Maharashtra
reportedly decreased from 94 in 2001 to 13 in 2004. Figures for
encounter killings in Maharashtra for 2005 were not available. The
Kerala State Human Rights Commission registered 25 cases of custodial
deaths from January to June, compared with 39 cases in 2005.
In an attempt to expedite prosecutions, in May 2005 authorities
updated a law requiring a coroner to conduct a medical examination
within 24 hours of a death in custody. However, by the end of the year,
the law had not been implemented. From April 2003 to March of this
year, the NHRC awarded $51,354 (Rs 2.3 million) in compensation for
deaths in police and judicial custody.
Human rights activists reiterated during the year that there was
uneven compliance with a 1993 NHRC directive requiring district
magistrates to report to the commission all deaths in police and
judicial custody. In January the Indian Center for Human Rights and Law
(ICHRL) filed a petition with the Mumbai High Court against custodial
deaths, arguing that police were not adhering to NHRC guidelines for
custodial deaths. The lawyer representing the Government of Maharashtra
admitted that the Mumbai and Maharashtra police did not follow the
guidelines.
In December 2005 media reported that Shivkumar Jaiswala, an alleged
thief, died in custody in Mumbai. On January 2, another alleged thief,
Prem Yadav, died in custody in Mumbai. No officers were suspended in
connection with these cases, and human rights activists argued that the
police response to custodial death appeared to vary according to the
social and financial backgrounds of the victims. Media reported that
Mumbai police routinely conducted internal inquiries into all custodial
deaths, but no police officer was convicted of a crime in connection
with the 15 cases reported since 2001. Official inquiries ruled that
none of the 15 deaths was caused by torture.
On January 4, media and NGOs reported that Gurmail Singh died in
the custody of the Railway Police after being arrested in connection
with two bodies found near the Ghaggar railway station near Chandigarh.
The Punjab State Human Rights Commission asked for a report on the
incident, and a three-member board of doctors conducted the post-
mortem, with the report later handed over to the family. The findings
were not released at year's end, but the Railway Police denied
allegations of torture, claiming instead that Gurmail Singh died
naturally.
In March the Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID)
arrested six police officials for the 2004 custodial death of Uday
Bhandge, who was detained for stealing gasoline from a private
automobile. Police officers held Bhandge and an accomplice at the Aundh
Police Station overnight, although the car owner asked the police to
reprimand the men and release them. The next morning Bhandge was found
dead in his cell. Local residents and Bhandge's family alleged that
Bhandge died from beatings received in the station. By year's end,
there were no further developments in this case, which remained under
investigation.
On April 7, Mumbai police suspended four police officers in the
case of Premnath Janardan Rao, an accountant whom the Mumbai police
initially said hanged himself on April 6 while in custody. On April 20,
in response to a request by Rao's family, the Mumbai High Court ordered
a second post-mortem of Rao's body and a magisterial inquiry; as of
October police officials remained under suspension and the inquiry was
pending.
In June NGOs and media reported that a 20-year-old male Dalit
(formerly known as ``untouchables'' who fall outside of the caste
system), Madan Lal, died while in police custody in Ferozepore, Punjab.
Lal was arrested on theft charges and died within two hours of his
arrest during interrogation. Authorities suspended two policemen.
In March 2005 the Maharashtra CID arrested four Mumbai police
officers and charged them in the 2003 custodial killing of Khwaja
Yunus, who was detained in connection with a bombing case. Police
officers earlier claimed that Yunus had escaped from custody. In
January the CBI filed charges against the police officers, who remained
free on bail at year's end. In October the Division Branch of the
Mumbai High Court ordered Maharashtra Director-General of Police P.S.
Pasricha to transfer 10 police officers connected to the case out of
Mumbai. He complied.
In May 2005 Mumbai police arrested two Railway Police Protection
Force (RPF) constables for killing railway porter Vijay Singh. After
the discovery of Singh's body on the terrace of the Mumbai Central
Railway Police Station, police stated there was no record of his
arrest, but eye-witnesses reported seeing the two constables taking him
into custody. As of year's end, the trial against the two police
constables was underway in a Mumbai court.
On April 30, army doctors found the body of Captain Sumit Kohli in
Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir. The army said that suicide was the cause of
death, while Kohli's family alleged that he was killed because he was
scheduled to testify as a witness against another officer in a 2004
case of an encounter killing. The other officer had been accused of
killing four porters in the Kupwara District of Jammu and Kashmir.
After the July 11 serial terrorist bombings on seven Mumbai
commuter trains that killed approximately 200 commuters and injured
more than 700, the media reported that the Mumbai police reinstated so-
called encounter specialists by assigning two such officers to the
Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) investigating the bombings.
From May to August, newspapers and opposition parties in Kerala
reported seven deaths in police custody of persons arrested for
misdemeanor offenses. During the same period, another seven individuals
drowned in separate incidents, allegedly while being pursued by the
Kerala police. In August, following a media outcry, the Government of
Kerala announced a judicial inquiry into the deaths.
During the year, the Assam Rifles appealed the 2004 Manorama Devi
rape and custodial death case to the Guwahati High Court in Assam,
arguing that the state had no authority to handle a case involving the
army. Manorama's family also appealed to the Guwahati High Court,
asking that the findings of the commission and investigation by the
Home Ministry in Delhi be made public. All appeals remained pending at
year's end.
On September 20, police killed four persons (including a child) and
injured 45 when they opened fire in an area of Delhi as demonstrators
protested the Government move to seal businesses illegally operating in
residential areas.
During the year the killing of civilians continued in the course of
counterinsurgency and counter-terrorism operations, including those
that took place in Jammu and Kashmir (see section 1.g.). Human rights
activists stated that accurate numbers were not available due to
limited access to the region, but the ACHR alleged that 355 civilians
were killed and 373 injured in police firing in 2005. The security
forces often claimed that those killed were insurgents or civilians who
died in crossfire. According to the NHRC, state governments had not
investigated at least 3,575 previous deaths in custody cases.
Countermilitants were former separatist guerillas who surrendered
but who were permitted by the Jammu and Kashmir government to retain
their weapons and paramilitary structure and were inducted into police
auxiliary units. Government agencies funded, exchanged intelligence
with, and directed the operations of countermilitants as part of the
counterinsurgency effort. During the year killings and abductions of
suspected pro-government countermilitants continued to be a significant
problem in Jammu and Kashmir, although the number of such instances
declined substantially from the 1990s.
Violence, often resulting in deaths, was a pervasive element in
Jammu and Kashmir politics (see section 3). Separatist guerrillas and
terrorists attempted to kill numerous senior politicians, political
workers and political activists.
In January insurgents attacked activists of Communist Party of
India (Marxist) in Sophian district, Jammu and Kashmir, killing three
persons.
Countrywide, there were allegations that military and paramilitary
forces engaged in abduction, torture, rape, arbitrary detention, and
the extrajudicial killing of insurgents and noncombatant civilians,
particularly in areas of insurgency (see sections 1.b., 1.c., 1.d., and
1.g.). According to human rights activists and journalists, during the
year a few Naxalites (Maoist guerillas) in eastern and central parts of
the country (including Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal,
Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, parts of Uttar Pradesh, and
Maharashtra) who surrendered were allowed to retain their weapons and
worked for the police as ``anti-People's War Group (PWG) officers.''
Human rights groups alleged that police used former Naxalites to kill
current Naxalites and human rights activists with Maoist links. Police
denied the charges, attributing such killings to internal feuds within
the PWG.
Unlawful killings due to societal violence, including vigilante
action, continued. For example, in January clashes during a protest
over the building of a steel plant on tribal land in Jajpur, Orissa
resulted in the deaths of twelve members of an indigenous community and
one police officer (see section 5).
In March approximately 200 villagers tried, sentenced to death, and
publicly beheaded a family of tribals for practicing ``black magic'' in
the Sonitpur district of Assam (see section 5).
In July in Tinsukia district, Assam, local police fired into a
crowd and killed eight civilians during protests over the custodial
killing of Ajit Mahanta. A military court sentenced an army officer
involved in Mahanta's death to one-year forfeiture of service and
another to two months' rigorous military imprisonment. The army
compensated Mahanta's family $2,130 (Rs 94,000).
Dalits faced societal discrimination (see section 5).
In 2005 the NCRB reported that there were 26,127 cases against the
Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 5,713 cases against the Scheduled Tribes
(STs). While the average conviction rate for the crimes against the SCs
was 29.8 percent, the average conviction rate for the crimes against
the STs was 24.5 percent. About 55.1 percent of the total displaced
persons in the country as a result of development projects were tribals
although they constituted only 8.2 percent of the total population of
the country according to the 2001 census.
b. Disappearance.--Although government complicity was not always
confirmed, scores of persons disappeared in strife and insurgency-torn
areas during the year. According to Association of Parents of
Disappeared Persons (APDP) and other NGOs such as ACHR and SAHRDC, the
number of newly reported disappearances has decreased compared with the
early years of the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir. However, there was
still virtually no information about the fate of individuals who
disappeared since the beginning of the Jammu and Kashmir insurgency.
In 2003 the Jammu and Kashmir government stated that 3,931 persons
had disappeared in the state since the insurgency began in 1990,
compared with an APDP estimate of approximately 8,000 to 10,000. In
2003 the Government investigated the APDP list and concluded that 22
``disappeared'' persons from a list of 116 had joined insurgent groups
or were in Pakistan, while the police had located 43 persons in their
homes. Of the rest, the Government stated that six were dead, two were
in custody with cases registered against them, and investigations were
still ongoing in 13 cases. The APDP responded that only 22 had joined
the insurgents, that those whom the Government claimed were at home
were actually still missing, and it demanded details in the cases of
the six people whom the Government claimed were dead.
In September 2005 ACHR reported that more than 6,000 cases of
disappearances remain unresolved in the state. However, according to
the director general of police in Jammu and Kashmir, seven persons
disappeared in 2003; three persons in 2004; and two persons in 2005-06.
According to APDP, 41 persons had disappeared through September.
Reports varied widely on the number of disappearances that occurred.
According to former Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister
Muzaffar Hussain Beig, there were 14 cases of disappearances and 27
cases of custodial deaths in the four years preceding August. In
January Manzoor Ahmed Khan disappeared from Kupwara in Jammu and
Kashmir. His family registered a case with the police.
In April Ghulam Mohiuddin disappeared from Baramulla in Jammu and
Kashmir. Ghulam's family alleged that he was arrested by the army and
held in the Joint Interrogation Center in Baramulla. The army released
Mohiuddin.
In May Ghulam Nabi Mir disappeared from Pulwama in Jammu and
Kashmir. RR officers allegedly raided Mir's residence. The army denied
arresting Mir and by the end of the year, he was still missing.
Human rights groups maintained that in Jammu and Kashmir and in the
northeastern states, numerous persons continued to be held by military
and paramilitary forces. Human rights activists feared that many of
these unacknowledged prisoners were subjected to torture and that some
may have been killed extrajudicially (see sections 1.a. and 1.c.).
The Government maintained that screening committees administered by
the state governments provided information about the unacknowledged
detainees to their families. Other sources indicated that families
could only confirm the detention of their relatives by bribing prison
guards. During the year the screening committees released 140 persons
detained under the 1978 Public Safety Act (PSA).
The Government made little progress in holding hundreds of police
and security officials accountable for serious human rights abuses
committed during the Punjab counterinsurgency of 1984-94, despite the
presence of a special investigatory commission. The CBI claimed to be
pursuing charges against dozens of police officials implicated in the
1980s for hundreds of deaths and secret cremations. The NGO ENSAAF
estimated that security forces extrajudicially killed and caused to
disappear more than 10,000 Punjabi Sikhs and cremated 6,017 Sikhs in
Amritsar alone in counter insurgency operations during the militancy.
In September Paramjit Kaur Khalra, the widow of human rights
activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, filed a legal petition calling for the
investigation and prosecution of former police chief Gill for the
abduction, illegal detention, torture, and murder of her husband.
According to ENSAAF and other human rights organizations, in September
1995 members of the Punjab police operating under Gill's command
abducted Khalra for investigating and exposing the ``disappearances''
and secret cremations of thousands of Sikhs in Punjab by security
forces. Gill's subordinates illegally detained and tortured Khalra for
nearly two months, before killing him in 1995.
The NHRC continued to investigate 2,097 cases of murder and
cremation that occurred between 1984 and the early 1990s. The NHRC
asked families whose members had disappeared to provide evidence and
ordered compensation to approximately 100 families. The NHRC has not
released its findings, and no significant progress was made in bringing
to justice those responsible for the killings.
On May 15, the NHRC ordered the Punjab government to disburse
monetary compensation of $5,700 (Rs 250,000) each to the next of kin of
45 persons whom the state government admitted were in police custody
immediately before they were killed and illegally cremated. In August
2005 the Nanavati commission, tasked with conducting a re-inquiry into
the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, released its report, citing several
prominent Congress Party leaders for complicity in the violence and
implicated law enforcement personnel in the deaths, accusing them of
refusing to perform their duty to maintain law and order. The
Government also set up two committees to disburse financial
compensation promised by Prime Minister Singh to the victims' families.
The Government approved an extra $158 million (Rs Seven billion) in
compensation: $7,800 (Rs 344,000) for every family member killed and
$2,800 (Rs 124,000) for those injured.
One human rights activist and lawyer from the state of Punjab
reported filing 4,000 disappearance cases. However, only 10 to 12 of
these cases had been prosecuted. In July 2005 the NHRC directed the CBI
to give the Punjab government access to documents regarding the illegal
killing and cremation of 64 persons by the Punjab police during the
insurgency. On April 3, NHRC Chairman A.S. Anand stated that the Punjab
State government identified 570 persons who had been cremated secretly.
On May 15, the NHRC directed Punjab authorities to pay $5,500 (Rs
243,000) to the survivors of 45 victims.
There were credible reports that police throughout the country
often failed to file legally required arrest reports, resulting in
hundreds of unresolved disappearances in which relatives claimed that
an individual was taken into police custody and never heard from again.
Police usually denied these claims, pointing to the lack of an arrest
record.
Insurgents in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern states
continued to use kidnappings to terrorize the population, obtain the
release of detained comrades, and extort funds.
At the end of 2004, the Government verified that few kidnappers
were arrested or prosecuted. Insurgents and terrorists in Jammu and
Kashmir and the northeast killed some victims who had been kidnapped
(see sections 1.a. and 1.g.).
On January 17, the Kuki Liberation Army (KLA) kidnapped Dr.
Tongkhojang Lunkim, Chairman of Kuki Movement for Human Rights (KMHR)
and demanded a ransom of $200,000 (Rs 8.8 million) in Manipur. The KLA
released him on March 18.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits torture and generally did not allow for
confessions extracted by force to be admissible in court; however,
authorities often used torture during interrogations to extort money
and as summary punishment. There were allegations of confessions
derived under torture. In some instances, these confessions were
subsequently used as evidentiary support for an execution sentence. The
Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act of 2005 mandated a judicial
inquiry into any death or rape of a woman in police custody; however,
human rights groups asserted that the new law had not decreased the
prevalence of custodial abuse or killings.
The ACHR alleged that custodial deaths was a severe problem and
that police regularly used torture. Because many alleged torture
victims died in custody, and other victims were afraid to speak out,
there were few firsthand accounts. Marks of torture, however, were
often found on the bodies of deceased detainees. The prevalence of
torture by police in detention facilities throughout the country was
reflected in the number of deaths in police custody (see section 1.a.).
Police and jailers typically assaulted new prisoners or threatened
violence in exchange for money, favors, and personal articles. In
addition, police commonly tortured detainees during custodial
interrogation. Although police officers were subject to prosecution for
such offenses, the Government often failed to hold them accountable.
According to Amnesty International (AI), torture usually took place
during criminal investigations and following unlawful and arbitrary
arrests.
NGOs asserted that custodial torture was common in Tamil Nadu. One
human rights lawyer claimed that all police stations in Punjab, Andhra
Pradesh, Haryana, and Chandigarh have torture cells to ``soften up''
the accused prior to court appearance. However, increased reporting of
custodial torture may be the result of greater awareness. In some
cases, the state government provided compensation for victims. In July
the Madras High Court ordered the state government to pay $6,666 (Rs
294,000) to a woman. The AHRC claimed that local police in Kerala
continued to use torture and assault as a means of criminal
investigation.
On September 23, three police officers arrested Saju, a private bus
conductor, allegedly because of a complaint filed by the local
telephone company. According to the AHRC, the police demanded a bribe
of $68 (Rs 3,000). Police allegedly abused Saju when he refused to pay
the bribe. Saju died while in police custody.
There were no developments in the February 2005 torture and killing
of a Dalit youth by Jalandhar district police or the May 2005 alleged
infliction of injuries against Mariappan by police in Tamil Nadu.
There were no developments in the August 2005 beating by assistant
commissioner of police Arun Desai of Taj Mohammed in Mumbai.
There were incidents in which police beat journalists (see section
2.a.), demonstrators (see section 2.b.), and Muslim students (see
section 2.c.). Police also committed abuses against indigenous people
(see section 5).
There were no developments in the January 2005 beating of Roop
Narayan Yadav.
In Jammu and Kashmir, torture victims or their relatives reportedly
had difficulty filing complaints, as local police allegedly were
instructed not to open a case without permission from higher
authorities. In addition, under the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir)
Special Powers Act of 1990, no ``prosecution, suit, or other legal
proceeding shall be instituted against any person in respect of
anything done or purported to be done in exercise of the powers of the
act,'' without the approval of the central government. The act gives
security forces the authority to shoot suspected lawbreakers and those
disturbing the peace, and to destroy structures suspected of harboring
violent separatists or containing weapons. Human rights organizations
alleged that this provision allowed security forces to act with virtual
impunity (see section 1.d.).
The rape of persons in custody was part of a broader pattern of
custodial abuse. NGOs asserted that rape by police, including custodial
rape, was more common than NHRC figures indicated. A higher incidence
of abuse appeared credible, given other evidence of abusive behavior by
police, and the likelihood that many rapes went unreported due to the
victims' shame and fear of retribution. However, legal limits placed on
the arrest, search, and police custody of women appeared to reduce the
frequency of rape in custody. There were no recent NHRC data on the
extent of custodial rape.
There were no developments in the February 2005 rape of a minor
girl in West Tripura district and subsequent soldier's arrest.
The Ministry of Defense reported that it filed 17 rape cases and 10
murder cases against army personnel from 2003 to 2004. By year's end,
one rape case and five murder cases had ended in guilty verdicts. In
the remaining cases, the investigations remained ongoing or the charges
were proved false.
There were no developments in the January 2005 rape case of 15-
year-old Nandeibam Sanjita Devi by two members of the 12th Grenadiers.
There were no developments in the February 2005 rape case involving
the Assam Rifles constable and the 12-year-old girl in the Karbi
Anglong district of Assam since the arrest of the soldier and two women
who assisted the rape.
There were no developments in the September 2005 custodial rape of
a widow detained on a murder charge by Bihar police.
There was a pattern of rape by paramilitary personnel in Jammu and
Kashmir and the northeast as a means of instilling fear among
noncombatants in insurgency-affected areas (see section 1.g.), but
these incidents were not included in NHRC statistics, as the NHRC does
not have direct investigative authority over the military.
There were no developments in the January 2005 dismissal from
military service of Major Rehman or the January 2005 court martial
conviction of a rifleman accused of molesting an elderly woman in
Pahalgam.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of psychiatrists
issuing false insanity certificates for the purpose of committing wives
of divorce-seeking husbands.
In 2004 the Government gave the NHRC the authority to recommend
interim compensation in cases relating to human rights abuses by the
armed forces. Officers of the rank of colonel were designated at the
command, corps, division and counter insurgency headquarters to monitor
human rights issues. Under the guidelines, the NHRC cannot charge or
investigate a member of the armed forces of a human rights abuse
without government permission.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
harsh, life-threatening, and did not meet international standards.
Prisons were severely overcrowded, and food and medical care
inadequate. For example, in June a former inmate of Arthur Road Jail in
Mumbai filed a complaint with the Maharashtra State Human Rights
Commission (MSHRC) alleging that the prison's medical doctor ignored a
prisoner suffering from chest pains who subsequently died. As of year's
end, the MSHRC was investigating the complaint.
In March an NHRC report indicated that the country's prisons were
overcrowded on average by 38.5 percent. According to the NHRC report,
the country's prisons had a population of 324,852 persons and an
authorized capacity of 234,462. Overcrowded prisons that exceeded the
national average included Delhi (231 percent), Jharkhand (155 percent),
and Chhattisgarh (125 percent). Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh,
Bihar, Sikkim, Gujarat, Orissa, Tripura and Andaman and Nicobar islands
also exceeded the national average.
In December the Government took steps to ease overcrowding in the
Tihar jail in New Delhi. Steps included construction of new jails;
holding special courts to try cases involving petty offenses; compiling
a list of under-trial prisoners who were granted bail but could not be
released; sending these lists to District and Sessions Judges for
consideration of their cases on relaxed surety conditions; providing
legal aid by the Legal Aid Advocates; and nominating counsel deputed by
the Delhi Legal Services Authority to advise prisoners on moving
appropriate applications before the High Court for their early release.
As of November 29, there were 11,978 inmates in Tihar Jail with a total
sanctioned capacity of 5,200.
According to one NHRC report, a large proportion of the deaths in
judicial custody were from natural causes, in some cases aggravated by
poor prison conditions (see section 1.a.). Tuberculosis caused many
deaths, as did HIV/AIDS. The NHRC assigned its special rapporteur and
chief coordinator of custodial justice to ensure that state prison
authorities performed medical check-ups on all inmates. By year's end
only a few examinations had been performed.
In an effort to avert suicides in police jails, Mumbai police
installed close circuit televisions (CCTVs) in police lock-ups across
the city. As of January nearly 25 percent of the 84 police stations had
CCTVs.
There were no developments in the September 2005 Assam Human Rights
Commission's request for appropriate action against jail authorities
for mistreatment of Mithinga Daimary and Ramu Mech or the August 2005
death of Robin Handique in detention.
While local authorities often attempted to hide custodial killings,
the NHRC and the courts investigated those cases brought to their
attention and prosecuted some perpetrators. In most cases, the courts
awarded monetary compensation of between $400 (Rs 17,600) and $2,200
(Rs 97,000) to the next of kin. NGO sources stated that relatives often
had to pay bribes to receive the compensation awarded, and in many
cases never received it at all.
By law juveniles must be detained in rehabilitative facilities,
although at times they were detained in prison, especially in rural
areas. Pretrial detainees were not separated from convicted prisoners.
Some NGOs were allowed to work in prisons, within specific
governmental guidelines, but their findings remained largely
confidential as a result of agreements made with the Government.
Although custodial abuse was deeply rooted in police practices,
increased press reporting and parliamentary questioning provided
evidence of growing public awareness of the problem. The NHRC
identified torture and deaths in detention as one of its priority
concerns.
According to the Home Ministry, the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) visited 61 detention centers and more than 9,000
detainees during 2005, including all 25 acknowledged detention centers
in Jammu and Kashmir, and all facilities where Kashmiris were held
elsewhere in the country. The IRC registered 554 new detainees and
followed up on 1,240 old detainees. The ICRC was not authorized to
visit interrogation or transit centers, nor did it have access to
regular detention centers in the northeastern states (see sections 1.c.
and 4). In August the Government amended the 1993 Protection of Human
Rights Act (PHRA), which eliminated the requirement of ascertaining
prior notification for prison visits, enabling surprise visits, and
empowering the NHRC to form an opinion on the actual conditions inside
prisons.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, but both occurred during the year.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Although the
Governments of 28 states and seven union territories have primary
responsibility for maintaining law and order, the central government
provides guidance and support. The Ministry for Home Affairs controls
most paramilitary forces, the internal intelligence bureaus, and the
nationwide police service, and provides training for senior police
officers of the state-organized police forces. The civilian authorities
maintained effective control of the security forces. Members of the
security forces committed numerous serious human rights abuses.
Corruption in the police force was pervasive and acknowledged by
many government officials. Officers at all levels acted with relative
impunity and were rarely held accountable for illegal actions. When an
officer was found guilty of a crime, the most common punishment was
transfer to a different position or post. Human rights activists and
NGOs reported that bribery was often necessary to receive police
services.
By the year's end, police had not filed charges against Delhi
police inspector Satya Raj, who in November 2005 demanded $600 (Rs
26,500) from a dead man's family for return of his body.
The NHRC reported that the majority of complaints it received were
against police. According the Ministry of Home Affairs, the NHRC
recorded 6,923 cases against the police; 35 against armed forces and 39
against the paramilitary forces for violation of human rights during
the year.
In 2005 the Government worked with a foreign government and the UN
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on a two-year program to train and
sensitize law enforcement officials and prosecutors in the country
about victims of human trafficking and bring abusers to justice.
Training material developed through this project was used to conduct
courses for law enforcement officials in target states and worked on
developing standard operating procedures and protocols to be used
nationally and in police training academies.
On July 9, the media reported that police failed to act against
thousands of Shiv Sena (a regional Hindutva party) members who were
damaging buses and property after a statue of their party's founder's
wife was found defaced with mud at a park in central Mumbai.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires that detainees be informed
of the grounds for their arrest, be represented by legal counsel, and,
unless held under a preventive detention law, arraigned within 24 hours
of arrest, at which time the accused must either be remanded for
further investigation or released. However, thousands of criminal
suspects remained in detention without charge during the year, adding
to already over-crowded prisons.
The law provides arrested persons the right to be released on bail,
and prompt access to a lawyer; however, those arrested under special
security legislation received neither in most cases. Court approval of
a bail application is mandatory if police do not file charges within 60
to 90 days of arrest. In most cases, bail was set between $11 (Rs 485)
and $4,500 (Rs 198,000).
By law, detainees should be provided an attorney and allowed access
to family members. However, this was rarely implemented.
In 2004 the Government repealed the Prevention of Terrorism Act
(POTA) and replaced it with the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act
(UAPA). Nonetheless, SAHRDC reported that more than 1,000 persons
remained in detention awaiting prosecution under lapsed special
terrorism legislation, and that cases opened under POTA and Terrorism
and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) continued through the judicial
system.
TADA courts curtailed many legal protections provided by other
courts. For example, defense counsel was not permitted to see
prosecution witnesses, who were kept behind screens while testifying in
court, and confessions extracted under duress were admissible as
evidence (see section 1.c.).
POTA contained a sunset feature, which gave the central POTA review
committee one year to review all existing POTA cases. The Government
established three central review committees to review the cases
registered under POTA. The committees were required to review all cases
registered under POTA by September 2005, but at year's end, numerous
cases had not been reviewed and at least 400 persons remained under
detention, according to AI. The sunset provisions also allowed the
Government to make new arrests under POTA, despite its repeal, if the
arrests were tied to an existing POTA case. The Government could issue
a new indictment on a case opened five years earlier under POTA, even
if the Government was never associated with the case. It can also
extend the one-year limit for reviews; however, at year's end, it had
not done so. The law provides that the review committees constituted by
the Government shall review all cases registered under POTA by
September 20, 2005. In June 2005 the POTA review committee reported
that there were 11,384 persons wrongfully charged under POTA who
instead should be charged under the regular law. According to the
Ministry of Home Affairs, following the repeal of POTA in 2004, three
Review Committees reviewed 263 cases involving 1,529 accused persons
and determined that there was no prima-facie evidence under POTA
against 1,006 of them.
UAPA and POTA continued to be used to hold people in jail for
extended periods prior to the filing of formal charges. Human rights
groups reported that the revised UAPA contained important improvements
over the POTA. For example, it does not allow coerced confessions to be
admitted as evidence in court.
In February 2005 the NHRC announced comprehensive guidelines
regarding arrest, which included establishing reasonable belief of
guilt; avoiding detention if bail is an option; protecting the dignity
of those arrested; not allowing public display or parading, and
allowing access to a lawyer during interrogation. Police often ignored
these guidelines.
In January after an eight-month review by a committee headed by
Punjab Chief Secretary Jai Singh Gill, the Punjab government released
three former insurgents arrested for actions during the Khalistan
movement in the 1980s. The committee recommended that 19 others remain
in jail.
Police routinely resorted to arbitrary and incommunicado detention,
denied detainees access to lawyers and medical attention, and used
torture or ill treatment to extract confessions (see section 5). Human
rights experts claimed that discrimination and custodial torture of
those too poor to afford legal assistance was common. During the year
the media reported that lower-caste individuals were more likely to be
illegally detained than others. Human rights activists maintained that
the Government increasingly avoided prosecuting security officers
involved in illegal conduct, by providing financial compensation to
victims' families in lieu of punishment. In some instances victims or
their families who distrusted the military judicial system petitioned
to have their cases transferred to a civil court. The NHRC has no
jurisdiction over any courts, including military courts.
In July Muhammad Saleem from Billawar in Jammu and Kashmir was
sentenced to 15 years in prison for possession of binoculars, live AK
47 cartridges, and a wireless set. This was the first conviction under
POTA prior to its repeal.
Through December 2005, 217 persons were arrested and remained in
custody in Gujarat under POTA in connection with the 2003 killing of
former Gujarat chief minister Haren Pandya, the 2003 Akshardham temple
bombing, the 2002 Godhra train arson case, and the 2002 Tiffin bomb
case. During the year the Tiffin bomb case trial was completed, leading
to 12 acquittals and five convictions. In July the Supreme Court
appointed a judge from the Delhi Sessions Court to review the evidence
of nine major trials (the Godhra trial among them), which had been
stayed by the Supreme Court since 2003. By year's end, the judge had
not concluded his review. In July a POTA court in Ahmedabad convicted
all six accused in the 2002 Akashardham temple terrorist attack, which
killed 34 persons. Of the six accused, three were sentenced to death
and one to life in prison. By the end of the year, the Godhra trial had
not commenced.
Throughout the year authorities in Jammu and Kashmir repeatedly
detained Kashmiri separatist leaders for short periods of time ranging
from several hours to one day, usually to prevent their participation
in demonstrations, funerals, or other public events. For example, on
March 10, the police took Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (Nanji)
convener Javid Ahmad Mir and twelve others into preventative custody
for violating a prohibitory order in Srinagar. Press reported that Mir
was protesting against human rights violations and fake encounter
killings when the authorities arrested him. He was released shortly
thereafter. On June 22, Mir was arrested briefly again on June 22 on
the same charges.
On March 17, police took extremist Hurriyat Conference member Syed
Ali Shah Geelani into preventative custody, along with four others,
near Srinagar as he traveled to Baramulla to deliver a speech. Human
rights groups asserted that the sole reason for the arrest was to
ensure he did not address the assembly. He was arrested again on June 7
and held until June 29 for ``inciting communalism.'' Jammu and Kashmir
police arrested Geelani again on October 12 to prevent him from taking
part in the funeral of a youth allegedly tortured and killed by Delhi
police. The press reported that this was the seventh time during a 45-
day period that the Government placed restrictions on Geelani.
The National Security Act (NSA) permits police to detain persons
considered security risks anywhere in the country--except for Jammu and
Kashmir--without charge or trial for as long as one year on loosely
defined security reasons. State governments must confirm the detention
order, which is then reviewed by an advisory board of three high court
judges within seven weeks of the arrest. NSA detainees were permitted
visits by family members and lawyers, and must be informed of the
grounds of their detention within five days (10 to 15 days in
exceptional circumstances). On January 12, Lucknow authorities arrested
a doctor from the King George Medical University in Uttar Pradesh, and
charged him with arson and violence. After the state's chief minister,
Mulayam Singh Yadav, warned that ``trouble-makers'' at the university
would be punished, authorities charged the doctor on January 19 under
the NSA.
Human rights groups alleged that the NSA allowed authorities to
order preventive detention at their own behest after only a cursory
review by an advisory board and that no court would overturn such a
decision.
The PSA, which applies only in Jammu and Kashmir, permits state
authorities to detain persons without charge and judicial review for up
to two years. During this time, detainees do not have access to family
members or legal counsel. According to the Office of Director General
of Jammu and Kashmir Police, 473 persons in 2005 and 420 during the
year were arrested under PSA. According to the ACHR, there were 140
foreign nationals in prisons in Jammu and Kashmir under the PSA.
On January 10, authorities released Sayeda Assiya Andrabi, the head
of the all-female Dukhtaran-e-Millat, and eight of her associates. They
had been arrested in September 2005 for campaigning against adultery,
prostitution, and drug addiction.
In August the Jammu and Kashmir High Court overturned the detention
of seven persons held under the PSA, arrested for alleged involvement
in militancy related incidents.
During the year the Government released 140 persons held under the
PSA.
In March the Chhattisgarh State government enacted the Special
Public Protection Act (SPPA), which HRW deemed ``a vague and overly
broad law that allows detention of up to three years for unlawful
activities.'' HRW asserted that the law loosely defines what ``unlawful
activities'' entails and threatens the fundamental freedoms and
protections set forth in the constitution. The Public Union for Civil
Liberties in India filed suit, alleging that the ordinance is
``amenable to gross abuse and misuse, arbitrariness and partiality''
and ``can result in harsh and drastic punishment to innocent persons
without hearing or remedy.'' HRW noted particular concern that the law
also criminalizes any support given to Naxalites, regardless of
evidence of duress.
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) remained in effect in
Nagaland, Manipur, Assam, and parts of Tripura, and a version of the
law was in effect in Jammu and Kashmir. Under AFSPA, the Government can
declare any state or union territory a ``disturbed area.'' This allows
the security forces to fire on any person in order to ``maintain law
and order'' and to arrest any person ``against whom reasonable
suspicion exists'' without informing the detainee of the grounds for
arrest. Security forces are also granted immunity from prosecution for
acts committed under AFSPA.
In June 2005 a Home Ministry committee reviewed AFSPA and submitted
its report and recommendations. On October 8, confirming years of press
speculation, the Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy Review Committee report was
publicly released and recommended the repeal of the act and gave the
central government power to send forces where required. The Jeevan
committee recommended that inquires be allowed and offending soldiers
not punished.
The law provides a person in detention the right to a prompt trial;
however, due to a severe backlog, this was not the case in practice.
Human rights organizations reported that 60 to 75 percent of all
detainees were in jail awaiting trial, drastically contributing to
overcrowding. Human rights organizations asserted that approximately 65
percent of those detained were found innocent. Due to persistent
inefficiencies in the judicial system, there were numerous instances in
which detainees spent more time in jail under pretrial detention than
they would have if found guilty and sentenced to the longest possible
term.
For example, on February 16, media reports indicated that
authorities incarcerated Shanka Dayal for 44 years without trial in the
Unnao District Jail in Uttar Pradesh. The report said that Dayal had
spent 43 years in a mental asylum and his family believed he was dead.
Similarly, authorities incarcerated Jaldhar Yadav 20 years in Bihar for
``wrongfully restraining a person and causing hurt.'' Under the law,
the maximum sentence for this offense is one year in prison or a fine
of $45 (Rs 1,985) or both. The NHRC requested Assamese authorities to
submit reports on five other pretrial prisoners detained at the LGB
Regional Institute of Mental Health in Tezpur, Assam.
According to the ACHR, as of December 2005, there were 34,481 cases
pending in the Supreme Court, approximately 3.5 million cases pending
in the High Court, and approximately 25.6 million cases pending in the
subordinate courts.
The country had 1,734 operational fast-track courts, which provided
some relief to the backlog and contributed to the growing consensus to
increase the number of fast-track courts throughout the country.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice; however, serious problems remained. In Jammu and
Kashmir, members of the judiciary were subject to threats and
intimidation by insurgents and terrorists.
The judicial system is headed by a Supreme Court, which has
jurisdiction over constitutional issues, and includes the court of
appeals and lower courts. Lower courts hear criminal and civil cases
and send appeals to the court of appeals. The President appoints
judges, who may serve until the age of 62 on state high courts and 65
on the Supreme Court.
Trial Procedures.--The criminal procedure code provides that trials
be conducted publicly, except in proceedings involving official
secrets, trials in which statements prejudicial to the safety of the
state might be made, or under provisions of special security
legislation. Sentences must be announced publicly, and defendants have
the right to choose counsel independent of the Government. There are
effective channels for appeal at most levels of the judicial system,
and the state provides free legal counsel to indigent defendants.
Defendants were allowed access to relevant government-held evidence in
most civil and criminal cases; however, the Government had the right to
withhold information and did so in cases it considered sensitive. In
2003 the Delhi High Court issued new witness protection guidelines to
reduce the number of witnesses who recanted their testimony under
threat from defendants. NGOs reported that the guidelines were not
effective, and many demanded a central law on witness protection. Under
these guidelines, witnesses could apply to the Member-Secretary of the
Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) for protection. Such
recommendations are sent to the Legal cell of the Delhi police, who in
turn informs the concerned districts. However, only six recommendations
were forwarded to the Delhi police by the DLSA in one year due to lack
of police resources. High-profile guilty verdicts involving powerful
elites accused of murder, such as Manu Sharma or Santosh Singh, were
reached based largely on the testimony of witnesses.
There was continued concern about the failure of the Gujarat
government to arrest and convict those responsible for the widespread
communal violence in 2002 following the burning in Godhra of the S-6
coach of the Sabarmati Express train, in which 59 men, women, and
children died. In the days following the train burning, Hindu mobs
killed hundreds of Muslims, displaced tens of thousands, and destroyed
thousands of dollars worth of property.
In many cases attempts to hold perpetrators of the Gujarat violence
accountable were hampered by the manner in which police recorded
complaints. Victims related that police refused to register their
complaints, recorded the details in such a way as to lead to lesser
charges, omitted the names of prominent people involved in attacks, and
did not arrest suspects, particularly supporters of the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP). HRW alleged that instead of helping Muslims in
finding their relatives' bodies, the Gujarat police victimized and
harassed them. In August 2004 the Supreme Court instructed the Gujarat
High Court to appoint a committee of high-level police officials to re-
examine the 2,032 closed cases out of a total of 4,252 complaints filed
and determine whether any should be reopened. In February Gujarat
police informed the Supreme Court that they would reexamine the closure
of 1,600 of the 2,032 cases, and reinvestigate some of the cases by
filing fresh FIRs. The media reported that officials attempting to
conduct a serious investigation into the incidents were promptly
removed from the case.
The first of the convictions in post-Godhra riot cases came in
2003, when the Kheda district court sentenced 12 persons to life in
prison. In December 2005 a special court in Gujarat sentenced 11 Hindus
to life in prison for killing 11 Muslims in the 2002 violence. In other
cases that concluded during the year, the accused were acquitted due to
a lack of evidence, faulty investigations or because witnesses had been
bribed or were afraid to testify. Human rights groups alleged that,
with the exception of the high profile cases in which the Supreme Court
has taken interest, accused persons were most likely to be acquitted.
In 2002, Hindu assailants burned the Best Bakery in Baroda, killing
14 persons. On February 24, the Mumbai retrial of the Best Bakery case
found nine defendants guilty of murder by arson and sentenced them to
life imprisonment, while another eight were acquitted. In March the
Supreme Court convicted principal witness Zaheera Shaikh, whose family
owned the Bakery, of perjury after she repeatedly changed her
testimony, according to HRW and AI, due to intimidation by prominent
members of the BJP. On March 29, Shaikh was sentenced to one year in
prison and was serving the sentence in a Mumbai jail.
Police officials and local authorities allegedly unearthed mass
graves from the 2002 Gujarat violence early in the year. It was alleged
at the time of the violence that in several cases the police originally
tried to bury and conceal evidence. For example in January, in Kalol,
Gujarat, the investigating agency CBI arrested six policemen and two
doctors for deliberately destroying evidence and thereby shielding the
accused in the 2002 Randhikpur massacre.
In addition, some bodies from the Kidiad killings, where over 70
persons were burned alive in March 2005 in two cars at Limbadiya Chowki
in Sabarkantha district, were found in the Panam dam. According to
police records, a case of eight deaths was reported. Following the 2002
acquittal of all the accused in the Kidiad killings by a judge based in
Godhra, the Supreme Court issued a notice in 2003, and the state
government fired the two prosecutors involved in the case. An appeal
was filed before the State High Court. A senior police official said it
was still unclear whether the discovered remains belonged to riot
victims or whether an older graveyard had been unearthed. The Gujarat
police dismissed the unearthing of the mass grave as an unnecessary
publicity campaign by victims' family members.
The other high-profile trial from the 2002 Gujarat violence, the
Bilkis Bano gang rape case, was ongoing in a Mumbai court as of year's
end (see Section 5).
The Gujarat government claimed that police had re-opened
investigations against 5,384 persons in the city of Ahmedabad and
24,683 persons in the state as a whole. However, analysis by the
Islamic Relief Committee of Gujarat revealed that only a small number
of these investigations actually led to convictions. As of October
there were fewer than 10 convictions out of 217 cases concluded in the
lower courts of Gujarat. The Gujarat government's legal department
advised against appealing most of the acquittals in the remaining
cases. As a result, only a handful of cases were appealed to higher
courts. All Gujarat-related cases are under investigation in an
official inquiry conducted by retired Justices G[.] T. Nanavati and
K.G. Shah. The inquiry included gathering and analysis of 20,940 oral
and written testimonies, both individual and collective, from survivors
and independent human rights groups, women's groups, NGOs, academics,
and police officials.
HRW reported in 2005 that Hindu extremists threatened and
intimidated victims, witnesses, and human rights activists attempting
to prosecute those who committed crimes during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
It asserted that instead of pursuing the perpetrators of violence, the
Gujarat government nurtured a climate of fear. The report alleged that
the Gujarat government launched selective tax probes against some
Islamic organizations to pressure Muslim witnesses to withdraw murder
and arson charges against Hindu nationalists. According to HRW's annual
report published in January, ``The Gujarat government again failed to
investigate and prosecute those responsible for attacks on Muslims
during the Gujarat riots of 2002.'' According to AI's May annual human
rights report, ``The perpetrators of human rights violations in India
continue to enjoy impunity, particularly in Gujarat. The survivors of
targeted killings and sexual violence in Gujarat in 2002 continued to
be denied justice and reparation.'' The Gujarat government denied the
charge.
On September 5, according to media sources, 12 Kamptapur Liberation
Organization (KLO) leaders, six Maoist activists and one United
Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) cadre went on an indefinite hunger
strike in the Jalpaiguri Central Jail, West Bengal, after their
repeated requests for a speedy trial or bail during trial went
unheeded. On September 18, 34 KLO prisoners in the same jail joined the
hunger strike after some of their leaders fell seriously ill and were
admitted to the hospital. About 300 members of the same groups all over
the KLO in West Bengal went on a two-day hunger strike to protest the
lack of progress in adjudicating the case.
Fast track courts concentrated on a specific type of case, allowing
judges to develop expertise in a given area of law. These courts gave
preference to cases pending for extended periods and often focused on
civil issues. Court fees were generally lower for these courts, since
trials were shorter.
As of October there were 1,734 fast track courts. A total of 18
million cases were pending in courts across the country, of which 16
million were criminal cases. There were approximately 10 judges for
every million people.
Unlike in previous years, courts were regularly in session and the
judicial system began to normalize in Jammu and Kashmir. Nevertheless,
the judicial system was hindered because of judicial tolerance of
abuses committed as part of the Government's anti-insurgent campaign
and because of the frequent refusal by security forces to obey court
orders.
Due in part to intimidation by insurgents and terrorists, courts in
Jammu and Kashmir were often reluctant to hear cases involving
insurgent and terrorist crimes and failed to act expeditiously, if at
all, on habeas corpus cases. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs,
there were currently 377 persons of unidentified ethnicity and
Kashmiris and 136 foreigners in jails.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--While the Government maintained
that there were no political prisoners, the All Parties Hurriyat
Conference (APHC) claimed there were approximately 500 political
prisoners in Jammu and Kashmir, and human rights activists based in the
state placed the number at 150, although among these were persons whom
the Government claimed had engaged in violent acts.
The Government permitted international humanitarian organizations,
such as the ICRC, access to such persons on a regular basis.
There were no reports of political detainees during the year,
although the Government detained hundreds of suspected terrorists,
insurgents, and separatists.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There are different
personal status laws for the various minority religious communities,
and the legal system accommodates religion-specific laws in matters of
marriage, divorce, adoption, and inheritance. Muslim personal status
law governs many noncriminal matters, including family law and
inheritance (see section 5).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice; however, at times
the authorities infringed upon them. Police must obtain warrants to
conduct searches and seizures, except in cases where such actions would
cause undue delay. Police must justify such warrantless searches in
writing to the nearest magistrate with jurisdiction over the offense.
The authorities in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, and Manipur have special
powers to search and arrest without a warrant.
The Information Technology Act grants police power under certain
circumstances to search premises and arrest individuals without a
warrant. The act specifies a one-year sentence for persons who fail to
provide information to the Government on request and a five-year
sentence for transmitting ``lascivious'' material (see section 2.a.).
The act also requires Internet cafes to monitor Internet use and inform
the authorities of offenses (see section 2.a.).
The Indian Telegraph Act authorizes the surveillance of
communications, including monitoring telephone conversations and
intercepting personal mail, in cases of public emergency, or ``in the
interest of the public safety or tranquility.'' The central government
and every state government used these powers during the year.
Although the Telegraph Act gives police the power to tap phones to
aid an investigation, they were not allowed to use such evidence in
court. The UAPA allows such evidence to be used in terrorist cases, and
some human rights activists noted that the new UAPA ordinance confers
additional powers on police to use intercepted communications as
evidence in terrorism cases. While there were elaborate legal
safeguards to prevent police from encroaching on personal privacy,
there were no such protections in terrorist cases.
Seven states (Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Himachal Pradesh,
and Maharashtra) enacted two-child laws for village council members
with very low levels of enforcement. The laws provide government jobs
and subsidies to those who have no more than two children and sanctions
against those who do. National health officials in New Delhi noted that
the central government was unable to regulate state decisions on
population issues.
The law limits inheritance, alimony payments, and property
ownership of persons from interfaith marriages and prohibits the use of
churches to celebrate marriage ceremonies in which one party is a non-
Christian. Clergymen who contravene its provisions could face up to 10
years' imprisonment. However, the act does not bar interfaith marriages
in other places of worship.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
The AFSPA and the Disturbed Areas Act remained in effect in the Jammu
and Kashmir districts of Kathua, Udhampur, Poonch, Rajouri, Doda,
Srinagar, Budgam, Anantnag, Pulwama, Baramulla, and Kupwara, where
active and violent secessionist movements existed. The Disturbed Areas
Act gives police extraordinary powers of arrest and detention, and the
AFSPA provides search and arrest powers without warrants (see section
1.d.). Human rights groups alleged that security forces operated with
virtual impunity in areas under the act. In January a committee headed
by Supreme Court Justice Jeevan Reddy recommended the act be scrapped
because the Government had authority under UAPA to combat the
insurgency in the northeast. At year's end, the act remained in force.
Accountability by the Jammu and Kashmir government remained a
serious problem. Human rights groups estimated that 30,000 to 35,000
persons died during the two decades of conflict in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Jammu and Kashmir governor, Lt. General S.K. Sinha, reported 39,000
deaths during the conflict. Security forces committed thousands of
serious human rights violations over the course of the insurgency,
including extrajudicial killings, disappearances (see section 1.b.),
and torture (see section 1.c.). Killings of security force members by
insurgents and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir declined to 330 during
2005, according to home ministry statistics. As of August 2005, the
Jammu and Kashmir police claimed fighting in Kashmir had resulted in
the deaths of 167 security forces, 359 civilians, and 622 insurgents.
According to the Jammu and Kashmir police, militants killed 385
civilians, security forces killed 554 terrorists, and insurgents killed
177 security forces. According to South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP),
as of December 18, there were 340 civilians, 166 security force
personnel, and 592 terrorists killed as a result of terrorist violence.
There were continuing reports of civilians killed in cross fire in
Jammu and Kashmir during the year. On February 22, four Kashmiri youth
between the ages of eight and 18 were killed in cross fire between
insurgents and soldiers in the Kupwara District in Northern Kashmir.
The army stated that the killings occurred during a firefight when
soldiers responded with rifle fire to an insurgent grenade. The
killings sparked several days of antigovernment protests in the area.
The Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and the army launched separate
inquires into the matter. On February 26, the army stated it provided
$4,800 (Rs 212,000) compensation to the families of each of the
victims. The state government provided $2,400 (Rs 106,000).
Terrorists and insurgents operating in Rajouri, Poonch, Udhampur,
and Doda areas of Jammu and Kashmir repeatedly targeted the minority
Pandit (Hindu Brahmin) community, stabbing and killing entire families
at a time in numerous incidents throughout the year. For example, in
June insurgents killed one man and injured 13 persons, cutting the
noses and ears from two victims in the Udhampur District.
Civic elections were held in February 2005 in Jammu and Kashmir.
Despite threats and boycott calls, polling was largely peaceful, and
the army and police presence was not large. After the declaration of
results, terrorists killed two newly elected members and several of
their relatives and friends. Several elected counselors resigned
following threats from terrorists. Insurgents killed an official in
Kulgam, a National Conference counselor in Ikhrajpora, and a People's
Democratic Party (PDP) counselor in Beerwah, Budgam district.
Members of the security forces continued to abduct and kill
suspected insurgents, and security forces were not held adequately
accountable for their actions. Reliable data on such cases were
difficult to obtain.
According to credible reports, in addition to harassment during
searches and arbitrary arrests (see section 1.d.), security forces
clearing minefields abducted and sometimes used civilians as human
shields. Such abuses occurred mostly in the Kupwara and Doda districts.
In September security forces killed three members of a family in
the Kokernag area of south Kashmir. In Kupwara, security forces killed
a girl and her uncle when they were heading towards a nearby jungle to
get firewood. The army issued its regrets and advised the people
against venturing out during night hours.
On December 10, a soldier fired upon shopkeeper Manzoor Ahmad Wani
at Mirmaidan village in south Kashmir. Wani had failed to immediately
expose his arms from under his pheran (long Kashmiri robe) after a
soldier asked him to do so. Wani was hospitalized.
On December 17, Rashtriya Rifles troops killed a 62-year-old
village headman, Sanaullah Magray. The army said the killing was a case
of mistaken identity and that the villager had entered an ambushed area
and ignored warnings to stop. The Government conducted an
investigation, and the army ordered a separate inquiry into the
incident.
Unlike in previous years, tension along the Line of Control (LOC)
in Kashmir was minimal. The Home Ministry reported no cases of
artillery shelling, mortar, or small arms fire across the LOC or on the
Siachen glacier.
In February army personnel killed four youths playing cricket in
Kupwara district. Massive protests followed the killing, and 15 persons
were injured in police firing and use of tear gas. In September the
Jammu and Kashmir government asked the district and session court to
investigate the incident. On September 19, the army removed the unit's
commanding officer, Colonel R.S. Guleria, for what was termed
inefficiency and ineptitude. The NHRC asked the Jammu and Kashmir
government to provide a detailed report of the killing. The Government
had not done so by the end of the year.
On May 21, the terrorist group Lashkar-E-Tayyiba (LET) killed seven
persons and injured 25 in an attack on a Congress rally in Srinagar.
On May 3, AI reported the killing of at least 35 Hindus and the
additional wounding of 10 others in a predominantly Muslim area of
Jammu and Kashmir ahead of a meeting between the Prime Minister and
Hurriyat leaders.
On July 8, the Jammu and Kashmir police claimed that rebel group
Hizbul Mujaheedin detonated a powerful grenade in Kulgam that killed
five people, including former National Conference (NC) legislator and
state tourism minister Sakina Ittoo, and injured 50 others. The
insurgents attacked Ittoo with a grenade as she was leaving a shrine in
south Kashmir's Anantang District.
There were no developments in the November 2005 killings of two
village men used as human shields by insurgents in Pattan, Kashmir.
There were no developments in the February 2004 killing of five
civilian porters allegedly used as human shields by security forces in
Kashmir.
In the northeast, human rights groups observed that violence
persisted despite ongoing talks between separatist groups and state
government officials and a 2004 government ceasefire. Factional
violence between the National Socialist Council of Nagaland Isak-Muivah
(NSCN-IM) and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland Khaplang
(NSCN-K) continued during the year, resulting in numerous deaths.
Between July 2005 and June, government representatives and NSCN-IM
leaders met in Amsterdam and agreed to extend the ceasefire.
In August the army operation against the banned ULFA group from
Assam was suspended for one month to foster peace in the state. The
decision to halt operations met a key demand of the ULFA, which
responded to the suspension by announcing a ``cessation of
hostilities.'' However operations were re-launched in September as ULFA
resumed violence.
According to the Home Affairs Annual Report, 76 districts in the
nine states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa,
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal were
affected by Naxalite (Maoist insurgent) violence.
Southern Chhattisgarh was a center of Naxalite violence, with over
300 insurgent-related casualties from January to August. A
counterinsurgency movement among the region's tribal population called
``Salwa Judem'' began in June 2005 and was supported by the state
government. Naxalite retaliations against the movement resulted in
violent civil conflict in Dantewara district and a large number of
civilian deaths.
On March 2, an estimated 500 Naxalites raided a small village in
Dantewara district, killing four with axes and knives and abducting
five. During the year there were several reported instances of
Naxalites using landmines to target government vehicles and police
personnel. Also in March Naxalites destroyed a railroad engine in an
attempt to disrupt iron-ore shipments from the large government-owned
Bailadila mines. On June 20, insurgents killed seven persons and
injured two others at Chikuarguda village in the Konta region of
Dantewara district after the villagers refused to support the
Naxalites' planned attack on a camp of internally displayed persons
(IDPs) (see section 2.d.). On July 17, Naxalites attacked an IDP camp
in Arrabore, killing an estimated 20 to 30 inhabitants, including
several infants. An estimated 75 persons were injured.
After the Naxalites shot and killed Congress legislator Chittam
Narsi Reddy in Mahbubnagar District, Andhra Pradesh, in August 2005,
the state government imposed a ban on the Communist Party of India-
Maoist (CPI-M) and seven Naxalite front organizations. After the ban,
police arrested Vara Vara Rao, who had acted as the CPI-M emissary in
earlier peace talks. Rao belonged to the outlawed People's War Group
(PWG), which was a sub-group of CPI-M. Human rights activists claimed
that the escalation in violence began in January when police shot and
killed three Naxalites in Prakasan district. Reports of encounter
killings were highest in Nizamabad District in 2005, where police shot
and killed nine Naxalites. In September Naxalite guerrillas killed 10
persons in a midnight attack in the Ranchi area of Jharkhand. According
to the SATP, in September 2005, cadres of the CPI-M killed 17 civilians
at Belwadari village in the Giridih district, Jharkhand. According to
SATP, as of December 11, 263 civilians and 121 security forces were
killed in Naxalite-related extremist activities during the year.
The killing of civilians by Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh continued.
ACHR estimated that Naxalite violence killed at least 460 persons in
the first half of the year, including 90 security personnel, 189
suspected Naxalites, and 181 civilians. According to Andhra Pradesh
police, the number of civilian killings committed by Maoists decreased
to 42 during the year, compared with 211 in 2005. The police combing
operations resulted in encounter killings of 110 Maoists during the
year, compared with 124 in 2005.
On July 17, armed Naxalites attacked the Errabore Relief Camp in
Dantewada district, killing approximately 30 unarmed civilians and
injuring hundreds. The attackers abducted more than 45 persons and then
reportedly released some hostages and killed six others, including
security personnel. According to the police, all six hostages killed
were surrendered Naxalites.
In December 2005 the People's Liberation Army (PLA) killed Manipur
Inspector General of Police (Intelligence) T. Thangthuam, along with a
constable, in an ambush in Manipur's Bushnupur District. Heavily armed
insurgents in a truck overtook the police officer's vehicle in the
Oinam Bazaar area and fired indiscriminately, killing the two on the
spot. On August 16, five civilians, including two children, were killed
and 50 others injured when suspected terrorists threw a powerful
grenade in a temple in Imphal during a Hindu festival. On August 20,
the Zomi Revolutionary Army killed two civilians and injured four when
the cadres opened fire on a crowded church, targeting a patrol party of
Assam Rifles in Churachandpur District.
On February 5, the army picked up Ajit Mahanta, a resident of
Kakopathar, Tinsukia, Assam, on suspicion of having links to the ULFA.
The next day his body was found in a gunny bag at Assam Medical
College, Dibrugarh. Mahanta's death caused widespread resentment, and
on February 10, a mob of 10,000 persons gathered to protest and march
to the Lajum police station when police opened fire, killing eight
persons. Protesters stoned to death one soldier. The army gave monetary
compensation to Mahanta's widow. The Assam government also announced
they would compensate the widow and the families of those killed in the
shooting. The Defense Ministry convened a court-martial, which found an
officer and a rifleman guilty. The findings and sentence remained
subject to confirmation by higher army authorities.
Between June 8 and 11, ULFA explosions in Assam killed five and
injured 40.
In November three civilians--including one woman and one child--
were killed and 11 injured when an explosion triggered by suspected
ULFA militants at the railway station exploded in Guwahati, Assam.
Through December 18, SATP reported the following deaths as a result
of insurgency-related violence: 91 civilians, 37 security forces, and
42 militants killed in Assam; 103 civilians, 37 security forces and 136
militants killed in Manipur; 10 civilians, one security force member,
and 80 militants killed in Nagaland; 11 civilians, 19 security forces,
and 30 militants killed in Tripura.
On February 28, according to AI, suspected Maoists belonging to the
PWG set off a landmine in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh, killing 236 and
injuring 30.
On March 3, Maoists disguised as a marriage party attacked a
security check point in Jharkand and killed five security officers.
Between March 4 and 5, Maoists killed two Communist Party of India-
Marxist (CPM) workers in separate attacks in West Bengal and kidnapped
10 CPM members.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and expression; however, freedom of the press is not
explicitly mentioned. The Government generally respected these rights
in practice. An independent press, a somewhat effective judiciary, and
a functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of
speech and of the press. Under the 1923 Official Secrets Act, the
Government may prosecute any person who publishes or communicates
information that could be harmful to the state. However, no cases were
reported during the year.
Designed to be a self-regulating mechanism for the press, the Press
Council (PCI) is a statutory body of journalists, publishers,
academics, and politicians, with a government-appointed chairman, that
investigates complaints of irresponsible journalism and sets a code of
conduct for publishers nationwide. This code includes a commitment not
to publish stories that might incite caste or communal violence. The
council publicly criticized newspapers or journalists it believed had
broken the code of conduct, especially regarding communal violence or
vandalism.
Independent newspapers and magazines regularly published and
television channels regularly broadcast investigative reports,
including allegations of government wrongdoing, and the press generally
promoted human rights and criticized perceived government lapses. Most
print media and 80 percent of television channels were privately owned.
However, by law, only government-controlled radio stations were allowed
to report news over the radio.
With the exception of radio, foreign media generally was allowed to
operate freely, and private satellite television was distributed widely
by cable or satellite dish, providing competition for Doordarshan, the
government-owned television network. While the public frequently
accused the Government television of manipulating the news in the
Government's favor, some privately owned satellite channels often
promoted the platforms of political parties their owners supported.
The Government often held foreign satellite broadcasters, rather
than domestic cable operators, liable under civil law for what it
deemed objectionable content on satellite channels--notably, tobacco
and alcohol advertisements and adult content.
AM radio broadcasting remained a government monopoly. Private FM
radio station ownership was legal, but licenses only authorized
entertainment and educational content. Local editions of foreign press
were prohibited; however, the Government allowed country-specific
editions published by a local company, with no more than a 26 percent
foreign partnership.
The authorities generally allowed foreign journalists to travel
freely, including in Jammu and Kashmir, where they regularly met with
separatist leaders and filed reports on a range of issues, including
government abuses.
The Newspapers Incitements to Offenses Act remained in effect in
Jammu and Kashmir, which allows a district magistrate to prohibit
publication of material likely to incite violence; however, newspapers
in Srinagar reported in detail on alleged human rights abuses by the
Government and regularly published separatist Kashmiri groups' press
releases.
There were some attacks on the media that were apparently intended
to harass or inhibit the free expression of opinions. For example, on
February 9, members of the Kangleipak Communist Party in Imphal shot
and injured Ratan Luwangcha, general secretary of the All Manipur
Working Journalists' Union.
On June 10, unknown assailants attacked and killed Arun Narayan
Dekate, a rural correspondent with the Marathi daily Tarun Bharat.
According to press reports, Dekate had exposed and informed police
about an illegal gambling racket headed by alleged gambling boss
Dhampal Bhagat. Authorities arrested several suspects in the case.
In June an imam of a mosque in Kolkata (Calcutta) issued a fatwa
(religious edict) against exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen,
offering a reward of $1,100 (Rs 48,500) to anyone who smeared black
paint on her face and drove her out of the country. The police
commissioner reportedly summoned the imam, who denied issuing the
fatwa.
In August the Punjab State Human Rights Commission sought an
inquiry into the arrest of two journalists, Harjit Singh Kohli and
Gurmit Mann, who were investigating the arrest of one girl and three
boys in a police constable's residence. Police allegedly filed a
falsified FIR against the journalists after they refused to hand over
their notes.
There were no developments in the July 2005 harassment and
intimidation of South Asia Tribune correspondent Arun Kumar Rajnath or
the August 2005 arrest of Indian Express correspondent Gautam Dheer.
There were no developments in the June 2005 harassment of
journalists in Meghalaya by police and the Meghalaya government or the
August 2005 Tamil Nadu issuance of ``breach of privilege'' notices
against journalists who published two controversial articles.
Violent intimidation of the press by terrorist groups in Jammu and
Kashmir caused significant self-censorship, according to journalists
based in the state. During the year the threat of losing government
revenue contributed to self-censorship by smaller media outlets that
relied heavily on state government advertising for their survival.
In February members of a breakaway faction of the Jammu and Kashmir
Liberation Front reportedly threatened editors of the newspaper Greater
Kashmir for failing to cover adequately a general strike called by the
group.
In May the main cable television operator in Kashmir stopped airing
programs following threats from separatists. The cable company noted
that separatists, thought to be members of a little-known group called
the Al-Madina Regiment, complained of the ``depraved nature'' of the
programming. A larger insurgent group, Hizbul Mujahideen, denied that
any separatists were involved and accused local officials of
orchestrating a shut-down to divert attention from a sex scandal.
The Government maintained a list of banned books that may not be
imported or sold in the country. Censors claimed that some books, such
as Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses, aggravated communal tensions. In
March 2004 the Maharashtra state government filed criminal charges
against a foreign professor for allegedly slandering Shivaji, a 17th
century Marathi warrior, and his mother in his book. The case remained
open at year's end, and the Maharashtra state government continued to
ban the book. In January the Maharashtra state government banned
another book on Shivaji by the same author, published in 2001, for fear
it would create communal tension. In September 2005 the Kolkata
(Calcutta) High Court removed the April 2004 West Bengal government ban
on Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen's autobiography, Dwikhandita,
Amaar Meyebela.
In March and April the Government of Rajasthan banned Haqeeqat
(Reality), a Hindi translation of a controversial anti-Hindu book by
Kerala-based evangelist M.G. Mathew, claiming it would incite communal
violence, and held Samuel Thomas, President of Emmanuel Ministries
International (EMI), a Christian charitable institution, in judicial
custody from March 17 to May 2 for distributing the book (see section
2.c). The book Wo Sharm Se Hindu Kahate Hain Kyon? (Why Do They Say
With Shame They Are Hindus) was banned at the same time as Haqeeqat.
A government censorship board reviewed films before licensing them
for distribution, censoring material it deemed offensive to public
morals or communal sentiment.
Internet Freedom.--The Informational Technology Act provides for
censoring the Internet on public morality grounds, and defines
``unauthorized access to certain types of electronic information'' as a
crime. According to Reporters Without Borders, this law theoretically
allowed police to search the homes or offices of Internet users at any
time without a warrant, but that claim had not been tested in court.
The Government retained the right to limit access to the Internet,
specifically information deemed detrimental to national security.
On July 13, the Department of Telecommunications asked Internet
Service Providers (ISPs) to block several Web sites. The known list of
blocked domains included blogspot.com, typepad.com and geocities.com,
which terrorists allegedly used. The block was lifted after two days.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government continued to
apply restrictions to the travel and activities of visiting experts and
scholars. In 2003 the Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD)
passed academic guidelines requiring all central universities to obtain
HRD permission before organizing ``all forms of foreign collaborations
and other international academic exchange activities,'' including
seminars, conferences, workshops, guest lectures, and research. These
guidelines remained in force during the year. In most cases, the HRD
ultimately permitted the international academic exchanges to take place
after bureaucratic delays. However, in 2005 the Ministry of Home
Affairs denied visas to six foreign scholars because the Government was
``not in favor of undertaking the proposed research project.'' During
the year, the Ministry of Home Affairs denied 21 scholars visas.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government generally
respected this right in practice.
Freedom of Assembly.--The authorities normally required permits and
notification prior to holding parades or demonstrations, and local
governments ordinarily respected the right to protest peacefully,
except in Jammu and Kashmir, where the local government sometimes
denied permits to separatist parties for public gatherings and detained
separatists engaged in peaceful protest. During periods of civil
tension, the authorities may ban public assemblies or impose a curfew
under the Criminal Procedure Code.
There were some instances of demonstrations where security forces
either claimed harsh tactics were warranted or failed to protect
demonstrators from violence.
On January 1, police shot 12 adivasis (tribals) in Kalinga Nagar,
Jajpur District, in Orissa. The police shooting occurred when 600
tribals gathered to block the construction of a boundary wall at a Tata
Corporation steel plant. When police tried to break up the
demonstrations, the tribals attacked the police with arrows and stones,
killing one policeman. The police responded by firing tear-gas shells
and rubber bullets and opening fire with bullets. In addition to the 13
deaths, 25 people were wounded in the clash. The Government of Orissa
ordered the suspension of the district administration police chiefs and
announced a compensation of $11,000 (Rs 485,000) for the victims'
families.
In March police fired into a crowd of protesting fishermen, killing
one and severely injuring several others, at Gangavaram Port in Andhra
Pradesh. The fishermen were demanding compensation for restrictions on
fishing in the area. In June the Government agreed to a compensation
plan.
In May the NHRC requested that Mumbai and Delhi Police provide a
``factual report'' to justify using a lathi, a bamboo stick used for
crowd control, against students protesting medical school admittance
quotas in New Delhi and elsewhere.
In June police fired on demonstrators who were protesting custodial
killings in Pattan town in north Kashmir, killing two and injuring 25,
sparking attacks on police stations and highway blockades.
In September two persons reportedly were killed and at least thirty
policemen were injured during a traders' protest against the ongoing
sealing drive in New Delhi. The chief minister Sheila Dixit, ordered a
magisterial inquiry into the incidence of violence.
There were no developments in the May 2005 killing of a nine-year-
old girl by police who were attempting to disperse a clash between
villagers in Srinagar.
There were no developments in the June 2005 Orissa police shooting,
when protesters stormed a police station demonstrating against the
delay in the arrest of a molester of minor girl.
There were no developments in the August 2005 killing by police of
two people in Bihar who were protesting the removal of a bus stand
following the death of a child in a bus accident.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for the freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
NGOs must secure approval from the Ministry of Home Affairs before
organizing international conferences. Human rights groups contended
that this provided the Government with substantial political control
over the work of NGOs and restricted their freedom of assembly and
association. NGOs alleged that some members from abroad were denied
visas arbitrarily.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for secular government
and the protection of religious freedom, and the central government
generally respected these provisions in practice; however, it sometimes
did not act effectively to counter societal attacks against religious
minorities and attempts by state and local governments to limit
religious freedom. This failure resulted in part from legal constraints
inherent in the country's federal structure and in part from
shortcomings in the law enforcement and judicial systems. There is no
state religion, although the fact that the majority of citizens are
Hindus at times adversely affected the religious freedom of others.
Some Hindu hardliners interpreted ineffective investigation and
prosecution of their attacks on religious minorities as evidence that
they could commit such violence with impunity.
Some human rights groups alleged that there were ideological ties
between the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP state
governments that may have influenced the BJP's response to acts of
violence against religious minorities.
Legally mandated benefits were assigned to certain groups,
including some groups defined by their religion. For example,
educational institutions administered by minority religions were
allowed to reserve seats for their co-religionists even when they
received government funding. Benefits accorded Dalits (formerly known
as ``untouchables'') were revoked once they converted to Christianity
or Islam, but not to Buddhism or Sikhism, ostensibly because once a
Dalit converted to Christianity or Islam, he would no longer
technically be a Dalit, although such caste distinctions informally
existed in both religions.
The Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act of 1988
criminalizes the use of any religious site for political purposes or
the use of temples to harbor persons accused or convicted of crimes.
While specifically designed to deal with Sikh places of worship in
Punjab, the law applies to all religious sites. The Religious Buildings
and Places Act requires a state government-endorsed permit before
construction of any religious building. The act's supporters claimed
that its aim is to curb the use of Muslim institutions by Islamic
extremist groups, but the measure became a controversial political
issue among Muslims.
The states of Arunachal Pradesh, Chattisgharh, Madhya Pradesh, and
Orissa have laws against forcible conversions. Gujarat passed anti-
conversion legislation which has never been enacted as the state
government has yet to publish the regulations needed for enforcement.
In 2003 Gujarat passed a ``Freedom of Religion'' Act that provides
penalties of up to three years in prison and a fine of $1,000 (Rs
44,000) for the use of inducement or force for religious conversion. On
September 19, the state assembly passed the Gujarat Freedom of Religion
(Amendment) Bill. The amendment claimed that Buddhists and Jains were
subsets of Hinduism, despite the 1992 National Commission for
Minorities Act that identified Buddhism as a separate religion and
Supreme Court action in the current year recognizing the sovereign
identity of Jains. The amendment states that there would be no
government intervention if a person changes from one sect to another
(i.e. Shia to Sunni or Protestant to Catholic, or Hindu to Jain.)
In March the Rajasthan government introduced and the state assembly
passed legislation banning conversions by ``force, allurement, or
fraudulent means,'' but by year's end it was not signed into law after
both the state governor and President Abdul Kalam refused to endorse
the legislation.
In July the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh enacted
changes to existing anti-conversion laws requiring prior permission of
district authorities before any conversion takes place. The new
amendments also excluded Christians intending to ``reconvert'' to
Hinduism from the prior permission requirement. Chhattisgarh's
legislation would protect Hindu ``purification rallies,'' which were
large public events where Hindu activists ``re-convert'' entire
villages of Christian tribal people. At year's end, the amendments were
not operational.
On May 22, the Tamil Nadu Assembly repealed the Tamil Nadu
Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Act, 2002.
While there were some reported arrests throughout the country,
there were no convictions under anticonversion laws during the year.
Reports from faith-based NGOs and the media indicated that there
were four arrests in Andhra Pradesh, 14 in Chhattisgarh, 28 in Madhya
Pradesh, two in Orissa, and one in Uttar Pradesh between July 2005 and
June. In most cases, the people picked up under the conversion laws are
released on bail after spending a night in police custody. Faith-based
NGOs allege that this is a systematic strategy to discourage Christian
prayer meetings.
There is no national law barring a citizen or foreigner from
professing or propagating his or her religious beliefs; however, the
law prohibits visitors in the country on tourist visas from engaging in
religious proselytizing without prior permission from the Ministry of
Home Affairs. During the year state officials continued to refuse
permits to foreign missionaries to enter some northeastern states, on
the grounds of political instability in the region. Missionaries and
religious organizations must comply with the Foreign Contribution
(Regulation) Act (FCRA) of 1976, which restricts funding from abroad.
The Government can ban a religious organization that violates the FCRA,
provokes intercommunity friction, or has been involved in terrorism or
sedition.
The legal system accommodates minority religions' personal status
laws, and there were different personal laws for different religious
communities. Religion-specific laws are paramount in matters of
marriage, divorce, adoption, and inheritance. The personal status laws
of the religious communities sometimes discriminated against women.
Some laws, such as the repealed POTA, while not specifically
written to target a minority group, affected particular ethnic or
religious groups. A July 2004 study carried out by the NGO People's
Tribunal in 10 states found that 99.9 percent of those arrested under
POTA were Muslims.
In response to EMI headquarters' distribution of Haqeeqat, deemed
disrespectful of Hindu beliefs, a prominent Hindu leader offered a
bounty of $26,000 (Rs 1.15 million) for the mission archbishop's ``head
on a plate.'' According to the media, Hindu activists attacked a school
run by EMI and burned an effigy of its founder. In February, the
Government of Rajasthan suspended the registration of EMI property and
froze its assets. By year's end, EMI's bank account had been re-opened
and its registration had been restored (see 2.a.).
In April communal clashes between Hindu and Muslim residents of
Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, which stemmed from the use of loudspeakers
during a religious festival, resulted in two deaths and eight injuries.
An NCM investigation determined that the Uttar Pradesh administration
initially did not take appropriate steps to prevent the violence. The
police launched a judicial inquiry.
From March 2 to 4, groups of Hindus attacked and destroyed Muslim
shops and vehicles in two towns in central Goa. The group protested the
illegal construction of a mosque by recent Muslim immigrants.
On March 7, three bombs exploded at the Sankat Mochan temple and
railway station in Varanasi, killing at least 23 people and injuring
several others. The Uttar Pradesh chief minister claimed police killed
one alleged attacker, a member of the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba terrorist
group.
On May 1, police shot and killed two Muslims during protests over
the removal of a Muslim shrine in Vadodara, Gujarat. In the violence
that ensued, police injured another 60 persons, mostly Muslims. Unknown
assailants stabbed and killed two Hindus. According to the media, the
police reportedly dealt heavy handedly with Muslim rioters.
On September 8, two bombs attached to bicycles exploded in
Malegaon, Maharashtra, killing 37 people and injuring 125, most of them
Muslim worshipers leaving a mosque after Friday prayers. On October 30,
authorities arrested a member of the Students Islamic Movement of India
(SIMI) for his alleged involvement with the blast.
The Gujarat government paid a total of $3,400 (Rs 150,000) to the
next of kin of each person killed in the 2002 violence and paid
approximately $447,000 (Rs 19.7 million) towards relief and
rehabilitation, according to Chief Minister Narendra Modi. NGOs and
newspapers criticized the Gujarat government for discriminating between
Hindus and Muslims in dispensing compensation. In November the central
government announced payment of approximately $15,909 (Rs 700,000) to
each of the families of the Gujarat riots as compensation. By year's
end, this had not been implemented.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Tensions between religious
groups, while rare, continued during the year. Attacks on religious
minorities occurred in several states, which brought into question the
state governments' ability to prevent sectarian and religious violence
or prosecute those responsible.
Several human rights and religious freedom NGOs, including the All
India Christian Council and the All-India Catholic Union (AICU)
expressed concern over growing anti-Christian violence in several
states governed by the BJP, some of whom had affiliations with
fundamentalist groups associated with the RSS. In November 2005 the
AICU reported that there were approximately 200 attacks against
Christians throughout the country during the year.
On January 16, Hindu fundamentalists burned the houses of three
Christian families of Matiapara village in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The
police did not initially accept the FIR filed by the pastor and members
of the church. However, the police did accept a FIR from Hindus
accusing the pastor of forcible conversion. Both complaints were
forwarded to the court. The police allegedly harassed the pastor and
his acquaintances. The Orissa State Human Rights Commission conducted
an investigation into the incident, which had not been concluded at the
year's end.
In March media reported that Hindus set a Christian church on fire
at Gunthaput village in the Orissa district of Koraput. The All India
Christian Council approached the District Collector for redress.
Muslims in some Hindu-dominated areas continued to experience
intimidation and reported a lack of government protection, resulting in
their inability to work, reside, or send their children to schools. In
some areas, primarily in Gujarat, Hindutva, groups displayed signs
stating ``Hindus only'' and ``Muslim-free area.'' Hindutva is the
ideology that espouses politicized inculcation of Hindu religious and
cultural norms above other religious norms. There were also allegations
of prohibitions on the Muslim call to prayer.
There were no developments in the February 2005 killings of Gilbert
Raj or Dilip Dalai.
Hindu organizations frequently alleged that Christian missionaries
forced or lured Hindus, particularly those of lower castes, to convert
to Christianity. In Christian majority areas, there were occasional
reports that Christians harassed members of other communities.
There were no reports during the year of anti-Semitic acts against
the country's small Jewish community which constituted 0.76 percent of
the total population.
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, and the Government generally respected this in practice;
however, in certain border areas the Government required special
permits.
Security forces often searched and questioned occupants at vehicle
checkpoints, mostly in troubled areas in the Kashmir Valley or after
major terrorist attacks. The Government also completed construction
(except in areas of difficult terrain) of a 330-mile security fence
along the LOC in Jammu and Kashmir, causing occasional difficulties for
local residents, as it cut through some villages and agricultural
lands. The Government erected the security fence to stop arms smuggling
and infiltration by Pakistani-based terrorists or insurgents. The
Government attributed a decline in insurgent crossings during the year
in part to the fence.
Under the Passports Act of 1967, the Government may deny a passport
to any applicant who ``may or is likely to engage outside India in
activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India.'' In
the past, the Government used this provision to prohibit foreign travel
by some government critics, especially those advocating Sikh
independence and members of the separatist movement in Jammu and
Kashmir.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of the Government
using the issuance of passports or travel documents to restrict travel
of separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir. However, citizens from
Jammu and Kashmir faced extended delays, often up to two years, before
the Ministry of External Affairs would issue or renew their passports.
Government officials also regularly demanded bribes before issuing
passports from Jammu and Kashmir that required special clearances.
Applicants born in Jammu and Kashmir--even the children of serving
military officers born during their parents' deployment in the state--
were subjected to additional scrutiny, requests for bribes, and police
clearances prior to passport issuance.
There was no law banning forced exile; however, there were no
reports of forced exile during the year.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--According to the Norwegian
Refugee Council, at least 650,000 persons were displaced due to
conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, and the northeast (see
sections 1.a., 1.c., and 1.g.). Approximately 300,000 Kashmiri Pandits
(Hindu Brahmins), who were forced to flee the Kashmir Valley in the
early 1990s after the outbreak of separatist violence, remained in IDP
camps in Jammu and New Delhi, some 15 years after the start of the
insurgency; they were unable to return to their homes in Jammu and
Kashmir because of safety concerns, including the on-going killings of
Hindus in the state.
The NHRC reported that the Pandit population in Jammu and Kashmir
dropped from 15 percent in 1941 to 0.1 percent during the year.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs Annual Report for 2005, there
were 55,476 Kashmiri Pandit migrant families of which 34,088 resided in
Jammu, 19,338 in Delhi, and 2,050 in other states. There were 230
migrant families living in 14 camps in Delhi and 5,778 families in 16
camps in Jammu. The Government provided monthly cash relief of $70 (Rs
3,100) and basic dry rations to 14,869 families in Jammu. In Delhi,
authorities provided $75 (Rs 3,300) to 4,100 families.
In October, according to the National Commission for Minorities
(NCM), 5,307 Muslim families still lived in ``precarious conditions''
in 46 makeshift camps across Gujarat following the violence in 2002.
More than 87,000 persons lived under poor conditions in IDP camps
in Assam as a result of ongoing violence in the northeast. According to
press reports, nearly 2,000 families who were riot victims from the
Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, and Dhubri districts in Assam awaited
rehabilitation grants sanctioned by the state government following the
1993-99 riots in these areas.
An NGO reported that the Assam state government released part of
the grants during the year. The Government also provided assistance to
IDPs and allowed them access to NGO and human rights organizations
during the year. There were no reports that the Government attacked or
forcibly resettled IDPs. There were no reports of government programs
specifically designed to facilitate resettlement.
During the year the Chhattisgarh government opened IDP camps in
Dantewara district for tribals caught in fighting between Naxalites and
activists of a counter-insurgent movement called ``Salwa Judum.'' An
estimated 60,000 tribal villagers were encamped in 27 locations. By
most accounts, the camps lacked adequate shelter, food, and security
(see section 1.g.). There also were allegations of trafficking in
persons in the camps (see section 5). Civil society and media alleged
there was trafficking in child soldiers by Naxalites and ``Salwa
Judum'' activists. NGOs in Chhattisgarh also criticized the practice of
hiring teenage children of police personnel slain in Naxalite attacks
as ``child police'' (the children were not given actual policing duty,
but ran errands in police stations). Several such ``Bal-police''
continued to be employed in police stations in Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide 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 not
established a system for providing protection to refugees or asylum
seekers. In practice, the Government provided some protection against
refoulement to Tibetans and Sri Lankans. The Government provided
temporary protection to certain individuals who may not qualify as
refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol. According to
the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at the end
of November, there were 11,585 refugees under UNHCR mandate in the
country.
UNHCR reported during the year that the Government hosted over
300,000 refugees, including 1,803 from Burma, 9,528 from Afghanistan,
and 254 others from Bhutan, Nepal, and Chakmas. Since 1960 the
Government has hosted approximately 110,000 de facto refugees from
Tibet. During the year Tibetan leaders in India stated that the
Government treated them extremely well.
The Government generally denied NGOs and the office of the UNHCR
direct access to refugee and IDP camps, particularly in Mizoram.
However, UNHCR was given access and maintained a local office in Tamil
Nadu. The UNHCR had no formal status, but the Government permitted its
staff access to refugees living in urban centers. The Government did
not formally recognize UNHCR grants of refugee status, although it
provided ``residential permits'' to many Afghans and Burmese. The
Government considered Tibetans and Sri Lankans in settlements and
refugee camps to be refugees, and provided assistance to them, but
since it regarded most other groups, especially Bangladeshis, as
economic migrants, it did not provide them with aid. However, in recent
years, a number of court rulings extended protection to refugees whom
the Government had formerly considered economic migrants.
The Government permitted recognized refugees to work, and the state
and central governments paid for the education of refugee children and
provided limited welfare benefits.
According to NGOs, conditions in the Sri Lankan refugee camps were
generally acceptable, although much of the housing was of poor quality.
The UNHCR continued to meet outside the camps with Tamil refugees
considering voluntary repatriation. The NGO Organization for Eelam
Refugee Rehabilitation (OfEER) had regular access to the camps during
the year. According to OfEER, there were 121 refugee camps and one
``special camp'' which housed suspected members of the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). As of November 2005, only 11 refugees
remained in the single camp. Sri Lankans who claimed to fear the
escalating violence between LTTE cadres and Sri Lankan security forces
in Sri Lanka took refuge in approximately 100 camps in Tamil Nadu.
According to the UNHCR, 27 Tamil refugees returned to Sri Lanka during
the year. As of August, there were 60,604 Sri Lankan refugees living in
105 refugee camps. By year's end 16,492 additional refugees had
arrived. The Government provided them with subsidized rice and other
essential goods.
Those living in the country not formally recognized as refugees
included approximately 80,000 Chakmas and approximately 200,000
Santhals, both from Bangladesh, who remained in Arunachal Pradesh,
Mizoram, and Assam. In addition, there were Afghans, Iraqis, and
Iranians without valid national passports living in the country. The
Government either chose not to deport them, issued them renewable
residence permits, or ignored their presence. Due to financial and
other reasons, many refugees were unable or unwilling to obtain or
renew their national passports and could not regularize their status.
UNHCR provided refugee status and assistance to approximately 1,800
Chin from Burma who were living in New Delhi. However, UNHCR did not
have access to the larger population of ethnic Chin living in the
northeastern states. An estimated 40,000 to 50,000 Chins lived and
worked illegally in Mizoram. NGOs estimated that in 2005 10,000 Chins
with alleged ties to Burmese insurgent groups were expelled to Burma,
where the military government reportedly jailed them. Mizoram human
rights groups estimated that approximately 31,000 Reangs, a tribal
group from Mizoram displaced by sectarian conflict, remained in six
camps in North Tripura. Conditions in these camps were poor, and the
Tripura government asked the central government to allot funds for
their care. In 2004 Reang leaders in the camps pressed for reserved
jobs, education benefits, and a comprehensive rehabilitation package.
The Mizoram government rejected the demands, maintaining that only
16,000 of the refugees had a valid claim to residence. After several
rounds of negotiations, the Mizoram government and Reang-dominated Bru
National Liberation Front (BNLF) insurgents signed a peace accord in
June. Mizoram also agreed to take back Reangs who had fled to Tripura
to escape the conflict.
More than 1,000 Hmar refugees, one of the numerous tribes that
belonged to the Chin-Kuku-Mizo tribe, were reportedly displaced in and
around Mizoram, some of them from Manipur.
In January 2005 the Supreme Court ordered the Ministry of Home
Affairs, the election commission, and the Governments of Mizoram and
Tripura to resettle approximately 40,000 displaced Reangs and add them
to the electoral rolls. No further action had taken place by the end of
the year.
The BNLF and Mizoram government agreed on a $6.3 million (Rs 277.9
million) financial package and paved the way for the return of Reang
IDPs in North Tripura. However, the return was yet unimplemented. The
return of Bru refugees was not implemented because civil society groups
like the Young Mizo Association and the Mizo Students' Union objected
with the argument that these Brus were not all originally from Mizoram.
No decision was reached at the end of 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.--The Government changed
hands following free and fair national parliamentary elections in April
and May 2004 in which approximately 675 million citizens participated.
The country has a democratic, parliamentary system of government, with
representatives elected in multiparty elections. Parliament sits for
five years unless dissolved earlier for new elections, except under
constitutionally defined emergency situations.
Citizens elected state governments at regular intervals, except in
states under President's rule. During the year, relatively peaceful
elections took place in the states of Assam, Bihar, Kerala, Tamil Nadu,
West Bengal and in the Union Territory of Puducherry, although some
election-related violence occurred. According to press reports, 14
people were killed and 36 injured in Bihar, and in April insurgents
killed one person and injured 32 in Jammu and Kashmir. The press
reported that despite the violence, voter turnout was the highest in 16
years and that the polls were generally free and fair. The Tamil Nadu
and Kerala elections led to peaceful transitions of power to opposition
parties.
There were 72 women in the 783-seat national legislature, and 10 in
the 34-member cabinet of ministers. Numerous women were represented in
all major parties in the national and state legislatures. The
Constitution reserves 33 percent of seats for women in elected village
councils (Panchayats).
The constitution reserves seats in parliament and state
legislatures for scheduled tribes and scheduled castes in proportion to
their population (see section 5). Indigenous persons actively
participated in national and local politics.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was endemic in
the executive and legislative branches of government. Transparency
International (TI) determined that corruption was ``all-pervasive.''
According to a June 2005 TI study, the police ranked highest in the
corruption index. There was widespread public perception of corruption
in the Government. In June 2005 Transparency International and Centre
for Media Studies issued the India Corruption Study and reported that
approximately 62 percent of citizens believed they had experienced
corruption firsthand by paying bribes or using a contact to get a job
done in public office.
Election campaigns for parliament and state legislature seats were
often funded with unreported money, and the Government failed to combat
the problem. In December 2005 the media highlighted a videotape showing
11 members of parliament accepting bribes. By year's end no one faced
legal action related to the bribery.
On August 7, the Justice Pathak Committee indicted former external
affairs minister Natwar Singh and his son, Jagat Singh, for their role
in influencing and facilitating the procurement of oil contacts in
Iraq.
The 2005 Right to Information Act (RTI) mandated stringent
penalties for failure to provide information or affecting its flow and
required agencies to self-reveal sensitive information. The act's entry
into force in October 2005 marked a departure from the culture of
secrecy that traditionally surrounded rule making. The appointment of
an independent civil servant with close ties to the Congress leadership
as RTI Commissioner suggested the UPA government was committed to the
full implementation of the law. While the Government took extended
periods of time to reply to information requests, local community
members began using RTI to get information on their personal
documentation and city plans.
In July the Government launched a national antibribery campaign to
raise public awareness of the right to 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 groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating abuses
and publishing their findings on human rights cases; however, in a few
circumstances, groups faced restrictions. Government officials were
somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views. Some domestic NGOs
and human rights organizations faced intimidation and harassment by
local authorities. In February, the Ministry of Home Affairs barred
8,673 organizations from seeking foreign funds under the Foreign
Contribution and Regulation Act (FCRA), reportedly for failing to
provide the proper paperwork. Under the ruling, these organizations
need government approval before seeking aid from abroad. NGOs called
the FCRA flawed and extremely restrictive and claimed that the
Government failed to notify organizations when the requisite paperwork
was needed. Some human rights groups contended that FCRA was a means of
intimidation and substantial political control by the Government over
the work of NGOs. NGOs expressed concern that the Home Ministry, which
is normally not responsible for financial matters, was tasked with
monitoring the finances of NGOs. The act has a clause that states the
NGOs must also secure approval from the Government before organizing
international conferences, and some NGOs alleged that the Government
has denied visas to prevent members from holding conferences paid for
with foreign funds.
In May the Maharashtra Home Ministry placed 57 NGOs under
investigation for allegedly assisting Maoist groups. The police stated
the groups and their leaders would be monitored closely. In 2005 the
central government banned 355 NGOs for misuse of funds. Unlike in
previous years, ACHR did not allege harassment by local authorities or
surprise visits from security forces. However, in November the
Executive Director of the SAHRDC, Ravi Nair, reported being harassed by
Special Branch Officials. On November 26, Nair was summoned by the
intelligence agencies for violating the FCRA, because of his
involvement in human rights advocacy. Human rights monitors in Jammu
and Kashmir were able to move around the state to document human rights
violations, but they were often restrained or harassed by security
forces, counterinsurgents, and police.
International human rights organizations were restricted, and
foreign human rights monitors historically have had difficulty
obtaining visas to visit the country for investigative purpose. In
August Delhi police raided Pakistani human rights activist Asma
Jahangir's hotel room. Jahangir was in the country on a private visit
at the invitation of an NGO. Authorities ordered a high-level inquiry,
and Prime Minister Singh personally apologized to Jahangir for the
incident. In August Manipur police arrested Umakanta Meitei,
spokesperson of Apunba Lup, a coalition of 34 human rights
organizations in Manipur, for allegedly informing a Manipur separatist
group about security force movements.
The main domestic human rights organization was the government-
appointed NHRC, which acted independently of the Government, often
voicing strong criticism of government institutions and actions.
However, some human rights groups claimed the NHRC was hampered by
numerous institutional and legal weaknesses, including statutory
regulations and operational inefficiencies. The NHRC did not have the
statutory power to investigate allegations and could only request that
a state government submit a report. State governments often ignored
these requests and rarely carried out NHRC recommendations. Human
rights groups such as ACHR claimed that the NHRC did not register all
complaints, dismissed cases on frivolous grounds, did not adequately
protect complainants, and did not investigate cases thoroughly.
The NHRC was able to investigate cases against the military;
however, it could only recommend compensation for victims of abuse, and
its recommendations were not binding. Many states had their own human
rights commissions, and the NHRC only has jurisdiction if a state
commission fails to investigate. Human rights groups alleged that state
human rights commissions were more likely than the NHRC to be
influenced by local politics and less likely to offer fair judgments.
According to Home Ministry statistics, the NHRC received 28,378
cases of human rights violations against police personnel; 100 against
armed forces, and 82 against paramilitary forces in 2005.
The Home Ministry examined several amendments to the 1993
Protection of Human Rights Act proposed by the NHRC in its effort to
increase its powers to investigate allegations of human rights
violations by the armed forces. In the last three years the NHRC
investigated 289 such cases, resulting in action against 59 officials
and the punishment of 19 offenders. At year's end no additional
information was available.
The 1993 Protection of Human Rights Act (PHRA) recommended that
each state establish a human rights commission. As of October only 14
of the 28 had state human rights commissions. The Jammu and Kashmir
state legislature established a state human rights commission, but it
had no authority to investigate alleged human rights violations
committed by members of the security forces.
In August the Government amended the PHRA to strengthen the NHRC in
response to criticism by independent NGOs and the NHRC. The amended
bill removed the requirement of prior notification and approval for
visits to state-managed prisons. In August, the Ministry of Home
Affairs stated that the NHRC had visited prisons in Chhattisgarh and
Karanataka to assess conditions and possible abuses. However, the NHRC
and NGOs said that the amendment did not address several concerns and
instead contained regressive provisions. For example, NGOs stated the
Government did not address the NHRC's inability to inquire
independently into human rights violations by the armed forces,
initiate proceedings for prosecution, and grant interim compensation.
Further, NGOs argued that the need to guarantee the NHRC's financial
independence should be included and that the NHRC's mandate should be
expanded to include investigation of cases of human rights violations
over one year old.
In April 2005 the Jammu and Kashmir human rights commission charged
the state government, particularly the deputy commissioners, with
diluting its authority and brushing aside its recommendations. In
August Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beig
told the state assembly that in the past four years, 14 disappearance
cases and 27 custodial death cases were reported to the Jammu and
Kashmir state human rights commission.
Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh had special courts to hear human
rights cases. The Uttar Pradesh government continued to defy a court
order to reactivate its special human rights court.
The NHRC highlighted human rights abuses throughout the country,
and recommended compensation for victims of human rights abuses. In
October the NHRC awarded compensation of $1,054,347 (Rs 46.5 billion)
to the next of kin of 194 deceased victims of the 1984-94 insurgencies
in various Punjab districts.
As a result of the NHRC's continued efforts to include human rights
curricula in schools, the Central Board of Education announced in
September it would include human rights subjects in grades 11 and 12.
Several universities also introduced human rights courses at the behest
of the NHRC.
At year's end the CCDP, a Punjab-based human rights organization,
had not received an NHRC response to its report documenting 672
disappearance cases from the 1980s to mid 1990s (see section 1.b.).
At year's end the two-member judicial commission created to
investigate riot-related violence in Gujarat received an extension to
complete its report.
On December 7 and 8 UNHCR High Commissioner Antonio Guterres
visited the country. International NGOs such as ICRC had access to most
regions, with the exception of the northeast and Naxalite-controlled
areas.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, sex,
religion, place of birth, or social status, and government authorities
worked to enforce these provisions with varying degrees of success.
Despite laws designed to prevent discrimination, social and cultural
practices as well as other legislation had a profound discriminatory
impact, and discrimination against women, persons with disabilities,
indigenous persons, homosexuals, and national, racial, and ethnic
minorities was a problem. The traditional caste system, as well as
ethnic, religious, and language differences, deeply divided the
society. According to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes, caste clashes were frequent in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,
Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka.
Women.--Domestic violence remained a common and serious problem.
According to a 2004 National Commission for Women survey, 60 to 80
percent of women were abused in some way by their spouses, 42 percent
were beaten physically, and 22 percent were expelled from their homes
for at least a day. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, a
crime against women is committed every three minutes in the country.
According to Majlis, a women's NGO based in Mumbai that provided legal
protection and guidance to women in distress, many women were forced to
remain in abusive relationships because of social and parental pressure
and to protect their children.
According to a survey conducted during the year by the
International Institute for Population studies, 56 percent of women
believed wife beating was justified in certain circumstances.
Ineffective prosecution and societal attitudes made progress against
domestic violence difficult. Human rights groups and the press claimed
that reported numbers were much lower than the actual totals. According
to NCRB statistics, there were reports of 58,121 incidents of cruelty
by husbands and relatives against women in 2004. The NCRB reported
155,553 crimes against women in 2005, including 68,810 cases considered
domestic violence such as dowry deaths and cruelty by husbands and
family.
On October 27, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act
of 2006 took effect. Media reported that four cases were booked under
the Act in Andhra Pradesh by early November. The new law bans
harassment by way of dowry demands and gives sweeping powers to a
magistrate to issue protection orders where needed. Punishment ranges
from jail terms of up to one year and/or a fine of approximately $450
(Rs 19,800). Domestic violence, under the new law, includes actual
abuse or the threat of abuse whether physical, sexual, emotional, or
economic. In late October, Tamil Nadu police arrested a man after
receiving a complaint from his wife. On November 15, a city court
ordered Hiralal Chauhan to pay maintenance to his estranged wife as
temporary relief and directed the police to provide protection to the
woman, now living with her parents.
Rape and other violent attacks against women continued to be a
serious problem. Under the new Domestic Violence bill passed in
October, spousal rape is criminalized. According to the NCRB, there was
an instance of domestic violence every nine minutes. According to the
National Family Health Survey (NFHS) that was conducted during the
year, every third woman dealt with spousal violence. The NCRB reported
that the number of rapes had increased from 14,809 in 2004 to 15,847 in
2005, while reported molestations had increased from 31,716 to 33,169.
According to the NCRB, two rapes took place every hour, one in five
victims was a child, and 19 out of 20 of those arrested for rape went
unpunished. According to the NCRB, victims knew their rapists in 15,619
cases. As of June 248 cases of rapes were reported and registered in
New Delhi, resulting in the arrest of 330 men in New Delhi and the
closure of 232 cases.
Although the Government prosecuted rape cases during the year, only
10 percent were adjudicated fully by the courts, and police typically
failed to arrest rapists, perpetuating a climate of impunity.
Nonetheless, in April a Mumbai police officer convicted of raping a
minor girl was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and a fast track court
in Rajasthan sentenced a man to seven years in prison for raping a
German tourist in March.
In May 2005 parliament amended the Code of Criminal Procedure to
stipulate mandatory DNA tests in all rape cases. In an effort to
protect women from sexual assault by police officers, the bill also
prohibits the arrest of women after sunset and before sunrise except in
``exceptional circumstances.''
Upper caste gangs at times used mass rape to intimidate lower
castes, and there were reports of gang rape as punishment for alleged
adultery or as a means of coercion or revenge in rural property
disputes. The number of reported gang rape cases and the extent of
prosecution varied from state to state. According to the NCRB, there
were 1,172 rape cases against women lodged in 2005.
On January 16, 18 armed insurgents belonging to the United National
Liberation Front (UNLF) and Kanglaipak Communist Party (KCP) raped 25
women between the ages of 15 and 27 in Manipur. The National Women's
Commission requested the center and state governments to provide
comprehensive rehabilitation packages and continued deployment of
security forces in the area. The NHRC requested a report from the state
government.
On February 10, Assam Rifles soldiers conducting anti-insurgency
operations in Tripura reportedly raped three women, including one who
was pregnant. Assam Rifles denied the allegation. Police were
investigating at year's end.
On March 5, the Manipur Government suspended five policemen who
harassed M. Naobi for 10 days while in police custody and transferred
all senior officials in the district. M. Naobi allegedly had a romantic
affair with a PLA insurgent involved in the killing of four policemen
on February 20. The Manipur government ordered a magisterial inquiry.
On May 28, five men from Madhya Pradesh allegedly raped two
Christian women, reportedly for refusing to convert to Hinduism. The
press reported that the police filed charges against the alleged
rapists only after the National Commission for Minorities (NCM)
intervened. The alleged rapists retaliated by lodging charges against
the women and their husbands for forcibly converting village residents
to Christianity. The Prime Minister sent a NCM team to Madhya Pradesh
to investigate the alleged gang rape. The NCM noted with concern the
countercharges filed against the rape victims; the investigation
continued at year's end.
In July a session court sentenced Constable Charakant Pawar to 15
years prison and fined him $1,040 (Rs 46,000) for raping a minor girl
in 2005 in Mumbai.
In July a fast track court in Rajasthan sentenced Babloo to a fine
of $110 (Rs 4,900) and seven years imprisonment for raping a Japanese
woman during the Pushkar fair in April. The court also sentenced
Babloo's mother Roshni and brother Raju to three years imprisonment and
acquitted two others.
In 2002, in Randhikpur village in Gujarat, a mob mass-raped and
killed a woman and 18 members of her extended family. The sole survivor
of the massacre was 19-year-old Bilkis Banu, who was raped (and
pregnant at the time) and whose two-year-old daughter was killed.
Although Banu lodged a complaint with the police and named the rapists
and murderers, the Gujarat police closed the case in 2002, claiming
``insufficient evidence'' and that the mental condition of the witness
was ``unstable.'' However, because of the 2004 intervention of the
Supreme Court the CBI reinvestigated the case and arrested the alleged
culprits. The case was being tried in a Mumbai court (see section
1.e.).
There were no developments in the arrests of suspects after a 2004
rape case in Lucknow involving six tribal women.
There were no developments in the March 2005 case in which a 21-
year-old woman was tortured, stripped and paraded through Chandupur
village on a donkey.
There were no developments in the September 2005 case in which a
woman was allegedly gang raped on the Toofan Express train by seven
people, three of whom were Railway Protection Personnel.
On October 19, a court in Muzaffarnagar convicted Imrana Bibi's
father-in-law, Ali Mohammed, of raping her in June 2005. The lower
court sentenced Mohammed to 10 years in prison and to compensate Imrana
with approximately $173 (Rs 7,600). On a separate charge of criminal
intimidation, Mohammed was sentenced to three years prison and fined
approximately $65 (Rs 2,900). The court's decision followed Imrana's
rape in June 2005. After the incident, local community and religious
leaders had ruled that Imrana must separate from her husband and move
in with her father-in-law.
In July upper caste men in Bihar raped four Dalit women at gunpoint
as punishment for not voting for a particular candidate in the
Panchayat elections. The police filed the case, but arrested the
accused after one month. At the end of the year, the National
Commission for Women was investigating the incident.
In September four members of a Dalit family were killed in
Kherlanji, Maharashtra. The family's women were paraded naked before
they were killed. The crime was allegedly committed by members of Kunki
Caste (Other Backward Class) for opposing the requisition of their
fields to have a road built on it. Due to initial lapses in the police
investigation, five policemen were suspended and fired. In December the
CBI filed charges of murder, criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly
with deadly weapons, and outraging the modesty of women against 11
persons. At year's end CBI was investigating charges against 36 persons
in detention.
In November two upper caste youth raped a pregnant Dalit woman in
front of her three-year-old daughter in Uttar Pradesh. By the end of
the year, the case was under investigation.
There were other acts of societal violence and abuses against
women. Providing or taking a dowry is illegal under the Dowry
Prohibition Act of 1961; however, dowries continued to be offered and
accepted, and dowry disputes remained a serious problem. In a typical
dispute, the groom's family harassed a new wife for not providing a
sufficient dowry. This harassment sometimes ended in the woman's death,
which the family often tried to portray as a suicide or accident. In
2005 NCRB reported 6,787 incidents of dowry deaths in the country.
In June a court in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, sentenced seven
persons, including the husband, father-in-law and mother-in-law of
Kiran, to life in prison after they were found guilty of burning her to
death for failing to provide dowry in December 2004.
In July a Chennai court sentenced a man to seven years in prison
for complicity in his wife's suicide. After Selvaguru married
Jayageetha in 2002, he demanded a dowry of approximately $4,444 (Rs
196,000) and a motorbike from her parents. Jayageetha committed suicide
in May 2005.
On August 4, Malati Malakar's husband and in-laws poured kerosene
on her and burned her to death in Baruipur, West Bengal. Malati's
father attempted to lodge a complaint against his son-in-law, but
according to AHRC, Malati's husband remained at large and his parents
were not charged.
Under the law, courts must presume that the husband or the wife's
in-laws are responsible for every unnatural death of a woman in the
first seven years of marriage--provided that harassment was proven. In
such cases, police procedures required that an officer of the rank of
deputy superintendent or above investigate and that a team of two or
more doctors perform the postmortem procedures; however, in practice
police did not follow these procedures consistently.
Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, and several other states had a chief
dowry prevention officer (CDPO), although it was unclear how effective
they were. Madhya Pradesh also required that all government servants
seeking to marry produce a sworn affidavit by the bride, the groom, and
his father that no dowry exchanged hands.
In May 2005 the Supreme Court ordered the creation of a commission
to end dowry. In August 2005 parliament passed the Domestic Violence
Bill to deal with dowry-related harassment and murder. The bill
provides sweeping powers to magistrates to issue protection orders. In
October parliament passed the Protection of Women from Domestic
Violence Act which recognizes all forms of abuse against women in the
home, including physical, sexual, verbal, emotional, or economic abuse.
The law empowers women to file a case against a person with whom she is
having a domestic relationship in a ``shared household'' and who has
subjected her to domestic violence. The law recognizes the right of
women to reside in a shared household with her spouse or partner even
while the dispute continues. Women can be provided with alternative
accommodations, to be paid for by the spouse or partner. The law
provides women with the right to police help, legal aid, shelter homes
and access to medical care.
The Government banned sati, the practice of burning a widow on the
funeral pyre of her husband, in the 1800s, and there were few instances
of sati in recent years.
In April the NCW requested the Bihar state government to report on
a woman who allegedly committed sati in the Gaya district. Press
reports noted that after the sati, villagers erected a monument to her
act which attracted a large number of visitors.
In August the NCW requested that the Madhya Pradesh state
government report on a woman who allegedly committed sati in Sagar
district. Family members denied any knowledge, while villagers
confirmed that it was sati. Police were investigating the case, but no
criminal case had been registered.
On September 20, a 95-year-old woman threw herself on her 100-year-
old husband's funeral pyre in Baniyani village in Madhya Pradesh.
Police arrested four of the woman's relatives. A magisterial probe was
ordered, but there were no developments by the end of the year.
During the year honor killings continued to be a problem,
especially in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana. Human rights
organizations estimated that up to 10 percent of all killings in those
two states were honor killings; however, the true number may be much
higher. In July the Supreme Court condemned honor killings and directed
police to take action against anyone harassing couples that married in
spite of objections by their caste and religious communities.
In August Delhi police arrested Deep Chand, his son Subhash, Kanti
Prasad, and Pramod for the honor killing of Chand's daughter, Kamlesh,
because she refused to marry the man her parents had selected. She was
repeatedly hit on her face with a stone as an accomplice poured acid
over her face. Later, her brother stripped her naked, and the body was
left at the railway track in Shaki Nagar. All four assailants confessed
during interrogation.
There were no developments in the trial of Jai Singh and his four
accomplices for the honor killing of his daughter, Sunita. Singh had
been accused of hiring the four to kill his daughter for living
separately from her husband.
Dalit women were often singled out for harassment. For example,
they were occasionally stripped naked by mobs and paraded in public for
offending persons belonging to higher castes.
In August a member of the state legislative assembly in Bihar was
arrested and imprisoned for molesting a Dalit woman in February. The
woman lodged a complaint with the local court when the police initially
refused to take action.
In August seven Dalit women were raped by members of an upper caste
in Lakshimpursarai district. The police refused to issue a FIR. The
women approached the chief minister of the state, who ordered an
inquiry. The NHRC issued notices to the district magistrate and the
senior superintendent of police asking them to reply to the victim's
complaint.
In September two Dalit women (a mother and daughter) from a single
family were allegedly raped and killed along with two young men from
the same family in Khairlanji village in eastern Maharashtra, leading
to violent Dalit demonstrations throughout the state. The Government of
Maharashtra arrested the alleged higher-caste culprits, suspended
government officials suspected of a cover-up, and also handed over the
investigation to the CBI. At the end of the year the investigation was
continuing.
During the year there were 20 witch-hunt cases reported in Assam in
which informal courts passed death sentences on women labeled witches.
Assam Police, in coordination with organizations like the All Bodo
Students Union launched project Prahari in 2000 to create public
awareness of the problem.
Numerous laws exist to protect women's rights, including the Equal
Remuneration Act of 1976, the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act of 1956,
the Sati Prevention Act of 1987, and the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961.
However, the Government often was unable to enforce these laws,
especially in rural areas where traditions were deeply rooted.
According to press reports, the rate of acquittal in dowry death cases
was high, and due to court backlogs, they took an average of six to
seven years to conclude. On March 5, the Manipur Legislative Assembly
passed the Manipur State Commission for Women bill, which provides for
the creation of a commission for women with a chairperson, three
members, and a member secretary, along with supporting staff, to
investigate complaints and issues related to women.
In August 2005 parliament removed discriminatory clauses from the
Hindu Succession Act by giving equal inheritance rights to Hindu,
Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh women, including giving married daughters the
same inheritance rights as male heirs.
The Government took a number of steps to assist female crime
victims, including telephone help lines, short-stay homes, counseling,
occupational training, medical aid, and rehabilitation.
While the act of prostitution is not illegal, most activities
surrounding prostitution are illegal. The Immoral Trafficking
Prevention Act (ITPA) criminalizes the selling, procuring, and
exploiting of any person for commercial sex as well as profiting from
the prostitution of another individual. Prostitution is not illegal
when no third party is involved, it is not done in or near a public
place, is not forced, there is no solicitation, or when the prostitute
resides alone. Section 8 of the ITPA criminalizes the act of
solicitation for prostitution, which has been used in the past to
arrest and punish women and girls who were victims of trafficking.
According to UNICEF, in 2004 the country contained half of the one
million children worldwide who entered the sex trade. Many tribal women
were particularly vulnerable and were forced into sexual exploitation
(see section 6.c.).
In recent years sex workers began to demand legal rights, licenses,
and reemployment training. For example, in June 2004 numerous sex
workers in Goa were displaced after authorities demolished their homes.
According to the chairperson of the NCW, some of the displaced sex
workers refused a government compensation offer, claiming that it had
not been accurately described to them.
The country is a significant source, transit point, and destination
for many thousands of trafficked women (see section 5).
Sexual harassment was common, with a vast majority of cases
unreported to authorities. Hazards faced by women in the workforce
included physical and verbal abuse from male supervisors, restricted
use of toilets, and the denial of lunch breaks. In June 2004 a joint
report released by the NCW and the national press institute found that
most women experienced gender discrimination at their workplaces.
Attempts by women to report harassment often resulted in further
problems or dismissal.
In 2004 the Supreme Court determined that a victim of sexual
harassment had a right to compensation based on the findings of an
internal departmental report or investigation. In January the Supreme
Court expressed concern over the non-implementation of a prior judgment
relating to sexual harassment at the workplace and instructed all state
Chief Secretaries to inform the high court whether they had set up
committees to handle complaints, pursuant to its mandate that all state
departments and institutions with over 50 employees must have
committees to deal with sexual harassment issues.
The law prohibits discrimination in the workplace; however,
enforcement was inadequate. In both rural and urban areas, women were
paid less than men for the same job. Women experienced economic
discrimination in access to employment and credit, which acted as an
impediment to their owning a business. The promotion of women to
managerial positions within businesses often was slower than that of
males. State government and NGO-supported microcredit programs for
women began to have an impact in many rural districts. In March the
Government amended the law to provide flexibility for women to work in
factories on the night shift. Women's organizations welcomed the move
but stressed the need to improve security for such women.
In 2004 the Government amended the divorce laws to expand the
venues where a woman could file and obtain a divorce. Earlier
provisions in the Hindu and Special Marriage Acts forced women to file
cases in cities or towns where they had resided during the marriage or
where the marriage took place; however, the amendment permits women to
file where they currently reside.
In May 2005, in response to concerns about the improper use of the
triple talaq (which literally means ``divorce'' in Urdu), the All-India
Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) adopted new talaq guidelines,
stating that men should use a reversible single talaq followed by a
three-month waiting period known as the iddat. The guidelines also call
for the husband to pay compensation to the wife's family in case of
divorce, equality in property rights, protection against physical and
emotional abuse of wives by their husbands, and assurances that
remarried women will be able to maintain contact with their families.
On November 26, the All India Shi'a Personal Law Board unanimously
approved a model nikahnama (marriage contract) that provided women the
same rights as men for divorce.
On November 21, deviating from traditional Hindu law, the Supreme
Court granted custody of an 11-year-old child to his mother. In dong
so, the court ruled that if a woman remarries after divorce, her
custody rights over the child born in wedlock would not be affected.
In 2004 the army allowed female military recruits to be examined by
female doctors at their request.
Many tribal land systems, notably in Bihar, denied tribal women the
right to own land. Muslim women are subject to the Muslim Personal Law
(Shariat) Application Act of 1937. Under this law, the Shariat
superceded ``custom or usage to the contrary'' for all property, except
agricultural land, on the basis of personal law for Muslims. Other laws
relating to the ownership of assets and land accorded women little
control over land use, retention, or sale. However, several exceptions
existed, such as in Ladakh and Meghalaya, where women traditionally
controlled family property and enjoyed full inheritance rights.
Children.--The constitution provides for free, compulsory education
for children between the ages of six and 14 years of age. However, the
Government did not enforce this provision. In practice, children in
poor and rural areas often did not attend school. UNICEF and the
National Institute of Educational Planning Administration (NIEPA)
reported that approximately 60 percent of the 203 million children
between the ages of six and 14 were in schools, and net attendance in
the primary level was 66 percent of enrollment. As per NIEPA 2005-06
District Information System for Education (DISE) data, 168 to 172
million children were in school.
Data for the overall gender parity enrollment indicates the country
made impressive gains in reducing the male-female gap in the gross
primary enrollment rate in the last 50 years. The gender gap in gross
enrollment rate narrowed between 1950 and 2004, as the gross enrollment
rate for girls rose from 25 percent to 87 percent, while it rose from
65 percent to 105 percent for boys. In addition, through the National
Program for Education of Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL) and the
Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) the Government launched
programs to reach out to girls from marginalized social groups where
the female rural literacy rate was below the national average and the
gender gap in literacy was above the national average.
While boys outnumbered girls, according to the Ministry of Human
Resource Development, the enrollment of girls increased by 9 percent at
the primary level (from 87 percent in 2002 to 96 percent by 2004). At
the middle school level, there was an increase in enrollment from 52
percent in 2002 to approximately 58 percent by 2004. The Government's
Mahila Samakhya program complemented these new initiatives.
Government schools were underfunded and understaffed. Schools that
received large amounts of money under Sarva Shiksha Abighyan (SSA), a
centrally sponsored scheme for universal elementary education, were
often stymied by state governments that did not have the capacity to
use these funds. For example, in August 2005 it was reported by media
that a government school in Sara Village, Bihar, had only two teachers
for 180 students. The national pupil to teacher ratio at the elementary
level was one teacher for every 36 students, with the average for Bihar
being the poorest at one teacher for every 65 students. Human rights
groups asserted that teachers in government schools often did not show
up for work or left their jobs early in the day. Government teachers
often were not paid on time or in full, were not given adequate
training and worked under very poor conditions. Corruption and
misappropriation of educational funds was commonplace. However,
government efforts intensified in recent years following the launch of
several programs, including the District Primary Education Program in
1992, the Minimum Levels of Learning (MLL) initiative and, more
recently, the Sarva Shiksha Abhivan (or the National Program for
Universal Elementary Education).
Under SSA, the Government committed to providing financial
allocations to the states per the approved district plans prepared
after a thorough base line survey identified approximately 194 million
out-of-school children between 6-13 years of age. SSA covers all
government schools in the country. Under SSA, 40 percent of a total of
34 million as identified beneficiaries in the six to 14 age group
remained out of school. The number of out-of-school children has come
down from 25 million in 2003 to less than 10 million in 2006.
In July a report entitled ``Elementary Education in India''
revealed that the schools covered under development fund schemes had
increased in 2004, but the utilization of available funds fell to 88.5
percent, primarily in rural areas.
In January a report commissioned by the Human Resource Development
Ministry showed that lower caste and Muslim student attendance rates
were much lower than those of children of high caste families. The
report noted that nationwide 7 percent of children were out of school,
although, the attendance rates were much higher or lower in certain
locations and among certain caste and religious groups. For example,
the report stated that in Delhi, 26 percent of scheduled caste children
and 28 percent of Muslims in Bihar were not in school. The report noted
also that the dropout rate for girls decreased from 45 percent to 34
percent between 2003 and 2005. The dropout rate for boys also decreased
from 37 percent to 30 percent.
The law provides for free medical care to all citizens; however,
availability and quality of that care remained problems, particularly
in rural areas.
The law prohibits child abuse; however, there were societal
patterns of abuse of children, and the Government did not release
comprehensive statistics.
Abuse of children in both public and private educational
institutions was a problem. Although banned, schoolteachers often used
corporal punishment on their students.
There were no further developments in the February 2005 case where
a principal of a government school along with three others in northwest
Delhi were arrested for raping a 16-year-old student. The Delhi
government suspended two of the accused from their posts, but no
criminal charges had been filed by year's end.
In August a school teacher in Doda village in Jammu and Kashmir
threw acid on several students to punish them. One student suffered 70
percent burns and lost his left eye. The teacher fled, and an inquiry
was ordered by the local authorities into the incident.
In December 2005 after money disappeared from school premises, the
principal of a primary school in Tamil Nadu forced seven students to
prove their innocence by placing their palms over candle flames. The
principal was arrested after parents filed complaints.
The Government was responsive to some incidents of violence against
children. In September 2005 the juvenile justice court ruled that any
failure by school management or teachers to protect students from
sexual abuse or provide them with a safe school environment is
punishable with a prison term of up to six months. In August the
Parliament passed the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of
Children) Amendment Bill, which is the primary law for not only the
care and protection of children but also for the adjudication and
disposition of matters relating to children in conflict with law.
Children were subjected to abuse during certain religious
ceremonies. In April 2005 in the Virudhnagar district of Tamil Nadu,
police arrested 80 persons for participating in a ritual during which
infants were buried alive to appease a goddess. As a result of the
arrest, Tamil Nadu enacted a law to stop this offense, but the practice
continued. There was a toll-free telephone helpline for children in
distress available in 72 cities. The ``Childline'' number was available
around the clock and could be accessed by either a child or an adult.
On receiving a call, immediate assistance, including medical, shelter,
restoration, rescue, sponsorship, and counseling, was provided to the
child. This initiative was organized by the Childline India Foundation
(CIF), an organization that brought together the Government, UNICEF,
NGOs, academic institutions, corporate sector and concerned
individuals.
On November 29, in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, a court sentenced a
woman and her three sons to death for sacrificing an eight-year-old
child on February 14.
The sexual abuse of children was seldom mentioned due to societal
denial and discomfort. The NGO TULIR (The Center for the Prevention and
Healing of Child Sexual Abuse) released a study in March that included
interviews from over 2,200 children up to age 18 in public and private
schools in Chennai. According to the study, 42 percent of these
children had experienced sexual abuse.
Unlike in previous years, there were no confirmed reports of child
ordination. Child rights activists alleged that various religious sects
ordained children as young as eight years old and that children were
not competent to make such decisions on their own. The high court ruled
that it was acceptable for small children to become monks, as the
children had the option to return to their families at any time.
The law prohibits child marriage, a traditional practice that
occurred throughout the country, and sets the legal marriage age for
girls at 18 and boys at 21. In March the Supreme Court upheld the
legality of marriages of 15- and 16-year-old girls as long as they
appear before a judge to state they married of their own free will. On
December 19, the Government passed a bill strengthening the 2004
Prevention of Child Marriage Bill and declaring existing child
marriages null and void. In addition, the new bill requires guardians
of minor boys to pay ``maintenance'' to minor girls until they can
legally marry; it penalizes priests who perform child marriage rituals
with fines or jail time, and assigns child marriage prevention officers
to rural districts to prevent such marriages. According to the Health
Ministry's Country Report on Population and Development, published in
2005, half of all women were married by the age of 15. The NFHS
reported that 45 percent of women (18-24) and 32 percent of men (18-29)
marry before the legal age of 18 years and 21 years, respectively. In
August the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) reported
that 57 percent of girls marry before turning 18. However, according to
several media sources, 65 percent of girls were married before the age
of 18. According to the 2005 report of Office of the Registrar General
of India, 240 girls die every day due to pregnancy-related
complications in early child marriages.
According to the 2001 census, nearly 300,000 girls under 15 years
had given birth to at least one child. ICRW concluded that those
married under the age of 18 were twice as likely to be beaten, slapped,
or threatened by their husbands compared with women married later; they
were also three times more likely to report instances of marital rape.
It reported that child brides often showed signs symptomatic of child
sexual abuse and post-traumatic stress. Child marriages also limited
girls' access to education and increased their health risks, since they
had higher mortality rates and exposure to HIV/AIDs than girls married
after 18.
In May the press reported that at least 30 children in Rajasthan
and 50 in Madhya Pradesh were married during the Askhay Tritiya
festival and that many more child marriages likely went unreported.
Although state governments conducted awareness campaigns during the
year, enforcement was weak, and the practice was accepted in certain
communities. In April 2005 the NCW launched the Bal Vivah Virodh
Abhiyan (Child Marriage Protest Program), a nationwide awareness
program against child marriages with particular focus on the states of
Bihar, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Uttar
Pradesh.
In April 2005 the Government reported that it prevented 200 child
marriages in the Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh, a district known
for mass child marriages in April and May each year. A local NGO, MV
Foundation, claimed to have prevented 2,321 child marriages in the
state of Andhra Pradesh since 2000.
Child marriage was the norm among certain scheduled castes and
tribal communities in the Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu. Brides
were typically between the ages of 8 and 12 years of age, while the
groom was generally much older. In August, a 75-year-old man married a
17-year-old girl in Purnea district, Bihar.
Trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children was a
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.).
Sex determination tests are illegal in the country under the 1994
Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PNDT). However, NGOs reported that
some family planning centers continued to reveal the sex of fetuses.
Both female infanticide and selective feticide targeting females
occurred during the year as the traditional preference for male
children continued. The Government did not enforce effectively the law
prohibiting termination of a pregnancy for sexual preference. However,
in 2001 authorities for the first time arrested a doctor in Haryana was
arrested for performing a pre-natal sex determination test. On March
28, a court sentenced the physician to two years in jail and a fine of
$111 (Rs 4,900).
In February the London based Lancet estimated that 10 million
female babies may have been aborted in the country in the past 20
years. The figure was contested by some activists working on this issue
as exaggerated. The Observer newspaper reported that pregnant British
women of Indian origin who were denied gender based abortions in the
United Kingdom traveled to the country to abort female fetuses.
According to Parivar Seva Sanstha, an NGO working closely with the
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there were 5.7 million illegal
abortions in the country each year. Per NFHS, nearly 50 percent of
women did not receive prenatal care. According to the records of the
Delhi government, only 700 of the 1,800 registered ultrasound clinics
submitted monthly reports mandated under the PNDT. Easy availability
and indiscriminate use of technology further abetted the situation.
In August two mass graves of female fetuses were discovered in
Patiala, Punjab. The court arrested Pritam Singh and his wife Amarjit
Kaur for allegedly performing illegal abortions in Sahib Hospital. They
were sent to judicial custody. The Punjab government ordered a
crackdown on all private maternity homes, a large number of which were
suspected of conducting illegal abortions.
Parents often gave priority in health care and nutrition to male
infants. The burden of providing girls with an adequate dowry was one
factor that made daughters less desirable. The states of Punjab,
Haryana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, parts of
Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Karnataka reported particularly low
female/male ratios. Nationally, there are only 927 girls per 1,000
boys. In 14 districts of Haryana and Punjab there are fewer than 800
girls per 1,000 boys. The problem was also acute among some of the
wealthiest and best-educated communities.
The Health and Family Welfare Ministry set up a ``National Support
and Monitoring Cell'' to curb the practice of female feticide by
targeting and apprehending those who carry out or abet female feticide.
The Government also acknowledged that an education campaign is needed
to change the social preference for boy children, and launched a ``Save
the Girl Child'' campaign designed to highlight the achievements of
young girls.
Proving that such campaigns can be successful, authorities from the
village of Lakhanpal in central Punjab ran a program to end female
feticide, and, as a result, more girls were subsequently born there
than boys. The latest figures showed 1,400 female and 1,000 male
births. Historically, Punjab had the lowest girl-to-boy ratio in the
country, at 776 to 1,000.
Trafficking in Persons.--The ITPA prohibits trafficking in human
beings; however, trafficking in persons remained a significant problem.
The ITPA toughened penalties for trafficking in children,
particularly by focusing on traffickers, pimps, landlords, and brothel
operators, while protecting underage victims. Conviction for an offense
committed against a child (under age 16) was punishable by imprisonment
for seven years to life. In the case of minors (16 to 18 years), the
punishment is from seven to 14 years' imprisonment. Other penalties
under the act range from minimum terms of imprisonment of one year for
brothel keeping, to minimum terms of seven years' to life imprisonment
for detaining a person, with or without consent, for prostitution.
Numerous NGOs provided training and conducted informational
meetings. According to the NCRB, there were 6,131 human trafficking
cases in 2005.
The country was a significant source, transit point, and
destination for numerous trafficked persons, primarily for the purposes
of prostitution and forced labor. The country was a destination for
Nepali and Bangladeshi women and girls trafficked for the purpose of
labor and prostitution. Internal trafficking of women and children was
widespread. Many girls were internally trafficked for the purpose of
forced marriages, while other persons were trafficked for bonded labor.
Women and girls are lured into commercial sexual exploitation through
both deception and expectations of opportunities in other parts of the
country. To a lesser extent, the country was a point of origin for
women and children trafficked to other countries in Asia, the Middle
East, and the West for forced domestic servitude or commercial sexual
exploitation. Men were also trafficked to the Arabian Gulf for
involuntary servitude in the construction sector. Women from Kerala
trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation and abusive domestic
employment in the Gulf was also extensive. The country also served as a
transit point for Bangladeshi girls and women trafficked for sexual
exploitation to Pakistan.
Girls as young as seven years of age were trafficked from
economically depressed neighborhoods in Nepal, Bangladesh, and rural
areas of the country to the major prostitution centers of Mumbai,
Kolkata (Calcutta), and New Delhi. In West Bengal, the organized
traffic in illegal Bangladeshi immigrants was a principal source of
bonded labor. Kolkata was a transit point for traffickers sending
Bangladeshis to New Delhi, Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, and the Middle East.
The Government cooperated with groups in Nepal and Bangladesh to deal
with the problem and began to negotiate bilateral antitrafficking
agreements, particularly through the South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation.
Trafficking of children into domestic servitude and sweatshops
remained a problem. States in the northeast region (Assam, Meghalaya,
Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim), and
Bihar served as main sources points for domestic servants in Kolkata,
Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and to a certain extent to Bangalore. The
increasing number of domestic servant recruitment agents suggested that
large trafficking networks operated in the region. In many cases women
and girls were first brought by the agents through local transportation
to Siliguri; then they traveled to different destinations with the
traffickers. Often traffickers used truck drivers to carry women and
girls from the northeast through National Highway 31, which connected
the region to the central part of the country.
A survey by INTUC, the trade union wing of the Congress Party,
noted that the trends in trafficking can be determined by monitoring
the reports of ``missing girls'' filed by parents in the northeast
states. The report stated that 40 percent of the police officials
interviewed were unaware of the growing trade in women and children.
The media reported that nearly every third house in the poorest
districts of Jharkhand had a child who left home in search of food and
work and may have been a potential victim of trafficking.
Traffickers usually targeted minors and Dalit women. A study
prepared by Bhoomika Vihar, an NGO from Bihar, said that out of the 173
identified cases of women who had become victims of the sex trade, 85
percent were minors, and half were Dalits. The report claimed that
trafficking, although not often reported, occurred almost everywhere.
Pangsa and Dimapur in Nagaland and Moreh in Manipur were the major
trans-border transit and demand centers. Women and children from Assam
and Bangladesh were trafficked to Moreh and were moved from there to
Burma and other Southeast Asian countries. The conflicts in the north-
eastern states made women and children highly vulnerable.
Global Organization for Life Development (GOLD), an NGO working in
Assam to combat trafficking and HIV/AIDS, said that there was usually
an upsurge in trafficking of girls during natural disasters.
There were numerous examples of trafficking and rescues. In March
police rescued two Assamese girls forced into commercial sexual
exploitation from traffickers at Golokgonj, Dhubri District.
On April 4, Kolkata police rescued five girls between the ages of
13 and 16 with the help of the NGO International Justice Mission (IJM).
Kolkata police rescued four girls between the ages of 15 and 17 years
with the help of the IJM in May.
In June, 12 girls rescued from various parts of the country were
residents of Dhubri district Assam.
On July 24, the All Assam Bodo Students' Union rescued 63 Bodo
tribal girls while being smuggled by train in Assam.
On August 1, West Bengal police rescued 12 children between the
ages of 12 and 16 years, from Kumarganj in South Dinajpur district from
Himachal Pradesh.
On September 12, Maharashtra police in Pune rescued six girls from
Bengal. While bringing the girls to Kolkata, the policemen sexually
abused them, and only five girls ultimately reached Kolkata. The
Maharashtra police claimed that one girl ran away, while an NGO claimed
she was thrown from the train. Investigations were underway, and the
policemen involved were arrested.
Although arrests and prosecutions under the ITPA increased
slightly, the rate of trafficking convictions remained low, and
collection of law enforcement data was difficult. Collection was
difficult because there is no national system of collecting arrest
information under the ITPA, and many police officials preferred to use
India Penal Code (IPC) provisions to arrest traffickers because they
claimed to have more success in getting convictions. However, since
April the Kolkata police and NGOs, such as IJM, obtained convictions in
two cases.
Within the country, women from economically depressed areas often
moved to cities seeking greater economic opportunities, and once there,
were forced by traffickers into prostitution. In many cases, family
members sold young girls into prostitution. Extreme poverty, combined
with the low social status of women, often resulted in parents handing
over their daughters to strangers for what they believed was employment
or marriage. In some instances, parents received payments or the
promise that their children would send wages back home.
According to the Indian Center for Indigenous and Tribal Peoples,
more than 40,000 tribal women, mainly from Orissa and Bihar, were
forced into economic and sexual exploitation. A Haryana-based NGO
revealed widespread trafficking of teenaged girls and young boys from
poverty-stricken Assam to wealthier Haryana and Punjab for sexual
slavery under the pretext of entering into arranged marriages or
employment. There was also significant trafficking for real arranged
marriages due to decades of large-scale and increasing female feticide.
Girls and women were trafficked to the Persian Gulf states to work
as domestic workers or for commercial sexual exploitation.
Agents recruited mainly men from the southern states of Kerala and
Tamil Nadu for work in the Middle East, where many faced conditions of
involuntary servitude. Sources reported that most of the victimized men
paid the recruiters $2,000 (Rs 88,200) or more in fees. Once in the
Gulf the recruits were forced to work long hours for little pay in
conditions different from those described in the original contract to
repay their debts.
The NCW reported that organized crime played a significant role in
the country's sex trafficking trade and that trafficked women and
children were frequently subjected to extortion, beatings, and rape.
Although a few women were abducted forcibly or drugged, most were
trafficked through false offers of marriage, employment, or shelter.
Poverty, illiteracy, and lack of employment opportunities contributed
to the trafficking problem as well as police corruption and collusion.
However, police in Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Andhra Pradesh, and New
Delhi also worked actively with NGOs to target traffickers and
safeguard victims after their rescue.
Victims of trafficking were subject to threats, including emotional
blackmail, violence, and confinement, as well as the threat of
apprehension by authorities, detention, prosecution, and deportation.
Women involved in prostitution in Mumbai and Kolkata claimed that
harassment, extortion, and occasional arrests on soliciting charges
usually characterized police intervention.
NGOs alleged that corruption at the enforcement level helped
perpetuate trafficking.
NGOs knowledgeable about the trafficking situation frequently
identified traffickers and the locations of girls being held captive by
brothel owners. However, other NGOs were reluctant to trust police with
this information, due to their past conduct in brothel raids and the
likelihood that many trafficking victims would be arrested and re-
victimized rather than assisted by such raids. Several NGOs had
significant successes, however, in working with police to target
brothels with children.
The ITPA required police to use only female police officers to
interrogate girls rescued from brothels. The ITPA also required the
Government to provide protection and rehabilitation for these rescued
girls. The vast majority of arrests made under ITPA were for
solicitation rather than trafficking or trafficking-related crimes.
During the year this pattern changed in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai.
Most police no longer arrested trafficked women and children for
soliciting, and in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, such arrests
diminished significantly.
The increase in the number of cases under section five of the ITPA
in Tamil Nadu in 2005 is indicative of better enforcement against
traffickers in that state. Under section five, a trafficker working
only on trafficking for sexual exploitation is still considered a
criminal offender. For example, 109 cases were booked against
traffickers, brothel owners and pimps in 2005 while 148 women victims
were rescued. Police reported that the cases were in various stages of
investigation.
In recent years sex rackets flourished under the guise of massage
therapy and dance bars. Advertisements appeared in the media about the
availability of female masseurs. In late July Chennai police
investigated four massage parlors and arrested 16 persons. Some rescued
women had been trafficked from Kerala. The arrestees released on bail
awaited trial.
In July 2005 the Maharashtra State Assembly adopted a bill banning
dance bars. Starting from August 2005, the ban was implemented across
Maharashtra. However, on April 12, a Maharashtra state high court ruled
the ban unconstitutional and gave the state eight weeks to file its
case with the Supreme Court. At year's end the case was underway in the
Supreme Court. In recent years, traffickers began favoring these bars
as a venue in which to engage in trafficking, instead of the more
blatant brothel-based model. However, the Government's implementation
of this order without a rehabilitation plan caused displacement of
women, forcing many to enter direct prostitution in Mumbai, Delhi, Goa,
and other major trafficking destinations.
Implementation improved for the ITPA's provisions for protection
and rehabilitation of women and children rescued from the commercial
sexual exploitation. The Government significantly increased police
training and modestly improved inter-state coordination of anti-
trafficking efforts, cooperated with NGOs, supported awareness
campaigns, and increased the number of shelter facilities available to
rescued trafficking victims. However, NGOs claimed that the conditions
of shelters were not always suitable. They also stated that people
claiming to be parents would remove girls and reinsert them back into
the industry.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) improved
delivery of support services through greater coordination with its
state counterparts and civil society organizations. Government-run
shelters in some localities, specifically Mumbai, expanded
significantly under the Swadhar (women's home) scheme. In July the
Ministry of Women and Child Development implemented plans for rescuing
trafficked victims in consultation with NGOs and state governments. The
program included two main features: preventive activities through
awareness generation programs, such as peer education, rallies,
campaign, posters, booklets, and street plays; and the rescue and
rehabilitation of victims of trafficking for commercial sexual
exploitation, counseling, legal aid, medical care, repatriation and
restoration.
The Home Ministry and the Bureau of Police and Research Development
(BPRD) began a law enforcement training program, considered a
significant achievement by NGOs, to sensitize police and improve
trafficking arrests and convictions.
In November 2005 the Home Ministry organized a significant
conference with the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to
raise awareness of human trafficking and to state, for the first time,
their commitment to addressing this issue with resources and manpower.
In September the Ministry of Home Affairs established a nodal cell
responsible for collecting and analyzing the data related to
trafficking from the state governments and union territory
administrations; identifying problem areas and analyzing causes for
their being source, transit, and destination areas; monitoring action
taken to combat the crime; and organizing co-ordination meetings with
the Nodal police officers of states and union territories.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution does not explicitly
mention disability as a prohibited ground for discrimination. The
Persons with Disabilities Act (PDA) provides equal rights to all
persons with disabilities; however, advocacy organizations acknowledged
that its practical effects were minimal, in part due to a clause that
makes the implementation of programs dependent on the ``economic
capacity'' of the Government. Widespread discrimination occurred
against persons with physical and mental disabilities in employment,
education, and access to health care. Neither law nor regulation
required accessibility for persons with disabilities. Government
buildings, educational establishments, public transportation and public
spaces throughout the country had almost no provisions for wheelchair
access. According to the 2001 census, there were 22 million persons
with disabilities in the country, but NGOs estimated the actual number
to be much higher.
The PDA requires that 3 percent of public sector jobs be reserved
for people with physical, hearing, and visual disabilities. It also
provides a list of jobs for people with these disabilities. In 2004
there were 1,075 jobs for persons with disabilities in the private
sector and 1,900 in the public sector. More than 40,000 persons with
disabilities held government jobs. The PDA provides benefits to private
companies at which people with disabilities constitute more than 5
percent of the workforce. The Government only recently began
implementing these benefits, and private sector employment of people
with disabilities remained low.
The Tamil Nadu government introduced a 3 percent reservation for
persons with disabilities in education and employment, and government
buildings made arrangements for wheelchair access. However, human
rights activists complained that available facilities were not
sufficient. Despite the three percent mandated reservation for disabled
in government jobs, a report released by the National Center for
Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) revealed that
disabled persons held less than 1 percent of government jobs. The
report also documented that the Government spent less than 90 percent
of the funds allocated for disabled programs in the 2005-06 budget.
Mental health care was a problem. Hospitals were overcrowded and
served primarily as dumping grounds for persons with disabilities.
Patients generally were ill-fed, denied adequate medical attention, and
kept in poorly ventilated halls with inadequate sanitary conditions. In
July 2005 the NHRC determined that insufficient attention was paid to
issues of mental illness, and called for better enforcement of national
laws. At year's end, no action was taken on the 2001 NHRC
recommendation to remove all persons with mental illness from jails. In
March 2005 the NHRC issued guidelines to jails lodging mentally
challenged persons, stipulating the need for open lawns, daily physical
and mental activities, and strict rules limiting the use of force to
self-defense and attempted escape.
The Human Resource Development Ministry reported in January that
children with mental disabilities had the lowest rate of school
attendance out of any group at 53 percent, followed by the speech
disabled at 57.5 percent and the hearing disabled at 68 percent.
The disability division of the Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment delivered rehabilitation services to the rural population
through 16 district centers. A national rehabilitation plan committed
the Government to provide rehabilitation centers to more than 400
districts, but services were concentrated in urban areas. Moreover, the
impact of government programs was limited. Significant funding was
provided to a few government organizations, such as the Artificial
Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India, the National Handicapped
Finance and Development Corporation, and the Rehabilitation Council of
India. With the adoption of the PDA, a nascent disabled rights movement
slowly raised public awareness of the rights of persons with
disabilities.
The National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD) had
the responsibility to recommend to the Government specific programs to
eliminate inequalities in status, facilities, and opportunities for
disabled persons, to review the status and condition of institutions
delivering services, and to submit annual reports with recommendations.
In February 2005 the Government constituted a new NCPD headed by a
former governor, Sunder Singh Bhandari. In April 2005 the Rajasthan
High Court directed the state government to promote the establishment
of special schools for disabled children in both the public and private
sectors; however, few teachers were trained to meet the special needs
of disabled children. Also, the National Center for the Promotion of
Employment for Disabled People stated in September 2005 that there was
a shortage of educational institutions for the disabled and that the
admissions process was marked by harassment.
In February 2005 the country's civil services introduced an annual
quota for the employment of 20 persons with disabilities. In 2005 the
Indian Civil Service attempted to recruit and place 12 disabled persons
(3 percent). In July 12 qualified candidates were identified, but as of
October, only nine of the 12 applicants were placed in the Civil
Service.
In June 2005 the central board for secondary education issued
guidelines requiring barrier-free education in schools, colleges,
libraries, and hostels. It also took steps to provide Braille books to
educational institutions.
In July 2005 disabled rights NGOs reported that persons with
disabilities were not able to obtain duty free imports of artificial
limbs, crutches, wheelchairs, walking frames, and other medical needs.
During the year the Government reduced the fees for duties on imports
of devices used by disabled persons. NGOs also claimed that no effort
was made to make railway compartments and platforms accessible to the
disabled.
In August 2005 the Government began the first disabled-friendly
train service between Bhopal and Nizamuddin (Delhi) station. The train
had an exclusive coach for persons with disabilities and Braille tags
for seat and berth numbers in all coaches.
The Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full
Participation Act of 1995 stipulates a 3 percent reservation in all
educational institutions for persons with disabilities; however,
statistics showed that only about 1 percent of the students had
disabilities. The Times Insight Group reported in September 2005 that
most colleges and universities were unaware of the law. The Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment offered 500 educational scholarships to
persons with disabilities to pursue higher education. However,
university enrollment of students with disabilities was still very low,
and according to a 2005 NCDEP survey, only 1,574 students with
disabilities were enrolled in the 119 universities that responded. The
reasons for such low enrollment numbers included inaccessible
infrastructure, poor availability of resource materials,
nonimplementation of the 3 percent reservation, and attitudinal
barriers.
Sarva Shiksha Abhyan (Education for All), another government
initiative that focused on educating children with disabilities in
integrated settings, identified approximately 1.6 million children with
disabilities in 2004. According to the Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment Country Report, 755,408 children with disabilities enrolled
in schools, suggesting an enrollment rate of approximately 46 percent.
The percentage of children with disabilities between the ages of five
and 18 enrolled in schools was higher in rural areas (47 percent) than
in urban areas (44 percent). According to the Central Coordination
Committee established under the PDA, approximately 100,000 children
with special needs attended approximately 2,500 schools that provided
integrated and inclusive education or non-formal education.
In June the Goa government made it mandatory for all public
buildings, transport systems, hospitals and tourist areas to provide
easy access to persons with disabilities. Goa was the first state in
the country to formulate a policy for the disabled.
In July the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment released the
Braille version of the Right to Information Act to persons with visual
impairment.
In August the Delhi High Court directed the Delhi Development
Authority to accord preferential treatment and consider relaxing norms
for applicants with disabilities and impairments while allotting plots
and houses.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The 1955 Civil Rights Act made
the practice of untouchability, which discriminated against Dalits and
others defined as scheduled castes, a punishable offense; however, such
discrimination remained ubiquitous, stratifying almost every segment of
society. Many members of lower castes were relegated to the most menial
of jobs and had little social mobility. The widespread belief that
Dalits and low caste Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs were
inferior compounded the discrimination they faced. Human rights groups
asserted that the Government was not committed to ending caste-based
discrimination, pointing at its failure to fill over 50,000 vacant
positions specifically reserved for Dalits.
The law gives the President the authority to identify historically
disadvantaged castes, Dalits, and tribal persons (members of indigenous
groups historically outside the caste system) for special quotas and
benefits. These ``scheduled'' castes, Dalits, and tribes were entitled
to affirmative action and hiring quotas in employment, benefits from
special development funds, and special training programs. The impact of
reservations and quotas on society and on the groups they were designed
to benefit was a subject of active debate. According to the 2001
census, scheduled castes, including Dalits, made up 16 percent (166.6
million) of the population, and scheduled tribes 8 percent (84.3
million). In June 2005 the Andhra Pradesh cabinet approved a 5 percent
reservation for Muslims as a disadvantaged minority, in government jobs
and educational institutions, raising total reservations in the state
to 51 percent of the state government workforce.
In December 2005 parliament passed a constitutional amendment
providing reservations to scheduled castes, tribes, and the other
backward classes in non-minority, unaided, private educational
institutions.
On December 22, parliament passed a bill to make 27 percent
reservation mandatory for scheduled castes and backward classes in all
educational institutions.
Many rural Dalits worked as agricultural laborers for caste
landowners without remuneration. The majority of bonded laborers were
Dalits (see section 6.c.). Dalits, among the poorest of citizens,
generally did not own land and often were illiterate. They faced
significant discrimination despite laws to protect them and often were
socially prohibited from using the same wells, attending the same
temples, and marrying upper-caste Hindus. In addition, they faced
social segregation in housing, land ownership, and public transport.
There were episodes of vigilante retribution against Dalits who tried
to assert their rights. While rare in urban settings, examples of
intolerance occurred regularly in rural areas. Many Dalits were
malnourished, lacked access to health care, worked in poor conditions
(see section 6.e.), and continued to face social ostracism.
Despite a high court order and judicial directives first issued in
1998, Dalits continued to be excluded from the Kandadevi car festival,
a Hindu temple celebration in Tamil Nadu. During the year, the Tamil
Nadu government permitted only 26 Dalit families to take part in the
festival. NGOs reported that crimes committed by upper caste Hindus
against Dalits often went unpunished, either because the authorities
failed to prosecute such cases or because the crimes were unreported by
victims, fearing retaliation.
On April 10, the Supreme Court requested from the central
government, all state governments, the NHRC, and the National
Commission for Scheduled Casts and Scheduled Tribes information on the
creation of offices and appointment of officials to monitor atrocities
against Dalits. The request responded to an NGO petition seeking the
formation of monitoring cells under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989. The NGO stated that the
conviction rate under the act was 1 percent, and a dedicated office was
needed to ensure that crimes against Dalits and tribals received
adequate attention and speedy justice.
In July the Supreme Court passed a judgment stating that the police
and government are obliged to help inter-caste couples and prevent
social ostracism. In September, the Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment directed state governments to increase the incentive for
inter-caste marriage by central government to $1,050 (Rs 46,000). The
central government pays 50 percent.
According to an article in the Hindu, in October, upper caste
Hindus ``punished'' 80 Dalit families from Karnataka's Bijapur district
with a social and economic boycott for attempting to drink water from
the village well. Local landlords removed them from their work as
agricultural laborers and barred them from ration shops and flourmills.
Upper-caste Hindus then used the well to bathe their cattle, wash
clothes, and defecate. The article reported that some of the highest
reports of crime against Dalits in the last five years occurred in
Bangalore, Gulbarga, and Bellary districts. In these districts,
killings varied from 25 cases in 2002 to 40 in 2005, to 27 during the
year. The article reported that 56 Dalit women were raped in 2005 and
39 during the year.
On January 3, in the Vaishali district of Bihar, a higher-caste mob
burned alive a man, woman, and five of their children after the woman's
husband, a Dalit, refused to withdraw a legal case over the theft of a
buffalo against a member of the higher caste. The husband suffered
severe burns over 90 percent of his body and was admitted to a local
hospital. The suspected mob ringleader was arrested and later released
on bail. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ordered an inquiry into the
attack and suspended the local police station chief.
In February a mob beat to death a man and severely injured his wife
in Patna, Bihar, because they had married within their Hindu Gotra
(clan), which some believed to be incestuous. Led by the father of the
woman, the mob stoned and beat the couple to death in front of hundreds
of spectators. Her father, Umesh Mishra, admitted to murder and was
arrested for leading the mob. Police issued warrants for the others
accused in the case.
In December 2005 a woman who had married a man from a lower caste
was attacked by her brother. The woman's brother stabbed her numerous
times after she refused to follow a local council decision to annul the
marriage. The woman survived the assault, but the brother beheaded her
two days later as she recuperated in the hospital. At year's end police
arrested the brother and an investigation was on-going.
By the end of the year, there were no developments in the December
2005 case in which upper-caste Hindus and a priest beat four Dalit
women for entering a temple forbidden to them Keraragard, Orissa. The
district collector ordered a probe into the incident. On December 14, a
group of Dalits entered the temple following a high court order.
Many Christians were converts from low caste or Dalit backgrounds,
and continued to suffer the same social and economic limitations as
Hindu Dalits, particularly in rural areas.
The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act lists offenses against disadvantaged persons and
prescribes stiff penalties for offenders; however, this act had only a
modest effect in curbing abuse and there were very few convictions.
According to a November article in the Hindu, between 2002 and the
year's end, the cases reported under POA in the state of Karnataka
alone increased significantly. The number of cases of atrocities
reported in 2002 was 1,232 and 1,306 in 2005. During the year 1,056
cases had been reported through October. Of the approximately 1,200 to
1,300 cases reported each year in Karnataka over the last five years,
there were 24 convictions in 2002 and five in 2005. Human rights NGOs
alleged that caste violence was on the increase, and claimed hundreds
of lives. Caste violence was especially pronounced in Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.
In February a mob of upper caste youth attacked a group of 30
Dalits for attempting to hold a religious procession through an upper
caste neighborhood the previous day. The village headman's call for
retribution, broadcast over a loudspeaker at the local temple, resulted
in a mob attacking the Dalits with hatchets and sickles. The press
reported that the police later arrested 15 Dalits on an assortment of
charges, including attempted murder, and initially refused to file
charges against the village leader. Instead, the police allegedly asked
the community to form a peace committee to reach a settlement. After
pressure from political groups, the police arrested the village headman
and eight others, all of whom were released on bail.
In June high-caste Hindus stoned a Dalit wedding procession in the
Udaipur district of Rajasthan because they objected to the groom riding
a horse. The press reported that the Dalits hoped that the groom riding
a horse would be a step towards social equality, but upper caste
Hindus, believing that Dalits were not allowed on horseback, attacked
them. When the Dalits complained about the attack, the upper-caste
Hindus refused to sell them basic foodstuffs and had the water supply
to their part of the village turned off, forcing them to travel to a
nearby town to buy provisions.
Discrimination against Dalits covered the entire spectrum of
social, economic, and political activities, from withholding of rights
to killings and was not solely practiced by high-caste Hindus. The
stratification within the Dalit community also resulted in
discrimination by higher-level Dalits against lower-level Dalits. There
was also discrimination within the Christian and Muslim community by
older, established ancestral Christians and Muslims against more recent
Dalit converts.
In November the Sachar Committee headed by Justice Rajinder Sachar
released its report, ``Social, Economic and Educational Status of
Muslim Community in India,'' prepared at the request of the Prime
Minister. The report provided statistics on the Muslim community after
interactions at various levels through the country with the Muslim
community. Results showed that the country's Muslims fell behind in
many categories, including education, employment, access to credit, and
had higher poverty levels and made up a greater proportion of the
prison population.
Indigenous People.--The Innerline Regulations enacted by the
British in 1873 provide the basis for safeguarding tribal rights in
most of the northeastern border states, and in practice the regulations
were followed. These regulations prohibit any nontribal person,
including citizens from other states, to cross an inner boundary
without a valid permit. No rubber, wax, ivory, or other forest products
may be removed from the protected areas without prior authorization. No
outsiders were allowed to own land in tribal areas without approval
from tribal authorities.
The 2001 census indicated that 8.2 percent of the population
belonged to scheduled tribes. According to the Indian Confederation of
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, 80 percent of the tribal population
lived below the poverty level, and more than 40,000 tribal women,
mainly from Orissa and Bihar, were forced into situations of economic
and sexual exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking, and section 6.c.).
The 1955 Protection of Civil Rights Act prescribed special courts to
hear complaints of atrocities committed against tribal people. In
February 2004 the Supreme Court decided that the Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989 still applied
to crime victims from scheduled tribes and castes, even if they had
converted from Hinduism to another religion. The decision was in
response to an appeal of a Kerala high court decision, which held that
because a rape victim had converted to Christianity she was no longer
covered by the act.
Despite constitutional safeguards, the rights of indigenous groups
in eastern parts of the country often were ignored. The NCRB reported
5,713 crimes against Scheduled Tribes in 2005. Indigenous peoples
suffered discrimination and harassment, were deprived of their land,
and subjected to torture and to arbitrary arrest.
By the end of the year, no action had taken place in the December
2005 case where four tribals who had worked for three months in the
Kalahandi District of Orissa were severely beaten and locked in a shed
while 15 others were forced to stand naked for hours when they asked
for their wages.
There was encroachment on tribal land in almost every eastern
state, including by illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, and by businesses
that illegally removed forest and mineral products. In July 2004 forest
department staff ignored a Supreme Court order and forcefully evacuated
a tribal village in the Betul district of Madhya Pradesh. Persons from
other backgrounds often usurped places reserved for members of tribes
and lower castes in national educational institutions. Mob lynching,
arson, and police atrocities against tribal persons occurred in many
states (see section 1.c.).
Numerous tribal movements demanded the protection of tribal land
and property rights. The Jharkhand movement in Bihar and the Bodo
movement in Assam reflected deep economic and social grievances among
indigenous peoples. As a result of complaints, tribal-majority states
were created in 2000 from the Jharkhand area of Bihar and the
Chhattisgarh region of Madhya Pradesh, and authorities provided local
autonomy to some tribal people in the northeast.
There were also instances of violent tribal/nontribal conflict. For
example, on January 1, 12 tribals and one police officer were killed
after clashing during a protest against the building of a steel plant
on tribal land in Jaipur, Orissa. Eight other tribals were injured. The
tribals, reportedly upset with the land compensation package, attacked
police with bows and arrows after authorities attempted to disburse the
mob with tear gas. Police fired into the rioters after a police officer
was killed. The Government compensated each victim's next of kin with
$2,200 (Rs 97,000).
In March approximately 200 villagers tried, sentenced to death, and
publicly beheaded a family of tribals for practicing ``black magic'' in
the Sonitpur district of Assam. The villagers accused the father, a
traditional healer, of causing an unspecified disease that killed two
villagers and made others sick. After executing him and his four
children, the mob marched to the local police station with the heads
and chanted slogans denouncing witchcraft. Police arrested six of the
villagers. According to press reports, police records indicate
approximately 200 Assamese were killed in the last five years for
practicing witchcraft.
Civil rights organizations, working with indigenous people in
Kodagu district of Karnataka, accused the state government of actively
promoting the establishment of jungle lodges in the Nagarhole National
Park at their expense. The groups alleged that 1,600 families have been
evicted since 1972, when the Government declared forests in the
district part of the National Park. The organizations alleged that
individuals removed from the park area were settled in locations that
lack fresh drinking water, electricity, health care, adequate job
opportunities and access to forests. A civil rights organization,
Budakattu Krishikara Sangha, approached the state High Court in 2003
seeking an order to direct the state government to provide basic
facilities to effected tribals in those areas. During the year the
court committee found that only 250 of the 1,738 families had been
relocated.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Section 377 of the Penal
Code punishes acts of sodomy, buggery and bestiality; however, the law
was often used to target, harass, and punish lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender persons. Human rights groups argued that gay and
lesbian rights were not addressed along with other human rights
concerns in the country. In November 2005 the Government declined to
change provisions of Section 377 outlawing homosexuality. In a response
to a Supreme Court case, the Government stated, ``public opinion and
the current societal context in India does not favor the deletion of
the said offense from the statute book.'' Gays and lesbians faced
discrimination in all areas of society, including family, work, and
education. Activists reported that in most cases, homosexuals who do
not hide their orientation were fired from their jobs. Homosexuals also
faced physical attacks, rape, and blackmail. Police committed crimes
against homosexuals and used the threat of Section 377 to coerce
victims into not reporting the incidents. Section 377 allowed police to
arrest gays and lesbians virtually at will. However, in July 2005 in
Jharkand, two lesbians belonging to the scheduled tribes announced that
they were ``married'' in defiance of both law and tradition, although
same sex marriages are not recognized in the country.
In September 2004 the Delhi High Court dismissed a legal challenge
to Section 377. Plaintiffs filed the case in 2001 after police arrested
four gay and lesbian rights workers at the NAZ Foundation International
and National Aids Control Office premises in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
Police charged the workers with conspiracy to commit ``unnatural sexual
acts'' and possession of ``obscene material,'' which was reportedly
safe-sex educational materials. The workers were detained in unsanitary
conditions for 47 days and denied bail twice. The court dismissed the
case, ruling that the validity of the law could not be challenged by
anyone ``not affected by it,'' as the defendants had not been charged
with a sex act prohibited by law. In April 2005 despite the September
2004 challenge of Section 377 by two gay and lesbian NGOs, the NAZ
Foundation International, and the National Aids Control Office, the
Government submitted a petition to the Supreme Court reaffirming the
validity of Section 377. In February the Supreme Court ruled that the
Delhi High Court should not have dismissed the case because the NGO was
not a directly affected party to the case. The Supreme Court referred
it to the Delhi High Court, which has not reexamined the case.
In July the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) filed an
affidavit in the Delhi High Court supporting the demand to scrap
Section 377 of IPC that declares homosexuality an offense. This
affidavit supports the petition filed by the NAZ Foundation. The
affidavit was filed after NACO conducted a survey that reported 8
percent of the estimated 2.5 million homosexual population of the
country was affected with HIV/AIDS as compared to 1 percent of the
general population affected by the disease. A high-profile campaign to
overturn Section 377, led by writers Vikram Seth and Amartya Sen,
continued at year's end.
Homosexuals were detained in clinics against their will and
subjected to treatment aimed at ``curing'' them of their homosexuality.
The NAZ Foundation filed a petition with the NHRC regarding a case in
which a man was subjected to shock therapy. The NHRC declined to take
the case, as gay and lesbian rights were not under its purview.
In January Lucknow, police allegedly carried out a ``sting''
operation targeting gay men, which drew widespread condemnation from
human rights NGOs. The press reported that police officers posed as gay
men on the Internet and, entrapped one man. The officers then forced
him to call other gay men, who were also arrested. The National
Campaign for Sexual Rights (NCSR) stated that the arrests were illegal
and the evidence against the men was fabricated. NCSR argued that the
police violated the men's right to privacy and that there was no
evidence that they were guilty under Section 377.
In January a man in Mumbai registered a complaint against two
constables of the Azad Maidan police station for using ``decoys'' in a
public toilet at a train station to entrap and extort money from gay
men. The Azad Maidan police apprehended the two constables and handed
them over to the railway police. At year's end, there were no further
developments in this case.
Authorities estimated that HIV/AIDS had infected approximately 5.1
million persons, and there was significant societal discrimination
against persons with the disease. According to the ILO, 70 percent of
persons suffering from HIV/AIDS faced discrimination.
In July doctors at Meerut Medical College, Uttar Pradesh tied a 15-
year-old HIV positive boy to his bed to prevent him from falling or
pulling his IV cord. The boy was in the same ward as patients suffering
from tuberculosis and fevers--all of which could be passed to the boy.
By the end of the year, the boy was paralyzed and could not speak
because a lesion in his brain paralyzed the right side of his body.
HRW reported that many doctors refused to treat HIV-positive
children and that some schools expelled or segregated them because they
or their parents were HIV-positive. Many orphanages and other
residential institutions rejected HIV-positive children or denied them
housing.
In September a school for HIV-positive children opened in
Karunapuram. HIV-positive children, denied admissions elsewhere, could
study in this residential school, in addition to being given medical
help and free anti-retro viral medicines.
In January 2004 a Mumbai High Court ruled that HIV-positive persons
could not be fired on the basis of their medical status. However, the
army removed from service approximately 200 soldiers with AIDS between
2003 and 2005, stating they were unfit for military duty. NACO stated
it opposed the practice of discharging soldiers solely because they had
AIDS. The army stated that, while the patients received medical care,
it could not keep infected soldiers in the service.
The National Council for Applied Economic Research, NACO, and the
United Nations Development Program conducted a survey of 2,068 HIV-
positive households, 6,224 HIV-negative households, and 2,386 people
living with HIV/AIDS patients in July. The survey revealed that 29
percent were refused loans and nearly 30 percent denied promotions.
More than 16 percent were forced to resign from their jobs, and 10
percent forced to take voluntary retirement. Additionally, 42 percent
felt neglected and isolated, and nearly 29 percent reported being
verbally abused by their colleagues.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of
association, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. Workers may establish and join unions of their own choosing
without prior authorization. More than 400 million persons made up the
country's active work force, and some 30 million of these workers were
employed in the formal sector. The rest were agricultural workers and,
to a lesser extent, urban non-industrial laborers. While some trade
unions represented agricultural workers and informal sector workers,
most of the country's estimated 13 to 15 million union members were
part of the 30-million-member formal sector. Of these 13 to 15 million,
some 80 percent of the unionized workers were members of unions
affiliated with one of the five major trade union centrals.
In practice legal protections of worker rights were effective only
for the organized industrial sector. Outside the modern industrial
sector, laws were difficult to enforce. The authorities generally
prosecuted and punished those persons responsible for intimidation or
suppression of legitimate trade union activities when the victims were
members of nationally organized unions. Unaffiliated unions were not
able, in any instance, to secure for themselves the protections and
rights provided by law. Union membership was rare in the informal
sector.
The Trade Union Act prohibits discrimination against union members
and organizers, and employers were penalized if they discriminated
against employees engaged in union activities.
Police arrested over 300 members of the Center for Indian Trade
Unions (CITU) on March 21 when they demonstrated in front of the Madras
Export Processing Zone demanding settlement of wages to workers who
lost jobs following the closure of some units. The members of the
Garment and Textile Workers Union formed a human chain in Bangalore in
early May. Their demands included limiting the work day, a minimum
wage, and a harassment-free work environment.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference and the
Government protected this right. Although a system of specialized labor
courts adjudicates labor disputes, there were long delays and a backlog
of unresolved cases. When parties cannot agree on equitable wages, the
Government may establish boards of union, management, and government
representatives to make a determination. The legislation distinguishes
between civil servants and other workers. Public service employees have
very limited organizing and collective bargaining rights.
Trade unions often exercised the right to strike, but public sector
unions were required to give at least 14 days' notice prior to
striking. Some states had laws requiring workers in certain nonpublic
sector industries to give notice of a planned strike.
The Essential Services Maintenance Act allows the Government to ban
strikes in government-owned enterprises and requires conciliation or
arbitration in specified essential industries; however, essential
services have never been defined in law. Legal mechanisms exist for
challenging the assertion that a given dispute falls within the scope
of this act. Thus the act is subject to varying interpretations from
state to state. State and local authorities occasionally used their
power to declare strikes illegal and force adjudication. The Industrial
Disputes Act prohibits retribution by employers against employees
involved in legal strike actions, and this prohibition was observed in
practice.
The Supreme Court upheld a Kerala High Court verdict declaring all
general strikes illegal and making organizers of such protests liable
for losses caused by the shutdowns, drawing attention to the difference
between a complete closedown of all activities and a general strike.
While it is likely that the ruling was introduced to discourage
political strikes, unions stated that it remained a potential threat to
their activities. Other court rulings also declared strikes illegal and
made striking workers pay damages because consumers and the public
suffered during strikes. In August 2004 the Supreme Court declared all
strikes by government employees to be illegal; however, in practice
this was not enforced.
There are seven export processing zones (EPZs). Entry into the EPZs
ordinarily was limited to employees, and such entry restrictions
applied to union organizers. While workers in the EPZs have the right
to organize and to bargain collectively, union activity was rare. In
addition, unions did not vigorously pursue efforts to organize private-
sector employees in the years since EPZs were established. Most EPZ
workers were women. The International Confederation of Free Trade
Unions reported that overtime was compulsory in the EPZs, that workers
often were employed on temporary contracts with fictitious contractors
rather than directly by the company, and that workers feared that
complaints about substandard working conditions would result in their
dismissal.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or bonded labor, including by children; however, such practices
remained widespread. The Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act prohibits
all bonded labor by adults and children. Offenders may be sentenced up
to three years in prison, but prosecutions were rare. Enforcement of
this statute, which was the responsibility of state and local
governments, varied from state to state and generally was not effective
due to inadequate resources and societal acceptance of bonded or forced
labor. On the occasions when inspectors referred violations for
prosecution, long court backlogs and inadequate funding for legal
counsel frequently resulted in acquittals. NGOs estimated that there
were 20 to 65 million bonded laborers in the country, including a large
number of children (see section 6.d.). According to the Institute for
Socio-Economic Development (ISED) research on bonded labor in Bihar and
Uttar Pradesh, the bondage of agricultural laborers was still the main
form of bondage in these two states. According to NGOs, the
nonagricultural sectors that had a high incidence of bonded labor were:
stone quarries, brick kilns, fishing, forestry, beedi-making (hand-
rolled cigarettes), carpet weaving, pottery, and carrying head-loads.
According to an ILO report published in 2005, an overwhelming majority
of bonded laborers belonged to the scheduled castes and scheduled
tribes.
In May 78 children were rescued from embroidery units at Sarai Kale
Khan in South Delhi by Bandhu Mukti Morch (BMM), an NGO based in Delhi
headed by Swami Agnivesh. According to media reports, all of the
children, between the ages of four and eight years, worked 14 to 16
hours each day under inhuman conditions. BMM rescued the children under
the Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act, 1976. The police detained one
person. On May 29, the Indian Express reported the owners of the
factories and shops, where the children, most of whom were from Bihar
were working, were arrested and being prosecuted.
Government officials worked to release other bonded laborers in
many states. In West Bengal, organized traffic by illegal Bangladeshi
immigrants was a source of bonded labor (see section 5). According to
the Ministry of Labor and Employment, the Government identified and
rehabilitated 370 bonded laborers between April 2005 and February. In
November 2005 authorities rescued 21 bonded laborers from Tamil Nadu,
who had been working in a Bangalore stone quarry since 2002. Tamil Nadu
Police worked with Bangalore police and NGOs to rescue the bonded
laborers. The district collector where the children/victims were
brought provided interim arrangement of food and shelter for the
victims.
According to UNICEF, Andhra Pradesh reportedly employed 200,000
children in its hybrid seed industry. Most were girls between the ages
of seven and 14. Many were migrants from other parts of the state. The
majority were Dalits and members of economically disadvantaged castes
and tribal groups forced to work in debt-bondage. They were routinely
abused, subjected to dangerous pesticides, and denied access to
education.
Female bondage, forced prostitution, and trafficking in women and
children for the purpose of prostitution were widespread (see section
5). Devadasis, defined as prepubescent girls given to a Hindu deity or
temple as ``servants of gods", were taken from their families and
required to provide sexual services to priests and high caste Hindus.
Many eventually were sold to urban brothels (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for
Employment.--The Government prohibits forced and bonded child labor;
however, this prohibition was not effectively enforced, and forced
child labor was a problem. The law prohibits the exploitation of
children in the workplace; however, NHRC officials admitted that
implementation of existing child labor laws was inadequate, that
administrators were not vigilant, and that children were particularly
vulnerable to exploitation. The NHRC focused on the adequacy of
existing legislation. There were few prosecutions and convictions under
the 1986 Child Labor Act because of poor implementation due to
administrative lapses and voids due to the definition of child labor. A
child assisting his/her family is exempt from the provisions of the
act, and employers in the cottage industries often exploited this void
to claim that the children were assisting the family.
There is no overall minimum age for child labor. However, work by
children under 14 is prohibited in factories, mines, domestic work,
roadside eateries and other hazardous industries. In occupations and
processes in which child labor is permitted, work by children was
permissible only for six hours between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m., with one
day's rest weekly. In addition to industries that utilized forced or
indentured child labor (see section 6.c.), there was evidence that
child labor was used in the following industries: hand-knotted carpets,
gemstone polishing, leather goods, sari weaving, beadwork, and sporting
goods. The Government assisted working children through the National
Child Labor Project, established in more than 3,700 schools. Government
efforts to eliminate child labor affected only a small fraction of
children in the workplace. The law stipulates a penalty for employers
of children in hazardous industries of $430 (Rs 19,000) per child
employed, and establishes a welfare fund for formerly employed
children. The Government is required to find employment for an adult
member of the child's family or pay $108 (Rs 4,805) to the family.
According to the South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude, authorities
were pursuing over 6,000 cases against employers. NGOs noted that
requiring the Government to pay the family of a child laborer or
finding the adult family member a job could be a disincentive to
investigating crimes.
Estimates of the number of child laborers varied widely. The 2001
census recorded 12.66 million working children between the ages of five
and 14, with 90 percent of the child workers from rural areas. NGOs
claimed there were up to 115 million working children. The proportion
of working children to the child population between the ages of five
and 14, declined from 5.4 percent to 5 percent between 1991 and 2001.
The Government's national sample survey from 2004 estimated the number
of working children in the age group of 5 to 14 at 16.4 million. The
ILO estimated the number of child workers at 44 million. However, NGOs
reported that the number of child laborers was closer to 55 million.
Most, if not all, of the 87 million children not in school did
housework, worked on family farms, worked alongside their parents as
paid agricultural laborers, or worked as domestic servants. In April
UNICEF reported that an estimated 14 percent of children between the
ages of five and 14 were engaged in labor. According to the 2001 census
figures, released in August 2005, out of 226 million children aged 5-
14, 65.3 million (29 percent) had not attended any educational
institutes. The census documented that children worked in the informal
sector, often in private homes, with the highest rate (15 percent) in
Uttar Pradesh. Unofficial sources claimed that between 25 and 30
million children worked, mainly in the domestic and agricultural
sectors.
Through the Child Labor (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986, the
Government convicted 325 employers in 2002-03; 3,910 in 2003-04; and
1,162 in 2004-05.
A ruling, effective October 10, prohibits labor in domestic work
and the hospitality industry for children under the age of 14, although
child labor in some other non-hazardous industries is legally
permissible. In September the Delhi High Court ordered the central and
state governments to develop a plan to eradicate child labor in the
capital area.
In Maharashtra, raids on sweatshops to free child laborers
continued. According to the Maharashtra Task Force to eliminate child
labor from Mumbai, from May 2005 to October, 36 slum habitations were
made child labor free. Spurred by government raids, many employers
voluntarily repatriated several thousand child laborers from zari
factories (embroidering or sewing beads and colored threads to fabric),
leather workshops, and restaurants.
In June the Government of Bihar announced a ban on employment of
children below the age of 14 in shops and other establishments by
amending the Bihar Shops and Establishments Act. The Bihar government
prosecuted 1,493 employers of child labor and rehabilitated 438 bonded
laborers through central government sponsored schemes since 2001.
In August the Government of Punjab announced a complete ban on
child labor to take effect on October 10. An action plan and directions
were sent to all district offices and departments in the state to
ensure strict compliance.
Despite a ban, child labor continued in Karnataka. Varying sources
estimated the number of child workers to be as high as 150,000. The
Ministry of Labor continued efforts to eradicate the practice through
regular police raids and work with public schools towards integrating
rescued children into the mainstream. On January 6, labor inspectors in
Mysore rescued 12 child workers from garages and roadside eateries.
Charges were filed against employers and rescued children were handed
over to district child welfare committees for rehabilitation.
The Tamil Nadu Labor Department stated the number of child laborers
in that state declined from 69,000 in 2003 to an estimated 25,589 in
2005. NGOs said that the Government's figures excluded children
employed for domestic help, in restaurants, and at roadside eateries.
According to the Andhra Pradesh Department of School Education,
there were 423,714 child laborers in 2005. This number included
children between the ages of five and 14 not enrolled in schools.
In July the NHRC reported increased employment of children in home
establishments in both hazardous and non-hazardous occupations in the
state of Uttar Pradesh. NHRC Special Rapporteur Chaman Lal stated that
employment of children in brick kilns, stone quarries, and carpet-
weaving industries was on the rise. The NHRC expressed displeasure over
the failure of the Government to punish offenders.
The working conditions of domestic servants and children often
amounted to bonded labor. Children were often sent away to work because
their parents could not afford to feed them or to pay off a debt
incurred by a parent or relative. Human rights organizations estimated
that there were as many as 300,000 children working in the carpet
industry, many under conditions that amounted to bonded labor.
Officials claimed that they were unable to stop this practice because
the children were working with their parents' consent. In addition,
there was a reasonable basis to believe that products were produced
using forced or indentured child labor in the following industries:
brassware; hand-knotted wool carpets; explosive fireworks; footwear;
hand-blown glass bangles; hand-made locks; hand-dipped matches; hand-
broken quarried stones; hand-spun silk thread and hand-loomed silk
cloth; hand-made bricks; and beedis (hand-rolled cigarettes). A number
of these industries exposed children to particularly hazardous work
conditions.
According to representatives of Vikasa, a community-based
organization in the Magadi silk spinning industry, the number of child
workers dropped from 3,000 in 2003 to 1,750 in January 2005. They
attributed the drop to competition from silk yarn imported from China
and concerted action by the state government against employers of child
labor.
In May seven child laborers were killed at a brick kiln in Rauna
village of Chandauli district of Utter Pradesh when a wall of soil
collapsed, burying them alive. Police attempted to arrest the owner of
the kiln, who remained at large.
At the end of the year, there were no developments in the February
2005 case in West Bengal of a police sub-inspector allegedly torturing
an eight-year-old girl he employed after accusing her of stealing
cookies. The sub-inspector was not charged.
Those employers who failed to abide by the law were subject to
penalties specified in the Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act (such as
fines and imprisonment) and to disciplinary action at the workplace.
Media began to take a role in raising awareness about child labor.
A New Delhi Television broadcast in June 2005 reported the extensive
prevalence of bonded child labor in illegal iron ore mines located in
the northern districts of Karnataka. Child workers interviewed by the
news channel alleged they were made to break stones for 10 hours per
day to pay off debts contracted by their parents. The Karnataka
government had promised action following the report; however, civil
rights groups alleged little changed since the report was broadcast.
The continuing prevalence of child labor was attributed to social
acceptance of the practice, ineffective state and federal government
enforcement of existing laws, and economic hardships faced by families.
Employers in some industries took steps to combat child labor. The
Carpet Export Promotion Council (CEPC), a quasi- governmental
organization that received funding from the Ministry of Textiles, has a
membership of 2,500 exporters who subscribed to a code of conduct
barring them from purchasing hand-knotted carpets knowingly produced
with child labor. The CEPC conducted inspections to insure compliance
and allowed members to voluntarily use a government-originated label to
signify adherence to the code of conduct. However, the CEPC stated that
even with its programs, it was impossible to ensure that a carpet had
been produced without child labor, given the difficulties of monitoring
a decentralized and geographically dispersed industry. A private-sector
research and consulting firm conducted inspections, covering only 10
percent of registered looms, and had difficulty locating unregistered
looms. The Government also cooperated with UNICEF, UNESCO, UNDP, and
the ILO in its efforts to eliminate child labor.
The Government participated in the ILO's International Program on
the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC). Approximately 145,000 children
were removed from work and provided with education and stipends since
IPEC programs began in 1992. The NHRC, continuing its own child labor
agenda, organized NGO programs to provide special schooling,
rehabilitation, and family income supplements for children in the glass
industry in Firozabad. The NHRC also intervened in individual cases.
Press reports said that a Madurai NGO rescued 33 children who had been
sold into slave labor during in 2005.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--State government laws set
minimum wages, hours of work, and safety and health standards. The
Factories Act mandates an eight-hour workday, a 48-hour workweek, and
safe working conditions, which include adequate provisions for rest
rooms, canteen, medical facilities, and proper ventilation. There was a
minimum rest period of 30 minutes after every four hours of work and
premium pay for overtime as mandated by law. These standards were
generally enforced and accepted in the modern industrial sector;
however, they were not observed in less economically stable industries.
Some industries, such as the apparel and footwear, did not adhere to
prescribed minimum wage.
Minimum wages varied according to the state and to the sector of
industry. Such wages provided only a minimal standard of living for a
worker and were inadequate to provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family. Most workers employed in units subject to the
Factories Act received more than the minimum wage, including mandated
bonuses and other benefits. State governments set a separate minimum
wage for agricultural workers but did not enforce it effectively. Some
industries, such as apparel and footwear, did not adhere to prescribed
minimum wage.
State governments were responsible for enforcement of the Factories
Act. However, the large number of industries covered by a small number
of factory inspectors, and the inspectors' limited training and
susceptibility to bribery, resulted in lax enforcement.
The enforcement of safety and health standards also was poor.
Industrial accidents continued to occur frequently due to improper
enforcement of existing laws. Chemical industries had the highest
incidence of accidents. According to the director general of mines'
safety rules, mining companies must seal the entrances to abandoned
underground mines, and opencast mines must be bulldozed and reforested
to stop people from entering them in efforts to pilfer or scrape coal
and other minerals. However, these rules seldom were obeyed.
Workers in the textile industry suffered from acutely unhealthy
working and living conditions in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu. Industrial
premises lacked toilets and medical facilities. The town suffered from
problems of drainage and industrial pollution such as disposal of
effluents and sludge from dyeing units.
Safety conditions were better in the EPZs than in the manufacturing
sector outside by the EPZs. The law does not provide workers with the
right to remove themselves from work situations that endanger health
and safety without jeopardizing their continued employment. Legal
foreign workers were protected under the law; however, illegal foreign
workers had no protection. The country's undocumented foreign workers
were not extended basic occupational health and safety protections.
__________
KAZAKHSTAN
The Republic of Kazakhstan, with a population of approximately 15
million, has a multiparty parliamentary system dominated by President
Nazarbayev's Otan Party. President Nazarbayev was re elected for a
third 7-year term in December 2005; observers criticized that election
as falling short of a number of international standards. The
constitution concentrates power in the presidency, permitting the
President to control regional and local governments and to exercise
significant influence over the legislature and judiciary. Changes or
amendments to the constitution require Presidential consent. The
President exercised control over the military and the security forces,
although members of the security forces committed human rights abuses
in a few instances.
The following human rights problems were reported: severe limits on
citizens' rights to change their government; an incident of unlawful
deprivation of life; military hazing that led to deaths; detainee and
prisoner abuse; unhealthy prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and
detention, particularly of government opponents; lack of an independent
judiciary; increased restrictions on freedom of speech, the press,
assembly, and association; pervasive corruption, especially in law
enforcement and the judicial system; restrictions on the activities of
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); discrimination and violence
against women; trafficking in persons; and societal discrimination.
During the year the Government advanced its efforts to combat
trafficking in persons by enacting a comprehensive set of legislative
amendments to strengthen its ability to investigate, prosecute, and
convict traffickers, and to increase the amount of resources devoted to
victim protection and prevention. The Government also repealed a law
banning election-related demonstrations from the period following the
end of the voting until the results are published.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--On February 13,
opposition leader Altynbek Sarsenbaiuly was found shot to death in a
remote area outside of Almaty, along with his bodyguard Baurzhan
Baibosyn and driver Vasiliy Zhuravliov. Following an official
investigation, 10 suspects were charged with the kidnappings and
murders, including five officers of an elite squad of the Committee for
National Security (KNB). At the Government's request, a foreign law
enforcement agency provided technical support for the investigation. On
August 31, the regional court in Taldykorgan found all defendants
guilty as charged. The court sentenced Rustam Ibragimov, a former
ministry of internal affairs official, to death, though he will remain
in prison as long as the death penalty moratorium remains in effect.
The remaining defendants received prison sentences from 3 to 20 years.
The Supreme Court upheld the sentences on December 8.
Opposition leaders charged that the killing was politically
motivated, and sharply criticized the conduct and remote location of
the trial. The evidence strongly indicated the involvement of all those
charged, but the court failed to follow up and investigate signs that
other parties and high-level government officials may have been
involved in instigating or ordering the killings. In a confession that
he later retracted, Yerzhan Utembayev, the former chief of
administration for the senate, claimed he ordered the killing in
retribution for a public personal slight by Sarsenbaiuly.
Military hazing was a serious problem that led to deaths, suicides
and serious injuries (see section 1.c.). During the year, the
procurator general's office reported six suicides within the military
in the first six months of the year, compared with 26 in 2005.
On February 4, conscript Amanzhol Akhmetov died on guard duty. The
official investigation reported that Akhmetov left his post for an
unknown reason, seized a machine gun from another soldier, and shot
himself to death. Akhmetov's parents and the Soldiers' Mothers'
Committee demanded further investigation of the incident, and believed
that Akhmetov's death was the result of hazing.
On February 15, Junior Sergeant Adalykov was sentenced to six years
in prison for the November 2005 death of conscript Asylbek Abdikov.
Abdikov died after being struck in the throat by Adalykov. Senior
officers in the military unit also received disciplinary penalties.
On November 22, soldiers from the Darkhan border guard detachment
in the Saryagash district of South Kazakhstan reportedly hazed newly
arrived conscripts over the course of two days, beating them and
refusing to allow them to sleep. Eighteen conscripts were injured, and
one conscript died from his injuries. The head of the military
investigation department of the local Ministry of Internal Affairs
(MVD) garrison reported the incident. A criminal investigation was
pending at year's end.
In November 2005 the military court of the Akmolinskiy army unit
sentenced an older conscript, Abylair Ospanov, to five years in prison
for the April 2005 death of conscript Samat Kapezov. On February 14, a
higher military court extended the sentence to six and a half years
based on an appeal by the procurator.
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
police and prison officials at times tortured, beat, and abused
detainees, often to obtain confessions. In its Human Rights
Commission's annual report, the Government acknowledged that torture
and other illegal methods of investigation were still used by some law
enforcement officers. Human rights and international legal observers
noted investigative and procuratorial practices that overemphasized a
defendant's confession of guilt over collecting other types of evidence
in building a criminal case against a defendant.
In February Supreme Court Judge Raisa Yurchenko publicly
acknowledged that police used psychological and physical pressure on
suspects under investigation, but said that law enforcement officials
effectively concealed their abuses and victims were afraid to report
them.
The ombudsman's office reported 2,613 citizen complaints during the
year, over 20 percent of which were allegations of abuse by law
enforcement.
On May 29, two police officers detained and beat alleged thief
Yerbolat Ospanov after he was reportedly unable to pay a bribe to have
the charges dropped. Ospanov's brother later paid a 51,200 tenge ($400)
bribe and he was released. Yerbolat filed a complaint with the
procuracy the next day, but no action was taken at year's end.
On August 28, the head of the Mugalzhar district police office in
the Aktobe region was sentenced to three years in prison for a January
2005 incident in which he and several deputies severely beat several
murder suspects. The beatings occurred over the course of two days in
an attempt to extract confessions. The deputies were sentenced to 2 and
one-half years in prison.
There were unconfirmed reports that some women detained by law
enforcement officers were subjected to coercive sexual advances or
raped. In January an NGO in Kokshetau filed a complaint against police
inspectors for sexually abusing underage detainees in the Kokshetau
juvenile detention center. Local authorities initiated a criminal
investigation. Three suspects were fired, though rape charges were
brought against only one of the three--Yerlan Karabekov. The Kokshetau
city court acquitted Karabekov of rape charges on October 12, but
sentenced him to four years in prison for abuse of power. On appeal,
the sentence was reduced to two years.
The MVD reported that the number of crimes related to military
hazing and abuse of power declined by 14 percent during the year,
though military hazing remained a serious problem.
A few army personnel continued to subject conscripts to physical
and verbal abuse, despite noncommissioned officer (NCO) corps reforms
that addressed patterns that led to conscript hazing. There were
reports of hazing-related deaths and suicide that in some cases led to
investigations and eventual convictions of service members. The
Government investigated allegations of conscript hazing and prosecuted
soldiers who engaged in this abuse; six soldiers were convicted in the
first six months of the year. The Government took steps to root out
soldier abuse by continuing to expand a professional NCO corps and
gradually transitioning toward a largely volunteer military. The
Government also implemented new human rights training and
responsibilities for NCOs and continued a training program for military
personnel at all levels, which included mandatory anti-hazing training.
The Ministry of Defense (MOD) reported that it was tightening
discipline to address hazing and other offenses, and was implementing
ad hoc inspections and requiring systematic reports from senior
officers concerning the situation in their units. The MOD reported that
these efforts resulted in a 28 percent decline in crimes by military
personnel compared with the previous year including a 48 percent
decline in incidents of delinquency and a 61 percent decline in
unauthorized service leaves.
On July 31, 20-year-old Yerlan Kadenov, a sergeant in a Shymkent
military unit, reported to military doctors with complaints of
dizziness and nausea. On August 3, he was hospitalized and underwent
emergency surgery for internal injuries. Military procurators suspect
hazing, and were investigating the incident at year's end.
On July 2, the media reported a hazing incident in an Almaty
military unit. Nurlan Zhandagulov, the father of one of the conscripts,
was reportedly rebuffed when he appealed to the commander of the
military unit. However, the MOD responded to Zhandagulov's appeal and
military procurators arrested two soldiers for the abuses. Several
senior officers were also disciplined, and younger conscripts were
separated from older soldiers.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Though the Government
implemented prison reforms and granted greater access, prison
conditions remained harsh and facilities did not meet international
health standards. Mistreatment occurred in police cells, pretrial
detention facilities, and prisons. The Government took some steps to
address systemic patterns that encouraged prisoner abuse. These
included continued operation of and increased access for regional
penitentiary oversight commissions, training of prison officials, and
seminars for MVD police; however, no prison officials were prosecuted
for abuses during the year.
The Government conducted 13 criminal investigations of penitentiary
officials for corruption in the first eight months of the year. These
investigations resulted in 12 convictions and one acquittal.
A Council for Public Oversight, established in 2004, conducted
internal investigations of abuse allegations and reported directly to
the minister of justice. NGOs reported that the regional penitentiary
oversight commissions established by law in 2005 actively monitored
human rights conditions in prisons. The commissions, which include
government, NGO, and academic experts, are generally granted access to
the prison system, as is the International Committee for the Red Cross
(ICRC). However, police cells operated by the MVD remained closed to
outside observers.
NGOs and international observers reported good cooperation with
Ministry of Justice (MOJ) leadership, and credited the MOJ with taking
some active steps to improve prison conditions. Provision of medical
services improved, particularly with respect to fighting tuberculosis.
However, observers reported that the pace of reform has slowed in
comparison to previous years.
Although the Government made some efforts to upgrade existing
facilities and build new ones, buildings at many prisons remained
outdated and hygiene conditions were substandard. In February the
procurator general's office issued an order closing one of the
buildings in the Semipalatinsk pretrial investigation facility because
it did not meet sanitary standards and posed a threat to the health and
lives of detainees. On May 25, the procurator general's office issued a
statement criticizing the MOJ for failing to address overcrowding,
sewage, and poor sanitation in prisons.
During the year, 31 detainee deaths, including five suicides, were
reported at pretrial detention facilities. The Government reported 268
deaths in prisons during the year, including 26 suicides.
Incidents of self-mutilation by inmates to protest prison
conditions continued. On March 31, inmates in the Zarechniy prison
outside of Almaty rioted to protest harsh conditions, mistreatment, and
confiscation of personal belongings. According to human rights
activists, the prison was originally designated to house convicted law
enforcement officers. However, prior to the riot, regular criminals
were added to the population, leading to increased tension and the
tightening of controls. Twenty-four inmates mutilated themselves by
cutting their abdomens, and three inmates were injured when prison
guards restored order. Local NGOs were permitted to visit the facility
and interview inmates after the incident. An activist from the Public
Committee for Monitoring Human Rights reported that the prison
officials' response to the riot was generally appropriate. Several
officers of the prison administration were disciplined for their
failure to deal with the protest action. After the incident, prison
officials transferred the regular criminals out of the population to
reduce tension and problems.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, but they remained problems.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The MVD supervises the
national police force, which has primary responsibility for internal
security, including the investigation and prevention of crimes and
administrative offenses and the maintenance of public order and
security. The Agency for Combating Economic and Corruption Crimes
(financial police) has administrative and criminal investigative
powers. The MVD reports to the Prime Minister. The Committee for
National Security (KNB) plays a law enforcement role in border
security, internal security, antiterrorism efforts, and the
investigation and prevention of illegal or unregistered groups such as
extremist groups, military groups, political parties, religious groups,
and trade unions. The KNB also oversees the external intelligence
service, Barlau. The financial police and the KNB report directly to
the President.
According to corruption surveys, public perception of police
effectiveness was low, and corruption among law enforcement officers
was high. Police were poorly paid and widely believed to be corrupt.
According to Security Council Secretary Berik Imashev, police officers
committed 182 corruption crimes during the year, although only 70
officers were fired for corruption.
During the year the Government maintained MVD hot lines to receive
complaints about police corruption and abuse; there were no available
statistics on the number of investigations. As part of an effort to
address one of the underlying causes of corruption, the MVD increased
police salaries during the year by 32 percent.
A council for coordination of law enforcement operations,
established in the 1990s, is chaired by the procurator general and
staffed by heads of other law enforcement agencies. Among many things,
it reviews complaints against law enforcement.
The MVD cooperated with NGOs to provide human rights training
seminars for police at the local level. The Government cooperated with
international organizations to provide limited law enforcement training
aimed at decreasing abuse by emphasizing investigative skill
development.
Arrest and Detention.--The law provides that courts or procurators
must sanction arrests and detentions, but the procurator general
reported that illegal detention remained a problem. Warrants are
required for arrest. Procurators have the power to authorize arrest and
pretrial detention as well as investigative actions such as searches
and seizures. The law allows police to hold a detainee for 72 hours
before bringing charges. Human rights observers alleged that
authorities often exceeded this limit in practice.
A bail system exists but was not widely used, and many individuals
remained in pretrial detention until their trial.
Persons detained, arrested, or accused of committing a crime have
the right to the assistance of a defense lawyer from the moment of
detention, arrest, or accusation; however, police were not required
under the law or in practice to inform detainees that they had the
right to an attorney. Human rights observers alleged that law
enforcement officials dissuaded detainees from seeing an attorney,
gathered evidence through preliminary questioning before the person's
attorney arrived, and in some cases used corrupt defense attorneys to
gather evidence. The law states that the Government must provide an
attorney for an indigent suspect or defendant when the suspect is a
minor, has physical or mental disabilities, or is facing serious
criminal charges.
The 2005 Human Rights Report issued by the Presidential Human
Rights Commission indicated widespread incidents of arbitrary arrest
and detention of citizens in which they were brought to the police and
kept in offices. The procurator general's office reported that 375
individuals were illegally detained in police offices in the first half
of the year. In the first half of the year, prosecutors released 20
individuals who were illegally detained in pretrial detention
facilities; criminal charges against them were dropped.
The Government arrested and detained a few government opponents and
critics, sometimes for minor infractions of the law such as
unsanctioned assembly, and selectively prosecuted political opponents
(see sections 1.e., 2.a., and 2.b.). However, there were no allegations
of prolonged detention for political offenses.
On May 27, about 15 members of the opposition youth group Socialist
Resistance were detained by police for several hours in Almaty. The
police first claimed that they were responding to a noise complaint,
and later said that there had been an armed robbery in the
neighborhood. The detained youths reported that police and KNB officers
interrogated them and sought incriminating information about their
leaders.
Amnesty.--The MOJ released 3,445 prisoners in an amnesty campaign,
and 14,300 other convicts were pardoned.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law does not adequately
provide for an independent judiciary. The executive branch limited
judicial independence. Procurators enjoyed a quasi-judicial role and
were permitted to suspend court decisions.
There are three levels in the court system: district, oblast
(regional), and the supreme court. District courts are the court of
first instance in nearly all criminal cases. Regional courts hear cases
involving more serious crimes, and may handle cases in rural areas with
no local courts. District court decisions may be appealed to the
regional courts, and regional court decisions may be appealed to the
supreme court. There are also military courts. Military courts have
jurisdiction over civilian criminal defendants who were alleged to be
connected to military personnel undergoing a criminal trial. Military
courts use the same criminal code as civilian courts.
The constitutional council rules on election and referendum
challenges, interprets the constitution, and determines the
constitutionality of laws adopted by parliament. Citizens have no right
of direct appeal to the constitutional council.
The Presidentially appointed High Judicial Council recommends
nominees for the supreme court to the President, who in turn recommends
them to the senate for approval. The council makes recommendations to
the President for regional (oblast) level judges, but these
appointments are made directly by the President. The President, upon
the recommendation of the MOJ and the Qualification Collegium,
appointed lower-level court judges. Judges are appointed for life. The
parliament may remove supreme court judges upon recommendation by the
President, and the President may remove lower court judges.
Corruption was evident at every stage and level of the judicial
process. Although judges were among the most highly paid government
employees, lawyers and human rights monitors alleged that judges,
procurators, and other officials solicited bribes in exchange for
favorable rulings in the majority of criminal cases (see section 3).
Trial Procedures.--The law allows for trial by jury, but jury
trials were not scheduled for implementation until 2007. Trials were
public, except in instances that could compromise state secrets, or to
protect the private life or personal family concerns of a citizen.
However, there were several reports during the year of journalists
being denied access to open court hearings. Defendants in criminal
cases have the right to counsel and to a government-provided attorney
if they cannot afford one. Under the criminal procedure code,
defendants must be represented by an attorney when the defendant is a
minor, has mental or physical disabilities, does not speak the language
of the court, or faces 10 or more years imprisonment. In practice
defense attorneys reportedly participated in only half of all criminal
cases, in part because the Government did not have sufficient funds to
pay them. The law also provides defendants the right to be present at
their trials, to be heard in court, and to call witnesses for the
defense. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence, are protected
from self-incrimination, and have the right to appeal a decision to a
higher court. These rights were generally exercised in practice;
however, there were reports of individual cases of infringement. Lack
of due process was a problem, particularly in politically motivated
trials and in cases where improper political or financial influence was
alleged.
The high-profile trial of the suspects in the killing of opposition
leader Altynbek Sarsenbaiuly and his two associates was widely
criticized for procedural flaws, including a refusal to allow
questioning of certain witnesses by the defense and a failure of law
enforcement officials to investigate allegations that others, including
high-level government officials, may have been involved. The remote
location of the trial complicated public and media attendance (see
section 1.a.). Likewise, attorneys for both the defendants and the
victims' families criticized the conduct of the subsequent supreme
court appeal. On December 7, the supreme court abruptly ended the
appeal hearing before resolving several motions or allowing the
victims' representatives to make final statements. On December 8, the
court upheld the guilty verdicts and sentences.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners; however, there were reports of individuals
imprisoned following politically motivated criminal prosecutions based
on nonpolitical offenses. On January 14, former governor and Democratic
Choice of Kazakhstan leader Galymzhan Zhakiyanov was granted early
conditional release from prison. Zhakiyanov was convicted of abuse of
power and corruption charges in 2002 following a trial that
international observers maintained was politically motivated and lacked
due process. In 2005 opposition political activist Alibek Zhumabeyev
was arrested in Taraz for allegedly damaging a poster of the President
and was charged with hooliganism and insulting the honor and dignity of
the President. Opposition leaders claimed that the case was politically
motivated, and that students were coerced to testify against
Zhumabeyev. Zhumabeyev was eligible for amnesty but procurators added
an additional charge of organizing mass disorder, which disqualified
him. On May 15, the city court in Taraz sentenced him to five years in
prison. On June 22, the Taraz regional court conducted an open and
procedurally fair appeal proceeding, but rejected Zhumabeyev's
arguments without elaboration.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Civil cases are handled by
economic and administrative court judges under a court structure that
largely mirrors the criminal court structure. The law and constitution
provide for the resolution of civil disputes in court. In practice,
civil courts are widely viewed as corrupt and unreliable. Observers
noted that litigants experienced great difficulty in enforcing
judgments, particularly if they did not agree to pay a percentage to
the court administrator.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions;
however, the Government at times infringed on these rights.
The law provides procurators with extensive authority to limit
citizens' constitutional rights. The KNB, MVD, financial police, and
other agencies, with the concurrence of the procurator general's
office, may infringe on the secrecy of private communications and
financial records, as well as on the inviolability of the home. Courts
may hear an appeal on procurators' decisions, but cannot issue an
immediate injunction to cease the infringement. The criminal procedure
code allows wiretapping and recording of communications, including e-
mail and electronic communications, without a warrant only in urgent
cases.
Government opponents and their family members continued to report
that the Government monitored their movements and telephone calls on
occasion.
Though the constitution provides that housing shall be inviolable
and that the Government may not deprive citizens of their housing
without a court order, authorities in the Bakay neighborhood of Almaty
demolished several hundred homes under questionable legal circumstances
as part of a government campaign to clear illegal settlements. On July
7, authorities appeared in Bakay with bulldozers and 1,500 riot police
and demolished what they claimed were illegally built houses. Residents
were given little notice of the planned eviction, and 350 to 400 houses
were bulldozed with their belongings still inside. Residents claimed
that the vast majority of evictions were not legally justified, as
bailiffs presented court orders related to only 29 houses.
A subsequent effort to demolish homes in the Shanyrak district was
violently resisted by residents. On July 14, 2,000 law enforcement
officers converged on 1,500 residents, and violent conflict ensued.
Many were injured and arrested, and residents took several police
officers hostage. One police officer was soaked with gasoline and set
alight, and later died from his injuries. Several residents were in
detention awaiting trial at year's end. Ultimately, the authorities did
not succeed in carrying out the evictions or demolitions. On August 16,
the procurator general issued an order suspending demolition of housing
in Shanyrak and authorities agreed to allow residents time to appeal
for legalization of their property.
On November 21, authorities in the Karasai district near Almaty
demolished multiple homes in a Hare Krishna commune in order to evict
the property owners. Although authorities produced court orders,
residents received little notice of the planned demolitions, and most
of their possessions were damaged or destroyed (see section 2.c.).
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
used a variety of means, including laws, harassment, revocation of
registration, and criminal and administrative charges, to control the
media and limit freedom of expression. Judicial actions against
journalists and media outlets, including civil and criminal libel suits
filed by government officials, contributed to closure of media outlets
and self-censorship.
The Government limited individuals' ability to criticize the
country's leadership, and regional leaders attempted to limit local
media outlets' criticism of them. The law provides for the protection
of the dignity of the President and prohibits insulting the President
and other senior officials. As in previous years, the Government
actively used the law to penalize media criticism of the President and
other officials and members of the legislature. The Government
continued to characterize the distribution of pamphlets by Hizb ut-
Tahrir (HT) members as incitement for political and terrorist purposes,
beyond the bounds of constitutionally protected free speech. The
Government did not release statistics on the number of people arrested
for involvement with HT, though in a December 22 speech, acting Otan
Party chairman Bakhytzhan Zhumagulov said that hundreds of HT
supporters are currently serving sentences.
During the year, Minister of Culture and Information Yermukhamet
Yertysbayev took measures to assert government control of the country's
official television outlets, which included installing new leadership
in the official Kazakhstan-1 television network and consolidating
government ownership of the Khabar network. He also criticized foreign
ownership of media outlets, and threatened the broadcasting license of
the privately owned Commercial Television of Kazakhstan (KTK)
television network for allegedly failing to broadcast the legally
required amount of Kazakh language programming and for its coverage of
the Sarsenbaiuly killing. KTK television continued to broadcast at
year's end.
On July 5, the President signed controversial new amendments to the
country's media law despite widespread criticism from national and
international media advocacy groups. The amendments tightened
government control over the media. The law now requires media owners to
re-register upon any change in editor, address, or frequency of
publishing; bans anyone convicted of libel from holding a managing
editor position at another media outlet; prohibits registering an
outlet under a name similar to one that was shut down by court action;
and imposes fines against broadcasters for failing to offer the already
required 50-50 mix of Kazakh and Russian language programming time. In
a July 6 interview, the minister of culture and information
acknowledged that the law was designed to increase government control
of the media. However, no media outlets were closed under the new law
during the course of the year.
According to government statistics, 22 percent of the 2,479 media
outlets were government-owned. The overwhelming majority of broadcast
media considered to be independent, including the larger outlets, were
owned by holding companies believed to be controlled by members of the
President's family and close circle of friends. Many privately owned
newspapers and television stations received government subsidies. The
Government controlled nearly all broadcast transmission facilities.
There were 177 television and 40 radio stations. Media observers
believed that six of the seven nationwide television broadcasters were
wholly or partly owned by the Government; one was nominally
independent. Regional governments owned several frequencies;
independent broadcasters arranged to use the majority of these.
In contrast to 2005, a Presidential election year, the Government
made no attempt to seize opposition newspapers during the year, and
printing houses did not refuse to print opposition papers. Unlike the
previous year, there were no known cases where opposition papers were
refused registration; overall, they faced fewer problems.
All media were required to register with the Ministry of Culture
and Information (MCI), although Web sites were exempted from this
requirement.
The licensing system is not transparent. There was no tender for
new licenses this year.
The law limits the rebroadcast of foreign produced programming to
20 percent of a station's total airtime. This provision burdened
smaller, less-developed regional television stations that lacked
resources to develop their own programs, although no media outlets were
sanctioned under this provision.
Harassment of and violence against journalists remained problems,
though there were fewer incidents than in 2005, the Presidential
election year. Press advocacy NGO Adil Soz reported 122 incidents of
harassment and violence against journalists during the first 11 months
of the year, compared to 706 such incidents during the first 11 months
of the previous year.
Several journalists were briefly detained in Almaty on April 26
while covering a silent protest in honor of Altynbek Sarsenbaiuly (see
section 2.b.).
On August 20, riot police disrupted Channel 31's coverage of a
protest rally in Aktau. The journalists alleged that the police broke a
television camera and struck one of the camera operators in the head.
The Mangistau regional governor later accused the Channel 31
journalists of being drunk and instigating the riot (see section 2.b.).
During the year the four attackers of Azamat Dospanov of Altyn
Gasyr were identified and arrested. The court dropped charges in
exchange for the perpetrators paying compensation. An investigation
produced no results, and there were no further developments in the
August 2005 attack against Altyn Gasr's editor-in-chief.
In November 2005 unknown assailants vandalized the office of the
Region Plus newspaper in Kapchagay. The paper's staff believed the
attack to be a response to its reporting. According to the paper, the
police investigated the case but no charges were filed by year's end.
The procurator took no action by year's end in the investigation of
the 2004 assault against Ak Zhaik correspondents Tamara Sukhomlinova
and Gulzhanat Isabayeva.
Journalists covering organized crime and corruption reported
harassment and intimidation by both government officials and private
actors. On August 17, the minister of culture and information appealed
to the media to launch a full-scale fight against government
corruption, and promised to protect journalists if government employees
tried to pressure them. NGO Adil Soz reported, however, that
journalists were skeptical of the minister's support and his ability to
intervene.
The law enables the Government to restrict media content under
amendments that prohibit undermining state security or advocating
class, social, race, national, or religious superiority, or cruelty and
violence. Owners, editors, distributors, and journalists may be held
civilly and criminally responsible for content, regardless of the
source of information, unless it came from an official source. The
Government used this provision to limit freedom of the press.
Legislation enacted in 2005 prohibits publication of any statement that
promotes or glorifies ``extremism,'' a term which international legal
experts considered unduly vague and called upon the Government to
define.
In some cases, media outlets willing to criticize the President
directly were subjected to intimidation in the form of law enforcement
actions or civil suits. While these events continued to cast a chilling
effect on all media outlets, criticism of government policies continued
to be reported during the year.
The law on state secrets makes it a criminal offense to release any
information about the health, finances, or private life of the
President, as well as economic information about the country such as
the volumes of national mineral reserves and the amount of government
debt owed to foreign creditors. Media outlets generally practiced self-
censorship regarding information on the President and his family to
avoid possible legal problems.
The Government continued to intimidate newspapers that reported on
a several year old scandal involving a foreign investigation into
possible illicit payments, allegedly from foreign companies to senior
government officials, including President Nazarbayev. Local media
outlets, when they did report on the case, informally dubbed it
``Kazakhgate". On February 8, the Almaty city court closed the
newspaper Zhuma Times: Data Nedelye for insulting the President's
dignity and honor. The paper had frequently printed articles on
Kazakhgate, and was previously fined during an October 2005 closed
trial for publishing the article ``Kazakhgate: History of One Crime.''
The paper resumed publishing under the new names Taszhargan and Aina
Plyus. In early April the Government fined and suspended for three
months Aina Plyus without notification of the court hearing. On April
23 ten unknown assailants brutally beat Aina Plyus journalist
Kenzhegali Aitbakiyev in an attack the editor said was connected to the
paper's reporting on Kazakhgate. The chairman of the parliament's
international affairs committee called on the procurator to bring the
attackers to justice. In September local police asked Aitbakiyev to
write up the attack as a routine brawl; he refused, and since then has
received no communication from the police about the attack.
Criminal libel suits could be initiated by private parties on
behalf of the Government, and an individual filing such a suit would be
able to file a civil suit as well, based upon the same allegations.
Officials used the law's restrictive libel and defamation provisions to
constrain media outlets from publishing unflattering information. Both
the criminal and civil codes contain articles establishing broad libel
liability. The fact that owners, editors, distributors, publishing
houses, and journalists were held responsible for the content of
information conveyed and had the burden of proving its veracity,
regardless of its source, promoted self-censorship at each level. At
times fines for libel were exorbitant and in previous years they
resulted in the bankruptcy of small media outlets.
On May 31, the chairman of the oblast court in Atyrau initiated a
criminal case against journalist Lion Guzikov for publishing a
newspaper article that criticized the court's handling of a murder
case. On June 24, the Almaty KNB filed a lawsuit against opposition
journalist Kazis Toguzbayev for insulting the President's honor in a
May 3 online article alleging a cover-up in the Sarsenbaiuly murder
investigation. On August 8, the Almaty KNB initiated a second lawsuit
against Toguzbayev for an April 2 online article critical of the
President. The trials for both cases were underway at year's end. On
July 24, an Almaty district court fined the Central Asia Monitor
5,120,000 tenge ($40,000) for insulting the honor of legislator Yersayl
Abylkasymov in an December 2005 article. The newspaper sought a reduced
fine on appeal, but the appellate court upheld the decision on October
9.
On July 31, the Government sentenced independent journalist
Zhasaral Kuanyshalin to two years in prison for ``infringement upon the
honor and dignity of the President'' under article 318/2 of the
criminal code. A criminal investigation was launched against
Kuanyshalin for his public demands to prosecute President Nazarbayev
for treason. The case against Kuanyshalin was later commuted following
an amnesty.
The Government continued to influence most printing and
distribution facilities and to subsidize periodicals, including many
that supposedly were independent. Many publishing houses were
government owned. Some journalists alleged that the KNB or tax police
threatened publishing houses if they printed opposition media; concern
over criminal or civil proceedings influenced publishing houses. Public
access to newspapers critical of the Government was hindered by low
circulation and limited distribution of these papers; they were dwarfed
by official or pro-governmental media which reaches most of the
population.
Internet Freedom.--There were no formal government restrictions on
access to the Internet, but independent web media reported that the
Government monitored e-mail and Internet activity, blocked or slowed
access to opposition Web sites and materials critical of Nazarbayev or
members of his family, and planted pro-government propaganda in
Internet chat rooms. The country's only Internet service providers,
state-owned Kaztelecom and Nursat, which are privately owned but
regulated by the state, introduced technical controls such as limiting
bandwidth and blocking access via proxy servers. Web site content was
regularly subject to civil and criminal libel suits.
In 2005 the Agency for Information and Communication (AIC) issued
regulations, without parliamentary discussion, to control the
application process for registering .kz domains. The AIC may suspend or
revoke registration under certain circumstances, including failure to
locate servers in the country. Observers criticized the registration
process as unduly restrictive and vulnerable to abuse. The Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) Representative on
Freedom of the Media asked the Government to withdraw these
regulations. In December 2005 the Government deemed as offensive the
content of a satirical web site controlled by British comedian Sacha
Baron Cohen and revoked the .kz domain.
Estimates of the number of regular Internet users in the country
range from 100,000 to 600,000 (0.7 percent to 4 percent of the
population), and these users live almost exclusively in urban areas.
The Government ordered a reduction in the cost of access several times
over the course of the year to increase Internet access. The Government
reported a 50 percent increase in the number of Internet users in the
first nine months of the year, and credited the rate cuts for the
increase.
During the year, the minister of culture and information stressed
the need to expand public access to the Internet, but on several
occasions declared the need to impose greater official control over the
Internet and end libel and lies about government officials.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government generally did
not restrict academic freedom, though academics, like journalists,
could not violate certain restrictions, such as criticizing the
President and his family.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for limited freedom of assembly; however,
there were significant restrictions on this right in practice and
police used force to disrupt peaceful demonstrations. The law defines
unsanctioned gatherings, public meetings, marches, demonstrations,
illegal picketing, and strikes that upset social and political
stability as national security threats.
On December 22, the President signed legislation repealing the
April 2005 amendment to the elections law prohibiting any election-
related demonstrations from the period following the end of the voting
until the Central Election Commission (CEC) publishes the official
results.
The February 2005 Extremism Law prohibits ``extremism'' during
rallies and demonstrations. ``Extremism'' is ill-defined in the
legislation. Human rights observers were concerned that the law could
be used to silence critics, stifle opposition, and limit religious
freedom, though the law was not applied in this manner during the year.
Under the laws governing public assembly, organizations must apply
to the local authorities for a permit to hold a demonstration or public
meeting at least 10 days in advance, or the activity is considered
illegal. Opposition and human rights monitors complained that
complicated procedures and the 10 day notification period made it
difficult for groups to organize public meetings and demonstrations,
and reported that local authorities turned down most applications for
demonstrations. Organizers of unsanctioned gatherings, including
political party gatherings, frequently were detained briefly and fined
(see section 3). Opposition parties at times chose to hold unsanctioned
rallies and, as a result, members were arrested, detained, and fined.
Authorities dispersed several gatherings in honor of slain
opposition leader Altynbek Sarsenbaiuly (see section 1.a.). On February
26, Almaty police attempted to block approximately 4,000 citizens from
marching to Republic Square to hold a rally in memory of Sarsenbaiuly
and victims of political repression. After the rally, several
organizers and participants were detained from 5 to 15 days in the
local prison, and several received significant fines. Authorities
arrested and fined participants in similar rallies on February 26 in
Astana, on March 5 in Kyzlorda, and on April 26 in Almaty.
On June 6, the Government refused to admit opposition Alga party
members into the supreme court hearing on Alga's appeal of their
registration denial. Some Alga members then set up a sound system on
the steps of the building. Police met with resistance their attempt to
seize the sound system and in response beat and detained a number of
Alga supporters, including party head, Asylbek Kozhakhmetov, on charges
of holding an unauthorized demonstration.
Opposition activists from the For a Just Kazakhstan movement and
the Socialist Resistance movement sought permission for a rally from
the Aktobe city akim on July 12. The authorities did not respond until
the eve of the planned rally, and then provided only a vague response.
The organizers were forced to cancel the event.
On August 20, several hundred residents of Aktau gathered in a
central square to demand the dismissal of the oblast and city akims,
alleging corruption and favoritism. Organizers promoted the gathering
in advance with leaflets appealing to ethnic nationalism and strongly
criticizing the akims. The police dispersed the rally and arrested
about 20 protesters. According to news reports, police used batons and
shields and several protesters were injured in clashes. The following
day, the oblast akim issued a press release characterizing the event as
hooliganism instigated by drunken reporters from the Channel 31 news
service. Most media reports contradicted the press release (see section
2.a.).
On November 26, approximately 100 owners of right-hand drive
vehicles held a rally in Almaty to protest a proposed a ban on their
vehicles. The police dispersed the protest and arrested and fined the
leader for holding an unauthorized rally.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for limited freedom of
association; however, there were significant restrictions on this right
in practice. Any public organization set up by citizens, including
religious groups, must be registered with the MOJ, as well as with MOJ
branches in every region in which the organization conducts activities.
A public or religious association that acts outside the scope of its
charter may be warned, fined, suspended, or ultimately banned.
Participation in unregistered public organizations may result in
administrative or criminal liability, such as fines, dissolution,
probation, or imprisonment. The prohibition on unregistered
organizations often provided a pretext for authorities to interfere
with the activities of organizations. Membership organizations,
including religious groups, must have 10 members to register at the
local level and must have branches in over half of the regions for
national registration. Political parties and labor unions were
considered membership organizations but had additional specific
registration requirements. The law requires parties to have 50,000
signatures, including 1,000 in each region, and prohibits parties
established on an ethnic, gender or religious basis (see section 3).
The law prohibits members of the armed forces, employees of national
security and law enforcement organizations and judges from
participating in trade unions or political parties.
NGOs reported that the registration process was fairly regularized,
though bureaucratic corruption within the registration process was
common and added to the cost of registration. Many organizations hired
lawyers or other consultants to expedite registration through the
bureaucracy, which increased the registration cost. The official
registration fee was substantially reduced in December 2005. In
general, NGOs and civil society activists reported that the frequency
of government inspections and audits was less than in the previous
year. However, NGOs involved in human rights advocacy and political
activities faced greater administrative delays and obstacles (see
section 4). The Almaty Helsinki Committee and the Kazakhstan
International Bureau for Human Rights reported that several youth
political movements faced harassment and registration problems during
the year.
The February 2005 extremism law criminalizes membership in certain
prohibited organizations. At year's end, Islamist political
organization HT was the only organization banned under this law.
Several members of HT were convicted on charges including extremism and
terrorism during the year. Although it maintained that it was committed
to nonviolence, HT promoted hate and praised acts of terrorism. The
party's virulently anti-Semitic and anti-Western literature called for
the overthrow of secular governments, including those in Central Asia,
to be replaced with a worldwide Islamic government called the
caliphate.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and most religious communities worshiped largely
without government interference. Higher-level officials or courts
usually intervened to correct occasional attempts by local officials to
limit the practice of religion by some nontraditional groups. Religious
leaders praised the role the Government played in ensuring their right
to the peaceful practice of religious beliefs. Some perceived the
former chairman of the Secretariat of the Council on Relations with
Religious Communities, now the deputy head of the newly-organized
Religious Issues Committee (RIC), and the Ombudsman's Office, as
advocates for religious freedom within the Government.
The constitution and law define the country as a secular state. The
generally amicable relationship among religions in society contributed
to religious freedom. The country is multiethnic, with a long tradition
of tolerance and secularism. The population, particularly in rural
areas, is sometimes wary of nontraditional religions. The Government
invited the leaders of the two largest religions, Islam and Russian
Orthodoxy, to participate jointly in some state events. Leaders of
other faiths have at times also participated in some government events.
In September, President Nazarbayev hosted the second Congress of World
Religions in Astana, an event which featured the participation of a
wide variety of religious groups, including nontraditional groups. In
the run-up to the event, Nazarbayev publicly highlighted and praised
the country's tradition of interethnic and interfaith tolerance.
In July 2005 amendments to the religion law restricted legal
protections of religious freedom. Under the law, religious groups must
register both with the Government and in the individual regions in
which they have congregations. Missionaries must register annually and
be sponsored by a registered religious organization. All supporting
materials must be provided with the registration applications; use of
materials not vetted during the registration process is illegal. Only
registered organizations may act as a legal entity to buy or rent real
property, hire employees, or engage in other legal transactions.
Most religious groups, including minority and nontraditional
denominations, reported that in practice the amendments did not
materially affect religious activities. However, unregistered religious
groups reported an increase in court actions against them and an
increase in the level of fines imposed for nonregistration. Some
religious groups also criticized the intrusive nature of the
registration process, which required them to provide information about
ethnicity, family status, religious education, employment, and
political affiliation. The RIC frequently intervened to assist with
registration problems at the local level.
Members of the Council of Churches of Evangelical Christians and
Baptists reported they were harassed by law enforcement for not being
registered. The council has a policy of not seeking or accepting
registration in former Soviet countries for religious reasons and as a
result of persecution and government harassment suffered during Soviet
times. Although the Government generally did not enforce court orders
for congregations affiliated with the council to register or pay fines,
the level of harassment, fines, and court cases increased. In one
instance authorities imprisoned a pastor for three days for failure to
pay a fine. In addition, local representatives of the KNB or police
officials disrupted meetings in churches and private homes during the
year. In May a group of 10 Baptist pastors were detained and fined in
the Almaty oblast for preaching and distributing holy books without
registration.
According to media reports, members of the unregistered Tabligh
Jamaat movement, an Islamic missionary group, also faced detentions and
fines for conducting religious activities without registration. In
September the Aktau prosecutor brought administrative charges against
several Tabligh members for proselytizing in a mosque in the village of
Kyzyl-Tobe. Five members were each fined 51,500 tenge ($400). In
October police arrested six members of the group in the city of
Ekibastuz for delivering a theological lecture at a local mosque. The
leader of the group was fined 51,500 tenge ($400).
Although the Spiritual Association of Muslims of Kazakhstan (SAMK),
a coalition of mosques and clergy, is nominally independent and has no
official status, there were reports that the Government attempted to
coerce independent mosques and Muslim clergy to affiliate with the
group to ensure liturgical orthodoxy. According to press reports, the
SAMK itself criticized small, nontraditional Muslim groups such as the
Ahmadis, Bahais, and Sufis, maintaining that their teachings
contradicted the principles of Islam.
The national Jehovah's Witnesses Religious Center had generally
positive relations with the national government, but the group alleged
several incidents of local government harassment during the year.
Though Jehovah's Witnesses organizations are registered at the national
level, in Astana and Almaty, and in thirteen regions, the Jehovah's
Witnesses Religious Center has attempted unsuccessfully since 2001 to
register in Atyrau Oblast. The Atyrau regional procurator's office
maintained that the group has consistently failed to comply with
registration laws. The group did not submit a registration application
this year; its most recent application was turned down in December 2005
based on incomplete registration materials. The center claimed that
local officials sometimes denied the group permits to rent stadiums and
other large public or private sites for religious meetings. However,
the center also reported that government treatment of these requests
varied. No other religious groups reported such instances of being
denied permits for public gatherings.
The Karasai regional government near Almaty continued a campaign to
seize title to land used by the Hare Krishna movement. In April an
appeals court upheld a lower court decision that the land should revert
to the Karasai regional government because the farmer from whom Hare
Krishna followers had purchased the land in 1999 did not hold title,
and thus the land had not been properly privatized. On April 25, local
officials went to the commune to evict the followers. Hare Krishna
followers peacefully resisted and local authorities did not use force.
The Hare Krishnas appealed to the supreme court. On August 24, the
supreme court denied the Hare Krishna's appeal without elaboration on
lower court rulings.
Following the denial, the RIC formed a special commission to
resolve the issue and promised that no further action would be taken
against the commune until the commission completed its work. The
commission was described by some participants as disorganized and
subjective; Hare Krishna leaders alleged it was created merely to
deflect criticism of the Government on the eve of the Congress of World
Religions, which took place in the country in September. On November
21, with little notice to residents, Karasai district officials arrived
at the commune with court orders, bulldozers, trucks, and riot police.
Authorities blocked access to the commune, cut electricity, and
demolished multiple homes, destroying possessions and leaving
homeowners without shelter or compensation. The police beat several
Hare Krishnas and arrested at least one resident who protested the
action. The police attempted to bar observers from the process. The
demolitions occurred without the knowledge of the RIC and before the
special commission released its results. On December 22 the commission
released its decision; however, the commission took no steps towards
resolving the situation by year's end. Government officials stated in
public comments following the decision that the Hare Krishnas were in
violation of various land-use laws and they were not victims of
religious discrimination. Although observers believed the Karasai
district government's actions were motivated primarily by a financial
interest in the land, the Hare Krishnas claimed the local government
targeted them because they are a nontraditional religious community.
Local officials criticized the Hare Krishnas as an illegitimate and
threatening religious group; in an April 25 television interview a
Karasai akimat official stated that the Hare Krishnas were dangerous
for the country and ``not accepted as a religion.''
On October 23, the Ust-Kamenogorsk city administrative court
convicted a foreign citizen of violating the terms of his business visa
for giving a lecture at a legally registered protestant church. The
foreign citizen was an administrator at a local university and had
attended the church for many years. The court imposed a 41,200 tenge
($322) fine, and ordered his deportation. On November 14, the appeals
court upheld the fine but eliminated the deportation penalty,
contingent on the defendant leaving the country voluntarily.
Observers believed that security officials informally monitored
some religious activity, particularly Muslim imams' sermons; however
there were no reports that any monitoring manifested in interference or
harassment.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The Jewish community,
estimated at below 1 percent of the population, has synagogues in
several larger cities, including Almaty, Astana, and Pavlodar. There
were no reports of anti-Semitic acts apart from the distribution of
anti-Semitic literature by banned extremist Islamist political
organization HT. The country's chief rabbi consistently praised the
Government for its proactive protection of the Jewish community.
The Government made efforts to promote religious tolerance in its
ranks. The MVD provides seminars to its police officers on sensitivity
to religious minorities. Human rights training provided to law
enforcement officers by NGOs in cooperation with the Government
included information on religious rights under the law.
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
there were some regulatory restrictions. Citizens and foreigners in the
country for more than five days were required to register with the
migration police. Foreigners entering the country may register at
certain border posts. Registration in most of the country generally was
routine; nonetheless, some foreign citizens reported that local
authorities regularly requested bribes before completing registration.
Persons who were suspects in criminal investigations were often
required to sign statements that they would not leave their place of
residence. Individuals were detained routinely for identity checks
without suspicion of a criminal offense (see section 1.d.).
Although the Government did not require exit visas for temporary
travel of citizens, certain instances in which exit from the country
could be denied remained, including for travelers subject to pending
criminal or civil legal proceedings, unserved prison sentences, or
compulsory military duty. Travelers who presented false documentation
during the exit process could be denied exit, and travel by active-duty
military was controlled. The law on national security requires that
persons who had access to state secrets obtain permission from their
employing government agency for temporary exit from the country.
Courts interpreted and the MVD enforced parole and travel
restrictions in a manner that interfered with the activities of
opposition leaders. Opposition leader Galymzhan Zhakiyanov, who was
released from prison on January 14, (see section 1.e.) was barred from
boarding a plane on April 24 to fly to Brussels and address the
European Parliament. The terms of his parole did not require him to
obtain permission to travel, but the MVD, working with the Pavlodar
Oblast Court, retroactively imposed such a condition to justify their
action. On May 3, the MVD denied Zhakiyanov's request to travel from
Almaty to Astana to participate in a May 6 roundtable with a prominent
foreign official, and on May 26 denied his request to travel to Moscow.
However, the Government permitted Zhakiyanov to travel internally for
nonpolitical purposes. Deputy chair of the opposition party True Ak
Zhol, Bulat Abilov, was also barred from traveling to Brussels on April
24. Police summoned him to Karaganda on April 23 concerning a July 2005
criminal allegation, and ordered him not to leave the country pending a
future court date (see section 3).
The law prohibits forced exile and the Government did not employ
it.
The law provides for the right to emigrate and the right to
repatriate, and the Government generally respected these rights in
practice. An exception is the law on national security, which prohibits
persons who had access to state secrets from taking up permanent
residence abroad for five years after leaving government service. A
permanent exit visa was required for emigration; obtaining this visa
required criminal checks, credit checks, and letters from any
dependents expressing no objection to exit visa issuance.
Foreigners were required to obtain prior permission to travel to
some border areas with China and cities in close proximity to military
installations. The Government continued to declare certain areas closed
to foreigners due to their proximity to military bases and the space
launch center at Baikonur. In practice foreigners could visit these
areas with prior permission from the MVD.
It was government policy to encourage and assist all ethnic Kazakhs
living outside the country to return. The Government accorded special
immigration treatment to ethnic Kazakhs and their families who fled
during Stalin's era and wished to return. These returnees were in
principle entitled to citizenship and many other privileges. Other
persons, including ethnic Kazakhs who were not considered refugees from
the Stalin era, had to apply for permission to return. Each region had
a quota for returnees; apart from Almaty and the southern regions
bordering Uzbekistan, these quotas went unfilled.
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 absence of legislation to fully implement the convention
allowed for the selective treatment of refugees, and left many aspects
of refugee status unclear, such as whether refugees have a right to
work. In practice the Government usually provided some protection
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution. In contrast to 2005, no refugees were forcibly
returned to Uzbekistan during the year.
The Government generally registered asylum seekers and determined
their status, in consultation with the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) with the exceptions of citizens from the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries or China as
described below. Only the President can grant political asylum, and he
did not do so during the year. In some cases, asylum seekers and
refugees were allowed to stay in the country while the UNHCR found
third countries that would accept them. Although the Government did
register refugees already present in the country, it did not accept any
refugees for resettlement. The Government also provided temporary
protection to individuals, including some Afghan refugees who may not
qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol.
In practice the Government does not grant refugee or asylum status
to citizens of CIS countries or China. The Government maintains that
citizens of CIS countries cannot by definition need refugee status
because of the freedom of movement provided by the visa-free regime in
the CIS. CIS citizens are processed under migration laws which give
them some renewable temporary status in the country, though not the
full protection of refugee status. Citizens from China are not granted
any legal status, but are tolerated informally. Activists reported
that, in practice, many refugees from CIS countries and China did not
seek formal status. Those who sought protection from UNHCR generally
had access to such processes, and the Government generally respected
UNHCR refugee certificates.
During the year, the UNHCR reported increased levels of government
cooperation in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The Government
usually allowed the UNHCR access to detained foreigners to determine if
they qualified for refugee status. The Government was generally
tolerant in its treatment of local refugee populations, except for a
few citizens from former Soviet republics. The Government often did not
allow refugees without passports or those who had entered the country
illegally to register, though the UNHCR intervened on behalf of UNHCR
mandate asylum seekers.
The Agency for Migration was incorporated into the Ministry of
Labour and Social Protection and renamed the Committee on Migration. It
continued to work with the UNHCR and a local NGO, Kazakhstan Refugee
Legal Support, in reviewing refugee claims. Consistent with the Minsk
Convention on Migration within the CIS, the Government did not
recognize Chechens as refugees. The Government, in cooperation with the
UNHCR and Chechen organizations, did grant indefinite but temporary
legal resident status to Chechens until they could return home to safe
conditions. Even though there was a temporary registration procedure
for Chechens, reports persisted that Chechens did not have the same
access to registration as others, and often resorted to paying bribes
to local officials to obtain registration.
On June 24, the KNB detained Uzbek refugee Gabdurafikh Temirbayev
in response to an extradition request from the Government of
Uzbekistan. On August 15, the Government released Temirbayev into UNHCR
custody. The UNHCR feared that his life would have been endangered upon
return to Uzbekistan, and praised the Government for its handling of
the case.
The Government had an agreement with China not to tolerate the
presence of ethnic separatists from one country on the territory of the
other. Human rights monitors remained concerned with the impact of this
agreement on Uighurs from China living in the country, and there were
reports of Uighurs forcibly returned to China during the year, though
none with a UNHCR refugee certificate. In July, the Government detained
Arkin Yarmamat Sabirov, an ethnic Uighur and Chinese citizen, on
unspecified charges. His wife requested asylum on his behalf, but
neither his family nor the UNHCR was granted access to him during his
detention. On October 23, an Almaty court acquitted him and he was
released. He disappeared immediately after his release, and UNHCR
officials feared he may have been deported to China.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide for a democratic government with
universal suffrage for those over 18 years of age; in practice the
Government severely limited the right of citizens to change their
government.
The constitution concentrates power in the presidency, granting the
President considerable control over the legislature, judiciary, and
local government. The President appoints and dismisses most high-level
government officials, including the Prime Minister, the cabinet, the
procurator general, the KNB chief, supreme court and lower-level
judges, and the chairman and members of the CEC, who oversee
Presidential and parliamentary elections. The parliament has never
failed to confirm a Presidential nomination. Modifying or amending the
constitution effectively requires the President's consent.
Elections and Political Participation.--In December 2005 the
country held its Presidential election. The OSCE reported that despite
some improvements in the administration of this election in the pre-
election period, the December 2005 Presidential election did not meet a
number of OSCE commitments and other international standards for
democratic elections. The opposition also claimed that the Presidential
election was marred by numerous violations.
The OSCE assessment noted several areas of improvement over the
conduct of the previous Presidential election, including that multiple
candidates were allowed to participate in the election, the CEC acted
with increased transparency and corrected voting-process deficiencies
noted in prior elections, state media outlets generally met their legal
obligations to provide free airtime to candidates, and the CEC
responded to opposition and independent candidate complaints of denial
of media access. Most lower-level election commission members were
adequately trained and equipped to conduct voting; however, opposition
parties were underrepresented in the makeup of these commissions. The
CEC strengthened cooperation with the OSCE and accredited a large
number of foreign observers.
The OSCE noted that none of the OSCE recommendations regarding the
legislative framework were implemented. The OSCE reported undue
involvement of the authorities in the election campaign, serious
limitations on political speech that prohibited certain criticism of
the President, unequal access to the media for opposition and
independent candidates, government refusal to grant the majority of
opposition assembly permit requests, restrictions on holding outdoor
meetings, inadequate venues, insufficient access to advertising space
for opposition and independent candidates, and an overall atmosphere of
intimidation. There were frequent reports of opposition campaign events
being disrupted by organized protests that at times reportedly
escalated to violence; opposition campaign staff were harassed, beaten
and detained; opposition members were detained for unsanctioned
assemblies. Domestic, international and foreign NGOs were also subject
to stricter governmental scrutiny during the election period. The OSCE
assessment noted apparent improvements to the e-voting system since its
2004 introduction, but criticized the lack of a mechanism to verify or
to audit election results.
Of the more than 1,000 cases of alleged violations submitted to the
courts, a handful were upheld. The authorities censured more than 50
officials, mostly local administrators and members of precinct election
commissions. Overall the Government refuted many alleged electoral
violations and failed to investigate them fully.
Several legal changes in 2005 limited the ability of opponents to
campaign freely against incumbent Nursultan Nazarbayev. Amendments
prohibited election-related demonstrations and rallies during the
period following voting until the CEC publishes the official election
results (see section 2.b.), although on December 22 the Government
repealed this prohibition. The amendments also restrict political
blocs, which are required to have a coordinating council and written
agreement between parties. July 2005 amendments to the political
parties law require a founding congress with minimum attendance of
1,000 delegates from two-thirds of the oblasts and the cities of Astana
and Almaty. Additionally, parties must obtain 50,000 verified
signatures with at least 700 members from each oblast and the cities of
Astana and Almaty; registration from the CEC; and registration from
each oblast-level election commission for final registration. The
amendments also prohibit political party names that resemble the names
of liquidated political parties. After the Presidential election, the
OSCE issued a final report recommending multiple legislative changes to
improve the legal framework for elections. By the end of the year, the
Government had adopted only one--the repeal of the prohibition on
election-related demonstrations during the period following voting.
In June the President issued a decree establishing a trial election
of 30 percent of district and city akims (county executives and mayors)
for four-year terms. According to the rules developed by the CEC,
regional akims (governors), who are appointed by the President, had the
sole authority to nominate candidates for county executive and mayoral
positions. Regional governors were required to nominate at least two
candidates for each position. Directly elected local-level legislatures
(maslikhats) had the sole authority to vote on the nominees.
On October 20, the Government conducted the trial elections. The
maslikhats chose 49 county executives and 10 mayors (representing
roughly 30 percent of the country's regions). In some cases, the
President's Otan Party recommended candidates to the regional
governors, and the majority of candidates in the election were Otan
Party members. Campaigning occurred, but was focused on influencing
maslikhat members and not widely publicized. The CEC and observers
reported that the elections were conducted without major procedural
violations. Democracy activists and opposition leaders widely
criticized the closed nature of the process, and did not consider the
event an election.
President Nazarbayev's Otan Party dominated political life, and
beginning in October there was only one opposition member in
parliament. Individuals and registered parties could declare their
candidacy and stand for election if they met certain criteria.
Candidates for presidency, for example, were required to provide
financial statements, submit to a Kazakh language test, and provide a
petition with 85,000 signatures. Independent candidates could run for
office. Political parties must register members' personal information,
including date and place of birth, address, and place of employment.
This requirement discouraged many citizens from joining political
parties. There were credible allegations that persons entering
government service were pressured to join the pro-Presidential Otan
party.
At year's end there were nine registered political parties,
including opposition parties Ak Zhol, True Ak Zhol, and the Communist
Party of Kazakhstan. At year's end Alga, Atameken, and National Social
Democratic Party's registrations were all pending. On March 17, the MOJ
registered True Ak Zhol after one of its co-chairmen, Sarsenbaiuly, was
murdered. The MOJ continued to deny attempts to register opposition
party Alga. In September, despite extensive but unsuccessful
litigation, the party reinitiated the registration process; Alga was
still not registered at year's end. On December 22, in a series of
moves to consolidate pro-Presidential parties, the Asar, Civic, and
Agrarian parties merged with Otan, the President's party. The name of
the party was changed to Nur Otan.
The Government restricted the functioning of the political
opposition by enforcing onerous registration requirements, hindering or
denying party registration, charging critics with libel (see section
2.a.), enforcing burdensome assembly permit requirements and refusing
to grant assembly permits, dispersing opposition rallies (see section
2.b.), arresting opposition leaders on politically motivated charges,
and preventing opposition leaders from traveling (see section 2.d.).
The law prohibits parties established on an ethnic, gender, or
religious basis (see section 3). Acceptance of an illegal donation is
penalized by a fine, administrative arrest for up to 15 days, and
prohibition of political party activities. Political parties may also
be fined or suspended if they fail to register or re-register or file
an annual financial disclosure statement.
On July 24, the Temirtau City Court convicted True Ak Zhol co-
chairman Bulat Abilov of attacking a police lieutenant and insulting a
government official while campaigning on behalf of opposition candidate
Zharmakhan Tuyakbay during the 2005 Presidential election. Abilov and
his supporters claimed the charges were politically motivated. The
court issued a three-year suspended sentence and two years of
probation, and the conviction prevented him from registering as a
candidate in future elections. In a separate case, he was charged with
fraud and tax evasion in connection with earlier business activities
and was not permitted to leave the country during the investigations.
The trial was underway at year's end.
There were 2 women in the 39-seat senate and 8 women in the 77
member lower house of parliament. There were four women in the cabinet.
Traditional attitudes sometimes hindered women from holding high office
or playing active roles in political life (see section 5), although
there were no legal restrictions on the participation of women and
minorities in politics. There were 7 non-Kazakhs in the senate, and 14
in the lower house of parliament. There were three non Kazakh cabinet
members.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained a
serious problem, including in the executive branch, various law
enforcement agencies, local government administrations, the education
system, and the judiciary. The MVD, financial police, KNB, and
Disciplinary State Service Commission are responsible for combating
corruption. Opposition leaders accused the Government of rampant
corruption.
The Government took some measures to address it and increased its
attention to the problem through educational and public awareness
efforts. An April 2005 anticorruption decree restructured disciplinary
councils in all provinces, instructing them to become more accountable
and transparent and to reduce government interference in business
activities. The financial police and KNB conduct most corruption
investigations under the supervision of the procurator general's
office.
Lower- and middle-ranking officials and minor political figures
were penalized on corruption charges. There were no prosecutions of
high-ranking officials for corruption.
The law mandates the Government, public associations, officials,
and media outlets to provide citizens with information that affects
their rights and interests; in practice citizens' requests for
information were not fulfilled in a timely manner.
Although parliament published several draft laws, some
parliamentary debates, and occasionally, its voting record, many
parliamentary activities remained outside public view. Accredited
journalists and representatives of public associations may observe some
parliamentary sessions via video link from a separate room. Transcripts
of parliamentary sessions are not available to the public. During the
year parliamentary discussion of controversial pieces of legislation
was closed to the public and 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 effectively, with relative freedom to investigate
and publish their findings on human rights cases; however, the
Government restricted certain activities of most domestic and
international human rights NGOs. International human rights groups
reported that the Government continued to monitor the work of NGOs that
worked on sensitive issues and noted harassment including police
visits, arbitrary tax investigations, and surveillance of NGOs' offices
and personnel.
The Kazakhstani International Bureau for Human Rights (KIBHR), the
Almaty Helsinki Commission, the Republican Network of Independent
Monitors, the Confederation of NGOs, Penal Reform International, and
Adil Soz were among the most active local human rights NGOs. Less than
10 percent of NGOs are engaged in civil liberties, human rights, and
minority protection issues; these organizations are subject to the most
stringent government control such as difficulties in registration and
acquiring office space and technical facilities, periodic tax and
financial audits, and legal constraints. Employees of local NGOs often
were subjected to government harassment and intimidation.
NGOs reported a decrease in government investigations and
harassment compared to the level experienced in 2005, a Presidential
election year, when the Government used tax, immigration and other
administrative investigations to question international and local NGOs
concerning their activities. NGOs perceived these actions as an attempt
to intimidate and to restrict their activities.
On July 25, the President signed a decree ``On the concept of civil
society development in Kazakhstan for 2006-2011,'' which outlined the
Government's vision for civil society development in the country. The
document received mixed reviews among the NGO community, and did not
have a tangible impact on civil society development during the year.
In general the Government did not prevent international NGOs and
multilateral institutions dealing with human rights from visiting the
country and meeting with local human rights groups as well as with
government officials. The Government cooperated with the OSCE and its
field mission. The United Nations, International Organization for
Migration, and International Red Crescent Society also operated freely
in the country.
National security laws, including July 2005 National Security
Amendments, prohibit foreigners, international organizations, NGOs, and
other nonprofit organizations from engaging in political activities,
such as advocating for or against parties or candidates or attempting
to influence elections. The July 2005 National Security Amendments
stipulate that a noncommercial organization (NCO) must provide
information to the tax authorities on its founders, activities, and
foreign sources of funding, as well as income, property, expenses, and
employee records. International organizations are prohibited from
funding unregistered entities. Observers criticized the legal
provisions as being vague.
The procuracy general suspended nonpartisan political party
building activities conducted by foreign NGOs on the basis of
constitutional provisions. NGOs active in nonpolitical spheres, such as
those supporting women and children or protecting the environment, were
generally welcomed by the Government.
The Presidential Commission on Human Rights is a 22-member
consultative and advisory body that includes members from the public.
Members are appointed by the President. The commission reviews and
investigates complaints, issues recommendations, monitors fulfillment
of international human rights conventions, and publishes annual human
rights reports. The commission does not have legal authority to remedy
human rights violations or implement its recommendations. In May 2005,
the commission issued a report analyzing 1,500 complaints of human
rights violations and containing recommendations for state agencies.
The bulk of the complaints concerned court judgments, law enforcement
actions, and violation of citizens' rights during inspections and
investigations.
The Presidentially appointed human rights ombudsman investigates
complaints by citizens of violations of their rights by state agencies,
though the ombudsman is not authorized to investigate complaints
concerning the President, heads of government agencies, parliament, the
cabinet, constitutional council, procurator general, CEC, or courts.
The ombudsman's office has the authority to appeal to the President,
cabinet, or parliament to resolve citizens' complaints, to cooperate
with international human rights organizations and NGOs, to meet with
government officials concerning human rights violations, to access
certain facilities such as military units and prisons, and to publicize
results of investigations in the media. The ombudsman also publishes an
annual human rights report. During the year the ombudsman regularly
briefed the press and issued regular reports discussing complaints
investigated. The ombudsman received 2,613 complaints during the year,
and reported a restoration of rights in 162 cases. Many of the
complaints concerned court rulings over which the ombudsman had no
jurisdiction. Some human rights NGOs credited the ombudsman for serving
as a valuable voice on behalf of human rights within the Government
while others believed that the ombudsman was influenced by the
Government and did not vigorously pursue investigations.
Domestic human rights observers noted that while government human
rights investigators did some creditable work, the ombudsman's office
and the human rights commission were limited in their ability to stop
human rights abuses or punish perpetrators. Several human rights
defenders criticized the proliferation of government commissions that
nominally address human rights issues, none of which has independent
authority to initiate criminal prosecutions of human rights abuses or
corruption. On July 25, the constitutional council rejected draft
amendments that would have allowed the ombudsman to intervene in court
cases involving human rights.
On March 20, the President signed a decree establishing the State
Commission on Drafting and Elaborating the Democratic Reform Program
(Democratization Commission) for the purpose of conducting a national
dialogue on reforming the political system and deepening democratic
transformation. The commission was chaired by the President and
includes high-level government officials, legislators, and
representatives of political parties and public associations.
Representatives from opposition parties were invited to participate,
but many declined, citing concerns about the structure and true purpose
of the commission. During the year, the commission analyzed and debated
a number of proposals and served as the Government's primary vehicle
for discussing democratic reform in the country. Human rights activists
and opposition leaders criticized the top-down, government-controlled
nature of the dialogue and decision-making process, and lack of
concrete changes resulting from the commission's work.
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
this effectively. Violence against women, trafficking in persons, and
discrimination against persons with disabilities, homosexuals, and non-
ethnic Kazakhs in government were problems.
Women.--Violence against women, including domestic violence, was a
problem. There is no specific domestic violence law, but it can be
addressed under assault and battery provisions of the criminal code.
The maximum sentence for spousal assault and battery is 10 years in
prison, the same as for any beating.
Police reviewed over 10,000 domestic violence complaints and opened
1,157 criminal investigations during the first nine months of the year.
An additional 4,700 of the complaints resulted in administrative
punishment, including fines. NGOs reported that the actual number of
domestic abuse crimes far exceeded the number of cases reported to
police.
Law enforcement officials' reluctance to investigate domestic
violence was a problem; police declined to investigate one-third of
domestic violence complaints, considering them to be family matters.
Police intervened only when they believed that the abuse was life
threatening. According to estimates offered by NGOs, the police
investigated only 10 percent of domestic violence complaints.
NGOs reported that women often withdrew their complaints as a
result of economic insecurity. When victims did decide to press charges
for domestic violence or spousal rape, police sometimes tried to
persuade them not to pursue a case. When domestic violence cases came
to trial, the charge was most often for light battery, for which
domestic abusers were sentenced to incarceration at a minimum security
labor colony and a minimum of 120 to 180 hours of work. Sentences for
more serious cases of battery, including spousal battery, ranged from
three months to three years imprisonment; the maximum sentence for
aggravated battery was 10 years' imprisonment.
The punishment for rape, including spousal rape, ranges from three
to 15 years' imprisonment. The Government reported it opened 892
criminal rape cases during the first seven months of the year, a 7
percent increase over the same time period last year. The
investigations resulted in approximately 400 prosecutions. NGOs
credited the increase in investigations to a growing awareness of legal
rights among women. Under the law, procurators cannot initiate a rape
case, absent aggravating circumstances such as gang rape, unless the
victim files a complaint. Once a complaint is filed, the criminal
investigation cannot be dismissed if the rape victim recants or refuses
to cooperate further with the investigation. This provision is intended
to protect victims from coercion. There were anecdotal reports of
police and judicial reluctance to act on rape and spousal rape cases.
According to the Union of Crisis Centers of Kazakhstan, there are
22 crisis centers in the country providing assistance to women, as well
as a number of smaller NGOs that provide some assistance. Four of the
crisis centers also provide shelter for victims of violence; the
Government funded two additional shelters.
Prostitution is not prohibited by law, although forced
prostitution, prostitution connected to organized crime, and acts
facilitating prostitution, such as operating a brothel or prostitution
ring, are illegal. During the first nine months of the year the
Government reported 241 criminal cases for prostitution-related crimes.
Prostitution was a serious problem. NGOs reported that criminal
prostitution rings often included local law enforcement officials.
Trafficking in women remained a problem (see section 5,
Trafficking).
Sexual harassment remained a problem. The law prohibits only some
forms of sexual harassment, and legal and gender experts regarded the
legislation as inadequate to address the problem. There were reports of
incidents of harassment, but in no instance was the victim protected
under the law nor were there reports of any cases prosecuted.
The constitution and law guarantee equal rights and freedoms for
men and women. During the year, however, the Government's Human Rights
Ombudsman and the Presidential Human Rights Commission publicly drew
attention to the problem of discrimination against women. According to
the Ombudsman's office, women in rural areas face greater
discrimination than women in urban areas, and suffer from a greater
incidence of domestic violence, limited education and employment
opportunities, limited access to information, and discrimination in
their land and property rights. The Presidential Human Rights
Commission echoed these concerns, and reported a decline in the quality
of employment opportunities for women.
According to government statistics for 2005, women's salaries
averaged 61.1 percent those of men, and women's average salaries in
2005 were 147.7 percent greater than women's average salaries in 2003.
Women had unrestricted access to higher education.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights,
though budget limitations and other priorities severely limited the
Government's effectiveness in dealing with child welfare. In January
the Government established a Committee on Protection of Children's
Rights within the Ministry of Education and Science.
Education is mandatory through age 16, or the ninth grade;
elementary schooling generally begins at age 6. Primary and secondary
education were both free and universal. The law provides for equal
access to education by both boys and girls. According to Ministry of
Education figures, enrollment for the year was estimated at over 98
percent of school-aged children. The law provides for access to public
education for refugee and illegal migrant children. In some cases,
these children were denied access to schools or their parents did not
attempt to enroll them out of fear of discovery and deportation.
The law provides for medical care to be provided for all children,
irrespective of gender, and care was provided in practice.
There were reports of child abuse, although there was no societal
pattern of such abuse. During the year, the MVD permanently terminated
custody rights of abusive parents in 1137 cases. Minors aged 16 and
older have the right to file petitions related to their interests
directly with a court.
In the first five months of the year, the procurator general's
office issued 218 warnings, filed five lawsuits, and initiated three
criminal investigations concerning violations of children's rights in
orphanages, boarding schools, and detention facilities for delinquent
children. NGOs reported that a growing number of children in these
facilities were victims of violence.
Trafficking in girls was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor, prostitution and pornography were problems (see
section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
but it remained a problem. There was no evidence of a pattern of
official complicity in trafficking, although corruption among law
enforcement officials was widespread.
On March 2, the Government enacted a comprehensive set of
legislative amendments to strengthen its ability to investigate,
prosecute, and convict traffickers. These amendments also include
provisions to increase the amount of resources devoted to victim
protection and prevention. The new amendments were preceded by the
adoption of a National Action Plan for 2006-2008 and represented
coordination between the MOJ, and the Ministries of Internal Affairs
(MIA), Foreign Affairs (MFA), Labor and Social Welfare, Education and
Science, Culture, Information and Sports; the KNB; the National
Commission on Family and Women; and the Procurator General, all of
which have some responsibility for combating trafficking. The
Government also worked closely with international organizations and
local NGOs to develop the legislation. Trafficking is now punishable by
a maximum seven-year prison term. If a minor is involved, the maximum
penalty increases to 10 years imprisonment. The maximum penalty
increases to 10 years imprisonment if a victim was trafficked abroad
and to 12 years if the victim was a minor. The maximum penalty is 15
years imprisonment for cases involving an organized crime syndicate,
the death of a victim, or other ``grave consequences'' incurred by the
victim.
The country was a source, transit, and destination country for
victims of trafficking. Internal trafficking was also a problem. No
reliable statistics were available on the number of victims each year,
but NGOs estimated there were several thousand. Many NGOs reported a
continued increase in identification of victims, which may be
attributed to greater awareness of the problem. The International
Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that thousands of citizens
were trafficked per year, with an increase in the number of foreigners
trafficked into the country for labor exploitation. Individuals were
trafficked to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey, Israel, South
Korea, Greece, Russia, and Western Europe. They were trafficked from
the Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and South Asia.
Traffickers targeted young women in their teens and 20s for sexual
exploitation. According to the IOM, most women were recruited with
promises of good jobs or marriage abroad. Travel, employment, and
marriage agencies often recruited victims through advertisements
promising lucrative jobs abroad. Offers to participate in international
beauty contests also were used. Previously trafficked women reportedly
recruited new victims personally. Many trafficking victims appeared to
be aware or at least to suspect that they were going to work as
prostitutes, but did not expect to work in slave-like conditions. Most
trafficked persons traveled to their destinations on forged passports
obtained abroad, most often from Russia or the Kyrgyz Republic.
Adolescents raised in orphanages, regardless of gender, and
residents of rural and economically disadvantaged areas were
particularly vulnerable to being trafficked.
Men and women were trafficked to the country for labor
exploitation; children were trafficked for agricultural work. According
to IOM, the number of men trafficked into the country for forced labor
increased during the year. Officials often did not distinguish between
illegal labor migrants and victims of trafficking. There were credible
reports of organized criminal trafficking rings bringing construction
laborers to Astana and other cities. Employers and trafficking
accomplices usually held trafficked workers' passports during their
stay in the country. Victims reported traffickers used debt bondage,
violence, or threats of violence to compel them to work.
NGOs suspected organized crime was probably involved in all forms
of trafficking.
Despite stronger legislation enacted during the year, some NGOs
remained critical of the level of prosecutions for trafficking crimes.
Prosecutions for trafficking were rare.
The MOJ reported that 18 criminal investigations related to
trafficking in persons were initiated during the first eight months of
the year, though only five were prosecuted. In 2005 the Government
investigated 29 cases; of these, courts prosecuted by cases and
convicted 13 traffickers. However, convicted traffickers regularly
receive suspended sentences and do not serve any prison time. Several
arrests and investigations were reported in the press.
The Government sought cooperation with authorities in both
destination countries where its citizens were trafficked and in source
countries of victims brought into the country. Embassies abroad
assisted victims of trafficking; in 2005 the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (MFA) assisted in the repatriation of 22 citizens, down from 36
in 2004.
There was no evidence of a pattern of official complicity with
trafficking, although corruption of law enforcement officials,
including migration and border officials, was widespread and
contributed to trafficking.
In February the Government passed legislation to provide
trafficking victims with temporary resident status to ensure their safe
repatriation or participation in trafficking prosecutions. Trafficking
victims were no longer considered illegal immigrants under the law and
were not deported or otherwise penalized as such. NGOs working with
foreign trafficking victims reported government cooperation in
providing administrative support for repatriation of identified
trafficking victims.
The Government increased its efforts to provide victim protection
and assistance, though significant gaps remained in the level of
assistance needed by victims. NGOs ran crisis support centers that
provided legal and material assistance and counseling, under memoranda
of understanding with the Government. In some cases the Government
provided NGOs with reduced rate leases and other support. In general,
NGOs reported good cooperation with government officials in
coordinating assistance for trafficking victims.
The IOM, in conjunction with 19 NGOs across the country, continued
an information campaign on the dangers of trafficking and maintained
victim hot lines. The MOJ maintained separate national hotlines for
trafficking victims to report crimes and to receive information. The
Government provided special training for law enforcement and other
government officials to improve their abilities to recognize,
investigate, and prosecute instances of trafficking. The MVD continued
enrolling migration police in a comprehensive antitrafficking training
program at the Study Center for Specialists on Combating Illegal
Migration and Human Trafficking established in August 2005.
The procurator general's office enforced mandatory licensing for
tourist agencies and conducted inspections throughout the year to
uncover agencies involved in trafficking.
During the year the Government encouraged media to publish and
report on antitrafficking efforts. The Government continued airing a
series of public service announcements (PSAs) provided by international
organizations in both Russian and Kazakh. Public and private media were
required to air these PSAs.
The education ministry reported that curriculum of all high schools
and colleges included trafficking awareness segments. According to the
Ministry of Education, most universities had information and analysis
centers that dealt with trafficking awareness issues, among other
topics. As part of the new National Action Plan, a chapter on
trafficking in persons was introduced into the university law
curricula.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
healthcare, and in the provision of other state services. However,
there were reports that discrimination was a problem. The law mandates
access to buildings for persons with disabilities, although the
Government did not enforce it. In September the Government enacted new
legislation allowing inspectors to check buildings for their compliance
with disability access laws and impose significant fines for
noncompliance; the law takes effect in 2007.
Mentally handicapped citizens could be committed to state-run
institutions without their consent or judicial review. In practice,
however, persons were generally committed at a young age by their
families. Institutions were poorly managed and inadequately funded.
Orphanages for children with physical and mental disabilities were
reported to be overcrowded and unsanitary, with insufficient staff to
adequately care for children's needs. KIBHR observed that the
Government provided almost no care for persons with mental disabilities
due to a lack of funds.
The Government did not restrict the right of persons with
disabilities to vote, and arranged home voting for individuals who
could not travel to polling places as a result of their disability. The
Ministry of Labor and Social Protection is the primary government
agency responsible for protecting the rights of people with
disabilities; the Ministries of Health and Education also assist in
their protection.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Government continued to
discriminate in favor of ethnic Kazakhs in senior government employment
(see section 3).
Kazakh is the official state language, although organizations and
bodies of local self-administration may officially use Russian on an
equal basis with Kazakh. Most ethnic Russians believed that Russian
should be designated as a second state language. The language law was
intended to strengthen the use of Kazakh without infringing on the
rights of citizens to use other languages. In reality the Government
had insufficient funding available to make Kazakh language education
universal.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Although there were no
press reports or official statistics on sexual orientation
discrimination, there were reports of such discrimination.
Representatives of international organizations reported social
attitudes towards marginalized groups, including homosexuals, impeded
these groups' willingness to come forward and, consequently, hindered
their access to HIV/AIDS programs. The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with HIV and AIDS; however, observers report that
cultural stigmas against drug users and other at-risk groups continue
to affect general access to information, services, treatment, and care.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right to
organize and form unions freely. In practice the Government restricted
the exercise of this right, with the result that most workers were not
able to join or form trade unions of their choice. The Government
exercised considerable influence over organized labor and favored
state-affiliated unions over independent unions. The largest trade
union association, the Federation of Trade Unions, successor to
formerly state-sponsored Soviet era labor organizations, remained
affiliated with the Government in practice. At least one-third of the
workforce was unionized.
To obtain legal status, a trade union had to apply for registration
with the MOJ. The registration procedure followed largely that of other
membership organizations (see section 2.b.).
The law prohibits the operation of foreign unions and prohibits the
financing of unions by foreign legal entities and citizens, foreign
states, and international organizations.
Workers are protected by law against anti-union discrimination, but
in practice there were violations of this right. Members of a few trade
unions have been dismissed, transferred to lower paying or lower status
jobs, threatened, and intimidated. Union leaders reported that some
workers who were ostensibly fired for other reasons were actually fired
in retaliation for union activity. There were no court cases filed on
this basis during the year. Union leaders also reported cases of large
employers creating conditions unfavorable to union formation and
collective bargaining.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
protects the rights of unions to conduct their activities without
interference. In actuality there were reports of government pressure on
labor negotiators in tripartite negotiations. The law permits
collective bargaining and collective agreements; unions and
associations engaged in collective bargaining in practice. Collective
bargaining agreements were allowed as long as they did not reduce
protections afforded to workers in individual contracts or under law.
According to the Federation of Trade Unions, approximately 75 percent
of unionized enterprises had collective bargaining agreements.
Union demands unacceptable to management could be presented to a
tripartite commission, composed of the Government, employer
associations, and labor union representatives. The tripartite
commission is responsible for developing and signing annual agreements
governing approximately 80 aspects of labor relations. The labor law
provides for an individual contract between employers and each
employee.
The law provides for the right to strike, but exercising this right
is subject to numerous legal limitations; the Government maintained a
list of industries and enterprises providing essential services where
strikes were not permitted. According to the law, workers may strike
only if a labor dispute has not been resolved through existing
compulsory arbitration procedures. Striking workers must give a
mandatory 15-day advance notice to employers. The law neither sanctions
nor prohibits the firing of employees for participation in an illegal
strike. In practice there were reports of employers providing arbitrary
justifications when firing employees attempting to organize strikes.
In late September workers in a large international conglomerate's
coal mines and steel plants in Karagandy Oblast held a series of
strikes following the September 20 death of 41 miners in a coal mine
explosion. The strikes, which ultimately encompassed thousands of
workers, ended around October 5 after the company agreed to substantial
pay raises, improved safety conditions, and significant monetary
compensation to the accident victims' families. Although the strikes
did not meet legal requirements, the workers were not penalized for
striking.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, except at the
sentence of the court or in conditions of a state of emergency or
martial law, but 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. The minimum
age for employment is 16 years; children between 14 and 16 years were
permitted to perform light work that does not interfere with their
health or education, with parental permission. The Government conducted
labor inspections to enforce the minimum age for employment, but
enforcement was uneven given inadequate resources for inspections, the
vast size of the country, and poor economic conditions in rural areas.
The Government did not maintain statistics on child labor. NGOs and
activists reported that child labor was used routinely in agricultural
areas, especially during harvest season. In urban areas, the country's
increasingly formalized labor market led to a decrease in many forms of
child labor. However, there were reports of children begging, unloading
freight, delivering goods in markets, washing cars, and working at gas
stations. There were also reports of children exploited in prostitution
and pornography. The Ministry of Labor (MOL) is responsible for
enforcement of child labor laws and for administrative offenses
punishable by fines; the MVD is responsible for investigating criminal
offenses. In the first nine months of the year the MOL reported 94
criminal cases involving child labor. In 2005 the Government began
implementing a three-year International Labor Organization program to
eliminate child labor. As part of the program, in June the Government
conducted a 12-day national campaign to raise awareness of child labor
and focus attention on preventing it. The Government also cooperated
with trade unions, employers, and NGOs during the year to raise
awareness and promote interagency cooperation in eliminating child
labor.
Trafficking in children was a problem (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national monthly minimum
wage of 9,200 tenge ($72.40) did not provide a decent standard of
living for a worker and family; however, it was common for working
class families to have more than one wage earner and most workers
earned above minimum wage in urban areas. The minimum subsistence wage
was $70.10 (8912 KZT). During the first six months of the year, the
average monthly wage was $297.20 (37,769 tenge).
The law stipulates the normal workweek should not exceed 40 hours
and limits heavy manual labor or hazardous work to no more than 36
hours a week. The law requires that overtime not exceed two hours in a
calendar day or one hour a day for heavy manual labor, and requires
overtime to be paid at a rate of no less than 1 and a half times normal
wages for hours over the normal workweek. Overtime is prohibited for
work in hazardous conditions. The law provides that labor agreements
may stipulate the length of working time, vacation days, holidays, and
paid annual leave for each worker.
The Ministry of Labor enforced minimum wages, work hour
restrictions, and limits on overtime established under the labor law.
Ministry labor inspectors conducted random inspections of employers to
enforce all laws and regulations under their purview. In spite of these
random inspections, labor advocates reported that some employers
regularly violated these laws.
The law provides for the right to safe and hygienic working
conditions. In reality working and safety conditions in the industrial,
agricultural, and construction sectors were often substandard. Workers
in factories usually did not have protective clothing, such as goggles
and hard hats, and worked in conditions of poor visibility and
ventilation.
Management largely ignored regulations concerning occupational
health and safety, which were not well enforced by the Ministry of
Labor. In the first six months of the year, the ministry reported
making 11,900 inspections and identifying 70,000 violations. In
addition to the inspections by the ministry, unions conducted
inspections of unionized enterprises. The law requires employers to
suspend work that could endanger the life or health of workers and to
warn workers about any harmful and dangerous work conditions and about
the possibility of any occupational disease. Although the law does not
specifically grant the right of workers to remove themselves from
situations that endanger their health or safety without jeopardy to
their employment, this right was considered to be implied by general
legal provisions on worker safety; workers' inability to refuse to work
under unsafe work conditions was not a problem in practice.
__________
KYRGYZ REPUBLIC
The Kyrgyz Republic's new December constitution defines the country
as a sovereign, unitary, democratic, social state based on the rule of
law. The country has a population of approximately 5,218,000. The
country has a multiparty parliamentary system and was ruled by
President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, whose July 2005 election, following the
March overthrow of the Akayev regime, marked tangible progress towards
meeting international standards. Only a dozen out of approximately 90
registered political parties played a significant role, and no single
party was dominant. On November 9, following a week-long opposition-led
street protest, the country adopted a new constitution, which held out
the possibility of greater checks and balances among the branches of
government. On December 30, the parliament adopted a revised version of
the constitution that restored many powers to the President. The new
constitution envisages a greater role for political parties, with half
the seats in the next parliament to be elected by party lists. The
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control over the
security forces, although some members committed serious human rights
abuses.
The following human rights problems were reported: some
restrictions on citizens' right to change their government; arbitrary
or unlawful killings; disappearance of and failure to protect refugee
and asylum seekers; torture and abuse by law enforcement officials;
impunity; poor prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; lack
of judicial independence; pressure on nongovernmental organization
(NGO) and opposition leaders, including physical assaults and
government harassment; an increase in pressure on independent media,
including assaults on staff and vandalism of property; government
harassment of assembly organizers; pervasive corruption; discrimination
against women, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities and
homosexuals; child abuse; child labor; and trafficking in persons.
Despite these problems, the Government's respect for human rights
improved in several areas. Assistance from international organizations
helped improve prison conditions in several locations and promoted the
proper handling of prisoners. Tuberculosis (TB) mortality rates in
prisons decreased. Local NGOs observed a reduction in incidents of
military hazing among soldiers and cadets of the armed forces. During
the year several Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) officials were
dismissed or prosecuted for abuses or misconduct. The Government also
took initial steps to tackle systemic corruption in the public and
private sectors, although comprehensive national action was not yet
taken. The Government allowed several large-scale opposition rallies.
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
that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful
killings.
On August 6, the special forces of the National Security Service
(SNB) shot and killed three persons, including Mukhammadrafiq Kamalov,
imam of the largest mosque in Karasuu. Immediately following the
incident, government officials said that the three were affiliated with
banned the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and were killed in the
course of an antiterrorism operation. Kamalov's family and observers,
including the ombudsman for human rights, denied security officials'
allegations about the possible involvement of the imam in religious
extremist groups. Security officials later conceded that Kamalov might
not have been part of the group but instead may have been kidnapped by
the suspected terrorists and thus killed accidentally in the raid. On
May 24, security forces detained Kamalov and searched his house on
suspicion of his involvement in activities of the extremist Islamist
political organization, Hizb ut Tahrir (HT).
On October 15, Aibek Alimjanov, a businessman, deputy of the Osh
City Council, and the leader of the Uzbek Cultural Center in Osh, was
shot and killed. The Government denied any political connections to the
crime and suspected the attack was related to Alimjanov's business
dealings. The Uzbek community alleged that Alimjanov was targeted
because of his ethnicity and expressed concerns about the sluggish
investigation. The same community addressed a letter to the President
requesting his assistance in expediting a resolution to the case. An
investigation into the incident continued at year's end.
There were no developments in the investigations into the April
2005 killing of Usen Kudaibergenov and the June 2005 killing of
parliamentarian Jalgarbek Surabaldiyev.
At year's end the Bishkek court continued consideration of an
appellate case regarding the September 2005 killing of parliamentarian
Bayaman Erkinbayev. The appeal was filed by the late deputy's wife for
the two defendants, Makhmudjan Ruzimetov and Sabyrkul Batyrov, who were
sentenced to death in August for being accomplices to the crime. In
December, Russian law enforcement agencies reported that Sultan
Abalayev, a person who supposedly carried out the assassination of
Erkinbayev and who was on the Interpol wanted list, was arrested in
Chechnya, Russia. It was unclear if Abalayev, a Russian citizen, would
be extradited for prosecution.
On August 3, N31 prison colony inmates Rustam Abdullin, Azamat
Zakirov, and Yevgeniy Golovin were sentenced to death for the October
2005 killing of parliamentarian Tynychbek Akmatbayev and three other
officials while they visited their prison colony near Bishkek.
There were no reports on deaths due to military hazing.
There were no developments or further information regarding the
December 2005 Uzbek border guard shooting of a Kyrgyz citizen or the
October 2004 death of Tashkenbay Moidinov while held in police custody.
b. Disappearance.--According to an August 23 statement by the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), five Uzbek citizens that had
applied for asylum status disappeared in July and August, with
eyewitnesses claiming in at least two of these cases that the
individuals had been seized from their homes and taken away in unmarked
vehicles. The Prosecutor General's Office eventually initiated an
investigation into the disappearances, but only after the UNHCR
publicly appealed for government action. The investigation did not
produce any results, and the whereabouts of these asylum seekers
remained unknown at year's end (see section 2.d.).
There were no developments and none were expected in the
investigation of the 2004 two week disappearance of Tursunbek Akunov.
Akunov alleged the SNB was involved. In 2005 Akunov became chairman of
the State Commission on Human Rights.
Local human rights advocates continued to report that approximately
12 Kyrgyz citizens were serving sentences in Uzbek prisons after being
kidnapped by Uzbek security services beginning in 2000.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, police and SNB
forces employed them. At times police beat detainees and prisoners to
extract confessions.
In March and August the human rights ombudsman expressed concern
over a number of incidents involving abuse of detainees, blaming the
abuse on corruption and a low level of professionalism among jail and
police officials. In June the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) established the
Internal Security Service (ISS) to investigate and curb corruption and
abuse within penitentiaries. As of December, the unit was investigating
eight cases of alleged violations.
On December 5, the NGO Spravedlivost and the Osh Advocacy Center,
with support of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) Office in Osh, conducted a two-day human rights training seminar
for the heads of the Osh, Jalalabad, and Batken oblast penitentiaries.
The training focused on educating prison staff in protecting prisoners'
human rights and establishing better relations with human rights
organizations.
According to the NGO Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, military
hazing steadily decreased over the preceding year. The NGO monitored
various military units, recording all instances of hazing, and worked
closely with military authorities to implement preventive measures.
Hazing incidents reported during the year included physical abuse and
money extortion by noncommissioned officers. On a quarterly basis, the
NGO met with military representatives to discuss incidents of hazing
and to plan activities for further improvement. According to the NGO,
military authorities take every incident seriously and strive to
develop measures to eliminate problems. The NGO published a quarterly
magazine and aired a regular program on the National TV channel about
the military service, including work and living conditions and morale
of the troops. Representatives of the NGO visited military units on a
regular basis, conducting interviews with soldiers and officers.
In November Freedom House reported about two border servicemen,
Gairat Torakeldiyev and Erkin Kamalov, who sustained injuries from
physical abuse by their peers. The Military Prosecutor's Office and the
senior leadership of the National Border Service were investigating
both cases.
On October 16, 143 cadets protested at the military college and
refused to attend classes. According to the college authorities, the
protest was organized by 10-15 informal cadet leaders who did not want
to comply with the college's rigid internal disciplinary rules. They
were also accused of harassing junior cadets and stealing their money
and personal belongings. The college authorities conducted a meeting
with parents, teachers, and cadets. The issue was reportedly resolved.
Representatives of the Military Prosecutor's Office counseled those
responsible for organizing the protest, hazing junior cadets, and
committing other violations.
On August 5, prisoners at the Temporary Detention Center in
Jalalabad rioted to protest systematic beatings by on site police
officers. According to Aziza Abdurasulova, a member of the Presidential
Human Rights Commission, 15 police officers admitted they beat
detainees to extort confessions. The Government opened an investigation
into the incident, but results were not released at year's end.
No additional information was available on the investigation of the
2005 beating of 30 inmates or on whether there was any action taken
regarding the 2005 beating of a 15-year-old in a pretrial facility in
Jalalabad.
During the year the attorney of an Uzbek citizen, Otabek Ahadov,
filed a complaint with the UN Commission on Human Rights regarding
claims of torture sustained by Ahadov in custody. Ahadov, arrested in
2000 and convicted and sentenced to death in 2002 for killing a Uighur
community leader, claimed that he was severely tortured while in police
custody. Ahadov claimed that while detained in the Bishkek City
Police's Division of Interior in 2000, he was given psychotropic drugs
and physically abused. Also in 2000, the Government's Republican Office
of Forensic Medical Examination conducted a forensic medical
examination that revealed that Ahadov had bruises and abrasions that
could have been made during his detention.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--As of November, according
to a department supervising penitentiary facilities (DSPI) official,
there were over 16,000 prisoners.
Prison conditions were very poor and included overcrowding, food
and medicine shortages, poor health care and disease prevention
facilities, and lack of heat and other necessities. Morbidity and
mortality rates continued to decline, particularly those resulting from
TB. During the year, the number of prisoners with TB decreased from
2725 to approximately 2300 at year's end. A total of 135 prisoners died
from complications due to TB, down from 159 deaths in 2005.
Pretrial detention facilities were particularly overcrowded, and
conditions and mistreatment generally were worse than in prisons.
The NGO Ray of Solomon renovated cells, hallways, and recreation
grounds to improve conditions at the pretrial detention center in Osh.
On January 9, the President signed a law reforming the penitentiary
system. The law outlines rules of employment, enrollment requirements,
criteria for promotion, and benefits for penitentiary staff. Starting
April 1, salaries of penitentiary facilities staff increased 30
percent, and during the year approximately 200 workers participated in
training exercises focusing on the psychological aspects of dealing
with prisoners, especially in crisis situations such as riots. On March
10, the Government also adopted the Ymyt national program to reform the
penitentiary system by 2010 and bring legislation into compliance with
international human rights standards.
During the year the Government and NGOs conducted roundtable
discussions on penal reform, specifically addressing mitigation of
punishment for minor crimes or alternative methods of punishment in
lieu of incarceration. In August, with OSCE support, the Government
established an independent monitoring group for two southern provinces
that included local government and NGO representatives and doctors. By
year's end the group had visited penitentiaries in Osh and Jalalabad
and prepared a report for the MOJ.
Unlike the previous year, no prison deaths due to negligence or
violence were reported. There were no further developments in the
October and November 2005 deaths of five prisoners at the N31 prison
colony and the November 2005 deaths of two prisoners at prison colony
#8 during prison riots and subsequent police raids on the facilities.
During the year, prisoners protested at a number of penitentiaries
throughout the country. The protests were mainly brought on by the lack
of food and medical care that affected the wellbeing of prisoners in
several penitentiaries. Local NGOs likewise reported that the basic
rights of prisoners were violated.
On December 9, female and teenage prisoners of the N14 colony's
pretrial detention center rioted and attempted to commit suicide by
slitting their wrists. The protest was reportedly to publicize the poor
living conditions and a lack of proper medicine. However, the DSPI
stated that the riot was instigated by drug-dependent detainees
following recent administrative operations that restricted the flow of
illicit drugs into the prison. The prisoners submitted demands to the
administration including more movement around the facility and a
loosening of some restrictions. The conflict was peacefully resolved.
In April the Ombudsman's Office reported that three detainees of
the Temporary Detention Center in Naryn attempted suicide by slitting
their wrists, to protest the use of force during interrogations. By
year's end the Government has not provided a response.
Authorities held 165 prisoners facing the death sentence in 16
cells in the basements of pretrial centers in Bishkek and Osh; since
1998 there has been a moratorium on the implementation of the death
penalty. According to law, no more than two prisoners per cell are
authorized; however, 10 death penalty convicts were being held per
cell.
The Government continued to permit domestic and international human
rights observers to visit prisons. The International Committee for the
Red Cross was allowed to visit detainees in MOJ and SNB prisons and
pretrial detention centers and was granted access to inmates on death
row.
On March 10, the DSPI, the MOJ, and the Swiss NGO Doctors without
Borders signed a memorandum to implement measures aimed at reducing TB
outbreaks within the prison population of two penitentiaries. At the
beginning of the year there were 2,725 prisoners with various forms of
TB.
According to an August International Crisis Group (ICG) report, the
majority of prisoners were under tight control of criminal leaders who
enforced a caste system inherited from the former Soviet Union.
Corruption was rife and human rights violations widespread among prison
officials. According to the ICG, HIV/AIDS and TB infection rates among
inmates were higher than in the general population.
According to the department supervising penitentiary facilities,
there were 102 prisoners with HIV out of approximately 16,000
prisoners.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, police at times used false charges to
arrest persons and solicited bribes in exchange for their release.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Law enforcement
responsibilities are divided between the MVD for general crime, the SNB
for state level crime, and the Prosecutor's Office for both types of
crimes. Corruption, particularly the payment of bribes to avoid
investigation or prosecution, was a major problem at all levels of law
enforcement. The Government took steps to address corruption in the
police force, including public commitments to fight corruption and a
July 2005 government decree that increased police officers' salaries by
50 percent. On December 8, Kurmanbek Joroyev, the head of the National
Agency for Corruption Prevention, blamed law enforcement officials for
not taking active measures to fight corruption.
Police impunity remained a problem; however, during the year
numerous MVD officials were dismissed and prosecuted for various
offenses, including corruption, abuse of authority, and police
brutality. According to the Ministry of Interior, during the first
eleven months of the year police uncovered 1,557 cases of economic
crimes and other illegal activity committed by government officials.
The report listed 300 cases of abuse of power, 198 cases of bribe
taking, 83 cases of negligence of official duties and fraud, and 478
cases of embezzlement. At year's end 352 officials had been prosecuted.
Arrest and Detention.--The Prosecutor General's Office determines
who may be detained, arrested, and prosecuted. An arrest warrant from
the Prosecutor's Office is required to detain an individual, and there
were no reports that this provision was abused. The law permits law
enforcement officials to detain suspects for 72 hours before releasing
them or charging them with a crime, and this was generally enforced in
practice. The law requires that investigators notify a detainee's
family within 12 hours of detention; however, this requirement often
was not observed in practice. At year's end there were no reports of
incommunicado detention of prisoners.
All persons arrested or charged with crimes have the right to
defense counsel at public expense. By law defense counsel is permitted
to visit the accused immediately upon delivery to a detention facility.
In practice the accused at times did not see defense counsel until
trial. Human rights groups noted that arrested minors were usually
denied lawyers; police often did not notify parents of children who
were arrested, and generally neither parents nor lawyers were present
during questioning, despite laws to the contrary. Consequently children
often were intimidated into signing confessions. The law also
authorizes house arrest for certain types of suspects. There were
reports that at times law enforcement officials selectively
incarcerated persons suspected of minor crimes, while other persons
suspected of more serious crimes remained at large. There was a
functioning bail system.
On September 9, the President signed the law on witness protection.
The law sets out a system of state protection for witnesses, victims,
and other participants in criminal trials. Under this law, testimony
from witnesses and other trial participants will also carry greater
weight both in the investigation and in court proceedings. Observers
believed the law would increase witnesses' willingness to testify.
According to the NGO Golden Goal, up to 80 percent of witnesses refused
to give evidence for fear of retaliation by the accused.
The Government continued to express concern about perceived
extremist groups with radical religious or political agendas. During
the year security forces detained persons on charges related to
activities connected to the banned extremist Islamist political
organization HT and initiated criminal cases, mostly for possession of
or disseminating leaflets and booklets of an extremist nature. Although
HT maintained that it was committed to nonviolence, the party's
virulently anti Semitic and anti Western literature called for the
overthrow of secular governments, including in Central Asia, to be
replaced with a worldwide Islamic government called the caliphate (see
section 2.a. and 2.b.). During the year law enforcement agencies
arrested a number of members of religious parties for possessing or
distributing religious literature; in almost all cases, it was reported
that they possessed munitions in addition to religious literature. On
September 2, Rasul Ahunov, a leader of the Islamic Party of Turkestan,
was killed by authorities during a security operation.
The prosecutor has the discretion to hold suspects in pretrial
detention for as long as one year, after which the prosecutor is
required to release the suspect. There were no known instances in which
the parliament was asked to extend a detention.
During the demonstrations in early November, police temporarily
detained approximately 600 participants of the rally under suspicion
that the demonstrators had been paid and ordered to create civil
unrest. They were released after their identities were checked and
fingerprints taken.
On November 9, Bakyt Kalpekov, an activist of the Ata-Meken
opposition party, was taken into custody by security forces and charged
with assaulting the deputy director of the National TV Company during
the November rally. Even though he was released on bail two days later,
the courts ordered him back into detention pending the outcome of his
court case.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the executive branch at times
interfered with the judiciary. Lawyers and citizens commonly believed
that judges were open to bribes or susceptible to outside pressure, and
low salaries remained a contributing factor.
Cases originate in local courts and can move to appeals courts at
the municipal or regional level and finally to the Supreme Court. There
were separate military courts as well as a separate arbitration court
system for economic disputes. Civilians may be tried in a military
court if one of the codefendants is a member of the military. Military
court cases can be appealed to a military appellate court and
ultimately to the Supreme Court.
The Constitutional Court has responsibility for determining the
constitutionality of laws, resolving disputes concerning the
interpretation of the constitution, and determining the validity of
Presidential elections. The Constitutional Court may not intervene in
actions of the Supreme Court, except in cases related to the
constitution. The court has specific authority to determine the
constitutionality of NGO activities, political parties, and religious
organizations. Traditional elders' courts consider property and family
law matters and low level crime. Local elders' courts are under the
supervision of the prosecutor's office but do not receive close
oversight since many are located in remote regions. However, decisions
of elders' courts can be appealed to the corresponding regional court.
Military courts and elders' courts follow the same rules and procedures
as general courts.
Under the new constitution, the President will nominate, and
parliament approve, justices to the Supreme Court and the
Constitutional Court. The President can propose the dismissal of
supreme and Constitutional Court justices, subject to parliament's
approval. The National Council for Judicial Affairs (NCJA) will
nominate, the President appoint, and parliament approve local judges.
Local judges can be relieved of duty by the President at the proposal
of the NCJA. The NCJA will consist of representatives of legislative,
executive, and judicial branches of power and civic society.
During the year the President and other high-level officials spoke
of the need for judicial reforms to strengthen the independence of the
judiciary system. By year's end a program of judiciary reform was
developed but not yet adopted.
Trial Procedures.--Prosecutors bring cases before courts and judges
direct criminal proceedings. A prosecutor participating in a trial is
called the state prosecutor--his/her role is to maintain the indictment
at all stages of the criminal process. The defendant's attorney defends
the rights and interests of the defendant. The defendant may refuse
attorney support and defend himself/herself. A criminal case is
conducted by one judge; appellate cases, by three judges; and cases
brought for supervisory consideration, by a judicial board of the
Supreme Court. In the course of court proceedings, prosecutors provide
support to charges against the defendant, and the attorney defends the
accused. If a court renders a case indeterminable, it is returned to
the investigative bodies for further investigation, and suspects may
remain under detention.
The law provides for defendants' rights, including the presumption
of innocence. In practice, however, such rights were not always
respected. The judicial system continued to operate in many cases
according to Soviet laws and procedures in which there was no
presumption of innocence, and the focus of pretrial investigation was
to collect evidence sufficient to show guilt. The law provides for an
unlimited number of visits between an attorney and a client. Although
official permission for such visits is required, it was usually
granted.
The law permits defendants and counsel the right to access all
evidence gathered by the prosecutor, attend all proceedings, question
witnesses, and present evidence. However, these rights were not always
respected in practice. Witnesses generally have to present their
testimony in court; however, under certain circumstances specified in
the law, witness testimony given during the investigation can be
presented during the trial via audio or video recording without the
witness being physically present. Indigent defendants were provided
attorneys at public expense.
The law does not provide for juries. Defendants and prosecutors
have the right to appeal the court's decision. The law provides for
transparency of court proceedings. Generally, trials are open to the
public, unless state secrets or the privacy of defendants are involved;
however, even in closed proceedings, the verdict is announced publicly.
Military courts and elders' courts follow the same rules and
procedures as general courts.
In February, following the demands of the opposition, the Supreme
Court revisited the court decision on the Aksy events of March 2002,
when five protesters were killed by government forces. The case was
reopened because of allegations that the previous court decision was
unfair. In 2004 the Supreme Court upheld the local court decision
acquitting several officials of giving the order to shoot at the
protesters. In August the prosecutor general stated that his office was
also reinvestigating the Aksy case to determine who the culprits were.
By year's end no results for either investigation had been announced.
On March 27, more than 20 prisoners on death row sent an appeal to
the President, claiming that their cases were fabricated by the
previous government and requesting their convictions be reexamined. At
year's end the Government had not publicly responded to this appeal.
Two citizens of Uzbekistan, detained in 2003 for allegedly
conducting terrorist actions in the Oberon Market in Bishkek and the
Bakai Bank in Osh, were placed on death row. Many NGOs claimed that
they did not receive a fair trial because their cases were not fully
investigated by the authorities.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Since the change of the
Government in March 2005, there were no political detentions. 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, citizens believed the civil judicial system was
subject to outside influence, including from the Government. Local
courts address civil, criminal, economic, administrative, and other
cases. The Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority which
oversees the proceedings of the local courts and rules on appellate
cases.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions; however, the
Government at times violated these prohibitions. The law requires
general prosecutor approval for wiretaps, home searches, mail
interception, and similar acts.
Opposition leader and member of parliament Melis Eshimkanov
reported that his car was followed by security forces on September 9 in
Bishkek. SNB officials admitted that security service agents followed
his car but claimed that their target was Eshimkanov's driver, who was
suspected of being involved in unknown criminal activities. Later in
September, Eshimkanov reported harassment of his friends and relatives
by law enforcement agents, as well as attempts by local officials to
initiate a campaign to remove him from parliament.
The Government continued to conduct widespread document checks of
some foreigners of all nationalities.
Family law prohibits divorce during pregnancy and while a child is
younger than one year of age.
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 there were notable improvements after
the March 2005 departure of Akayev, the Government at times restricted
these rights in practice. After the March 2005 change of government,
National TV offered airtime to various politicians, lawsuits against
independent media decreased, and independent media experienced new,
albeit limited, freedom of operations and news coverage. During the
year reports continued that politicians critical of the Bakiyev
government were not allowed on National TV. Despite such reports,
however, critics had received air time.
While the law provides for freedom of speech and the press, there
were reports of harassment that were characterized as reprisal for
criticizing the Government. The MVD reported that 158 persons were
detained or prosecuted during the year for distribution or possession
of HT literature; those arrested typically were charged for
distribution of literature inciting ethnic, racial, or religious
hatred.
There were approximately 40 to 50 regularly printed newspapers and
magazines, eight of which were state owned, with varying degrees of
independence. Although the state printing house, Uchkun, was the
primary newspaper publisher in the country, an independent printing
press run by the nongovernmental Media Support Center (MSC) provided an
alternative to state owned printing presses. Approximately 50
television and radio stations operated in the country, with two
television stations broadcasting nationwide: government TV and Radio
Company (GTRK) and the People's TV and Radio (E1TR).
Foreign media operated freely. The law prohibits foreign ownership
of domestic media; however, there was a small degree of foreign
ownership of media, through local partners. Russian television stations
Channel One and RTR dominated coverage and local ratings. Mir
Interstate TV and Radio Company, a member-funded Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) television station network, was increasing its
television and radio broadcasts throughout the country. A number of
Russia based media outlets also operated freely in the country,
although they were registered with the MOJ, and therefore the
Government considered them domestic media.
During the year ownership of major private television stations was
challenged by new political and business leaders, through buyouts or in
courts, which resulted in a change of political orientation of some
channels, including Kyrgyz Public Education TV (KOORT), Independent
Bishkek TV (NBT), and New Television Network (NTS), and the closing of
another (Pyramida). Beginning in March 2005, Pyramida became the target
of numerous attacks that aimed to disable its broadcast capabilities.
These attacks were widely believed to be politically motivated due to
the nature of the station's reporting, which was supportive of the
opposition and critical of the President. In September unknown
assailants physically assaulted several staff members and torched the
television station, causing over $200,000 in damages. At year's end the
attackers had not been identified, and there was no government
response. There was also a fight over ownership of Pyramida between
Adylbek Biynazarov, President and owner of 45 percent of the firm's
stock, and InvestMedia. Pyramida television broadcasts were limited to
UHF when the two sides went to court. At year's end court proceedings
for ownership of Pyramida TV ended, but the outcome was not made
public; Pyramida TV also resumed broadcasting on VHF.
Unknown individuals cut power to NTS' antennae in Bishkek and Osh
during its coverage of the opposition-led demonstrations in November.
Although armed guards and generators quickly restored broadcasts from
the Bishkek antenna, the southern antenna, rented from the Government,
had not resumed operations at year's end.
In September the President vetoed two parliamentary bills: ``On
National Television and Radio Corporation'' that proposed making GTRK a
public broadcaster, and a second bill that proposed wider and more
balanced media coverage of the parliament.
On November 14, the President signed a decree setting up a
supervisory board for GTRK that would comprise equal numbers of
Presidential representatives, parliamentarians, and GTRK employees.
Opposition parliamentarians claimed that the November 9 constitutional
amendments give parliament the right to reform the GTRK without
consulting the President and that the director of GTRK should be
appointed by the Prime Minister, not the President. The issue was not
resolved at year's end.
All media were required to register with the MOJ and receive
ministry approval to operate. The media law states that registration
should take no longer than one month, but in practice the process often
took much longer. Part of the process included background checks on
each media outlet's owner and source of financing, including
international donor organizations. During the year no new television or
radio licenses were granted. New licensing/frequency distribution
procedures were being reviewed by the Government.
At year's end the Government had not implemented its 2005 plan to
privatize state-owned media. Government newspapers, television, and
radio continued to receive state subsidies, and the Government remained
the primary source of scarce advertising revenue, which allowed the
Government to influence media content.
During the year progovernmental media outlets published numerous
negative articles about several parliamentary deputies, NGOs, and their
leaders. The GTRK aired a program on September 17 that called for the
removal of some opposition deputies, including Dooronbek Sadyrbayev and
Azimbek Beknazarov.
Although the GTRK initially was to become a public broadcaster, in
November 2005 the Government announced that it would instead turn
GTRK's southern branch, then called Osh3000, into a public broadcaster.
The new broadcaster, dubbed ElTR, started operating in December 2005,
although it did not have a separate channel. ElTR continued to depend
on the GTRK for its national broadcasting, and the Government appointed
E1TR's board of directors and senior management. Although officially a
public broadcaster, E1TR did not operate independently of the
Government.
In May the Government cut off independent channel NTS' broadcasts
to regions outside of Bishkek allegedly to give the transmission
frequency to public broadcaster ElTR. ElTR never used the channel and
NTS never resumed its nationwide broadcast.
During the year harassment of journalists decreased, although
unknown persons continued to intimidate members of the media. NTS's
general manager, possibly in connection with NTS's live broadcast of
the opposition-led demonstrations in November, was summoned by the SNB.
The general manager's house was robbed soon after the November
demonstrations ended.
The Government used law enforcement agencies and state run media to
intimidate independent media. Sever-Elektro, a state-owned electric
power company, filed a slander suit against the opposition newspaper
Agym. The owner of Agym, member of parliament Melis Eshimkanov, stated
that Sever-Elektro's claim was an attempt to close down Agym's
operations by potentially bankrupting the newspaper.
Although the law prohibits censorship, a few independent
journalists reportedly faced occasional government pressure over
critical press coverage or were denied access to public meetings and
information freely provided to state run outlets. The Government
continued to interfere in the newspapers' editorial policies, in some
cases replacing editors with government appointed individuals.
Libel remains a criminal offense punishable by up to three years in
prison. In May President Bakiyev submitted a bill to decriminalize
libel; at year's end parliament had not passed it.
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 mail.
During the opposition-led demonstrations in November, numerous Internet
sources complained about attempts made by hackers to disrupt their
broadcasts. At year's end there were no new developments regarding the
Gazeta.kg case.
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.
Throughout the year opposition and progovernment groups held a
number of demonstrations and rallies throughout the country. Between
January and August, 164 rallies were held in Bishkek, 83 of which
focused on political demands, while 81 focused on socioeconomic
demands. Law enforcement authorities provided security for many of
these demonstrations. There were no reported cases of the Government
attempting to prevent demonstrations from occurring; however,
authorities tried to place certain restrictions on the right to
assemble. On April 6, the Bishkek Mayor's Office issued a decree
stating that all rallies and demonstrations could be held only within
preapproved locations.
Before a mass opposition demonstration on April 29, the Government
used law enforcement agencies to threaten and dissuade opposition
members and leaders from participating in the demonstration. On the day
of the demonstration, approximately 3,500 police and national guard
troops surrounded the main Ala Too square in Bishkek, where
approximately 7,000 persons were gathered demanding that the Government
reform the constitution and combat corruption; however, the
demonstrators were allowed to protest peacefully and there were no
reports of police harassment or violence.
On May 26, authorities in Jalalabad refused to provide the
necessary permits, because of a technicality, to the Uzbek Cultural
Center in Jalalabad to hold a rally to promote Uzbek as an official
state language.
On June 25, police used tear gas to end election related clashes in
the south. Several persons were injured when supporters of Mamat
Orozbayev and Sanzharbek Kadyraliyev began throwing rocks and Molotov
cocktails at each other and exchanged gunfire in the southern town of
Uzgen (see section 3).
On September 17, an opposition rally took place without government
interference in the southern city of Aksy. There were reports, however,
that the Government attempted to limit participation at the rally by
spreading rumors, through the state-owned press, that the event had
been canceled. Additionally, some participants claimed that the rally
was infiltrated by progovernment supporters who attempted to intimidate
opposition supporters verbally. Despite these claims, the event took
place without incident.
In August police detained a small group of land squatters who were
demonstrating in front of the Lenin District State Administration
building in Bishkek. The police did not employ any aggressive tactics
to detain the demonstrators, who were released soon after their
detention, there were reports of skirmishes between opposing groups of
demonstrators at the demonstration site. No casualties were reported
and the Government did not issue any response to the incident.
From November 2 through 8, thousands of opposition protesters held
mass demonstrations calling for the Government to implement reforms or
to step down. At one point, demonstrators peacefully occupied an
administrative building in a suburb of Bishkek. The demonstrations were
largely peaceful except for some altercations between opposition and
progovernment protestors; law enforcement officials used tear gas to
halt the violence and responded appropriately and generally respected
freedom of assembly.
On March 31, the supporters of a well known criminal leader
gathered in front of parliament and demanded the resignation of the
Prime Minister, blaming him for the death of the crime boss' brother.
Despite the disruption, there were no reports of the authorities
attempting to block the demonstration, nor were there reports of any
acts of violence during the rally.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right,
although the Government at times used law enforcement agencies to
intimidate NGOs. NGOs, labor unions, political parties, and cultural
associations must register with the MOJ. NGOs are required to have
three members to register, and all other organizations require at least
10 members. The MOJ did not deny any domestic NGOs registration during
the year. During the year the MOJ reregistered the Kyrgyz Human Rights
Committee. The law prohibits activities of foreign political parties
and NGOs, including their representative offices and branches, from
pursuing political goals (see section 3).
The Government continued its ban of four organizations it deemed to
be extremist due to alleged ties to international terrorist
organizations: HT, the Islamic Party of Turkestan, the Organization for
Freeing Eastern Turkestan, and the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Party.
Arrests and prosecution of persons accused of possessing and
distributing HT literature continued during the year (see section
2.a.). Most arrests of alleged extremists occurred in the south and
involved ethnic Uzbeks. The majority of those arrested typically were
charged with distribution of literature inciting ethnic, racial, or
religious hatred.
On January 9, the President signed amendments that provide for
financial compensation to individuals undergoing physical
rehabilitation and to those who suffered politically motivated labor or
social rights violations.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion.
The Government generally respected this right in practice, although
there were some restrictions, particularly regarding the activities of
Islamic groups that it considered to be extremists and a threat to the
country. Islam is the most widely practiced faith.
The State Agency for Religious Affairs (SARA)--called the State
Commission on Religious Affairs, or SCRA, until November 2005--is
responsible for promoting religious tolerance, protecting freedom of
conscience, and overseeing laws on religion. Under the law all
religious organizations, including religious schools, are required to
register with SARA, and each congregation is required to register
separately. In July SARA moved its headquarters to the southern city of
Osh, reportedly to monitor more closely religious extremists within the
predominantly Muslim Ferghana Valley.
Although there has been a history of several groups having
difficulties registering, almost all were eventually registered, except
for the Hare Krishnas, who continued to have difficulties. Since 1996
SARA has registered 270 religious groups and nearly 1,200 foreign
citizens as religious missionaries.
In December 2005 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
reported ongoing problems in its efforts to register with SARA; the
church had not been registered at year's end, and its application was
pending its response to SARA's request for additional information. The
church initially submitted its application for registration in August
2004.
Organizations applying for registration must have at least 10
members who are adult citizens and must submit an application form,
organizational charter, minutes of an institutional meeting, and a list
of founding members. Each congregation must register separately. A
religious organization then must complete a registration process with
the MOJ to obtain legal status, which is necessary to own property,
open bank accounts, and conclude contracts. If a religious organization
engages in commercial activity, it is required to pay taxes. In
practice the MOJ has never registered a religious organization without
prior registration by SARA. The registration process with SARA is often
cumbersome, taking one month on average, but in the past it sometimes
took up to several years. According to SARA regulations, registration
is rejected if a religious organization does not comply with the law or
is a threat to national security, social stability, interethnic and
interdenominational harmony, public order, health, or morality. An
applicant whose registration is denied may reapply and may appeal to
the courts.
The Government was concerned about political extremism it believed
was disguised as conservative Islam, particularly Wahhabist
interpretations. During the year no incidents of domestic or foreign
security services monitoring worshipers at mosques were reported. On
August 6, SNB agents followed and killed Muhammadrafiq Kamalov, the
imam of Karasuu's largest mosque, as well as two other alleged
extremists who were riding in the same car (see section 1.a.).
Law enforcement authorities, including the MVD and the SNB, often
played a role in investigating religious organizations and resolving
interreligious disputes. Representatives of smaller churches, such as
the Church of Jesus Christ, complained of government attempts to hamper
their activities in the past. During the year the police detained 158
persons for religious activity and opened criminal cases regarding most
of these detainees. There were 162 HT related cases reported during the
year (see section 2.a.).
Missionary groups of various religious organizations operated
freely, although they are required to register with the Government.
In December 2005 the Jalalabad City Education Department banned the
wearing of hijabs or headscarves in that city's schools. Several
parents protested the move and demanded that the ban be lifted. In May,
following intervention by the State Muftiate, the ban was lifted for a
short period of time before it was re-enacted at several schools. It
continued to be in effect at year's end. According to the NGO
Spravedlivost's lawyer, at year's end the city education administration
still banned scarves at schools, arguing it was part of the school
uniform regulations.
The Government forbids the teaching of religion (or atheism) in
public schools, but the State Muftiate has called for the introduction
of religious studies into the school curriculum as a possible antidote
to religious extremism.
Societal Abuse and Discrimination.--In July a group of citizens
attacked Zulumbek Sarygulov, a Protestant pastor in Osh, vandalized his
home, and burned his religious books. The incident was reported to be
under investigation, but no further information was available from the
Government at year's end.
During the year a local lawyer, who often represented Protestant
churches, expressed concern regarding increasing pressure from Muslims
and asserted that the authorities may be tacitly condoning such
pressure.
In February clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Dungans were reported
in the Iskra village of the Chui Oblast. After claims of an attack on
two young Kyrgyz men, a crowd of 150 ethnic Kyrgyz gathered and
demanded that ethnic Dungan families immediately leave and resettle
elsewhere. Shots were reportedly fired from a car, sparking violence as
the crowd hurled stones and burned houses owned by ethnic Dungans. Four
ethnic Dungan men were detained and charged with illegal possession of
weapons and attempted murder. The men were released and all charges
dropped. Criminal cases were opened against some ethnic Kyrgyz who
participated in the destruction of houses belonging to ethnic Dungans.
During the year there were no acts of violence, harassment, or
vandalism reported against the Jewish community, its institutions,
schools, synagogues, or cemeteries; however, there was some isolated
anti-Semitism in the media. The President of the Jewish Cultural Center
stated that he was concerned about harassment of worshippers coming to
the center by one local resident, and he was frustrated with the lack
of action on the part of the authorities. The leader of the center did
not report any other incidents of anti-Semitism. Approximately 3,000
Jews lived 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 on internal migration provides
for freedom of movement, and the Government generally respected the
right in practice; however, certain policies continued to restrict
internal migration, resettlement, and travel abroad.
The law requires an official residence registration in order to
work and live in a particular area of the country. Applicants for
residence registration must file a request with the local police and be
able to prove that they have a place to live in the area. Local
administrations also tied the availability of social services to
registration; individuals who did not register could be denied access
to subsidized health care or schooling. The International Organization
for Migration (IOM) confirmed reports of authorities detaining and
fining individuals without residence registration.
Citizens were able to move within the country with relative ease.
However, many internal labor migrants coming from rural areas to cities
looking for work were still registered in their hometowns, and
consequently had limited access to subsidized healthcare.
The law on migration prohibits travel abroad of citizens who had
access to information classified as state secrets. The delay in
issuance of new passports continued to be a problem, although the
Government made several attempts to resolve the matter. According to
media reports, corruption impeded passport issuance reform. As a
result, citizens continued to experience difficulties traveling
internally and internationally.
The law does not provide for or prohibit forced exile, and there
were no reports that the Government employed it in practice.
In the summer authorities introduced a passport control system
throughout the southern provinces to fight terrorism. Public
information regarding the control system was limited, resulting in many
citizens being detained for hours for not carrying proper
identification while trying to cross the border. The passport control
system was in effect for several months at the southern borders only
and was no longer in effect at year's end. In June mass searches were
conducted by law enforcement agencies in the Bazar Korgon district of
Jalalabad Oblast.
According to the MVD, only 45 individuals were officially
registered as stateless. The most recent 1999 census indicated there
were 13,000 stateless persons in the country.
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 faced persecution. The Government
also provided temporary protection to individuals who may not qualify
as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol, although
the UNHCR reported no persons received such protection during the year.
Although the Government at times cooperated with the office of the UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers, during the year the
Government did not grant refugee status or asylum to any Uzbeks or
Uighurs, nor did it adequately protect such individuals.
On August 9, the Government forcibly returned four registered
refugees and one asylum seeker to Uzbekistan. These five Uzbek citizens
were part of the larger group of refugees who fled Andijan, Uzbekistan,
in May 2005; the rest of the group was eventually resettled in third
countries. While UNHCR voiced publicly its concern regarding the forced
repatriation of the four Uzbek refugees and one asylum seeker, the
Government defended its action. On August 10, an official from the
Prosecutor General's Office issued a statement acknowledging that the
Government had returned the five to Uzbek authorities in compliance
with bilateral agreements. He also stated that his office had received
written assurances from the Government of Uzbekistan that the
individuals' rights would be observed during the litigation process. In
November Uzbek authorities announced that the investigations were
complete and the cases had been forwarded to the courts.
Over July and August, an additional five registered Uzbek asylum
seekers were reported missing, with eyewitnesses claiming in at least
two of these cases that the individuals had been seized from their
homes and taken away in unmarked vehicles. An investigation into their
disappearance was eventually initiated by the Prosecutor General's
Office, but only after UNHCR publicly appealed for government action.
The investigation did not produce any results, and the whereabouts of
these asylum seekers remained unknown at year's end. In September, out
of concern for their safety, the UNHCR advised refugee and asylum
seekers to move north away from the Kyrgyz Uzbek border. In November
NGOs reported that Israil Khaldarov, one of the five Uzbek refugees who
disappeared from Kyrgyzstan, was found in an Andijan prison.
There were no refugee camps for Uzbek citizens operating in
Kyrgyzstan. The media and some NGOs reported that Uzbek refugees
continue to hide in Kyrgyzstan for fear of persecution by the Uzbek
authorities. The number of current refugees was not available at year's
end.
As with Uzbek asylum seekers, the Government continued to deny
Chechen refugees official refugee status but granted them asylum seeker
status if they qualified and provided them with some legal protection.
According to the UNHCR, Uighurs remained at risk of deportation or
extradition, particularly if they were involved with political and
religious activities in China. Uighurs also risked deportation at the
request of the Chinese 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. Although some restrictions remained, the Government made
progress in respecting citizens' ability to do so. Under the
constitution in effect until November 9, the President could veto any
legislative act and dissolve the legislature and dismiss members of the
Government; the President also had immunity after leaving office. The
parliament could override Presidential vetoes, which it occasionally
did in the past. On November 8, parliament passed amendments to the
constitution, which the President signed into effect on November 9. The
new constitution shifted several powers from the President to
parliament and provided the possibility for an improved system of
checks and balances between the branches of government. Parliament
would be increased from 75 to 90 members with half elected by party
lists; the majority party, not the President, would choose the Prime
Minister and form the Government, although the President could still
dismiss ministers. All ministries, including the SNB, would report to
the Prime Minister rather than the President. The President's ability
to dissolve parliament was diminished, while parliament's ability to
impeach the President was enhanced. The President could no longer
extend his tenure or be re elected via constitutional changes. On
December 30, parliament voted to adopt a new version of the
constitution that restored certain powers to the President lost in the
November 9 constitution, to include nomination of constitutional and
Supreme Court judges, appointment and dismissal of regional governors
and the heads of local administrations, and control over defense and
security bodies.
During the year there were cases of government harassment of
members of the political opposition.
Following the November opposition-led demonstrations, opposition
members and sympathizers noted increased government harassment by way
of heightened scrutiny by the SNB and tax authorities.
On November 12, two grenades were thrown into the house of
opposition parliamentarian Isa Omurkulov. No casualties were reported.
The Government opened a criminal investigation into the case. At year's
end no results of the investigation were available.
On November 9, security forces detained Ata-Meken party activist
Bakyt Kalpekov and charged him with assaulting the deputy director of
the National Television station during the opposition-led
demonstrations in November. Although he was released on bail a few days
later, he was sent back to jail under court order, pending trial.
On November 30, head of the NGO Coalition for Democracy and Civil
Society Edil Baisalov was physically assaulted by an unknown assailant
in Osh. On April 12, Baisalov was attacked by another unknown assailant
in Bishkek and sustained head injuries. The investigations into both
incidents continued at year's end. Baisalov claimed publicly that each
attack was related to his political activities.
On December 1, the spouse of opposition member Omurbek Abdrakhmanov
was detained and questioned by the financial police under charges of
tax evasion. Only after opposition parliamentarians came to her aid and
the detention attempt was made public was she released. The Government
proceeded with an investigation, and the case against her continued at
year's end.
Elections and Political Participation.--Following former President
Akayev's March 2005 departure from government, Prime Minister Kurmanbek
Bakiyev assumed the interim presidency. He was elected President in
July 2005 in an election the OSCE reported marked tangible progress
towards international standards. Fundamental civil and political
rights, such as the freedom of expression and the freedom of assembly,
were generally respected leading up to the election, and the media
provided all candidates with opportunities to present their views.
Despite concerted efforts to improve voter lists, however, some aspects
of the revision of voter lists breached legal provisions. Unexplained
fluctuations in the number of voters on the main voter lists, up to and
on election day, raised questions about the accounting of ballots.
During the year parliamentary by elections were held in five
districts: the Kadamjaiskiy, Kurshabskiy, and Balykchinskiy districts
on April 9, the Mailysuu District on May 14, and the Myrzaakinsky
District on October 29. In Kurshabsky, voting results were heavily
contested, resulting in a revote at several polling stations. During
the June 25 revoting several persons were injured when supporters of
Mamat Orozbayev and Sanzharbek Kadyraliyev began throwing rocks and
Molotov cocktails at each other and exchanged gunfire in the southern
town of Uzgen. Police used tear gas to end the clashes, and local
authorities were forced to close the polling station and suspend the
vote. In October the Central Election Committee (CEC) endorsed only
those votes that were made at CEC-validated polling stations. As a
result, Sanzharbek Kadyraliyev was recognized as the winner. In other
districts, the voting was not associated with any significant
irregularities or disturbances.
During the February 2005 parliamentary election, individuals and
parties could stand for election. However, the Government infringed the
right of opposition parties to seek votes and publicize views by
restricting the availability of meeting places, limiting air time on
state television, and running negative stories about opposition
candidates in state-controlled media. The Alga Kyrgyzstan
progovernmental party enjoyed the Government's support during the
electoral campaign.
After March 2005 the political party landscape changed
significantly. Out of nearly 90 registered political parties, only a
dozen were active, and no single party was dominant. Many government
officials were affiliated with progovernmental parties; no opposition
party representatives were in the cabinet.
On September 6, Polish authorities detained parliamentarian Omurbek
Tekebayev at the Warsaw airport because of an Interpol tip that
Tekebayev was transporting illegal drugs. Authorities found illegal
drugs in his luggage, but Tekebayev asserted his innocence. Tekebayev
and opposition leaders asserted government involvement. On September 8,
a Polish court released Tekebayev due to a lack of evidence. A number
of pro-opposition politicians suggested that President Bakiyev's
brother and first deputy chairman of the SNB, Janysh Bakiyev, was
involved in planting the drugs in Tekebayev's luggage. President
Bakiyev dismissed his brother and also accepted the resignation of the
SNB Chairman Busurmankul Tabaldiyev. Separate parliamentary and state
commissions, as well as the Office of the Prosecutor General, opened
investigations into the case. On September 21, the parliamentary
commission ruled that the SNB set up the incident to compromise
Tekebayev's reputation as an opposition leader.
On February 15, member of parliament Kubatbek Baibolov gave a press
conference at which he said that law enforcement organs began a black
public relations campaign against him. According to Baibolov's
opponents in the Government, he was responsible for spreading leaflets
with instructions for overthrowing the Government. No proof linking
Baibolov to such leaflets was found. Baibolov believed he was singled
out because of his involvement in politics and because he was widely
considered to be a potential candidate for speaker of parliament.
There were no women in the 75 seat legislature. Women held several
high level government posts, including chief justice of the
Constitutional Court, the chair of the State Committee on Migration and
Employment Issues, and chair of the Social Fund. In November parliament
voted against a government-initiated draft law stipulating that at
least 30 percent of ministerial positions be held by women.
There were 12 members of four minorities represented in the 75 seat
legislature. Russians and Uzbeks, the two largest ethnic minority
groups, remained underrepresented in government positions. Members of
minority groups held top posts, including the minister of labor and
social protection and chair of the Social Fund. Russian speaking
citizens alleged that a ``ceiling'' precluded promotion beyond a
certain level in government service.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained a
serious problem at all levels of society. During the year the
Government took limited steps to address the problem including reports
of arrests of government officials on corruption charges. In 2005 the
Government established the Agency for Preventing Corruption and the
National Council for Fighting Corruption. During the year the agency
conducted a nationwide survey of corruption within government agencies.
Based on the results of the study, it released a list of the most
corrupt governmental bodies. The list included tax and customs
agencies, law enforcement bodies, courts, and agencies controlling
construction and the issuance of business licenses.
According to the MVD, 198 cases of bribe taking, 83 cases of
negligence of official duties and fraud, 478 cases of embezzlement, and
1,520 cases of malfeasance took place between January and November. The
MVD reported that criminal charges were filed against 352 government
officials as a result. On August 7, the President signed a new anti-
money laundering law.
Even though there were press reports about arrests on corruption
charges, no convictions were reported. During the year the National
Agency for Corruption Prevention received more than 800 complaints
about corruption in government offices, conducted preliminary probes
into each one, and forwarded cases to the Prosecutor's Office for
prosecution. However, no significant action was taken. In September
Parliamentarian Iskhak Masaliyev, addressing the International Business
Council, stated the country lacks the political will essential in
fighting corruption.
Tax authorities released to the media a list of officials who did
not submit income declarations. However, there were no reports of any
action taken against officials that failed to comply with the income
disclosure law.
Following the 2005 change of government, a special commission was
established to identify assets that had belonged to former President
Akayev and his entourage. After the results of the commission were
released, the Office of the Prosecutor General launched more than 100
investigations to assess the legality of these acquisitions and
businesses. The investigations continued at year's end.
The law gives persons the right to request information from the
Government. The Government generally complied with such requests but
sometimes took a long time to do so. In October General Prosecutor
Kanbaraly Kongantiyev issued an internal regulation forbidding the
prosecutor's staff from sharing official information with the media,
NGOs, or individuals. According to the regulation, official information
can be released only upon approval of the general prosecutor, through
his press service.
On November 14, parliament adopted a freedom of information law
that was initiated by the President. The law grants broad access to
information that has not been deemed by the Government to be either
commercially sensitive or a state secret.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The Bakiyev government made significant efforts to reach out to
human rights groups and civil society in general. However, during the
year harassment and pressure by law enforcement agencies and unknown
persons on human rights activists increased.
According to local NGO leaders, the following major human rights
NGOs operated independently: Citizens Against Corruption, Coalition for
Democracy and Civil Society, Kylym Shamy, Adilet Legal Clinic,
Spravedlivost, Foundation for Tolerance International, Association of
Centers of Support for Civil Society, Interbilim, and the Bureau of
Human Rights.
In March Jalalabad local police filed a case against well known
human rights activists Valentina Gritsenko, Abdumalik Sharipov, and
Mukhamdjan Abdujaparov, employees of the NGO Spravedlivost NGO headed
by Valeriy Uleyev, claiming they published false information about the
police during the year. The case continued at year's end.
Representatives of the NGO Civil Society Against Corruption
reported that on several occasions between March and October their
office was broken into and searched by unknown persons who copied their
computer files, which was confirmed by a computer expert's
investigation. Several affiliate offices of the NGO Coalition For
Democracy and Civil Society reported harassment and attempts to disrupt
their activities by local authorities.
In 2005 the Jety-Oguz District Court ordered the removal of the
Issy-kul-based NGO Karek from an office previously claimed by the NGO.
Karek immediately appealed the court's decision, and on October 17 the
Interdistrict Court revised the District Court's verdict ruling in
favor of Karek's claim. The plaintiff continued to contest the
interdistrict court's decision and contended that the office space was
improperly acquired. By year's end the Issyku-Kul Oblast Arbitrary
Court supported the interdistrict court's decision and issued a verdict
in favor of Karek's claim.
In September 2005 human rights activist Aziza Abdrasulova and her
family received threatening phone calls, and her husband was beaten in
connection with her support of protesting railway workers. According to
Abdrasulova, she and her husband filed complaints and spoke to an
investigator, but no official investigation was opened. At year's end
no further developments were expected in the case.
In December 2005 the Government filed slander charges against Maxim
Kuleshov, leader of human rights NGO Peace, Light and Culture and
coordinator of the resource center in Tokmok. The case was initiated
after Kuleshov filed a lawsuit against police officers for interrupting
a December 2005 peaceful rally in Tokmok against torture in
penitentiary facilities. Early in the year a police officer filed a
lawsuit against Kuleshov for slander because the police denied that
torture had ever been used in penitentiary facilities. This case was
closed by the end of February because the plaintiff failed to appear in
court three times, which enabled the judge to close the case. On
December 13, 2005, the city prosecutor closed the case that was opened
on December 2, 2005, due to a lack of evidence.
During the year foreign funded NGOs were generally able to pursue
their work free from government interference. However, the Government
attempted to restrict the activities of and intimidate some local
foreign funded NGOs. Government interference into the activities of
foreign funded NGOs increased slightly after the SNB claimed, at the
beginning of the year, that local NGOs were working in the interest of
foreign donors. On January 24, Minister of Justice Marat Kaipov
publicly instructed the ministry's registration department to launch an
investigation of all NGOs operating in the country that receive foreign
funding. In a speech to senior Justice Ministry staff, Minister Kaipov
specifically called on the registration department to determine which
NGOs funded from abroad might threaten national security and implied
that government support should go to those NGOs that advanced the
country's development. Government officials later said no NGO
investigations would take place and it was a misunderstanding
attributable to a bad translation. While no local NGOs reported any
attempts by the Government to investigate their activities, the General
Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation in November into the
local activities of the National Democratic Institute, the
International Republican Institute, and the International Foundation
for Election Systems. The results of these investigations were pending
at year's end.
During the year state owned and progovernment media outlets also
frequently published articles criticizing foreign funded NGOs, calling
for a halt to their activities (see section 2.b.) and the Government
used law enforcement agencies to threaten and intimidate NGOs. In July
the Government expelled foreign diplomats allegedly for conduct
incompatible with their diplomatic status; observers believed the
Government was unhappy with the diplomats' contact with NGOs and
opposition members.
The Government generally cooperated with the numerous international
organizations that reported on human rights problems in the country.
The Government generally cooperated with international
organizations and permitted visits by UN representatives and other
organizations, including the OSCE, International Committee of the Red
Cross, and IOM.
The ombudsman's mandate is to act as an independent advocate for
human rights on behalf of private citizens and NGOs, and it has the
authority to recommend cases to courts for review. The Ombudsman's
Office actively advocated for individual rights. The Ombudsman's Office
claimed that after the March 2005 events, the number of complaints grew
to 62,012. By year's end the Ombudsman's Office received 11,937
appeals, most having to do with land ownership issues and official
corruption. The Ombudsman's Office confirmed that in a number of cases
its advocacy was effective in reversing court verdicts against
complainants.
The parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Law, State Structure,
Legality, Court, Judiciary Reform, and Human Rights drafts or reviews
legislation affecting human rights before it goes before the full
parliament for approval. The committee also reviews all draft
legislation that has a human rights component. In addition, the
Democratic Security Council under the President is nominally tasked
with protecting human rights in the country; however, it remained
relatively inactive during the year.
The Presidential State Commission on Human Rights' responsibilities
included implementing the Government's policy on human rights,
improving relevant legislation, conducting information campaigns to
increase public awareness about human rights issues, and establishing
relations with international human rights organizations. At year's end
the commission had not yet published its report.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or social status, although in practice there was
discrimination against women, persons with disabilities, ethnic
minorities, and homosexuals.
Women.--The law specifically prohibits domestic violence and
spousal abuse; however, violence against women remained a problem. Some
estimates indicated domestic violence constituted between 40 and 60
percent of all crimes committed against women. Many crimes against
women were not reported due to psychological pressure, cultural
traditions, and apathy of law enforcement officials. Penalties ranged
from fines to 15 years' imprisonment (if abuse resulted in death).
There were 249 reported crimes committed against women as of October 1;
the majority of those cases were sent to court.
Several local NGOs provided services for victims of domestic
violence, including legal, medical, and psychological assistance, a
crisis hot line, shelters, and prevention programs. Organizations
involved with battered women also lobbied for new laws on domestic
violence. The Government also provided offices for the Sezim Shelter
and paid its bills.
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal. Activists noted that the
official number of rape cases continued to increase, although it was
not clear whether this was due primarily to increased reporting of
attacks. Interior Ministry statistics indicated that during the year
there were 239 registered cases of rape, the majority of which were
sent to court. Actual figures were believed to be significantly higher;
NGOs estimated the number could be up to 10 times the reported figure.
The NGO Sezim estimated that 90 percent of cases brought against
alleged rapists would never be brought to court. All experts concurred
that most of the cases would be mired in corruption; however, as
bribery has been used commonly to curtail investigations against
individuals charged with rape.
Although prohibited by law, rural inhabitants continued the
traditional practice of kidnapping women and girls for forced marriage.
During the year there were 10 reported cases of forced marriage, but
the actual figure may have been much higher. Cultural traditions
discouraged victims from going to the authorities. NGOs maintained
antitrafficking hot lines, using toll-free numbers provided by the
Government, to help potential and actual trafficking victims. The IOM
established hot lines, staffed by lawyers and social workers, in each
province during June and July. The MOI provided free-of-charge office
space for the IOM-sponsored hotline staff. The IOM also initiated a
countrywide antitrafficking information campaign, including awareness
advertisements on television, radio, and billboards.
Prostitution is not a crime, although the operation of brothels,
pimping, and recruiting persons into prostitution is illegal, with
penalties of up to five years. With no legal measures in place to
regulate the industry, it was an ongoing problem. NGOs that defended
prostitute's rights, including the NGO Tais-Plus, continued to advocate
for legal protection for prostitutes' rights.
Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation and
forced labor was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
According to an expert at the local NGO Shans, sexual harassment is
prohibited by law; however, it was rarely reported or prosecuted.
Penalties range from fines to imprisonment.
Women enjoy the same rights as men, including under family law,
property law, and in the judicial system, although discrimination
against women persisted in practice. The National Council on the Issues
of Family, Women and Gender Development, under the President, is
responsible for women's issues. Average wages for women were
substantially less than for men. Women made up the majority of
pensioners, a group that was particularly vulnerable to deteriorating
economic conditions. After the demise of the Soviet Union, traditional
attitudes toward women reemerged in the countryside, where women were
relegated to the roles of wife and mother and educational opportunities
were curtailed. Data indicated that women were less healthy, more
abused, less able to work outside the home, and less able to dispose of
their earnings independently than men.
Children.--The Government was generally committed to the rights and
welfare of children, although it lacked resources to address basic
needs for shelter, food, and clothing fully. In September the
Government initiated a program providing each elementary student with a
free glass of milk and a roll every morning. Rural and urban schools
administered the program effectively.
The law provides for compulsory and free education for the first
nine years of schooling, or until age 14; secondary education is free
and universal up to age 17. However, financial constraints prevented
the Government from providing free basic education for all students.
Families that kept children in public schools often had to pay
burdensome and illegal administrative fees. In September the Government
issued a decree stating that parents of schoolchildren should refrain
from paying administrative fees to schools. Girls and boys attended
school in equal ratios. During the year the primary school enrollment
ratio was 99 percent for both girls and boys, according to UNICEF; the
secondary school enrollment ratio was 78 percent for boys and 85
percent for girls. The law penalizes parents who do not send their
children to school or who obstruct their attendance. This law was only
sporadically enforced, particularly in rural areas. In 2005-06 76,100,
or 6.8 percent, of total school age children completed secondary
school.
The Government continued to fund the work of two programs to
provide benefits for low income children and children with
disabilities, such as school supplies and textbooks. Legally, all
textbooks should be free, but the Government was unable to provide free
textbooks to all, and students had to pay for some of the textbooks. At
the beginning of the academic year, the Government initiated a program
that provided all public schoolchildren with free textbooks. According
to experts in the field, the program was not completely successful
because some schoolchildren throughout the country still had to
purchase books.
The Government provided health care for children, and boys and
girls had equal access. The system of residence registration restricted
access to social services, including health care and education, for
certain children, such as refugees, migrants, internally displaced
persons, and noncitizens (see section 2.d.).
Child abuse, including beatings, child labor, and sexual
exploitation continued to be a problem.
Underage marriage was not a significant problem in the country. The
practice of bride kidnapping remained a concern, with two underage
abductions reported during the year. Criminal cases were opened on both
cases. Information on the outcome of those investigations was not
available at year's end. Children ages 16 and 17 may legally marry with
local authority consent, although marriage before age 16 is prohibited
under all circumstances.
Trafficking of children for the purposes of sexual exploitation and
labor remained a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Children from low income families continued to work as street
vendors or in markets and were not able to attend school. According to
the NGO Center for Protection of Children, the number of children in
the south involved in child labor reached 125,000, while the number of
children working on tobacco fields was approximately 15,000 (see
section 6.d.). According to UNICEF, approximately 4 percent of the
country's children aged 5 to 14 years were engaged in child labor.
As in previous years, there were numerous reports of child
abandonment due to parents' lack of resources, which led to larger
numbers of children in institutions, foster care, or on the streets.
State orphanages and foster homes also faced a lack of resources and
often were unable to provide proper care. Some children too old to
remain in orphanages were transferred to mental health care facilities,
even when they did not exhibit mental health problems. Many street
children left home because of abusive (8 percent) or alcoholic (10
percent) parents or desperate economic conditions (75 percent).
Government and NGO estimates of the number of street children
nationwide ranged from approximately 2,000 to 15,000, depending on the
time of the year. Approximately 80 percent of street children were
internal migrants. Street children were detained by police and either
sent home (if an address was known) or to a rehabilitation center or
orphanage. The two MVD maintained rehabilitation centers, one each in
Bishkek and Osh, continued to lack sufficient food, clothes, and
medicine and remained in poor condition. According to UNICEF, children
staying at these MVD-maintained centers claimed that they were
physically and mentally abused. Employees at these centers contested
those claims and insisted that their practices conformed to normal
standards of discipline.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, and
within the country. Trafficking remained a persistent problem, and
victims alleged that government officials facilitated, or were
complicit in, trafficking. However, the Government continued to make
significant efforts to address trafficking, including prosecuting
several officials involved in trafficking and improving assistance to
victims.
The country was a source and transit, and to a lesser degree, a
destination for trafficked persons. Internal trafficking for both labor
and sexual exploitation also occurred, generally from poor rural areas
to larger cities such as Bishkek in the north and Osh in the south. The
Government recognized that trafficking in persons was a problem, but it
was not able to address the issue without financial and practical
assistance from various international and nongovernmental
organizations. With that assistance, the Government was able to improve
legislation on prosecution of traffickers, participate and support a
countrywide information campaign, and train law enforcement and foreign
affairs officials on trafficking awareness.
There was no reliable data on the number of persons trafficked.
Local NGOs and government officials estimate that approximately 4,000
Kyrgyz women were working in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the sex
industry. Most were presumed to be victims of trafficking. A
significant number of trafficking victims were also estimated to be
working in Kazakhstan and Russia as labor migrants. According to
estimates by IOM, Eurasia Foundation, and the Kyrgyz State Committee
for Migration and Employment, the number of Kyrgyz labor migrants
working in Kazakhstan ranged from 30,000 to 50,000 or from 300,000 to
600,000, depending on the season. Another 300,000 to 500,000 Kyrgyz
citizens were estimated to be working in Russia. The number of Kyrgyz
citizens working in both countries who may have been victims of
trafficking was unknown.
IOM estimated that about 70 percent of trafficking victims were
from the southern provinces of Jalalabad and Osh, where unemployment
rates were highest. Women, especially from impoverished southern areas,
were trafficked for sexual exploitation to the UAE, China, South Korea,
Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Thailand, Germany, and Syria.
Traffickers were often persons who previously operated local
prostitution networks. Relatives or close family friends were also
reportedly used to recruit trafficking victims. Tour agents,
restaurants, and nightclubs supplemented their activities by
trafficking young women to foreign prostitution rings. Traffickers also
included organized crime rings that often used former trafficking
victims as recruiters. In some cases traffickers provided escorts,
usually an older woman, to accompany victims and facilitate border
crossings into countries such as the UAE, where young women were
generally not allowed to enter alone. Labor trafficking was much less
organized and often involved self employed recruiters who simply loaded
persons onto buses and transported them to the country for work on
farms, as well as to labor recruitment firms (see section 6.c.).
Trafficking in persons, including organizing illegal migration and
smuggling, is a criminal offense punishable by up to 20 years in
prison. Other provisions of the criminal code used to prosecute
traffickers included kidnapping, trading in children, recruiting
persons for exploitation, coercion into prostitution, rape, and
deprivation of freedom. The maximum sentence for those prosecuted under
these laws is 15 years. In January the President enacted a new Law on
External Labor Migration. The law regulates recruitment of citizens for
work abroad and legal assistance to labor migrants, including cases
that pose potential trafficking risks. In February amendments to the
Code on Administrative Responsibility increased the punishment for
violating visa issuance rules; the amendment is aimed at preventing
trafficking of foreign citizens to the country.
According to the MVD, 22 trafficking-related crimes were registered
during the first 10 months of the year, with completed investigations
on 20 of those cases. According to IOM, there were at least three
convictions during the year.
During the year no trafficking victims were prosecuted for illegal
migration or other charges related to trafficking; the Government
respected their status as victims.
The Government's efforts to address trafficking included
participating in and supporting public information campaigns and
improving laws to protect against trafficking in persons, and providing
training for law enforcement, diplomatic, and government officials.
On February 14, the SNB prevented the trafficking and potential
sexual exploitation of 61 young women by taking them off a UAE bound
plane in Osh. The IOM office in Osh interviewed all 61 apprehended
women and offered assistance to those considered to be trafficking
victims; only six of the women were considered to be victims (including
two minors). According to their testimonies, they were told they would
be offered lucrative jobs in Dubai. The remainder of the group stated
they were traveling voluntarily to work in the sex industry in the UAE.
The SNB arrested four organizers who facilitated travel of the group
through Kyrgyz territory; one of the organizers admitted that the six
recognized victims were intended to be sold into slavery upon arrival
in Dubai. At year's end the investigation of the case continued and no
further information about the investigation was available.
The MVD has a designated antitrafficking police unit. The National
Antitrafficking Council chaired by the vice prime minister is
responsible for enforcing a government policy to fight trafficking and
oversee the efforts of different government agencies to implement
antitrafficking action plans. During the year new officials whose
portfolios include combating trafficking were appointed, due to a
significant turnover within the Government. In late 2005 the
responsibility for coordinating antitrafficking activities was assigned
to the trafficking division of the newly established State Committee on
Migration and Employment (SCME). Together with the OSCE, the SCME was
developing a program on preventing and combating trafficking.
Endemic corruption impeded the Government's efforts to curb
trafficking. Victims reported that local police, immigration officers,
and airport security officials often cooperated with highly organized
trafficking operations. Observers believed that some government
authorities facilitated or were otherwise complicit in trafficking
activities. In 2005 and at a October press conference, Kubanychbek
Isabekov, chair of the parliamentary Commission on Labor Migration,
stated law enforcement officers were directly involved in trafficking.
In January the President signed amendments to article 124 of the
Criminal Code that made explicit that trafficking victims would not be
prosecuted if they cooperate with an investigation. With this provision
in place, it was reported that trafficking victims were cooperative
during investigations. According to local NGOs, during the year there
were no reported cases of trafficking victims treated or prosecuted as
illegal migrants for not cooperating. Since 2005 trafficking victims
have not been prosecuted for document fraud or illegal border crossing
if they assisted in the prosecution of traffickers. According to the
law, the Government may provide foreign trafficking victims with
criminal immunity and immunity from deportation for violations
committed while being trafficked, provided they cooperate with law
enforcement officials. In addition, such individuals may be granted
temporary or permanent residence status. According to local
antitrafficking NGOs, trafficking victims no longer refused to
cooperate with police for fear of prosecution for offenses committed
while being trafficked into or out of the country. However, it was
reported that the trafficking victims feared possible retaliation from
traffickers should it be revealed that they provided information to the
authorities about traffickers' activities. There were no reports that
the Government deported foreign victims of trafficking during the year.
OSCE and IOM reported that many of those who returned from commercial
work overseas stated they were forced to pay bribes to law enforcement
officials to avoid imprisonment for having improper or falsified travel
documents. However, border authorities reported that Kyrgyz victims who
admitted to the use of false documents or illegal entry into the
country were not penalized.
The Government implemented information campaigns warning persons
against the dangers of being trafficked. In April the NGO Golden Goal
launched an antitrafficking information campaign sponsored by the
Canadian government and implemented jointly with local law enforcement
authorities. As part of the program, training was held for law
enforcement officials in Osh on how to treat trafficking victims and
enhance antitrafficking activities. Golden Goal also carried out an
information campaign within schools and colleges to raise awareness
about the dangers of trafficking. In June the Government, jointly with
IOM and foreign donors, started information campaigns and victims
assistance. As part of the campaign, the Government established a toll
free hot line that callers could use to receive information in Kyrgyz
and Russian languages about rules and laws for labor migrants and all
others seeking employment opportunities abroad. Callers could receive
legal advice on the possibility of being trafficked while seeking
employment abroad.
In October the parliament ratified a CIS agreement on combating
trafficking aimed at coordinating efforts of CIS law enforcement
agencies.
In November Golden Goal and the OSCE launched a Web site, aimed
primarily at Ferghana Valley residents, that provided information on
combating trafficking, including antitrafficking programs implemented
in the region, helpline information for trafficking victims, relevant
laws on trafficking, and other useful information. The site also serves
as a venue for information sharing between Kyrgyz, Uzbek, and Tajik
NGOs involved in antitrafficking activities.
Numerous articles in governmental and independent media outlets
publicized the dangers of working abroad, and posters on public
transport raised public awareness of the problem.
Although the Government lacked adequate resources to carry out
comprehensive antitrafficking programs, it actively participated in and
helped implement numerous NGO and other foreign sponsored
antitrafficking programs and cooperated with international
organizations and other countries to combat trafficking. The Government
carried out or participated in a number of antitrafficking and
education campaigns. Central and local governments worked with
approximately 12 domestic NGOs on information campaign.
According to some NGOs, the Government did not directly assist
trafficking victims, including those repatriated, with any special
services or care facilities. However, the Government supported NGOs by
providing them with office space, space for two shelters (one in
Bishkek and one in Osh), and free advertising in government owned media
outlets. The Government provided space for a new shelter for juvenile
trafficking victims in the south, which opened in November. Law
enforcement organs increasingly referred victims to private shelters
such as Sezim, which provided shelter for 35 female trafficking victims
as well as legal and employment advice to 10 women in Bishkek during
the year. Many NGOs conducted workshops for law enforcement officers. A
number of NGOs, including Women's Support Center, TAIS Plus, New
Chance, Sezim, Podruga, and Golden Goal provided legal, medical, and
psychological assistance as well as economic aid to trafficking
victims.
The NGO Sezim reported that it received 68 calls to its hot line
during the first two months of the year; beginning in March, such calls
were made on IOM-sponsored and government operated toll free number.
Due to suspension of funding, the Podruga hot line operated only for
three months during the year; during this time, it received about 200
calls on their hot line. At year's end IOM provided assistance to 104
trafficking victims, including repatriation, psychological support,
shelter upon arrival in Bishkek or Osh, vocational training, and
monthly stipends.
IOM, OSCE, various local organizations, and foreign governments
sponsored a wide range of preventive programs, including
antitrafficking public service announcements, roundtables, and
workshops to increase awareness among the Government, nonprofit,
tourism, and media sectors.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities, but in practice there was
discrimination in employment, education, access to health care, and in
the provision of other state services for persons with disabilities.
The law mandates access to buildings for persons with disabilities,
although the Government generally did not enforce these provisions in
practice. The law provides for access to public transportation and
parking for persons with disabilities, subsidies to make mass media
available to the hearing or visually impaired, and free plots of land
for the construction of a home; however, in practice few special
provisions were in place to allow persons with disabilities access to
transportation, public buildings, and mass media. In addition, persons
with disabilities often had difficulty finding employment because of
negative societal attitudes and high unemployment among the general
population. The lack of resources made it difficult for persons with
disabilities to receive adequate education. Hospitals, special
institutions, and boarding homes for persons with mental disabilities
were severely strained, due to low budgets and heavy workloads.
Serious problems continued within psychiatric hospitals. The
Government was unable to provide basic needs such as food, water,
clothing, heating, and healthcare, and facilities were often
overcrowded. There were documented cases of animal feed being purchased
to substitute normal rations for mentally ill patients. Inadequate
funding played a critical factor. Mentally disabled children were put
into psychiatric hospitals rather than socially integrated with other
children. Although they have the right to an education, they were not
allowed to go to school. Their parents had established special
educational centers to educate their children, but they did not receive
any government assistance. Other patients were also often admitted
involuntarily, including children without mental disabilities who were
too old to remain in orphanages. Patients were sometimes engaged in
forced labor on hospital grounds (see section 6.c.). The NGO Mental
Health and Society continued its work with the Health Ministry to
develop programs aimed at improving conditions in psychiatric
hospitals.
There were no further developments and none were expected in the
2005 death of the institutionalized patient at the Chym-Korgon
hospital. Relatives of the deceased made attempts to bring the case to
the attention of authorities with little success.
The lack of transparency in the administration of mental health
facilities contributed to abusive conditions.
Most judges lacked the necessary experience and training to
determine whether persons should be referred to psychiatric hospitals,
and the practice of institutionalizing individuals against their will
continued.
In August the Government issued a decree on creating a special
independent entity for the protection of psychiatric patients' rights,
based on a law originally adopted in 1999. The Office of the Prosecutor
General is the Government's implementing body for the decree and
facilitating the protection of rights for the disabled. According to
local NGO lawyers, the members of the Prosecutor's Office had no
training and little knowledge on the protection of these rights and
were ineffective in assisting disabled citizens.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Minorities alleged
discrimination, including from officials, in hiring, promotion, and
housing, but no official reports were registered with the local
authorities. Statistical data from 2005 reflected the following ethnic
breakdown of the population: 67.4 percent Kyrgyz; 10.3 percent Russian;
14.2 percent Uzbek; 1.1 percent Dungan (ethnic Chinese Muslims); and 1
percent Uighur. Other ethnic groups, including Tatars and Germans,
comprised 6.4 percent of the population.
Uighur representatives reported no discrimination against Uighurs
during the year. However, in February clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and
ethnic Dungans were reported in the Iskra village of the Chui Oblast.
(see section 2.c).
In April and May an ethnic Uzbek parliamentarian advocated that
Uzbek become an official language. Shortly after the parliamentarian's
statement, a number of unknown perpetrators, the majority of whom were
reported to be ethnic Kyrgyz, seized his property. The deputy claimed
that the local authorities supported the perpetrators because of their
objection to Uzbek becoming an official language. However, other Uzbek
community representatives disputed this claim. The police, at the
behest of the parliamentarian, managed to remove the illegal occupants
from the property.
In August opposition leader and member of the parliament Kadyrjan
Batyrov accused security forces of violating the human rights of the
Uzbek minority in the south by targeting them during antiterrorism and
extremism operations. Security service authorities denied the
accusations.
The law designates Kyrgyz as the state language and Russian as an
official language and provides for preservation and equal and free
development of minority languages. Russian speaking citizens alleged
that a ceiling precluded promotion beyond a certain level in government
service. They also alleged that some otherwise qualified candidates
were previously disqualified in elections on the basis of exams, the
fairness of which was questioned. Both Uzbek and Russian were widely
used both officially and unofficially. A 2004 language law requiring,
among other provisions, that the President, prime minister, speaker of
parliament, and a number of other unspecified public servants be
proficient in Kyrgyz was pending implementation until 2015. The Bakiyev
government's initiative to revive the Kyrgyz language and calls for
increased official usage of Kyrgyz raised concerns among non Kyrgyz
ethnic groups fearing possible discrimination on the basis of language.
In the December 30 version of the constitution, Russian remained an
official language of the country.
On May 26, authorities in Jalalabad refused to provide the
necessary permits, because of a technicality, to the Uzbek Cultural
Center in Jalalabad to hold a rally to promote Uzbek as an official
state language.
On June 6, police in Jalalabad detained Mamatkadyr Karabayev for
allegedly misusing state funds. Karabayev claimed that he was arrested
for organizing and leading an ethnic Uzbek-led demonstration that
sought official status for the Uzbek language. Karabayev was released
under a seven-year suspended sentence and three years' probation.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--According to a 2005
Dutch study, persons of nontraditional sexual orientation, particularly
homosexual men, were among the most oppressed groups, although the
country does not outlaw homosexuality. Those whose sexuality was
publicly known risked physical and verbal abuse, possible loss of work,
and unwanted attention from police and authorities, particularly lower
ranking police. Incarcerated gay men were often openly victimized in
prisons by inmates and officials alike.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of all
workers to form and belong to trade unions, and workers exercised this
right in practice. The Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) remained the
only trade union umbrella organization in the country, although unions
were not required to belong to it. The FTU had 1.06 million members, or
56 percent of the country's employed workforce. Growing numbers of
smaller unions were not affiliated with the umbrella organization. One
of the largest of these was the Union of Entrepreneurs and Small
Business Workers, with a membership of approximately 60,000. The FTU
must approve all draft legislation affecting workers' rights.
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 of unions to organize and bargain collectively and trade unions
exercise the right on behalf of their members. The Government set the
minimum wage, after which each employer set its own wage level.
While the right to strike was not granted, it was not prohibited,
and several strikes took place during the year. In June Bishkek city
minibus drivers went on a strike to protest an increase in the price of
diesel fuel. Authorities convinced them to return to work after
promising to consider their demands, but none of the drivers' demands
were satisfied at year's end. Neither the Government nor the strikers
raised this issue again.
There are Free Economic Zones (FEZs) that function as export
processing zones. All local labor laws apply to the approximately 4,900
workers in the FEZs. According to the World Bank, wages were about 2.3
times higher in FEZs.
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 press continued to report that Kyrgyz citizens were forced to
work without pay on tobacco farms in Kazakhstan. However, this practice
declined significantly after the 2004 signing of a bilateral labor
agreement with Kazakhstan.
In July the Kazakh President signed a decree protecting the rights
of Kyrgyz labor migrants. The decree prolonged the compulsory
registration period for Kyrgyz labor migrants from 3 to 90 days and
obliged Kazakh employers to provide social and medical insurance to all
Kyrgyz labor migrants.
In 2005 local media reported that approximately 20 Kyrgyz citizens
were held hostage in China due to their families' inability to pay for
goods purchased from Chinese merchants. According to local NGOs,
however, the actual number of individuals being held hostage in China
have been more than 100. The IOM claimed that at least three hostages
escaped China during the year. The Kyrgyz MFA, according to IOM,
continued to negotiate the release of the remaining Kyrgyz citizens
with the Chinese government.
The Government worked with the Governments of Russia and Kazakhstan
to protect the rights of Kyrgyz labor migrants in these countries. In
July Presidents Bakiyev and Nazarbayev agreed to legalize Kyrgyz labor
migrants in Kazakhstan. Since the beginning of September, over 6000
Kyrgyz labor migrants had been registered, thereby gaining legal
protection of their rights and social benefits.
In September the Government tightened licensing rules of
recruitment companies to include rules for recruiting persons to work
abroad. Recruiters are required to monitor the working conditions of
labor migrants while a work contract is in effect and check if an
employer complies with the terms of employment. In September the
Government prohibited the activities of the Kazakh company Royal Park,
which operated in Osh, that illegally recruited Kyrgyz citizens for
work abroad.
Following the change of the structure of the Government, a new
agency, the State Committee for Migration and Employment Issues, was
established and is responsible for streamlining labor migration.
Working with the OSCE and the IOM, the Government started the
development of a new program to combat trafficking for 2006 08.
There were reports that patients in psychiatric hospitals were
routinely used for unauthorized labor on hospital grounds and as
domestic service for doctors and local farmers. The patients allegedly
did not have a choice to refuse and were only paid with food.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law provides for the protection of children from economic exploitation
and from work that poses a danger to their health or spiritual,
physical, mental, or academic development. On January 24, President
Bakiyev signed a decree aimed at reducing child labor in the country,
but at year's end no actions had been taken. In accordance with this
decree, the Government, in cooperation with trade unions, employers,
and the IOM, drafted a state program that seeks to improve child labor
regulations. The program reinforces controls over child labor, develops
legal forms of child employment and provides for child labor awareness
activities. At year's end the Ministries of Justice and Finance were
considering the proposal. According to the State Labor Inspectorate,
the inspectorate conducts spot checks to confirm compliance with child
labor law requirements only at large industrial sites with strong trade
unions, which generally do not allow the use of child labor. The lack
of employer employee contracts in small and medium sized businesses
made it impossible to investigate child labor exploitation at those
businesses.
Under the law the minimum age for basic employment is 16, except
for certain limited circumstances including odd jobs such as selling
newspapers. In addition, the law bans the employment of persons under
18 in a wide variety of categories of employment involving difficult or
dangerous conditions, including the metal or oil and gas industries,
mining and prospecting, the food industry, entertainment, and machine
building. Children between 14 and 15 are allowed to work a maximum of
five hours a day; children between 16 and 18 are allowed a maximum of
seven hours a day. These laws also apply to children with disabilities.
Child labor remained a widespread problem. Child laborers were
prevalent in the following sectors: tobacco, cotton, rice, cattle
breeding, gasoline sales, car washing, shoe cleaning, and retail sales
of tobacco and alcohol. Large families traditionally considered it
necessary for children to work at an early age to help support the
family. Children also were involved in family enterprises, particularly
in agriculture, domestic duties, and selling products at roadside
kiosks.
According to reports from various NGOs, child labor was
particularly evident in the south. During the fall, classes were
cancelled and children were sent to fields to pick cotton. During the
summer children were involved in all levels of tobacco production.
Schools required children to participate in the tobacco harvest (some
fields were located on school grounds), and the income went directly to
the schools, not to the children.
Internal trafficking of children for the purposes of sexual
exploitation and labor remained a problem (see Section 5). Children
were generally trafficked from poor rural areas to Bishkek and Osh.
The Prosecutor's Office and the State Labor Inspectorate were
responsible for enforcing employers' compliance with the labor code.
During the year the inspectorate had 54 inspectors throughout the
country. During the first six months of the year, the General
Procurator's Office conducted 21 checks, resulting in eight written
notifications, 14 demands for immediate action, 12 warnings, and two
disciplinary actions. Since many children worked for their families or
were self employed in such occupations as selling newspapers, pushing
handcarts at markets, and selling cigarettes and candy on the streets,
it was difficult for the Government to determine whether their work
schedules and environment conformed to government regulations. The
legislative assembly's committees of health protection, women and
family, and education, science, and cultural affairs oversaw the legal
protection of the interests of minors whenever new laws were discussed
in parliament. Trade unions enforced compliance with the labor code.
The FTU also had the right to carry out child labor inspections when it
received a complaint; there were no inspections during the year.
The Government was unable to enforce child labor laws adequately
due to a lack of resources. Although employers caught violating the
labor code could be charged with disciplinary, financial,
administrative, or criminal penalties, punishment was usually minimal.
The Government supported several social programs to prevent the
engagement of children in exploitative child labor. Araket, a national
poverty reduction program, provided financial support for low income
families. New Generation, a children's rights program, worked to define
suitable working conditions for children and to introduce new methods
of monitoring employers' compliance with labor legislation.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government mandated national
minimum wage of approximately $2.54 (100 Kyrgyz Som) per month did not
provide a decent standard of living for workers and their families.
However, industries and employers generally paid somewhat higher wages.
The FTU was responsible for enforcing all labor laws, including the
minimum wages law; minimum wage regulations were largely observed.
Salaries in the health care field were among the lowest, averaging
$33.80 (1,385 Kyrgyz Som) per month. Although the enforcement of labor
laws was nonexistent in the growing underground economy, market forces
helped wages in the unofficial sector keep pace with official wage
scales.
In accordance with the Law on Foreign Labor Migration, adopted on
November 14, 2005, all foreign workers are provided with the same
rights and conditions as citizens.
The standard workweek is 40 hours, usually within a 5 day week. For
state owned industries, there is a mandated 24 hour rest period in the
workweek. According to the labor code, overtime work cannot exceed 4
hours per day and 20 hours per week; premium pay of between 150 and 200
percent the hourly wage or compensatory leave for overtime work are
provided for. These provisions were mainly enforced at large companies
and organizations with strong trade unions.
Safety and health conditions in factories were poor. The law
establishes occupational health and safety standards, as well as
enforcement procedures. The state labor inspectorate is responsible for
protecting and educating workers as well as informing business owners
of their rights and responsibilities. The state labor inspectorate is
also tasked with carrying out inspections for all types of labor issues
but rarely did so in practice. The Government failed to enforce
existing health and safety regulations. Besides government inspection
teams, trade unions are assigned active roles in assuring compliance
with these laws, but compliance was uneven among businesses. Workers
have the right to remove themselves from workplaces that endangered
their health or safety without jeopardy to their employment, and
workers exercised this right in practice.
__________
MALDIVES
The Republic of Maldives has a parliamentary style of government
with a strong executive and, according to current estimates, a
population of approximately 360,000. The President appoints the cabinet
and eight members of the 50-member parliament. The President derives
additional influence from his constitutional role as the ``supreme
authority to propagate the tenets of Islam.'' The unicameral
legislature, the People's Majlis, chooses a single Presidential nominee
who is selected or rejected in a national referendum. Voters approved
President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom for a sixth five-year term in 2003. In
May 2004 voters elected the members of the Special Majlis, a body
convoked by the President specifically to address constitutional
reforms. In January 2005 the Government held general parliamentary
elections. A Commonwealth Expert Team commended the broad participation
of voters and the peaceful nature of the elections, but made a number
of recommendations to reduce the ``democratic deficit'' in Maldives. In
June 2005 the Government legally recognized political parties for the
first time, and President Gayoom formed the Dhivehi Rayyethunge Party
(DRP), which he leads. The DRP is considered the governing party,
although the current government came to power before the party system
was implemented. The civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.
Although the Government's human rights record improved somewhat
during the year, serious problems remained. In March the Government
published a ``Roadmap for the Reform Agenda'' and subsequently
introduced several bills in parliament to address significant
structural difficulties. Although the proposed legislation was the
subject of intense national debate, none of the bills had passed by the
end of the year. Citizens faced restrictions on their ability to change
their government; some security forces occasionally abused detainees;
and the Government limited freedom of the press, freedom of assembly
and association, and freedom of religion. Unequal treatment of women
existed, as did restrictions 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 arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
On December 27, the High Court overturned the conviction of former
National Security Services captain Adam Mohamed on charges related to
three custodial shooting deaths at Maafushi prison in 2003. Mohamed had
served 20 months of his sentence before the High Court heard his appeal
and overturned the Criminal Court's conviction. An independent news web
site reported that the Attorney General (AG) will refer the case to the
President's Judicial Committee in order to uphold the initial
conviction.
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, although there were
credible reports of occasional mistreatment of persons by some security
forces. On January 5, police went to one of the islands of Fares-
Maathodaa to take two persons into police custody; the two were part of
a group that had refused to let a survey team leave the island until
the Government provided a written guarantee that a promised
construction project would be carried out. The Government provided the
guarantee and the survey team left. However, when security forces later
tried to arrest these individuals, a group tried to block police entry
to the island. According to opposition press reports police responded
with force, injuring several bystanders by striking out with batons and
using pepper spray for crowd control. The Government claimed that
security forces' actions were a proportional response to the crowd
blocking the security forces' passage.
On January 19, the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)
reported that police entered a regional party office and hit Mohamed
Ibrahim Didi, an MDP member of parliament present in the office, in the
stomach.
On June 22, the opposition press reported that prisoner Mohamed
Shameen, being held in Male's penitentiary block 373, was hospitalized
after having been beaten in custody; there was no report of an official
follow-up investigation.
On August 28, following a violent antigovernment demonstration in
Male MDP official Aishath Aniya, accompanied by two other activists and
pro-opposition radio news reporter Fathimath Shaheeda, went to a police
station to elicit information about the arrest of MDP members. Aniya
reported that a policeman punched her in the face, dragged her and
Shaheeda to a police van, drove them some distance away, and shoved
them out of the parked vehicle.
In general, punishments were limited to fines, compensatory
payment, house arrest, imprisonment, or banishment to a remote atoll
(see section 2.d.). The Government generally permitted those who were
banished to receive visits by family members.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--According to those who
conducted visits, prison conditions generally met international
standards, although pretrial detainees were not held separately from
convicted prisoners.
Some pro-opposition prisoners who were released during the year
reported being kept in cramped quarters or in solitary confinement
during detention. Early in the year the Government invited a consultant
from the Western Australian Police to evaluate prisons and make
recommendations. The consultant remained for 10 months, but his report
was not made public.
The Government permitted prison visits by foreign diplomats and the
Maldives Human Rights Commission (MHRC). There were no ICRC visits
during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrests and detention, but it gives the Government broad authority to
conduct arrests and detain suspects; in practice, there were reports
that police arrested and held persons arbitrarily.
On May 15, following the publication of a Presidential decree
regulating freedom of assembly, the MDP staged a series of
demonstrations in which over 120 protesters were arrested. Within 24
hours, authorities released without charge the majority of those
detained. However, on May 29, a court sentenced four detainees from the
May 15-21 protests to six-month jail terms without permitting them
access to lawyers. The court reportedly denied one of these four,
Mariyam Rahma, the opportunity to speak in her own defense.
The opposition reported that from October 30 to November 10 when an
opposition rally was planned, the Government arrested 108 persons, 34
of whom were released by November 22. The opposition posited that the
planned demonstration would be peaceful and was intended for party
members to urge parliamentarians to speed up the process of
constitutional reform. The Government reported receiving intelligence
that the demonstration would turn violent and accused some members of
the opposition of inciting revolution. However, according to Amnesty
International (AI), the Government failed to provide substantive
evidence to support allegations that any of the detainees used,
planned, or advocated violence. AI also reported that some security
forces hit or otherwise ill-treated arrestees in the lead-up to
November 10, and the Government severely restricted some detainees'
access to lawyers and medical treatment. In a press release the
Government countered that the AI report failed to recognize the planned
demonstration was illegal and accused the organization of making
judgments based on ``hearsay'' from ``militants.'' The opposition
reported that as of November 22, 66 persons were in detention and six
under house arrest under charges related to the planned November 10
protest. Almost all were released by December 31, but according to
opposition reports, at year's end, authorities were investigating 76
persons in relation to the planned November 10 protest.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The 287-officer
Maldives Police Service collects intelligence, makes arrests, and
enforces house arrest. Although the Maldives National Defense Force
(MNDF) is responsible for external security, it also retains a role in
internal security. The director of the MNDF reports to the minister of
defense.
Police initiated investigations in response to written complaints
from citizens, police officers, government officials, or on suspicion
of criminal activity. They are not legally required to obtain arrest
warrants or inform an arrested person of his rights, but government
officials stated that in practice they urged law enforcement officials
to inform arrested persons of their rights. The AG referred cases to
the appropriate court based on the results of police investigations.
The authorities generally kept the details of a case secret until they
were confident that the charges were likely to be upheld.
Neither police corruption nor impunity was a significant problem.
In September, per an agreement reached with the opposition during
British-mediated talks in Colombo, the Government established a Police
Integrity Commission. The opposition complained that the Government's
appointees did not include genuinely independent commissioners with
legal or police expertise. The commission had not begun substantive
deliberations by the end of the reporting period.
Arrest and Detention.--The constitution provides for an arrestee to
be informed of the reason for arrest within 24 hours, and provides for
the right to hire a lawyer. In addition, regulation requires that a
detainee should be informed of the right to a lawyer at the time of
arrest. The court does not appoint legal counsel, and there is no legal
requirement for search or arrest warrants. According to the AG's
office, an arrestee's family is normally informed of the arrest within
24 hours, although the law does not require that police inform the
family of the grounds for the arrest. Detainees are generally permitted
to have counsel present during police questioning. Under a bail system
introduced in 2005, a prisoner has the right to a ruling on bail within
36 hours; however, there were reports that bail procedures were not
publicized adequately, explained, or implemented consistently.
The law provides for investigative detention. Once a person is
detained, the arresting officer must present evidence to a legal
committee within 24 hours. The committee can then recommend detention
for up to seven days pending further investigation. After the seven
days expire, the officer can petition a second committee, which can
then recommend detention for a maximum additional 15 days. If the
authorities are unable to present sufficient evidence after the 22 days
provided, the prisoner is eligible for release, although judges have
the authority to extend detention past 22 days upon receiving a
petition from the arresting officer, on the basis of factors such as
the detainee's previous criminal record, the status of the
investigation, the type of offense in question, or whether the detainee
might pose a threat if released.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law does not provide for an
independent judiciary, and the judiciary is subject to executive
influence. Until November 2005, in addition to his authority to review
high court decisions, the President influenced the judiciary through
his power to appoint and dismiss judges. In November 2005 the
Government announced the creation of a 10-member judicial services
commission (JSC) led by the chief justice, himself a Presidential
appointee. In total, seven of the 10 JSC members are government
officials appointed by the President and serving on the JSC by virtue
of their role, such as Justice Minister or Attorney General. The JSC is
supposed to appoint, dismiss, and examine the conduct of all judges,
and recommend candidates for judgeships to the President; the
legislation setting up the commission permits the body to accept or
veto Presidential appointments to judgeships. The JSC did not establish
its rules of procedure until July, eight months after it was formed; it
is unclear whether the JSC discussed substantive matters in the course
of the reporting period. Since its founding, the JSC has not publicized
deliberations or made public recommendations on the hiring, dismissal,
or discipline of any judges.
There are three courts: One for civil matters, one for criminal
cases, and one for family and juvenile cases. There is also a high
court in Male that handles a wide range of cases, including politically
sensitive ones. The President's judicial advisory council, led by the
chief justice, is empowered to review all court rulings as the final
arbiter of appeals.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides that an accused person be
presumed innocent until proven guilty, and that an accused person has
the right to defend himself ``in accordance with Shari'a (Islamic
law).'' The judiciary generally enforced these rights. During a trial,
the accused may call witnesses and has the right to be represented by a
lawyer, although one is not appointed at public expense (see section
1.d.). Regulations rather than laws govern trial procedures, and during
the reporting period there were complaints that the lack of uniformity
in courts made it difficult for defendants to argue their cases. By
tradition the prosecution collects all evidence and presents it to a
judge, who has the discretion to choose what evidence he will share
with the defense. Judges question the concerned parties and attempt to
establish the facts of a case.
Most trials were public and were conducted by judges and
magistrates, some of whom were trained in Islamic, civil, or criminal
law. There were no jury trials.
Opposition activist Ahmed Abbas was tried in absentia on November 1
for comments he made to a newspaper in August 2005 saying that police
should be made to feel that physical abuse is painful. Abbas reported
that he first learned of the case against him when he read about his
sentencing on a pro-government web site on November 2. For
clarification, he contacted a relative working in the Ministry of
Justice, who confirmed that the court had sentenced him. Abbas then
unsuccessfully sought asylum at both the Indian High Commission and the
UN. The UN turned Abbas over to the authorities on November 3 after
receiving government assurances that Abbas would not be harmed and
would have access to legal representation. Authorities said Abbas's
trial in absentia followed legal requirements, which permit a trial in
absentia if the accused does not appear in court despite several
attempts to inform him/her of the court date. Abbas was taken to
Dhoonidoo detention center and transferred to Maafushi Jail to begin
serving his sentence on November 5.
Civil law is subordinate to Shari'a, which is applied in situations
not covered by civil law, as well as in family law matters such as
divorce and adultery. Courts adjudicating matrimonial and criminal
cases generally do not allow legal counsel in court because, according
to a local interpretation of Shari'a, all answers and submissions
should come directly from the parties involved. However, the high court
allows legal counsel in all cases, including those in which the right
to counsel was denied in a lower court. Those convicted have the right
to appeal. Under the country's Islamic practice, the testimony of two
women equals that of one man in matters involving Shari'a, such as
adultery, finance, and inheritance. In other cases, the testimony of
men and women are equivalent (see section 5).
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The Government maintained that
there were no political prisoners; however, the MDP, international
NGOs, and some foreign governments asserted that some persons were held
for political reasons.
On February 22, the Government released two AI Prisoners of
Conscience, Naushad Waheed and Ahmed Didi. In 2001 Waheed had been
arrested and charged for crimes against the state for publicizing
accusations of abuses in prisons, while Didi had been arrested in 2002
for his involvement with an antigovernment news magazine. Both served
over three years in prison until being released with a Presidential
pardon.
During the week of July 23 the Government released a number of pro-
opposition detainees being held on unlawful assembly charges, but
according to the MDP, as of August 1, 81 opposition activists remained
in jail on politically motivated charges. After a series of discussions
between the opposition and the Government with British facilitation in
Colombo between July and August, the opposition committed to limit
protests and minimize antigovernment rhetoric. In exchange, the
Government released all but six detained opposition members.
On August 16, the Government released Jennifer Latheef, the
daughter of an MDP founding member and herself a human rights activist
who was under house arrest serving a sentence on a terrorism
conviction. In October 2005 the criminal court sentenced Latheef to 10
years of imprisonment for her participation in a violent demonstration
in Male in 2003. She served three months of her sentence at Maafushi
Prison before being transferred to house arrest on December 21. Four
others were charged with Latheef and received the same sentence;
although Latheef was freed with a pardon, the other four remain in
Maafushi jail. Latheef maintained her innocence and sought a full
exoneration through a judicial appeal to overturn her conviction. The
Government did not accept her petition for an appeal hearing, citing
the Presidential pardon that granted her release as adequate redress.
On September 21, the Government released Mohamed Nasheed, the
chairman of the MDP. The Government announced in a public statement
that the charges against Nasheed would be dropped if he adopted ``a
more conciliatory approach'' to the Government. Human rights groups,
the MHRC, and the MDP stated that the August 2005 arrest and subsequent
prosecution of Nasheed on charges of terrorism and crimes against the
state were politically motivated. Police initially informed Nasheed
that he was being taken into protective custody. Later, police charged
him with one count of terrorism and one count of committing a crime
against the state--tantamount to sedition.
Before his release in September, Nasheed did not receive a long-
term trial schedule, making the term of his pretrial detention under
house arrest indefinite. In addition, his hearing dates changed several
times without adequate notice, creating obstacles for his defense team
and for an international trial observer. The broad charges against
Nasheed fell under antiterrorism legislation, but the specific charges
against him changed at various points during his trial. At his initial
hearing, Nasheed was told he was being tried for his participation in
an August 2005 demonstration that turned violent following his arrest;
he was later informed that the charges against him spanned events over
the last 17 years. One such accusation was ``instilling fear in the
people's hearts.''
Between October 30 and November 10, police arrested and detained
108 activists in the lead-up to a planned demonstration November 10.
On November 14, the Government charged MDP acting President Ibrahim
Hussein Zaki with ``inciting enmity against the lawful government'' for
an October 13 speech in which he commended an act of civil disobedience
and discussed revolution. The Government posited that Zaki's speech was
inciting a violent overthrow, while Zaki said he did not advocate
violence and was exercising appropriate freedom of political
expression. The opposition called the charges against Zaki politically
motivated.
As of December 31, according to opposition reports, of the 108
activists arrested prior to the November 10 demonstration, two persons
were convicted and serving jail sentences, one person was under
investigative detention, 76 persons were released from detention but
told investigations and charges were pending, and 26 persons were
released without charge. The opposition called the detentions and
subsequent charges politically motivated, while the Government
responded that all detainees had violated local laws.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is a Civil Court
that addresses non-criminal cases. However, as with the criminal
courts, the judiciary is subject to executive influence. There were no
reported cases of individuals seeking redress for human rights
violations through civil courts, although an individual filed an unfair
dismissal case after being fired for participating in an antigovernment
demonstration (see section 2.b.). No administrative remedies were
available.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits security officials from opening or
reading wireless messages, letters, telegrams, or monitoring telephone
conversations, ``except as expressly provided by law''; and the
Government generally respected privacy rights in practice. Security
forces may open the mail of private citizens and monitor telephone
conversations if authorized to do so in the course of a criminal
investigation. In 2005 opposition sympathizers reported that security
services intercepted some of their SMS messages. Also in 2005, hackers
broke into pro-opposition activists' e-mail accounts and published
doctored e-mails on pro-government web sites.
Although the law provides that residential premises and dwellings
should be inviolable, there is no legal requirement for search or
arrest warrants. The AG or a commanding officer of the police must
approve the search of private residences.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for limited
freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government generally
did not respect these rights in practice. The law limits a citizen's
right to freedom of expression in order to protect the ``basic tenets
of Islam,'' and prohibits inciting citizens against the Government.
In 2005 the Government registered almost 200 independent newspapers
and periodicals, but either a current or former government minister
owned three, Aafathis, Haveeru, and Miadhu, of the four publications
put out on a daily basis throughout the year.
The Government or its sympathizers owned and operated the only
television and radio stations. The Government did not interfere with
the sale of satellite receivers. The Government radio and television
stations aired reports drawn from other foreign newscasts. Although the
Government implicitly committed to permitting the functioning of
independent radio stations in the ``Media'' section of its March Reform
Roadmap, by the end of the year the legislature had not passed the
necessary bill to recognize independent radio stations.
Journalists, primarily pro-opposition reporters, stated that they
faced harassment throughout the course of the year. On April 20, a
court sentenced Minivan journalist Fahala Saeed to life in prison on
drug charges. Saeed had been called to the police station with advance
notice, was searched once, declared free of contraband, then separated
from his attorney, strip searched, and told that drugs had been found
in his pockets. At Saeed's trial, a witness testified that 1.1 grams of
heroin had been discovered in his trousers; possession of over one gram
of drugs is considered prima facie intent to sell. Saeed was denied the
right to present two defense witnesses and to attest that he was not
carrying drugs, although he maintained his innocence. On July 30,
authorities allowed Saeed to leave prison and visit his home for three
days. He was also permitted to remain in Male to have access to medical
care for injuries unrelated to his incarceration. In late December
authorities returned Saeed to Maafushi prison.
On May 6, authorities arrested Minivan's sub-editor, Nazim Sattar,
on undisclosed charges when he accompanied a visiting international
press freedom delegation to a rally for World Press Freedom Day. Also
on May 6, an independent news web site reported that Ahmed Moosa, the
UK-based editor of Dhivehi Observer, a banned antigovernment web site,
was denied a renewal of his passport.
On May 14, police in Male arrested Minivan radio host, Fathimath
Shaheeda, on unlawful assembly charges for participating in a pro-
opposition rally. Shaheeda also reported being ill-treated by police
when she accompanied an MDP official to the Male police station to
elicit information about the arrest of activists on August 28 (see
section 1.c.).
On May 15, Minivan's sub-editor Sattar also faced a hearing on a
disobedience to order charge. The charge stemmed from Minivan's August
2005 publication of an article quoting activist Ahmed Abbas saying
police should be made to feel that physical abuse was painful; the
article allegedly incited violence and antipathy toward police (see
section 1.e). The case was adjourned without being resolved.
On May 27, police used pepper spray against a BBC journalist
covering the trial of MDP chairperson Mohamed Nasheed.
On November 4, police brought a foreign national accredited to
Minivan news and a free-lance British journalist affiliated with The
Observer to a police station for questioning and requested they delete
audio files and photos. The two refused and were released without
charge after four hours. Subsequently, the two were asked to leave the
country; they were held at the airport over night before being
permitted to board flights the following morning.
The Government issued a press release claiming they were not
genuine journalists accredited to ``reputable news organizations,'' and
accusing them of attempting to destabilize society. Both reporters
denied those charges. One had a valid work permit issued by the
Government and Minivan News, his employing organization in the country.
Minivan was the only pro-opposition daily newspaper, had an independent
news web site, and transmitted a radio program confined only to the
Internet because the Government had not registered the radio station
for on-air broadcast. However, the Government tolerated the lone radio
reporter's news gathering.
On November 20, a journalist from Minivan Daily reported that
police were investigating two Minivan staff for publishing an article
quoting a foreign analyst who criticized the President. There was no
further information at year's end.
In April 2005 the Government blacklisted three British nationals,
including one who edited and wrote for the independent Minivan News web
site, a lawyer then consulting for the opposition, and another
individual running a pro-democracy NGO, alleging the three had ties to
Islamic terrorism. Pro-government web sites have accused the lawyer and
the NGO activist of conducting Christian missionary work in addition to
supporting Islamic fundamentalism/terrorism. All three British
nationals remained blacklisted.
In December 2005 authorities initiated an investigation of
Minivan's Colombo offices on charges that two Minivan employees were
conducting seditious activity and arms trafficking. Sri Lankan police
served a search warrant and examined Minivan premises in Colombo but
found no evidence of criminal activity. Minivan stopped broadcasting
radio news programs, and the web site's writers left Sri Lanka to work
from the United Kingdom. The radio program resumed broadcasting via the
Internet from Europe in February. Because the Government did not
register the radio station, the radio show's editor, based in Male,
audio recorded the program and e-mailed the sound files abroad, from
where they were re-broadcasted online.
Although an amendment to the law decriminalizes ``true account(s)''
of government actions by journalists, both journalists and publishers
practiced self-censorship (see section 2.d.).
There were no legal prohibitions on the import of foreign
publications except for those containing pornography or material
otherwise deemed objectionable to Islamic values.
Internet Freedom.--The Government generally did not interfere with
the use of the Internet; however, it blocked the pro-opposition Dhivehi
Observer news web site and sites deemed pornographic. The Internet was
widely present and used within the capital, but there was limited
Internet availability in outlying atolls due to infrastructure
constraints.
The blocked Dhivehi Observer, which many citizens reportedly viewed
via mirror sites, featured personal photos, cartoons, and commentary
about government sympathizers. Several progovernment web sites, none of
which was blocked, featured sexual allegations and personal photos
(some doctored) of perceived pro-opposition women. Some of these web
sites included the women's mobile phone numbers and e-mail addresses
along with their photos, and the women reported receiving numerous
harassing communications as a result.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The law prohibits public
statements contrary to government policy or to the Government's
interpretation of Islam. Therefore, although there were no reported
cases of transgressions of these laws in the academic arena, the laws
constrain academic freedom to the extent that academics practiced self-
censorship.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly; however,
the Government imposed limits on this right in practice.
The Government permitted members of political parties, including
those in the opposition, to hold public meetings and rallies with prior
notification to the Government. Unlike previous years, some rallies and
demonstrations passed without incident and with minimal arrests.
However, several rallies led to police arresting and detaining
demonstrators on unlawful assembly charges. Members of the opposition
stated that their right to peaceful protest was restricted, while
government officials countered that demonstrators gathered late at
night and violated reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on
assembly. Most demonstrators arrested were later released without
formal charges.
The opposition stated that protests on January 13 and 18, April 15,
May 15-19, and June 15 resulted in forceful police responses, with
several demonstrators and by-standers reportedly injured by police on
each occasion. There were reports that some police wielded batons
indiscriminately and hit or kicked demonstrators. Government officials
responded that security force conduct was a proportionate response to
protestors throwing stones or physically assaulting others. On November
10, the MDP cancelled a rally because of a prior government crackdown
that led to the arrest of over 100 MDP activists. The Government
claimed that the activists were planning to incite violence; the MDP
denied these charges (see section 1.d.).
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association; however, the Government imposed some limits on freedom of
association in practice. The Government only registered clubs and other
private associations if they did not contravene Islamic or civil law.
In June 2005 parliament unanimously voted to allow political
parties to register and function for the first time. This followed a
May 2005 legal opinion from the AG, who interpreted the constitution as
permitting political parties.
According to the opposition, some MDP members who were civil
servants were dismissed for their political affiliations. Government
officials responded that the political beliefs of those dismissed
created a conflict of interest and made it impossible for them to
function. On December 11, Zaheena Rasheed attended the first hearing of
an unfair dismissal case she initiated against the Ministry of Atolls
Development. Rasheed, who had served as a Planning and Monitoring
Officer, reportedly received two job dismissal notices, the latter
citing her for holding a banner at a demonstration calling for the
President to resign. She said her action at that time was legal, and at
year's end she had petitioned the civil court for financial
compensation and a reinstatement of her position.
Few NGOs existed in the country. Many NGOs focused on tsunami
relief and not on human rights. Those NGOs reported that they exercised
self-censorship (see section 4).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law does not provide for freedom of
religion, and it was significantly restricted. The constitution
designates Sunni Islam as the official state religion, and the
Government interpreted this provision as imposing a requirement that
citizens be Muslims. The law prohibits the practice of any religion
other than Islam. The Government observes a combination of Shari'a and
civil law. Civil law is subordinate to Shari'a, which is applied in
situations not covered by civil law as well as in cases such as divorce
and adultery. Non-Muslim foreign residents were allowed to practice
their religion only if they did so privately and did not encourage
citizens to participate. President Gayoom repeatedly stated that no
other religion should be allowed in the country, and the home affairs
ministry announced special programs to safeguard and strengthen
religious unity. The President, the members of the People's Majlis, and
cabinet members must be Muslim.
There were no places of worship for adherents of other religions.
The Government prohibited the import of icons and religious statues,
but it generally permitted the import of religious literature, such as
Bibles, for personal use. It also prohibited non-Muslim clergy and
missionaries from proselytizing and conducting public worship services.
Conversion of a Muslim to another faith is a violation of the
Government's interpretation of Shari'a and may result in punishment,
including the loss of the convert's citizenship; however, there were no
known cases of loss of citizenship from conversion to a non-Islamic
religion. In the past, would-be converts were detained and counseled
regarding their conversion from Islam.
Islamic instruction in school is mandatory, and the Government
funded the salaries of religious instructors. The Government
established a Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs to provide guidance on
religious matters. The council certified imams, who were responsible
for presenting Friday sermons. Imams may choose to use a set of
government-approved sermons on a variety of topics, but they are not
legally empowered to write sermons independently. No one, not even an
imam, may publicly discuss Islam unless invited to do so by the
Government.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Under the country's Islamic
practice, certain legal provisions discriminate against women (see
sections 1.e., 3, and 5). There were no known Jewish citizens, 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. Citizens are free
to travel at home and abroad, to emigrate, and to return. Employers
often housed foreign workers at their worksites.
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 (see section
5), and the Government has not established a system for providing
protection to refugees or asylees. The Government has cooperated in the
past with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees; however,
asylum issues did not arise during the year. The Government provided
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country
where they feared persecution. The Government did not routinely grant
refugee status or asylum.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law limits citizens' ability to change their government, and
the strong executive exerted significant influence over both the
legislature and the judiciary. Under the constitution the People's
Majlis, or legislature, chooses a single Presidential nominee, who must
be a Sunni Muslim male, from a list of self-announced candidates for
the nomination. Would-be nominees for President are not permitted to
campaign for the nomination. The final nominee is confirmed or rejected
by secret ballot in a nationwide referendum. From a field of four
initial candidates in 2003, the legislature nominated and confirmed
President Gayoom by referendum for a sixth five-year term. Observers
from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation stated that
the referendum was conducted in a free and fair manner. All citizens
over 21 years of age may vote.
By both law and custom, the Office of the President is the most
powerful political institution in the country, and the law designates
the President as the ``supreme authority to propagate the tenets'' of
Islam.
The President's mandate to appoint eight of the 50 members of the
legislature provides him strong political leverage. The elected members
of the legislature, who must be Muslims, serve five-year terms.
Individuals or groups are free to approach members of the legislature
with grievances or opinions on proposed legislation, and any member of
the legislature may introduce legislation.
In 2004 the President assembled a Special Majlis, or special
legislature, to discuss constitutional reform. Of the 113 people who
serve on the special legislature, the President directly appoints 29.
The special legislature consists of all 50 members of the normal
legislature, including the eight appointees and 42 elected members;
eight additional Presidential appointments directly to the special
legislature and another 42 members elected by the public; and 13
members of the President's cabinet.
Elections and Political Participation.--In January 2005 legislative
elections, citizens elected several candidates sympathetic to the
opposition. Critics of the Government claimed that some candidates who
remained under house arrest were unable to file applications to contest
the elections by the November 2004 deadline; nevertheless, at least one
candidate who was in detention at the filing deadline was able to file
an application, conduct a campaign, and get elected.
In 2004 citizens elected 42 members of the People's Special Majlis,
the body convened by the President to address constitutional reforms.
The special legislature met several times during the year, and unlike
in past years, debated some substantive issues. Nevertheless, by the
end of the year, the special legislature had not taken concrete steps
toward constitutional reform.
In June 2005 the Government allowed the establishment of political
parties (see section 2.b.). There were two elected women and four
female Presidential appointments in the 50-member legislature. Of the
113-seat special legislature, 13 women served, including the six women
from the normal legislature, two female cabinet members, and one
elected woman and four women appointed directly to the special
legislature. There were two women in the cabinet. Women are not
eligible to become President but may hold other government posts.
In November 2005 a by-election was held to fill three seats in the
legislature. While candidates were not permitted to campaign on party
tickets, parties were permitted to endorse candidates.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were anecdotal
reports that the power of the President and his family directed many
decisions, including economic activities and political reform. An
anticorruption board investigated allegations of corruption in the
Government. The board met regularly and referred cases, usually
concerning monetary fraud, to the AG's office.
There are no laws that provide for access to government
information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were a few independent local human rights groups, including
one called Hama Jamiyya. During the year, the Foreign Minister and AG
established an NGO called the Open Society Association; authorities
officially registered an NGO called the Maldivian Detainee Network,
although previously it faced a number of bureaucratic obstacles.
NGOs reported that they exercised self-censorship.
The ICRC conducted prison visits in April and August 2005, and the
International Committee of Jurists sent an observer to some of
opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed's hearings.
On August 8, parliament passed legislation making the Maldives
Human Rights Commission (MHRC) compliant with UN guidelines, and the
President ratified the bill August 17. On September 9, the President
submitted five nominees to serve on the MHRC, and in November the
authorities officially reconstituted the MHRC, but it was not yet fully
operational by the end of the year. It had remained nonfunctioning
following the 2005 resignation of the previous MHRC Chairman Ahmed
Mujthaba and two other members.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides for the equality of all citizens, but there is no
specific provision to prohibit discrimination based on race, sex,
religion, disability, or social status. Women traditionally were
disadvantaged, particularly in the application of Shari'a, in matters
such as divorce, education, inheritance, and testimony in legal
proceedings.
Women.--There were no laws regarding domestic violence against
women. There were no firm data on the extent of violence against women,
although a 2005 MRHC baseline attitude survey indicated that many
citizens believed men should be permitted to hit their wives under some
circumstances. A November NGO report concerning the UN Convention on
the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women said that many women
reported encountering sexual harassment in public places and at their
places of employment. There were no specific laws dealing with spousal
rape. Police officials reported that they received few complaints of
assaults against women.
Prostitution is illegal but occurred on a small scale.
There are no laws pertaining to sexual harassment. Although women
traditionally played a subordinate role in society, they participated
in public life in growing numbers. Women constituted approximately 39
percent of government employees. The literacy rate for women was
approximately 98 percent. A Gender Equality Council advised the
Government on policies to help strengthen the role of women. The
minimum age of marriage for women is 18 years, but marriages at an
earlier age were common.
Under Islamic practice, husbands may divorce their wives more
easily than vice versa absent mutual agreement to divorce. Shari'a also
governed in estate inheritance, granting male heirs twice the share of
female heirs. A woman's testimony is equal to one-half that of a man in
matters involving adultery, finance, and inheritance (see section
1.e.). Women who worked for wages received pay equal to that of men in
the same positions.
Children.--Education is not compulsory, but there is universal
access to free primary education. In 2004 the percentage of school-age
children in school grades one to seven was 79 percent; in grades eight
to 10 it was 62 percent; and in grades 11-12 it was 16 percent. Of the
students enrolled, 49 percent were female and 51 percent male. In many
instances, parents curtailed education for girls after the seventh
grade by not allowing them to leave their home island for another
island with a secondary school.
Children's rights are incorporated into law, which specifically
seeks to protect them from both physical and psychological abuse,
including at the hands of teachers or parents. The Ministry of Gender
and Family Development has the authority to enforce this law and
received strong popular support for its efforts. During the year, the
ministry reported continued child abuse, including sexual abuse.
Penalties for the sexual abuse of children range from as much as three
years' imprisonment to banishment.
Government policy provides for equal access to educational and
health programs for both male and female children.
Child labor remained a problem, primarily in agriculture, fishing,
and in small commercial activities, including in family enterprises.
There were no reports of children being employed in the industrial
sector (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.--No law specifically addresses the
rights of persons with physical or mental disabilities. Local NGOs
claimed in 2005 that there were thousands of persons with disabilities
due to high levels of malnutrition during pregnancy. The Government
established programs and provided services for persons with
disabilities, including special educational programs for persons with
hearing and vision disabilities. The Government integrated students
with physical disabilities into mainstream educational programs.
Families usually cared for persons with disabilities; when family care
was unavailable, persons with disabilities lived in the Ministry of
Gender and Family's Institute for Needy People, which also assisted
elderly persons. When requested, the Government provided free
medication for all persons with mental disabilities in the islands, but
follow-up care was infrequent.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits
homosexuality, and citizens did not generally accept homosexuality. The
punishment for men includes banishment from nine months to one year or
whipping from 10 to 30 times. For women, the punishment is house arrest
for nine months to one year.
There were no reports of official or societal discrimination
against persons with HIV/AIDS.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--While the law does not prohibit
unions, it recognizes neither a worker's right to form or join a union
nor the right to strike. Small groups of similarly employed workers
with mutual interests have formed associations, some of which include
employers as well as employees. These associations have not acted as
trade unions.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law does
not recognize workers' rights to organize and bargain collectively.
Wages in the private sector are set by contract between employers and
employees and are usually based on rates for similar work in the public
sector.
There were no reports of efforts to form unions or of strikes
during the year.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law does not
prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but there
were no reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law bars children less than 14 years of age from paid or hazardous
work. Guidelines prohibit government employment of children under 18
and employment in hazardous jobs such as construction, carpentry,
welding, and driving.
According to a 2003 report by the International Confederation of
Free Trade Unions, child labor was a problem in agriculture, fishing,
small commercial activities, and family enterprises. Working hours for
children 14 years or older are not limited specifically by statute. A
unit for children's rights in the Ministry of Gender, Family
Development and Social Security is responsible for monitoring
compliance with the child labor regulations, but it was not charged
with their enforcement. The Ministry of Employment and Labor has an
employment relations and compliance unit that deals with child labor
problems.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no national minimum
wage for the private sector, although the Government established wage
floors for government employment. These wage floors provided a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. Given the severe shortage
of labor, employers offered competitive pay and conditions to attract
skilled workers.
There are no statutory provisions for hours of work, but the
regulations require that a work contract specify the normal work and
overtime hours on a weekly or monthly basis. The public sector provides
a seven-hour day and a five-day workweek.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor's employment relations and
compliance unit resolves wage and labor disputes, visits worksites, and
enforces labor regulations. There are no national laws governing health
and safety conditions. There are regulatory requirements in certain
industries such as construction and transport that employers provide a
safe working environment and ensure the observance of safety measures.
In the absence of a labor law, it was unclear whether workers would be
protected from retaliatory dismissal if they attempted to remove
themselves from, or eliminate, unsafe working conditions.
__________
NEPAL
Nepal is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary form of
government and a population of approximately 28 million. Until April
27, King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev had direct control of the
Government, citing the need to fight a Maoist insurgency under the
emergency powers article of the constitution. After the successful
popular uprising in April, the King restored parliament and ceded power
to a government headed by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and run
by an alliance of the seven main political parties (Nepali Congress,
Nepali Congress-Democratic, Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist
Leninist, Nepal Sadbhavana Party-Anandi Devi, People's Front Nepal,
Nepal Peasants and Workers Party, and the United Left Front). On
November 21, the Government and the Maoists signed a comprehensive
peace agreement that called for an interim government, with the
participation of the Maoists, to be formed by December 1. At year's
end, the Government and the Maoists had not yet formed an interim
government. The most recent national parliamentary elections were held
in 1999 and were considered generally free and fair by international
observers. The King held municipal elections in February that most
political parties boycotted and the international community criticized.
While the King generally maintained effective control of the security
forces, elements of the security forces sometimes acted independently
of government authority before the popular uprising. After the April
uprising, the newly formed government took over control of the security
forces; however, the Government has not used the security forces
effectively to enforce law and order. The November 21 peace agreement
called for the Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force (APF) to enforce
law and order across the country. Authorities reestablished some police
posts across the country, but Maoists subsequently forced many of them
to close. The Government ordered the police not to endanger the peace
process by taking action against the Maoists.
Members of the security forces and the Maoist insurgents committed
numerous grave human rights abuses during the year. Arbitrary and
unlawful use of lethal force, including torture, as well as
disappearances, occurred frequently. In addition, arbitrary arrest and
lengthy pretrial detention, restrictions on the right to assemble,
obstruction of citizens' right to change the Government, and impunity
for security forces remained serious problems. The Government also
compromised independence of the judiciary, suspended news broadcasts,
restricted the Tibetan community, restricted internal travel, and
discriminated against persons with disabilities and lower castes.
Violence against women and trafficking in women and girls continued.
Maoist acts of violence, extortion and intimidation continued
throughout the year (see section 1.g.).
There has been some improvement in the human rights situation since
the transition of power on April 27. Government abuses decreased
substantially, while Maoist abuses, such as abduction, extortion, and
violence, continued relatively unabated.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Before the popular
uprising in April, security forces continued to commit arbitrary and
unlawful killings. According to a local nongovernmental organization
(NGO), Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC), security forces killed
247 people between January 1 and November 20. Additionally, Nepal Army
(NA) soldiers killed numerous others before the cease-fire declaration
on April 27, including those in custody who were tortured, according to
NGO sources (see section 1.c.). The National Human Rights Commission
(NHRC) reported that the Government and Maoists killed 43 persons
between April 27 and December 31. During the year, the NA's human
rights investigative cell conducted 102 new investigations involving
163 individuals. In most cases of arbitrary or unlawful killings, the
security forces claimed that the victims were Maoists. After the
restoration of parliament in April, NA abuses lessened substantially.
On February 8, security forces shot and killed Umesh Chandra Thapa
in Dang. Thapa was shot when security forces fired on a peaceful
demonstration protesting the municipal elections.
On March 8, according to INSEC, security forces shot and killed
Rishiram Kumal, a civilian. Kumal met security forces while he was
walking to his home in Kusundeter. Security forces were on a search
operation, and when they asked Kumal where he had come from, and Kumal
did not respond, security forces shot and killed him. After the
incident, five security forces went to the nearby Rambhadevi Primary
School and took two teachers of that school to the place of the
incident. The security forces asked the teachers to identify the dead
body, but the teachers were unable to recognize him. Security forces
buried Kumal near Rambha Devi Primary School and did not notify Kumal's
family. When Kumal's family inquired about their son, villagers and
teachers of the school said that there was a shooting near the school
that day. The victim's family went to the burial place and excavated
the body.
During the 19-day popular uprising in April, INSEC reported that
security forces killed 21 persons nationwide. Those killed included
Bhimsen Dahal in Pokhara and Tulasi Chetri in Bharatpur on April 8, and
Bishnu Pandey in Nawalparasi on April 12.
Security forces used excessive force against persons in custody,
resulting in deaths during the year. On January 5, security forces
arrested Devendra Rai in Bhojpur on suspicion of being a Maoist. The
security forces beat and subsequently killed Rai. On April 26, security
forces arrested Sapana Gurung on suspicion of being a Maoist. The
soldiers allegedly raped and beat Gurung before they shot and killed
her. At year's end, the NA had not reached a verdict on this case.
At year's end, there had been no action taken to investigate the
July 2005 deaths in custody of Laxmi Yadab, Hari Prasad Yadab, Kari
Kapar, and Kari Saha.
There were no developments in the 2004 killings of Rajendra Paneru,
Ganesh Syangtang, Subhadra Chaulagain, Reena Rasaili, Kishori Patel
Kurmi, Suresh Raut Patel, Govinda Poudel, or for any victims of the
February 2004 raid in Ward 4 Handikhola VDC.
During the year there were no reports of injuries or deaths from
NA-planted landmines protecting military installations and
infrastructure. The Maoists used landmines in and alongside roads,
killing both security forces and civilians (see section 1.g.). There
were more than 117 civilian casualties, with 23 resulting in death,
from accidental explosions of landmines or improvised explosive devices
during the year. The November 21 peace agreement called for all
landmines to be identified and located within 30 days and removed
completely within 60 days. At year's end, there had been no indication
that this process had started.
Maoist rebels repeatedly clashed with security forces and engaged
in targeted killing of security forces, government officials, and
civilians during the year. Maoist killings lessened after the cease-
fire in April, but other abuses continued nearly unabated.
INSEC reported that insurgents killed 240 civilians during the year
(see section 1.g.), including on January 22, when Maoists shot and
killed Bijay Lal Das, a local leader of the Nepal Sadbhavana Party-
Anandi Devi.
There was a notable upswing in vigilante groups, increasing the
level of violence experienced by the civilian population during the
year. For example, on June 30, an anti-Maoist vigilante group killed
two Maoists in Kapilvastu district (see section 1.g.). The Government
did not penalize villagers who were involved in vigilante killings.
b. Disappearance.--Before June 12, there were disappearances of
persons while in the custody of security forces. In some cases,
individuals disappeared, and their whereabouts remained unknown until
much later when the Government acknowledged that the individuals were
detained under the Terrorist and Destructive Activities Ordinance
(TADO) (see section 1.d.). On June 12, the Government repealed TADO and
released between 300 and 600 Maoists held under the act. Under TADO,
suspects had to appear before a court within 60 days of their arrest,
and the Government could hold suspects in preventive detention for 360
days.
In May the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR)
reported on the status of 49 disappeared people whom the Bhairabnath
Battalion of the NA arrested and detained at the Maharajgunj barracks
in Kathmandu in 2003 on suspicion of being linked to the Maoists. The
Government denied knowledge of their whereabouts. While members of the
Bhairabnath battalion acknowledged arresting 137 people between
September and December 2003, battalion officials claimed that prisoners
were released or transferred after short periods of detention.
INSEC data of unresolved disappearances lists the Government as
responsible for the disappearance of 1,305 persons from the beginning
of the insurgency in 1996 through 2005. The Maoists, according to INSEC
figures, were responsible for the abduction of 46,794 persons and the
disappearance of 8,715 persons in 2005. By year's end the Government
had not prosecuted government officials or Maoists for their
involvement in disappearances.
The NHRC reported that the Government was responsible for the
disappearances of 2,032 people from 2000 until 2006 and had made public
the whereabouts of all but 646 by year's end. The home ministry created
a committee to conduct an investigation into the whereabouts of the
other 646, but at year's end had not publicly released any information.
Two of the three members of the NA implicated in the 2004 death and
disappearance of Maina Sunawar remained in service in the military; the
other left the NA voluntarily. Details concerning the investigation
conducted by the Court of Inquiry Board (CIB) indicated that the
military was responsible for Maina's torture and subsequent death, and
identified the geographic area in which her body was buried. The NA
formed a second CIB and a court martial that handed down a verdict
against a colonel and two captains in the case. Authorities sentenced
the colonel to six months in prison and mandated that he not be
promoted for two years. The colonel also paid a $675 (50,000 NR) fine.
The two captains were given six-month prison terms, could not be
promoted for one year, and were forced to pay a $338 (25,000 NR) fine.
There were no developments in the 2004 disappearance of Hari
Krishna Adhikari.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits torture, beating, and mutilation;
however, security forces regularly engaged in such activities to punish
suspects or to extract confessions, especially before the popular
uprising in April. The Center for Victims of Torture (CVICT) and
Advocacy Forum-Nepal, local NGOs, reported that blindfolding and
beating the soles of feet were commonly used methods. Abuse of those in
custody also included beatings with plastic pipes, submersion in water,
sexual humiliation, restricted movement, and prolonged sensory
deprivation. Prisoners were forced to remain day and night in a prone
position on a thin mat on the floor with their hands cuffed and shared
one bathroom. The Government failed to conduct thorough and independent
investigations of reports of security force brutality and generally did
not take significant disciplinary action against those involved.
Citizens were afraid to bring cases against the police or the army for
fear of reprisals.
On April 18, the NA arrested, abused, and killed six individuals,
including Berendra Thapa and Wakil Shahi, two suspected Maoists.
According to INSEC, the NA beat Thapa and Shahi before shooting Thapa
in the waist, chest, and back and Shahi in the chest and mouth. The NA
also took Keshab Singh and Ramebak Chaudhari from a house, tied their
hands behind their backs, and assaulted them. On the same day, the NA
took suspected Maoists Bibek and Rajendra to an artillery battalion,
where they were abused. The NA released Rajendra on May 10. According
to INSEC, authorities released Bibek afterwards.
On July 29, soldiers from the NA's Bhairabnath Battalion in
Kathmandu abducted three police officers by force, allegedly beating
and torturing them in the battalion's barracks. According to an October
29 press release from the NA, the General Military Court issued
sentences against four NA officers and 12 non-commissioned officers
involved in the attack. Ring leader Captain Rana was sentenced to one-
year imprisonment and was terminated from service. Other senior NA
officers involved in the attack lost potential promotion, and several
officers spent 45 days in military custody.
The NA stated it had reviewed 179 cases of alleged torture
presented by the UN, but the NHRC had not received information
regarding disciplinary action taken by the NA in these cases.
The law provides for compensation for victims of torture. According
to CVICT, from 1996 until the end of the year, the NHRC filed 200
torture cases. Of these, approximately 90 cases had been decided at
year's end, and 30 of those were in favor of the torture victim. Of the
30 decisions in favor of the victim, only five torture survivors
received compensation from the Government. During the year two
survivors received compensation, one because of a court decision and
one because of a recommendation from the NHRC.
The NA soldiers involved in the 2005 Sunsari rape case did not
receive a civilian court verdict but remained in a civilian jail in
Biratnagar at year's end.
There were no developments in the 2005 case of Shiv Bohara.
There were no developments in the 2004 abuse case of two Tibetan
refugee girls in Lukla.
There were numerous allegations of torture by Maoists insurgents.
(see section 1.g.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
extremely poor and did not meet international standards. According to
the Department of Prisons, 5,580 prisoners remained in jail at year's
end. Of these, 5,155 were male, 360 were female, 50 were juvenile
cases, and 15 were minor children.
Due to a lack of adequate juvenile detention facilities, children
sometimes were incarcerated with adults as criminal offenders or were
allowed to remain in jails with their incarcerated parents due to lack
of other available options.
The Government generally permitted the NHRC and OHCHR to make
unannounced visits to prisons and detainees in army and police custody.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, but arbitrary arrest continued during the year.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Before the popular
uprising, the NA exercised responsibility for security in the country
under an operational structure referred to as the ``unified command,''
which included elements of the police.
After the uprising, the home ministry did not give orders to any of
the security forces regarding maintenance of law and order, and the
unified command was dissolved in July. During peace negotiations from
April to November between the Maoists and the seven-party alliance, the
Government instructed police not to intervene in the case of Maoist
acts of violence, including intimidation, extortion and killings, for
fear of compromising the peace process. The November 21 peace agreement
called on the Nepal Police and the APF to enforce law and order across
the country. Authorities reestablished several police posts between
November 21 and year's end. Subsequently, the Maoists forced many of
the re-established posts to close. At year's end, the Government had
again ordered police not to take any actions against Maoists for fear
of endangering the peace process. The chief district officer (CDO), the
highest-ranking civil servant in each of the country's 75 districts,
had limited discretion in maintaining law and order under this
government mandate.
Both the police and NA have human rights cells to promote human
rights and to investigate cases of abuse; however, corruption and
impunity remained problems. Before the April 27 cease-fire, police were
generally unarmed and had the role of preventing and investigating non
terrorist related criminal behavior, while the APF were armed and
deployed as riot control at checkpoints or with NA units directly
engaged against Maoist insurgents. After April 27, the NA was confined
to its barracks.
During the year the NA investigated 102 cases of abuse involving
163 individuals. Of the 163, 114 cases resulted in prison sentences for
one month to 10 years; 60 cases resulted in discharge from service; 39
cases resulted in demotion; 47 resulted in forfeiture of grade or
promotion; nine resulted in warnings in personnel files; and six
resulted in payment of compensation to the victim's family.
Following the cease-fire on April 27, corruption and impunity
remained a problem in the police force. Although a few police officials
accused of abuses were removed from their posts because of human rights
violations, human rights groups reported that these individuals were
promoted or re-assigned as advisors at the home ministry. According to
human rights groups, a culture of impunity continued to exist within
the police. At the district level, police often operated without
significant guidance from superiors, allowing vast discretion in the
enforcement of laws. As in 2005, there were many reports of police
abuse and bribery.
Arrest and Detention.--The law stipulates that, except in cases
involving suspected security and narcotics violations, the authorities
must obtain a warrant for arrest, arraign or release a suspect within
24 hours of arrest, and file a case in court within seven days of
arrest, but security forces regularly violated these provisions (see
section 1.f.).
If the court upholds a detention, the law authorizes the police to
hold the suspect for 25 days to complete an investigation, with a
possible extension of seven days. However, security forces occasionally
held prisoners longer. In some cases the Supreme Court ordered the
release of detainees held longer than 24 hours without a court
appearance. Some foreigners, including refugees, reported difficulty in
obtaining bail.
Detainees have the legal right to receive visits by family members,
and they are permitted access to lawyers once authorities file charges.
In practice the police granted access to prisoners on a basis that
varied from prison to prison; however, the King's government
consistently denied Maoist suspects visits from family members and
lawyers. There is a system of bail, but bonds were too expensive for
most citizens. Pretrial detention often exceeded the period to which
persons subsequently were sentenced after a trial and conviction. Human
rights groups alleged that arrest without a warrant, prolonged
detention without trial, and police torture were especially evident in
heavily Maoist-affected areas (see section 1.c.).
Under the Public Security Act (PSA), security forces may detain
persons who allegedly threatened domestic security and tranquility,
amicable relations with other countries, or relations between citizens
of different classes or religions. The Government may detain persons in
preventive detention for up to six months without charging them with a
crime. The detention period can be extended after submitting written
notice to the home ministry. The security forces must notify the
district court of the detention within 24 hours. The court may order an
additional six months of detention before the Government must file
official charges.
Before the uprising, the Government commonly applied this act in
cases involving suspected Maoists and political and civil rights
activists (see section 1.b.). Human rights groups alleged that the
security forces used arbitrary arrest and detention to intimidate
communities considered sympathetic to the Maoists.
On January 18, security forces arrested 16 political party
activists under the PSA, including youth activists. The king's
government later announced they would hold 15 of the prisoners in
custody for up to three months as permitted by the PSA.
On April 5, the Government arrested over 100 political party
leaders in their homes during the early morning. The Government cited
fears that the Maoists would infiltrate the April 6-9 peaceful protest
program of the seven-party alliance as the reason to carry out the
arrests.
The king's government held hundreds of political prisoners under
the PSA. On May 15, the new government arrested and held five members
of the former royal government without charges under the PSA. On June
5, the Supreme Court ordered all of the detainees released.
On May 25, the Government ordered the release of most Maoists held
under the PSA to help move the peace process forward, although the
Government did not release 200 Maoists being held on criminal charges.
At year's end, these persons remained in jail, pending adjudication of
their cases.
Other laws, including the Public Offenses Act, permit detention
without charge. This act, and its many amendments, covers crimes such
as disturbing the peace, vandalism, rioting, and fighting. Human rights
monitors expressed concern that the act vests too much discretionary
power in the CDO. Police arrested many citizens involved in public
disturbances, rioting, and vandalism and detained them for short
periods without charge. Both before and after the popular uprising, the
Government routinely arrested journalists, civil society members, and
politicians for trying to enter restricted areas to protest. Police
released most within 24 hours of their arrest.
According to international observers, in the course of the 19-day
demonstration in April, police detained more than 1,000 persons in
police stations and ad hoc detention centers and held several thousand
activists arbitrarily under the PSA.
Before the popular uprising, authorities occasionally detained
journalists on suspicion of having ties to or sympathy for the Maoists
(see section 2.a.). No journalists have been held or charged for these
reasons since parliament was restored in April.
There were reports of political detainees held during the year,
especially before the popular uprising. Most political leaders were
either under house arrest or held in Army or APF barracks before the
popular uprising in April. After the restoration of parliament, all of
them were released. There were no reports of political detainees under
the new government.
According to Advocacy Forum, incommunicado detention remained a
problem throughout the country, although it decreased after the cease-
fire agreement on April 27.
Amnesty.--On February 19, the King granted pardons to 174 persons
being held in prison in Nepal. In May parliament declared that the King
no longer had the power to grant pardons to criminals, and any pardons
would be granted by the council of ministers after recommendation from
the home minister. The cabinet pardoned an unknown number of people in
October.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, but courts remained vulnerable to political
pressure, bribery, and intimidation.
The Supreme Court has the right to review the constitutionality of
legislation passed by parliament. Appellate and district courts were
increasingly independent, although occasionally they remained
susceptible to political pressures. On November 27, the parliament
declared that the Supreme Court could not challenge the
constitutionality of any of the parliamentary proclamations based on
the mandate of the people's movement.
The judicial system consists of three levels: district courts,
appellate courts, and the Supreme Court. Before the popular uprising,
the King appointed judges on the recommendation of the judicial
council, a constitutional body chaired by the chief justice. Until a
new constitution is formed, the judicial council nominates and confirms
judges. The council also is responsible for the assignment of judges,
disciplinary action, and other administrative matters. A special court
hears cases related to narcotics trafficking, trafficking in women and
girls, crimes against the state, corruption, and crimes related to
foreign currency. The appellate courts heard cases against suspects
charged with violations under TADO until its repeal on June 12.
Delays in the administration of justice were a severe problem. As
of July 2005, the Supreme Court reported a backlog of 16,293 cases, the
appellate courts had 10,157, and district courts had 25,699. There was
no indication that this backlog improved during the year.
Trial Procedures.--While the law provides for the right to counsel,
equal protection under the law, protection from double jeopardy,
protection from retroactive application of the law, and public trials,
these rights were not equally applied except in a few security and
customs cases. Judges decide cases; there is no jury system. All lower
court decisions, including acquittals, are subject to appeal. The
Supreme Court is the court of last resort.
The law provides detainees with the right to legal representation
and a court-appointed lawyer, a government lawyer, or access to private
attorneys; however, the Government provided legal counsel only upon
request. Consequently, those persons unaware of their rights may be
deprived of legal representation. Before TADO was repealed, police
often denied suspects detained under TADO access to both attorneys and
family members.
Military courts adjudicate cases concerning military personnel
under the military code, which provides military personnel the same
basic rights as civilians. Military personnel are immune from
prosecution in civilian courts, except in cases of homicide or rape
involving a civilian. Military courts cannot try civilians for crimes,
even crimes involving the military services; these cases are handled in
civilian courts.
The authorities may prosecute terrorism or treason cases under the
Treason Act. Specially constituted tribunals hear these trials in
closed sessions, but no such trials have occurred since 1991.
In most districts, the Maoists set up ``people's courts.'' In July,
Maoist Supremo Prachanda claimed he had ordered Maoists people's courts
to stop functioning in urban areas, although such courts continued to
function across the country. These courts had no due process, and
handled both criminal and civil cases. According to international
observers, after Prachanda's July declaration, Maoists extended the
people's courts into villages where they had not previously been
present. For example, on September 24, Maoists established a people's
court in a temple in Chandranigapur and stopped people from coming to
the temple to worship. According to OHCHR, the people's courts did not
provide minimum guarantees of due process and fair trial. The November
21 peace agreement called for an end to people's courts across the
country, but the Maoists continued to operate these courts in most
districts, including in the capital.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were political prisoners
at the beginning of the year, but all were released after the popular
uprising and the restoration of parliament. There were no reported
political prisoners at year's end.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--During the year there were
no reported government abuses of civil procedures.
Property Restitution
At year's end, in most cases, the Maoists had not returned
previously seized property; however, on November 15, Maoists unlocked a
house in Hetauda that they had seized in 2002 and allowed the owner to
return. Maoists continued to seize property after the cease-fire
declaration in April.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--Before and during the popular uprising, the King
suspended the right to privacy. The Government occasionally suspended
all cellular telephone lines and the Internet during the popular
uprising, allegedly for security concerns. Human rights activists and
politicians said that when cellular telephone and Internet service was
available, authorities also monitored those services before and during
the popular uprising. Cellular telephones were reactivated on April 27.
The Government did not interrupt cellular telephone or Internet service
after the popular uprising. (see section 2.a.).
Security forces routinely entered and searched houses without
warrants before and during the popular uprising. This activity
substantially lessened after the popular uprising.
Security personnel frequently conducted vehicle and body searches
at roadblocks in many areas of the country.
There were no reports of the Government forcing civilians to
resettle. However, Maoists regularly forced civilians to flee their
homes in order to escape extortion, recruitment, or retaliation.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
From January through April, there was significant internal conflict
between the Government and Maoist insurgents. Both parties injured and
killed numerous civilians.
The NA used helicopter bombardment to attack Maoists between
January and April, sometimes causing unnecessary civilian casualties.
On February 28, several army helicopters dropped a mortar shell and
shot at Maoists while a crowd of civilians gathered in a village
square. Several people were injured and a 14-year-old boy was killed.
On March 13, Maoists killed a civilian while firing on a group of
police in Nepalgunj.
According to international observers, hospitals treated over 1,350
injured protesters, including children, during the first two weeks of
the April People's Movement. According to medical personnel in one
hospital, nearly one-third of the 250 protesters treated there had been
struck by rubber or live bullets, and many had multiple wounds.
On April 11, in Gongabu, a group of 15 to 20 police beat medical
personnel from a Kathmandu hospital who were providing assistance
during a demonstration. Later, the country's senior superintendent of
police, Madhav Thapa, refused requests from the NHRC to appear before
the commission to respond to allegations of excessive use of force by
security personnel.
On August 26, locals of Dhanusha district apprehended four Maoist
cadres and handed them over to police. At year's end, the fate of the
four cadres was unknown.
The Government did not take any action to compensate the students
shot in Kanchanpur District in 2005.
Maoists were also responsible for numerous abductions during the
year. For example, on February 12, Maoists abducted 17 civilians,
including 11 youths, from the Ramechhap District. On June 10, according
to INSEC, Maoists abducted and killed a schoolboy in Sindhupalchowk. On
June 15, Maoists abducted and abused two men in the Kavre District.
Before April, Maoists expanded a campaign of abducting civilians,
primarily students and teachers, allegedly for indoctrination programs
and forced paramilitary training. There were fewer reports of Maoist
abductions of students and teachers after the cease-fire in April,
although such abductions continued. For example, on July 1, Maoists
abducted Satish Shukla from a village in Kapilvastu allegedly in
retaliation for an anti-Maoist vigilante group's killing of two Maoists
on June 30 (see section 1.a.).
Maoists used landmines in and alongside roads to attack police,
military, and government vehicles, injuring numerous civilians before
the April cease-fire. The November 21 peace agreement called for all
landmines to be identified within 30 days and removed within 60 days.
At year's end, there was no indication that this process was underway
(see section 1.a.).
Before the cease-fire, Maoists used civilians, including children,
as human shields in wave attacks against fortified military positions.
Both sides in the conflict used children as informants (see section 5).
The November 21 peace agreement forbids the use of children under the
age of 18 as soldiers in the armies of either side; however, the
Maoists continued to recruit large numbers of children after signing
this agreement.
On March 31, the Maoists bombed a testing center in Dailekh where a
high school completion exam was taking place, injuring 11 children who
were taking the test. The Maoist leadership said that the bombing was
against party policy.
On July 2, a bomb blast attributed to an anti-Maoist vigilante
group in the southern part of the country injured four people.
The ANNISU-R (the student wing of the Maoists) demanded, often
violently, the halving of tuition, curriculum changes, and banning the
singing of the national anthem. In some areas Maoists demanded that
schools follow a calendar devoid of religious holidays (see section
2.c.). In some areas Maoist extortion and pressure forced private
schools to close. Security forces also apprehended Maoists on the
charge of forcibly making a school principal sign ``contract papers''
promising to pay them money.
The Maoists regularly blocked relief organizations from reaching
civilian populations in order to force NGOs to sign agreements with
Maoist regional committees. Maoists regularly extorted money from
businesses, workers, and NGOs. When individuals or companies refused or
were unable to pay, Maoist recrimination frequently was violent. NGOs
needed permission from the Maoists to work in the majority of
districts. This policy did not change after the November 21 peace
agreement.
Maoist-inspired work stoppages, enforced through violence and
intimidation, caused particular hardship to workers in many economic
sectors. During the April uprising, the Maoists enforced a complete
country-wide transportation closure and blockade of the capital valley.
Maoists regularly forced family members of those serving in the
police or army, and thousands of civilians, including political party
activists, to flee their homes (see sections 1.a., 1.f., and 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; however, the Government imposed restrictions
on these rights before and during the popular uprising. Most of these
restrictions, including those enacted in October 2005, were removed
after the restoration of parliament. Before the popular movement, the
law prohibited speech and writing that would threaten the sovereignty
and integrity of the kingdom; disturb the harmonious relations among
persons of different castes or communities; promote sedition,
defamation, contempt of court, or crime; or, contradict decent public
behavior or morality. After the popular uprising, the Government
generally allowed free speech and press.
In January the Government increased the fees for licensing a radio
station by up to 40 times, effectively banning independent radio
stations. The hike was repealed after the popular uprising in April.
The Election Code of Conduct limited media freedom in covering
elections. For instance, the code restricted media from publishing a
candidate's attack against an opponent and required that speeches by
party leaders or candidates be published verbatim. The Election Code
was repealed after the popular uprising in April. The Maoists imposed
restrictions on free press through intimidation and the killing of
journalists and the destruction of radio and television towers. On
November 26, Maoists attacked journalists in Chitwan and Taplejung
after the journalists allegedly published a negative report about the
Maoists.
Until the parliament repealed it on May 9, the Press and
Publications Act had prohibited publication of material that, among
other things, promoted disrespect toward the King or the royal family;
undermined security, peace, order, the dignity of the King, or the
integrity or sovereignty of the kingdom; created animosity among
persons of different castes and religions; or, adversely affected the
good conduct or morality of the public. Foreign publications were
widely available, and none was banned or censored during the year.
Foreign print media operating in and reporting on the country were
allowed to operate freely.
The independent media was active and expressed a wide variety of
views. Hundreds of independent vernacular and English-language
newspapers were available, representing various political points of
view. Kantipur and The Kathmandu Post (Nepali and English language
versions of the same paper) reported independently. Gorkhapatra, the
government-owned Nepali-language daily, and The Rising Nepal, the third
largest English-language daily, both reflected government policy.
Janadesh, the Maoist-published newspaper, remained a source of Maoist
propaganda.
Police arrested numerous journalists before and during the popular
uprising, many for protesting in favor of press freedom in restricted
areas. Police released most journalists within 24 hours of their
arrest.
On January 21, security forces beat and injured Mahendra Thapa of
the Annapurna Post while he was reporting a student protest at Butwal.
On January 22, police arrested Khem Bhandari, editor of Abhiyan Daily,
for allegedly attacking policemen.
In March international observers noted the high prevalence of
intimidation, harassment, and attacks and detention of media
professionals. Sophisticated methods of intimidation, such as the
``one-door advertisement policy,'' which directed public expenditure on
advertising to co-operative media and imposed a de-facto ban on all
public advertising in newspapers that were critical of the Government,
were used to silence the media. By March, thousands of journalists had
lost their jobs.
During the April protests, dozens of journalists were beaten,
detained and arrested. For example, on April 12, police arrested more
than two dozen journalists from Bhrikuti Mandap in Kathmandu as they
protested against police atrocities and demanded total press freedom.
The Broadcast Act allows private television and FM radio
broadcasts. The Government owned two television stations-Nepal TV and
Nepal TV Metro-and controlled one radio station that broadcast both
shortwave AM and FM signals. There were 47 independent radio stations
that reached over 90 percent of the population. Radio remained the
primary source of information for a majority of the population.
The Government restricted radio and television broadcasts during
the popular uprising in April. The Government did not otherwise
restrict access to foreign radio broadcasts, private cable networks, or
the purchase of television satellite dishes. Before the uprising, the
Government censored FM broadcasts of the BBC English radio service,
replacing its 15-minute news service with music. BBC Nepali on
shortwave, however, generally continued to be available. After the
restoration of parliament, restrictions on radio and television
broadcasts were removed.
The Maoists opposed freedom of expression and attempted to restrict
print and broadcast media. Maoists threatened private FM radio stations
to force them to broadcast Maoist propaganda, and the Maoists
themselves operated small, mobile FM radio stations that broadcast
propaganda. After the restoration of parliament in May, Maoist radio
stations broadcast widely all over the country, including in the
capital.
According to Reporters without Borders, Maoist cadres assaulted,
detained, wrongly summoned or censored at least eight journalists
between April and November.
On January 19, Maoists bombed a state-run television tower in
Hetauda.
Internet Freedom.--Human rights activists and politicians reported
blocked or monitored Internet service before and during the popular
uprising. The Government blocked more than 20 Web sites, including the
Maoist Web site, that were hosted in other countries and were not
supportive of the King (see section 1.f.). After the popular uprising,
there was no reported monitoring or blocking of Internet sites.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
Maoist groups curtailed academic freedom, regularly extorted money
from private schools and teachers, and inflicted punishment on school
officials. According to INSEC, from 2002 through 2005, Maoists abducted
18,852 students and 9,261 teachers from schools for indoctrination
programs, and bombed over a dozen schools across the country (see
section 1.g.). Despite the cease-fire, the country's media continued to
report instances of abduction, extortion, and intimidation by Maoists
outside Kathmandu valley.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association; however, the royal government
restricted this right in practice. Before and during the popular
uprising, the Government restricted freedom of assembly, claiming it
was necessary to prevent the undermining of the sovereignty and
integrity of the state or for disturbing law and order. After the
popular uprising, the new government sometimes restricted freedom of
assembly. On June 19, authorities arrested more than 24 female
activists after a peaceful protest against lack of female
representation in the newly formed government outside Singha Durbar,
the main government building in the capital.
Freedom of Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly;
although large public demonstrations were common in parts of the
country, the Government generally restricted demonstrations before and
during the popular uprising. Under domestic law, CDOs are authorized to
impose curfews if there is a possibility that peace may be disturbed as
a result of demonstrations or riots. The right to assemble is protected
under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
to which Nepal is a State Party. The ICCPR requires that any
restrictions on assembly are: 1) in conformity with the law; 2) for the
objective of national security or public safety; and 3) necessary in a
democratic society. The curfews imposed during the April People's
Movement, including those on April 5 and 9 in Kathmandu, did not meet
the third requirement under the ICCPR, according to the OHCHR.
INSEC reported that government security forces killed 21 people
during the popular uprising in April. Police used baton charges, water
cannon, rubber bullets, and live ammunition to break up demonstrations.
INSEC reported that during the popular uprising in April, security
forces injured 3,723 people country-wide during pro-democracy
demonstrations.
Throughout the year local authorities in Kathmandu prevented the
Tibetan community from holding public celebrations, including those to
venerate the Dalai Lama, although private celebrations were allowed in
schools or monasteries. (see section 2.c.).
During the year Maoists deprived citizens of the right to assembly
(see section 1.a.).
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, although the Government restricted these rights before and
during the popular uprising. The Government claimed it restricted
freedom of association in order to protect the country's sovereignty;
the Government did not substantially restrict the freedom of
association after the April uprising.
Government officials refused to register any organizations whose
titles contain the words, ``Jesus, Bible, Christian, or church.'' (see
section 2.c.) These groups noted that, unless registered, such
organizations could not own land, which is important for establishing
churches or burial of members. These groups have been able to register
their organizations and practice their faith as NGOs.
In November the Government revoked the registration of the Bhota
Welfare Society, a legally formed NGO created to provide humanitarian
assistance to Tibetan refugees resident in Nepal. The directors on the
board of the NGO were all citizens. The NGO had gone through all legal
requirements for registration, and the Government had issued a
registration certificate and number to the NGO. The Government
nevertheless subsequently revoked the registration of the NGO without
explanation.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion
and permits the practice of all religions, but members of minority
religions occasionally complained of police harassment. Some Christian
groups were concerned that the ban on proselytizing limited the
expression of non-Hindu religious belief. In May the restored
parliament declared the country a secular state.
The Press and Publications Act prohibited the publication of
materials that created animosity among persons of different castes or
religions.
A conviction for conversion or proselytizing can result in fines or
imprisonment, or in the case of foreigners, expulsion from the country;
however, there were no incidents of arrest for conversion or
proselytizing during the year.
The Government restricted to private places (school grounds or
inside monasteries) all celebrations by local Tibetans (Tibetan New
Year, the Dalai Lama's birthday, Democracy Day, and International Human
Rights Day/Celebration of the Dalai Lama receiving the Nobel Peace
Prize).
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Although prohibited by law,
citizens practiced caste discrimination at Hindu temples in rural
areas, and such discrimination strongly influenced society.
On March 21, upper caste locals barred dalit (lower caste) youths
from entering the Saileshwori Temple in Dipayal by padlocking the
temple door.
On August 30, a dalit woman filed a case against a priest alleging
that she was not allowed to enter a temple during a religious
celebration because the priest would only allow high caste people into
the temple.
On September 7, demonstrators in Silgadhi protested the entry of
dalits into the local temple. Locals demonstrated after dalits tried to
enter the temple.
There were regular reports of Maoists enforcing a ``people's
calendar'' in schools that did not allow for religious holidays.
Maoists forced churches to close after the churches refused to meet
their demands.
There are no known Jewish adherents in the country except for
foreign diplomats and 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 law provides for these rights;
however, the Government suspended freedom of movement within the
country before and during the popular uprising. The Government
prevented many prominent human rights activists and politicians from
traveling within, or in some cases leaving, the country before and
during the popular uprising. After the restoration of parliament, the
Government did not restrict freedom of movement.
In advance of the popular uprising in April, the home ministry
released a statement instructing people not to travel to the capital
unless absolutely necessary. The Government prevented vehicles
transporting groups of people from entering the capital during this
time, citing security concerns. The restored parliament lifted these
restrictions.
The Government regularly restricted refugees' right to travel
freely inside and outside of the country.
Maoists restricted freedom of movement within the country,
including forcing transportation strikes and using landmines to target
civilian transportation (see sections 1.a. and 1.g.). During the
popular uprising, Maoists enforced a nationwide transportation
blockade. On September 13, Maoists called a nationwide transportation
strike to protest alleged importation of weapons by the Government. On
December 19, the Maoists enforced another nationwide transportation
strike to protest the Government's nomination of commissioners to the
NHRC.
The law prohibits forced exile, and forced exile was not used
during the year. The Government allowed citizens to emigrate and those
abroad to return and was not known to revoke citizenship for political
reasons.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Although the Government and
Maoists agreed to support the safe and dignified return of IDPs to
their homes, the agreement was not implemented. Several UN agencies,
including the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), OHCHR, and the UN
Development Program began working with the Government to develop an IDP
policy that was consistent with international principles. These
agencies estimated a current population of between 100,000 and 200,000
IDPs in Nepal. The Government allowed several international
organizations, such as the International Committee for the Red Cross,
CARITAS and Action Aid Nepal, to initiate programs to assist IDPs. The
Government also requested total contributions of $14 million from donor
countries for IDP assistance. According to UN agencies, the main
obstacle preventing IDPs from returning was fear of Maoist reprisal and
refusal by local Maoist commanders to allow IDPs to return home.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol (see section 5), 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 the Government generally cooperated with UNHCR and
other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylees.
UNHCR maintained an office in Kathmandu and a sub-office in Damak.
Between 1959 and 1989 the Government accepted as residents
approximately 20,000 Tibetan refugees, most of whom remained in the
country. The Government allowed Tibetan refugees to transit the
country. During the year, 2,405 Tibetan arrivals registered with UNHCR
for transit to India, and 2,946 reportedly departed. The discrepancy
between arrivals and departures was due to a backlog of nearly 1,000
refugees at the end of 2005. Since 1991 the Government has provided
asylum to approximately 107,000 persons who claimed Bhutanese
citizenship. The great majority of these refugees lived in UNHCR-
administered camps in the southeastern part of the country. The
Government allowed UNHCR to begin conducting a census of the camps on
November 15. Approximately 15,000 additional Bhutanese refugees resided
in the country and in India outside of camps. The Government allowed
UNHCR to provide services for other asylum seekers, such as individuals
from Nigeria and Pakistan. The Government allowed UNHCR unrestricted
access to the border areas during the year. UNHCR visited four border
districts during the year.
The People's Republic of China and the Government tightened control
of movement across the border in 1986, but neither side consistently
enforced these restrictions. Police and customs officials occasionally
harassed Tibetan asylum seekers who fled China. According to UNHCR,
police conduct improved since 1999, although border police sometimes
extorted money from Tibetans in exchange for passage. There were
unconfirmed reports that Tibetan asylum seekers occasionally were
handed back to Chinese authorities after crossing the border. Maoists
regularly robbed Tibetan refugees traveling from border areas to
Kathmandu.
The UNHCR monitored the condition of Bhutanese refugees and
provided for their basic needs, and the Government agreed to allow
UNHCR to conduct a census in the Bhutanese refugee camps. The
Government accepted the temporary refugee presence on humanitarian
grounds. The UNHCR administered camps; the World Food Program (WFP)
provided supplemental food assistance; and the Government made a
contribution to the WFP earmarked for the refugees.
The Government officially restricted Bhutanese refugees' freedom of
movement and work, but it did not strictly enforce its policies.
Bhutanese refugees were not allowed to leave the camps without
permission, but permission was consistently granted. Local authorities
attempted to restrict some of the limited economic activity in the
camps permitted by the central government. Violence sometimes broke out
between camp residents and the local population.
In September the Government agreed to allow 16 extremely vulnerable
Bhutanese refugees to leave the country for resettlement abroad. At
year's end, the Government had only allowed three of these refugees to
leave.
In May the Government reversed its policy implemented in October
2005 and resumed issuing exit permits to Tibetan refugees transiting to
India. The Government continued to allow Tibetans to enter the country,
and to apply for and receive UNHCR protection.
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, citizens were not afforded this right in practice.
The King reinstated the 1999 parliament in April; according to the
November 21 peace agreement, elections were to be held later. In May
seven of the largest political parties formed a ruling alliance and
chose Girija Prasad Koirala, President of the Nepali Congress Party, as
the Prime Minister.
Elections and Political Participation.--Past elections generally
were held throughout the country according to schedule, and
parliamentary elections are to be held every five years. International
observers considered the 1999 elections, the last elections held, to be
generally free and fair. The King held municipal elections in February
that most political parties boycotted and the international community
criticized.
The law bars the registration and participation in elections of any
political party that is based on religion, community, caste, tribe,
region, or that does not operate openly and democratically. Under the
law, individuals may contest elections in the district in which they
are on the election rolls, whether independently or with a political
party. Most larger political parties had associated youth wings, trade
unions, and social organizations. A new chief election commissioner was
appointed in November. At year's end, three election commissioners had
been appointed, and two others had been nominated to fill vacant
positions. Parliament had only promulgated one new election law,
allowing people to vote outside their home districts (especially for NA
soldiers in barracks or Maoists in cantonments). No other election laws
had been promulgated at year's end.
There are no specific laws that restrict women, indigenous people,
or minorities from participating in government or in political parties,
but tradition limited the roles of women and some castes in the
political process. The law requires that women constitute at least 5
percent of each party's candidates for the House of Representatives.
The law also requires that at least 20 percent of all village and
municipal level seats be reserved for female candidates. Prime Minister
Koirala appointed one woman to his cabinet in May.
No specific laws prevented minorities from voting or restricted
their participation in government or political parties on the same
basis as other citizens. There were no special provisions to allocate a
set number or percentage of political party positions or parliamentary
seats for any minority group. Members of certain castes traditionally
held more power than others. Of the current 20-member cabinet, five
members are from ethnic minority communities and one is from the dalit
community.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The law provides for an
anticorruption authority, the Commission for the Investigation of the
Abuse of Authority, which is mandated to investigate official acts of
corruption.
In 2005 the King constituted another corruption investigation body,
the Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC), which acted as
investigator, prosecutor, and judge. On February 13, the Supreme Court
declared the RCCC unconstitutional, ordered it dissolved, and voided
all of its decisions.
The law provides citizens with a right to information ``on any
matter of public importance,'' except in cases where secrecy is
required by law; however, there is no formal legislation providing
citizens with access to government information. There were no known
examples of this section of the law being tested.
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 and were able to
investigate and publish their findings on human rights cases.
Government officials sometimes were cooperative and responsive to their
views. Before and during the popular uprising, the Government detained
a number of civil society members and prevented others from leaving the
country or traveling outside the capital (see section 2.d.). In
addition, there were complaints of intimidation against human rights
NGOs and workers by both the Government and the Maoists. After the
uprising, there were no reports of the Government arresting human
rights workers, although the Maoists continued to intimidate them.
There were approximately 10 independent, domestic human rights
NGOs, including the Human Rights Organization of Nepal; INSEC; the
International Institute for Human Rights, Environment, and Development;
and the Human Rights and Peace Society. The Nepal Law Society also
monitored human rights abuses, and a number of other NGOs focused on
specific areas such as torture, child labor, women's rights, or ethnic
minorities.
The insurgency caused many NGOs to reduce their activities
substantially. There were frequent credible claims that Maoists refused
to allow human rights NGOs and journalists to enter certain western
districts. In addition, Maoists killed and abducted some NGO workers.
Even after the cease-fire and peace agreement, Maoists did not allow
NGOs to function freely in most districts without their permission.
The Government welcomed and regularly granted visas to
international NGOs and other human rights monitors, including members
of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Authorities generally
gave international observers access to barracks and places of
detention. International observers noted that they have not been
granted access to courts martial and military investigations.
OHCHR worked with the Government to formulate and implement
policies and programs for the promotion and protection of human rights.
In the November 21 peace agreement, the Government and the Maoists
agreed that OHCHR should continue to monitor human rights abuses.
OHCHR released four reports during the year: the first was the
report on torture at the Maharjgunj Barracks of the NA in 2003; the
second was a report on Maoist atrocities committed during the cease-
fire; the third was a report on excessive use of force by security
forces during the popular uprising in April; and the fourth was a
report on human rights abuses by the Maoists. The media covered all
four reports freely.
After the restoration of parliament, the commissioners of the NHRC
resigned under considerable public pressure. In December the Government
nominated new commissioners, but Maoist pressure caused the
appointments to be suspended. At the end of the year, no commissioners
had been appointed to the NHRC. While the commission continued to
operate independently, it was unable to move investigations forward
without effective leadership. Resource constraints and insufficient
manpower restricted the number of cases the commission investigated.
Once the NHRC completes an investigation and makes a recommendation,
the Government has three months to respond. The commission received 518
complaints of human rights violations during the year. The NHRC
identified 646 persons who disappeared in government custody and who
remained unaccounted for at year's end. According to the NHRC, the
Maoists had abducted 184 persons who remained unaccounted for at year's
end. The NHRC also investigated illegal detention and arrest of
acquitted persons. The NHRC reported open access to government and
Maoist detainees across the country.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law specifies that the Government shall not discriminate
against citizens on grounds of race, sex, caste, or ideology; however,
a caste system operated throughout the country in many areas of daily
life. Societal discrimination against lower castes, women, and persons
with disabilities remained common, especially in rural areas.
Women.--Domestic violence against women was a serious problem that
received limited public attention. There was a general unwillingness
among police, politicians, citizens, and government authorities to
recognize violence against women as a problem. Sensitizing programs by
NGOs for police, politicians, and the general public have led to a
greater awareness of the problem. The women's cell of the police
received 939 reports of domestic violence during the country's fiscal
year, which ended June 15. However, in the absence of a domestic
violence law, police were unable, or unwilling, to file cases against
the accused.
Police had 18 women's cells in 16 of the country's 75 districts.
The female officers in the cells received special training in handling
victims of domestic violence and trafficking. Police also issued
directives instructing all officers to treat domestic violence as a
criminal offense that should be prosecuted. Nevertheless, according to
police officials, this type of directive was difficult to enforce
because of entrenched discriminatory attitudes among police. Even if
police made arrests, often neither the victim nor the Government
pursued prosecution.
More than 20 NGOs in Kathmandu worked on the problem of violence
against women and on women's issues in general, and provided shelter,
medical attention, counseling, and legal advocacy for the victims of
violence.
Laws against rape provide for prison sentences of 10 to 15 years
for the rape of a child under the age of 10, seven to 10 years'
imprisonment for the rape of a child between 10 and 16 years old, and
five to seven years for the rape of a woman 16 or older. If the victim
is handicapped, pregnant, or mentally retarded, an additional five
years is added to the standard sentence. A 2003 Supreme Court order
prohibits spousal rape. Between 2004 and September, 178 cases of rape
and 26 cases of attempted rape were filed in the court, according to
the women's police cell. A survey conducted by SAATHI, an
antitrafficking NGO, found that 39 percent of rape victims who reported
the crime to police were under the age of 19. Of those victims who
reported the crime to the authorities, 25 percent said the Government
arrested and convicted the perpetrator. According to SAATHI, police and
the courts were quick to respond to rape cases.
Incidents of rape continued to be a problem and went unreported in
most cases.
The dowry tradition was strong in the Terai districts bordering
India; however, the killing of brides because of defaults on or
inadequacy of dowry payments was rare. More often, husbands or in-laws
seeking additional dowry physically abused wives, or forced the woman
to leave so that the man could remarry.
Traditional beliefs about witchcraft generally involved elderly
rural women and widows. Shamans or other local authority figures
sometimes publicly beat and physically abused suspected witches as part
of an exorcism ceremony. The media or NGOs reported numerous cases of
witchcraft-related violence during the year, including a case on
December 6 in Rautahat in which a woman was forced to eat human feces
by neighbors who accused her of practicing witchcraft. Local officials
took no action against the neighbors. In 2003 the NHRC asked the
Government to develop a mechanism to prevent such abuses and to provide
compensation to the abused. The district administration office in the
district where the violence occurred handled all cases of witchcraft
violence.
Trafficking in women remained a serious problem throughout the
country, and large numbers of women were forced into commercial sexual
exploitation in other countries (see section 5, Trafficking). Forced
prostitution was illegal, but there were no laws banning prostitution
by choice.
Although the law provides protections for women, including equal
pay for equal work, the Government did not take significant action to
implement those provisions, even in many state industries. Women faced
systematic discrimination, particularly in rural areas, where religious
and cultural traditions, lack of education, and ignorance of the law
remained severe impediments to the exercise of basic rights, such as
the right to vote or to hold property in their own names. Unmarried,
widowed, and divorced women were able to inherit parental property.
The citizenship law passed by the parliament on November 26
provides citizenship to anyone born and living in the country before
April 1990. For the first time, the law allows citizenship to pass
through the mother; the children of female citizens married to foreign
spouses can claim citizenship.
Women may register birth and death information. Women did not need
permission from their husband or parents to get a passport. Women did
not need the permission of their husband, son, or parents if they
wished to sell or hand over ownership of property.
On March 30, the Supreme Court ruled that the provision in the
civil code allowing men to divorce women on the grounds of a woman's
infertility was contrary to the constitutional guarantee to equality.
Under the old law, a married man could seek divorce after 10 years of
marriage if a government medical board proved his wife was infertile.
Many other discriminatory laws remain. According to legal experts,
there were more than 50 laws that discriminated against women. For
example, the law on property rights favors men in its provisions for
land tenancy and the division of family property. The Foreign
Employment Act requires women to get permission from the Government and
their guardian before seeking work through a foreign employment agency.
The law encourages bigamy by allowing men to remarry without divorcing
their first wife if she becomes crippled or infertile.
The November 21 peace agreement called for the rights of women to
be protected in a special way. It was unclear at year's end what that
would mean in practice.
According to the 2001 census, the most recent statistics available,
the female literacy rate was 43 percent, compared with 65 percent for
men. NGOs focused on integrating women into active civil society and
the economy. Most political parties had women's groups that advocated
for women's rights and brought women's issues before the party
leadership.
Children.--Although the law provides for the welfare and education
of children, its implementation was uneven, in part due to violence
resulting from the ongoing insurgency. Education was not compulsory.
However, government policy provided free primary education for all
children between the ages of six and 12 years. The quality of education
was often inadequate, and many families could not afford school
supplies and clothing. Schools did not exist in all areas of the
country. Approximately 60 percent of the children who worked also
attended school. However, approximately 70 to 75 percent of boys who
worked went to school, compared with only 50 to 60 percent of the girls
who worked. Human rights groups reported that girls attended secondary
schools at a rate half that of boys. In 2003 the Department of
Education issued a report that one-quarter of elementary school-aged
girls were deprived of basic education. The Government claimed that 86
percent of school-age children were attending public schools. There
were a reported 1,500 madrassas functioning throughout the country.
The Government provided basic health care free to children and
adults, but government clinics were poorly equipped and few in number,
and serious deficiencies remained. Some health clinics in rural areas
were forced to close due to Maoist intimidation.
Violence against children was rarely prosecuted, and abuse
primarily manifested itself in trafficking of children. Commercial
sexual exploitation of young girls remained a serious problem (see
section 5, Trafficking).
Societal attitudes in parts of the country viewed a female child as
a commodity to be bartered in marriage, or as a burden. Some persons
considered marrying a girl before menarche an honorable, sacred act
that increased one's chances of a better afterlife. As a result,
although the law prohibits marriage for girls before the age of 18,
child brides were common. Social, economic and religious values
promoted the practice of child brides. According to the Ministry of
Health, girls' average age of marriage was 16 years of age, and boys'
average age was 18. An age difference in marriage often was cited as
one cause of domestic violence.
Maoists abducted teenagers and some younger children to serve as
porters, runners, cooks, and armed cadre. Most children abducted from
their schools for political education sessions were returned within a
few days, but some remained with the Maoists, either voluntarily or
under compulsion. The Maoists denied recruiting children. The NA
estimated that 30 percent of Maoist guerillas were under the age of 18,
and some were as young as 10 (see section 1.g.). The November 21 peace
agreement expressly forbade the recruitment of children into the armed
forces of either side, but the Maoists continued to recruit children in
large numbers.
There were reports of children held in jail or in custody as
suspected Maoists; however, all of them were released when TADO was
repealed.
There were at least nine cases of female infanticide reported to
the police women's cell during the year. Six of these were reported
between August and November.
Internal displacement due to the conflict, including of children,
continued to be a problem, with estimates of the number displaced
ranging widely. According to a 2005 report by CARITAS, approximately
40,000 children had been displaced due to the armed conflict in the
last ten years. As IDPs, children faced inadequate access to food,
shelter, and health care, and had limited access to education.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons
and prescribes imprisonment of up to 20 years for infractions; however,
trafficking in women and children remained a serious problem. During
the year enforcement of antitrafficking statutes improved but remained
sporadic. The law prohibits selling persons in the country or abroad.
The country was a source country for trafficking. Young women were
the most common targets. Trafficking of boys for commercial sexual
exploitation rarely was reported, but girls as young as nine years of
age were trafficked, primarily to neighboring countries. While the vast
majority of trafficking was of women and girls for sexual exploitation,
men, women and children were trafficked for domestic service, manual or
semi-skilled bonded labor, work in circuses, or other purposes. Men
were also trafficked for involuntary servitude in Iraq by use of
deception and fraud; they generally were promised jobs in other Gulf
countries, but were subsequently transferred to Iraq under threat or
deception. Most women and girls trafficked from the country went to
India, lured by promises of good jobs or marriage. Internal trafficking
for forced labor and sexual exploitation also occurred. Save the
Children and Action Aid conducted research linking conflict, migration,
and employment. The studies indicated that internal trafficking likely
was on the rise due to the insurgency, as rural women and children left
their homes to seek both employment and security in urban centers.
Despite the cease-fire, many women and children were afraid to return
home due to Maoist pressure and intimidation.
The Government has a national plan to combat trafficking and a
National Rapporteur on Trafficking. However, political instability and
security problems associated with the Maoist insurgency hindered the
Government's antitrafficking efforts.
According to the Attorney General's office, the Government filed
203 trafficking cases in the district attorneys' offices across the
country for one year following July 2005. By July 14, of the 203 cases,
60 resulted in full or partial convictions, 35 in acquittal, and 108
remained under investigation.
An estimated 12,000 women and children were trafficked into sexual
exploitation in Indian brothels, and an unspecified number were victims
of internal sex trafficking. Traffickers sent women to Saudi Arabia,
Malaysia, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, and other gulf states
for sexual exploitation and domestic servitude.
In 2003 the Government lifted a ban on female domestic labor
leaving the country to work in Saudi Arabia and other countries in the
gulf. The Government did not monitor adequately labor recruiting
agencies to ensure that workers going abroad attended pre-migration
orientation sessions, or that labor contracts were honored after worker
arrival in receiving countries. Recruiters in the country who used
deception to trick workers into forced labor in Iraq despite a
government ban remained largely unmonitored and unpunished.
Hundreds of women and girls returned voluntarily or were rescued
and repatriated to the country after having worked as commercial sex
workers in India. Many had been expelled from their brothels after
contracting sexually transmitted diseases or tuberculosis. Most were
destitute and, according to estimates by local NGOs Maiti Nepal and ABC
Nepal, 50 percent were HIV-positive when they returned. Maiti Nepal,
the country's largest antitrafficking NGO, operated a hospice for HIV-
positive trafficking victims and their children.
Traffickers were usually from the country or India, and had links
to brothels in India, but recruiters who sought girls in villages were
primarily citizens. In many cases, parents or relatives sold women and
young girls into sexual slavery. NGOs' unverified estimates suggested
that 50 percent of victims were lured to India with the promise of good
jobs and marriage, 40 percent were sold by a family member, and 10
percent were kidnapped. Corruption was also believed to facilitate
trafficking, but there were few reported investigations or prosecutions
of complicit government officials. The Government identified 26 high-
priority districts as source areas of trafficking and established
antitrafficking task forces in nine districts of the country. Women and
youth displaced from homes as a result of the insurgency were
especially vulnerable to being trafficked.
While the Government lacked both the resources and institutional
capability to address effectively its trafficking problem, the
Government established a National Task Force at the Ministry of Women,
Children and Social Welfare (MWCSW) with personnel assigned to
coordinate the response. There were programs in place to train police,
and the MWCSW worked closely with local NGOs to rehabilitate and
otherwise assist victims. Police women's cells in 18 districts worked
with NGOs to provide referral services to victims of trafficking and
domestic violence. Official corruption related to identity
documentation and at ports of entry continued to facilitate the illicit
movement of persons across the country's borders.
The Government provided limited funding to NGOs to give assistance
to victims with rehabilitation, medical care, and legal services. The
MWCSW sponsored job and skill training programs in several poor
districts with high rates of commercial sex workers who were sent to
India. The Government protected the rights of victims and did not
detain, jail, or prosecute them for violations of other laws.
The Government, together with NGOs and international organizations,
implemented local, regional, and national public awareness campaigns on
trafficking in persons; however, the Government failed to budget for
adequate police training and resources, and the courts were
overburdened. Government welfare agencies worked with NGOs to deliver
public outreach programs and assistance to trafficking victims.
Cultural attitudes toward returned victims of trafficking were
often negative. There were more than 50 NGOs combating trafficking,
several of which provided rehabilitation and skills training programs
for trafficking victims. With the Government's endorsement, many NGOs
created outreach campaigns using leaflets, comic books, films, speaker
programs, and skits to convey antitrafficking messages and education in
urban, cross-border, and rural areas. Maiti Nepal, which stationed
rehabilitated trafficking victims as guards with government officials
to intercept trafficking victims at border crossings, reported that
some of their female border guards had been attacked because of their
work.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not prohibit
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities,
and there was discrimination against persons with disabilities in
employment, education, access to health care, and in the provision of
other state services. The law mandates access to buildings,
transportation, employment, education, and other state services, but
these provisions generally were not enforced. Despite government
funding for special education programs, the Government did not
implement effectively nor enforce laws regarding persons with
disabilities. The MWCSW was responsible for the protection of those
with disabilities. Some NGOs working with persons with disabilities
received funding from the Government; however, most persons with
physical or mental disabilities relied almost exclusively on family
members for assistance.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law provides that each
community shall have the right ``to preserve and promote its language,
script, and culture'' and that each community has the right to operate
schools at the primary level in its native language. In practice the
Government generally upheld these provisions.
There were more than 75 ethnic groups that spoke 50 different
languages. In remote areas school lessons and radio broadcasts often
were in the local language. In urban areas, education was almost
exclusively offered in Nepali or English.
Discrimination against lower castes was especially common in rural
areas in the western part of the country, even though the Government
outlawed the public shunning of dalits and made an effort to protect
the rights of the disadvantaged castes.
Economic, social, and educational advancement tended to be a
function of historical patterns, geographic location, and caste. Better
education and higher levels of prosperity, especially in the Kathmandu
valley, were slowly reducing caste distinctions and increasing
opportunities for lower socioeconomic groups. Better educated, urban-
oriented castes continued to dominate politics and senior
administrative and military positions, and to control a
disproportionate share of natural resources.
Caste-based discrimination, including barring access to temples, is
illegal; however, dalits were occasionally barred from entering
temples. Progress in reducing discrimination was more successful in
urban areas.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The country has no laws
that specifically criminalize homosexuality; however, government
authorities, especially police, sometimes harassed and abused
homosexuals. According to Blue Diamond Society (BDS), an indigenous NGO
that worked to protect against discrimination against the lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender communities, harassment of homosexuals did
not stop after the popular uprising.
On March 14, according to BDS, police arrested 26 transgender
people and HIV/AIDS outreach workers in the Thamel and Durbar Marg
areas of Kathmandu. They were charged reportedly with ``creating a
public nuisance'' and were taken to Hanoman Dhoka police station in
Kathmandu. Several members of the group were later moved to Kalimati
police station. They were not permitted to speak to a lawyer for
several days.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the freedom to
establish and join unions and associations, and these rights were
protected in practice. The law permitted the restriction of unions only
in cases of subversion, sedition, or similar conditions. Trade unions
developed administrative structures to organize workers, to bargain
collectively, and to conduct worker education programs. The three
largest trade unions were affiliated with political parties.
Union participation in the formal sector accounted for
approximately 10 percent of the formal work force. The Labor Act of
1992 and the Trade Union Act of 1992 formulated enabling regulations;
however, the Government had not fully implemented these acts. The Trade
Union Act defines procedures for establishing trade unions,
associations, and federations. It also protects unions and officials
from lawsuits arising from actions taken in the discharge of union
duties, including collective bargaining, and prohibits employers from
discriminating against trade union members or organizers.
The Government did not restrict unions from joining international
labor bodies. Several trade federations and union organizations
maintained a variety of international affiliations.
The Maoist trade union organized workers and intimidated businesses
extensively after the announcement of the cease-fire in May. On
November 1, Maoists captured the building of the government-owned
Hetauda Textiles Industry and established a party office in the
building without permission from the Government administration. On
November 15, Maoist-affiliated trade union members locked up six
officials of the Gorkha Brewing Company, demanding that they raise
salaries and pay a tax on their product to the Maoists. In December the
Maoist-affiliated trade union forcefully closed down many hotels and
restaurants in the tourist destination of Pokhara, demanding permanent
positions and a raise in salaries and benefits.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The Labor Act
provides for collective bargaining, but the organizational structures
to implement the act's provisions were not established. The Government
allowed unions to operate freely and without interference. Collective
bargaining agreements covered an estimated 10 percent of wage earners
in the organized sector; however, in general, labor remained widely
unable to use collective bargaining effectively due to legal obstacles
to striking and inexperience on the part of labor leaders.
The law provides the right to strike except by employees in
essential services, and workers exercised this right in practice. The
law empowers the Government to halt a strike or to suspend a union's
activities if the union disturbed the peace or if it adversely affected
the nation's economic interests. Under the Labor Act, 60 percent of a
union's membership must vote in favor of a strike in a secret ballot
for the 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; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see sections 5 and 6.d.). The
Department of Labor enforced laws against forced labor in the small
formal sector, but remained unable to enforce the law outside that
sector.
Enforcement of the Kamaiya Prohibition Act by the Government was
uneven, and social integration of the Kamaiyas--former bonded
laborers--was difficult. By 2004, according to the International Labor
Organization, 12,019 Kamaiyas had received land, 7,149 families had
received approximately $143 (10,00 NRS) for building homes, and
approximately 3,000 had received timber to build houses. The Government
set up temporary camps for approximately 14,000 other Kamaiyas awaiting
settlement.
The Maoists regularly used forced labor to build roads and carry
out other projects. Forced labor by children occurred during the year
(see section 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law stipulates that children shall not be employed in factories, mines,
or 60 other categories of hazardous work and limits children between
the ages of 14 and 16 years to a 36-hour workweek (six hours a day and
six days a week, between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.). The Child Labor Act
applies only to formal sectors of the economy, such as tourism,
cigarette or carpet factories, and mines.
Child labor is a significant problem, particularly in the large
informal sector, which included such businesses as portering, rag
picking, and rock breaking. Resources devoted to enforcement were
limited, and NGOs estimated that 2.6 million children, most of them
girls, participated in the labor force. Of that number, 1.7 million
children worked full time. The agricultural sector accounted for an
estimated 95 percent of child laborers.
The law establishes a minimum age for employment of minors at 16
years in industry and 14 years in agriculture, and it mandates
acceptable working conditions for children. Employers must maintain
records of all laborers between the ages of 14 and 16. The law also
established specific penalties for those who unlawfully employ
children. However, the necessary implementing regulations have not been
passed. In 2003 the Government established the minimum wage for
children aged 14 to 16 at approximately $22 ($1,580 NRS) per month,
with additional allowances of roughly $5 ($359 NRS) per month for food
and other benefits. Roughly 60 percent of children who worked also
attended school.
Maoists forcibly recruited children, including girls, as soldiers,
human shields, runners, and messengers (see section 5).
The Ministry of Labor, responsible for enforcing child labor laws
and practices, had a mixed enforcement record. According to the
ministry, there were ten labor inspectors employed during the year.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum monthly wage for
unskilled labor has not increased since 2003, when the Government
raised it to $27 (1,940 NRS). The law also set monthly minimum wages
for semi-skilled labor at approximately $28 (2,011 NRS), skilled labor
at approximately $29 (2,084 NRS), and highly skilled labor at
approximately $32 (2,299 NRS). Additional allowances for food and other
benefits totaled just over $7 (503 NRS) per month. Wages in the
unorganized service sector and in agriculture often were as much as 50
percent lower. The law calls for a 48-hour workweek, with one day off
per week, and limits overtime to 20 hours per week. None of these
minimum wages were sufficient to provide a decent standard of living
for a worker and family.
The Government set occupational health and safety standards, and
the law established other benefits such as a provident fund and
maternity benefits. Implementation of the Labor Act was slow, as the
Government had not created the necessary regulatory or administrative
structures to enforce its provisions. Workers did not have the right to
remove themselves from dangerous work situations without fear of losing
their jobs. Although the law authorizes labor officers to order
employers to rectify unsafe conditions, enforcement of safety standards
remained minimal.
__________
PAKISTAN
Pakistan is a federal republic with a population of approximately
168 million. The head of state is President Pervez Musharraf, who
assumed power after overthrowing the civilian government in 1999 and
was elected President in 2002. He affirmed his right to serve
concurrently as chief of army staff in August 2002 through a series of
controversial amendments to the 1973 constitution called the Legal
Framework Order. The head of government is Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz,
whom the National Assembly elected in 2004. Domestic and international
observers found the 2002 National Assembly elections deeply flawed. The
Government was affected by internal conflicts in Balochistan and in the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). While the civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces, there were instances when local police acted independently of
government authority.
The Government's human rights record remained poor. Major problems
included restrictions on citizens' right to change their government,
extrajudicial killings, torture, and rape. The country experienced an
increase in disappearances of provincial activists and political
opponents, especially in provinces experiencing internal turmoil and
insurgencies. Poor prison conditions, arbitrary arrest, and lengthy
pretrial detention remained problems, as did a lack of judicial
independence. Harassment, intimidation, and arrests of journalists
increased during the year. The Government limited freedoms of
association, religion, and movement, and imprisoned political leaders.
Corruption was widespread in the Government and police forces, and the
Government made little attempt to combat the problem. Domestic violence
and abuse against women, such as honor crimes and discriminatory
legislation that affected women and religious minorities remained
serious problems. Widespread trafficking in persons and exploitation of
indentured, bonded, and child labor were ongoing problems. Child abuse,
commercial sexual exploitation of children, discrimination against
persons with disabilities, and worker rights remained concerns.
The Government's Anti Trafficking Unit (ATU) was fully functional
and reportedly resulted in increased arrests and prosecutions of human
traffickers. Cooperative efforts between the military, ATU, and
international organizations prevented human trafficking resulting from
the social dislocation following the 2005 earthquake. Training efforts
within the security forces greatly improved treatment of trafficking
victims.
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
extrajudicially killed individuals associated with criminal and
political groups in staged encounters and during abuse in custody.
Through July, human rights observers reported at least 37 instances of
encounter killings and 79 killings in police custody.
Police stated that many of these deaths occurred when suspects
attempted to escape, resisted arrest, or committed suicide; however,
family members and the press reported that many of these deaths were
staged.
There were no developments in the March 2005 death in custody case
of Samiullah Kalhoro, the vice chairman of the Jeay Sindh Muttahida
Mahaz.
There were no developments in the January 2005 death in police
custody of Abu Bakar Panwhar. A case was charged against Officer
Mohammad Rafiq Siyal, Senior Inspector Khamiso Khan, assistant senior
inspector Ghulam Shabbir Dasti, and Police Constable Mohammad Aslam
after protests by the Sindh People's Students Federation and the
Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians.
On January 13, police arrested Habibur Rehman in a car theft case
in Chitral. According to Rehman's father, police tortured Rehman while
he was in police custody. Rehman was subsequently taken to district
headquarters hospital, where he died on January 16. The doctor stated
Rehman was in shock and critical condition from being beaten. At year's
end, police had not taken any action.
On July 8, Muslim Town police in Lahore killed a 14 year-old boy
named Salman and seriously injured his 15 year-old friend Asqhar. The
police fired randomly at the boys and later alleged that Salman was
killed in a police encounter, claiming that the boys were armed and
shot at the police. According to eyewitnesses, the boys were not armed.
The Government began an official inquiry and registered a murder case
against constable Munammad Sarwar of the antiterror police. However,
authorities did not charge Malik Munir, the SHO who ordered the
shooting, or any other Muslim Town police officers responsible for the
incident. SHO Malik Munir was transferred after a brief suspension,
while the constable remained in custody. Salman's family was reportedly
under pressure not to pursue the case against constable Sarwar in
return for a cash payment from his relatives.
There were no developments in the 2004 death-in-custody cases of
Nazakat Khan and Syed Qutbuddin Shah or the 2004 killing of Tabassum
Javed Kalyar.
The Government frequently investigated police officials for
extrajudicial killings; however, failure to discipline and prosecute
consistently and lengthy trial delays contributed to a culture of
impunity.
Continued clashes between security forces and terrorists in the
FATA resulted in 289 deaths, including civilians, militants, and
security forces. According to media reports, more than 100 civilians
were killed, along with dozens of government security forces, in
Balochistan.
On March 1, militants associated with the Taliban movement seized
government buildings in Miranshah, North Waziristan. On March 3, the
Government began a military operation to retake the buildings.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), thousands of residents fled
Miranshah to avoid the fighting. The Government reported that 140
militants were killed in the fight.
In Balochistan, according to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs),
119 civilians and 57 members of the security forces died as a result of
the ongoing insurgency. The Government claims approximately 125
Balochistan Liberation Army militants were killed.
According to Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Commission
of Pakistan (HRCP), local people in Balochistan demanded a greater
share of the revenue generated by their province's natural resources.
They resented the slow pace of economic development and persons who
settled there from other provinces. A number of Balochi groups sought
more rights for the province and campaigned peacefully, while others
resorted to violence.
On August 26, militant Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Bugti, 35 of
his followers, and 16 military officers and soldiers were killed in an
explosion inside a cave in Balochistan. According to the media, Bugti
and his followers were killed when the Air Force bombed Bugti's
hideout. The media reported that 16 soldiers died in the ensuing
battle. The Government stated the officers were trying to reach Bugti
to speak to him when an unexplained explosion caused the cave to
collapse.
There were reports of politically motivated killings perpetrated by
political factions.
There were numerous political killings reported in Karachi, where
political parties Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) and Jamaat e Islami
(JI) accused each other of killing political rivals. According to MQM
sources, JI activists killed 18 MQM active members. JI accused MQM of
killing 11 JI activists. Human rights observers reported that the total
politically motivated death toll in Karachi was 31 (see section 3).
In June an Awami National Party activist, Gul Khair Khan, was
killed in Nowshera in a street shoot-out. The party blamed the
religious extremists of JI and Jamiat Ulema i Islami, Fazlur Rehman
group. The police maintained that the shooting happened because Gul
Khair Khan was involved in the lending of money. There was no further
information at year's end.
During the year, HRW and AI expressed concern about reports and
documentary evidence that armed Taliban supporters in the tribal areas
engaged in vigilantism and violent acts, including murder.
Attacks on houses of worship and religious gatherings linked to
sectarian, religious extremist, and terrorist groups resulted in the
deaths of 127 individuals during the year (see section 2.c.). According
to HRW, approximately 4,0004 persons, largely from the Shi'a branch of
Islam, died as a result of sectarian hostility since 1980. The Ahmadi
community claims that 171 of their members have been killed since 1988
and that the Government made little effort to bring those responsible
for these and other acts of sectarian violence to justice or to provide
protection for the targets or their families.
Religious extremist organizations killed and attempted to kill
government officials and Islamic religious figures from opposing sects
(see section 2.c.). On February 9, a suicide bomber killed 29 people
and injured more than 50 in an attack on a religious procession in the
town of Hangu in North Western Frontier Province (NWFP). The explosion
disrupted a congregation of Shia marking the Ashura festival and
sparked a riot. As a result of the explosion, the Army imposed a
curfew. Police arrested three members of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a banned
Sunni-Deobandi militant organization.
On April 11, terrorists killed 59 persons and injured more than 100
in a bombing at a Sunni (Brelvi Sect) birthday celebration of the
Prophet Muhammad in Karachi. Media reports attributed this bombing to
intra Sunni violence targeted against the leadership of Sunni Tehrik.
The Government made many arrests and constituted a judicial tribunal,
but its report was not released to the public at year's end.
On May 30, a suicide bombing on a Shia mosque in Karachi killed 11
persons, including two worshippers, a policeman, and the other
attacker. Police arrested Muhammad Tehsin, a member of the terrorist
organization Lashkar e Jhangvi. On September 28, an antiterrorism court
sentenced Tehsil to death.
On September 21, unidentified gunmen assassinated Syed Bashir
Hussain Bukhari, an 85-year-old Shia religious leader in the main
bazaar of Sargodha, Punjab. The assailants fled after the firing, and
no one claimed responsibility for the attack.
In June 2005 a Karachi antiterrorism court convicted Gul Hasan for
murder and sentenced him to death for the May 2005 bombing of a Shi'a
mosque that killed 45 persons.
There were no developments in any of the cases of attacks on houses
of worship that occurred in 2004.
The Government had not conducted investigations on the sectarian
violence from 2005, including the March 2005 bombing of the shrine of
Pir Syed Rakheel Shah, which killed 40 and wounded more than 100; the
May suicide bombing of the Bari Imam shrine, which killed 20 and
wounded more than 100; or the May suicide bombing of a Shi'a mosque in
Karachi, which killed five and injured 30. No one was arrested for
these actions. The trial of members of the radical Islamist Jandullah
group implicated in attacks on foreigners and government officials in
2004 continued at year's end. There were no developments in the other
2004 cases of the killing of government officials and religious
figures, or terrorist attacks on foreign targets.
Foreign terrorists and their local tribal allies attacked and
killed military personnel, government officials, and progovernment
tribal chiefs in the FATA. There were some investigations but no
arrests in the 2005 killings of progovernment chiefs in Waziristan.
A report released by the HRCP in January noted with concern that
armed Baloch fighters opposing the army's presence laid landmines, as a
result of which civilians were indiscriminately killed and maimed.
On January 16, three children were reportedly killed in Kahan by
aerial bombing, and on February 7, 13 persons were killed by a bomb
planted by armed fighters.
On November 8, a suicide bomber killed approximately 42 soldiers at
they exercised at an army training school in Dargai, NWFP. According to
media reports, the attack was allegedly carried out by Tanzim Nifaz
Shariat Mohammadi, which has links to the Taliban.
On January 7, months after militants killed the tribal elder of
South Waziristan, Malik Khandan Khan, unidentified assailants killed
five members of Khan's family in an attack on their vehicle in Wana.
Khan's two sons, a nephew, and two grandchildren died on the spot.
Because the attack took place in FATA, there was no police
investigation.
On May 19, suspected militants killed another senior progovernment
tribal chief of the Dawar tribe, Tooti Gul, in the Khaddi area of
Miranshah in North Waziristan.
On July 22, suspected tribal militants killed three top
progovernment tribal elders, six of their close relatives and one
bystander in three separate incidents at different places in South
Waziristan. In the first incident, armed individuals killed chief of
Ahmadzai Wazir tribe Malik Mirza Alam Khan, his two brothers, son and
nephew when they opened indiscriminate firing on their vehicle at Dazja
Ghundai near Wana. In the second incident, armed militants at Karama in
Laddha Teshil shot Malik Khandan Khan along with his son and a close
relative. Meanwhile, government agencies recovered the body of Malik
Taj Muhammad, who had been killed by unknown assailants.
Honor killings continued to be a problem, with women as the
principal victims. During the year local human rights organizations
reported between 1,337 and 1,511 cases. Most took place in Sindh. Many
more likely went unreported (see section 5).
b. Disappearance.--There was an increase of politically motivated
disappearances. Police and security forces held prisoners incommunicado
and refused to provide information on their whereabouts, particularly
in terrorism and national security cases.
AI cited a report issued by HRCP in late January, which found
``scores of cases of arbitrary arrests and detention, torture,
extrajudicial killings, 'disappearances' and uses of excessive force by
security and intelligence forces committed in Balochistan since early
2005.'' AI cited a January statement by self-exiled Senator Sanaullah
Baloch, who noted that at least 180 people died in bombings, 122
children were killed by paramilitary troops, and hundreds of people
were arrested since the beginning of the campaign in early 2005.
According to the NGO Asia Human Rights Commission (AHRC), during
the year more than 600 people disappeared after being taken into
custody, including 200 persons from Sindh. AHRC reported that in
Balochistan, 1,000 persons had been killed since military operations
began in 2001. According to a statement by the federal minister for
internal affairs, more than 4,000 persons were arrested in Balochistan
since the beginning of 2005, although many were released shortly after
their arrests.
NGOs such as AI and AHRC reported that the Government increasingly
used the war on terror as an excuse to arrest and detain political
opponents. They noted the judiciary's inaction in answering habeas
corpus orders filed by family members. According to AI, ``The practice
of enforced disappearance, which was rare before 2001, has become more
common in contexts besides the 'war on terror.' Over the past two
years, dozens of Baloch nationalists are believed to have been
subjected to enforced disappearance and there are recent reports that
leaders of Sindhi parties and members of the Shi'a minority have as
well.''
Families of some missing Baloch and Sindh nationalists have
petitioned the courts for redress, claiming that government agencies
held their relatives without due process. On November 10, the Supreme
Court ordered the Ministry of Interior to disclose the whereabouts of
41 illegal detainees. Since then, 25 have been released, according to
the Government, although human rights groups have only accounted for
18.
On September 29, AI released a report entitled ``Human Rights
Ignored in the 'War on Terror''' that documented the Government's
abuses against hundreds of its citizens and foreign nationals. AI
reported that as the practice of enforced disappearance spread, people
were arrested and held incommunicado in secret locations with their
detention officially denied. They were at risk of torture and unlawful
transfer to third countries. The report noted that the ``practice of
offering rewards running to thousands of dollars for unidentified
terror suspects facilitated illegal detention and enforced
disappearance.''
During the year there was no update on the case of Arifa and Saba
Baloch, charged as potential suicide bombers in 2004.
According to AI, security forces detained two leaders of a Baloch
political party, the Jamhoori Watan, Abdul Rauf Sasoli, and Saeed
Brohi. On February 3, two plainclothes police officers picked up
Sasoli, and on March 10, they picked up Brohi. According to AI,
authorities denied holding the individuals. Family members feared that
they were being held and were in danger of being tortured.
On February 24, a group of 16 men, presumed to be plainclothes
police officers, seized Dr. Safdar Sarki, an American citizen and a
Sindhi nationalist, in Karachi. According to AI, witnesses saw Sarki
being taken in a van, ``blindfolded and bleeding.'' AI reported that
police ransacked Sarki's apartment and took his laptop computer and
passport. Sarki was the secretary general of the Jeay Sindh, a Sindhi
nationalist political organization advocating for the rights of Sindhi
citizens.
On April 4, Muneer Mengal, managing director of the first Baloch
satellite television channel, disappeared after he returned to Karachi
from Bahrain. His sister, Aziza Mangal, reported that the Government
did not accept her appeals and petitions to gain access to her brother,
who was reportedly being held by the Inter-Services Intelligence. At
the end of the year, his whereabouts remained unknown.
On June 11, police arrested Naser Baloch, a Baloch student leader
at Karachi University. Security agencies detained Baloch and did not
bring any charges against him. On August 19, police released Baloch.
In early July, Bilal Bugti, the younger brother of Jamhoori Watan
Party Secretary General Agha Shahid Bugti, and Murtaza Bugti, the son
of Balochistan's first finance minister, Ahmed Nawaz Bugti, were
allegedly kidnapped by intelligence agencies in Karachi.
On July 16, intelligence agencies arrested Samiullah Baloch and
Obaidullah Baloch, brothers of Senator Sanaullah Baloch Zehri (Baloch
National Party). Authorities released Obaidullah Baloch on July 19 and
Samiullah on December 10. Both brothers allegedly reported being
tortured while in custody.
In 2005 political opponents kidnapped Moto Meghwar and Gyan Chand
Meghwar, potential candidates for local office in Chachro, Tharparkar
District, reportedly to keep them from contesting the elections against
candidates of the chief minister of Sindh Province. They were both
released unharmed in January, and no charges were brought against their
kidnappers.
On October 4, police from the Anti-Terrorism Force of the Punjab
police reportedly picked up Abid Raza Zaidi in Lahore, Punjab. The
victim disappeared soon after he gave testimony about his earlier
illegal arrest, prolonged 110 day detention and alleged constant abuse
by the army and police officers. Prior to this arrest, Zaidi had
protested his treatment in custody at a conference jointly organized by
AI and HRCP. No habeus corpus application was filed on his behalf and
he was not produced before a court of law. At the end of the year, his
whereabouts remained unknown.
On September 29, according to AI, Afghan national Abdur Rahim
Muslim Dost was arrested without a warrant in Peshawar. AI reported
that Dost was allegedly arrested due to his criticism of government
agencies which had arrested, detained, and transferred him and his
brother to a third country.
On December 3, during a protest in Karachi against the death of
Baloch leader Akbar Bugti during a military operation, police arrested
two Balochi political party leaders, Ghulam Muhammad and Sher Mohammad
Baloch of the Jamhoori Watan Party. On December 6, family members filed
a habeas corpus petition on behalf of the two disappeared politicians
with the Sindh High Court. Sher Muhammad was later released, but
Ghulam's whereabouts remained unknown at year's end.
There were no developments in the December 2005 disappearance of 18
members of the Pakistan Petroleum Workers' Union from Balochistan who
had gone to Karachi for negotiations with their management or the
November 2005 disappearance of Dr. Hanned Shareef, a writer, medical
doctor, and member of the Balochistan Student Organization.
There was no new information available on a British national who
disappeared after being detained by security agencies at Lahore
University in January 2004.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits torture and other cruel, inhuman, or
degrading treatment; however, security forces tortured and abused
persons. Under provisions of the Anti Terrorist Act, coerced
confessions are admissible in special courts, although police did not
use this provision to obtain convictions. Security force personnel
continued to severely abuse persons in custody throughout the country.
Human rights organizations reported that methods included beating,
burning with cigarettes, whipping the soles of the feet, prolonged
isolation, electric shock, denial of food or sleep, hanging upside
down, use of electric shocks, and forced spreading of the legs with bar
fetters. Security force personnel reportedly raped women and children
during interrogations.
During the year, the NGO Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid
recorded 1,513 cases that they labeled torture. The NGO Asia Human
Rights Commission reported approximately 1,319 cases of torture during
the year. In May the NGO reported over 1,250 cases being committed
during the previous 16 months, with most reported in Punjab and Sindh.
Punjab had 743 cases, Sindh had 503, eight were reported in
Balochistan, 43 in NWFP, and 23 in Islamabad. Torture occasionally
resulted in death or serious injury (see section 1.a.).
On February 19, police arrested Arif Ali and Irfan Ali in Multan
and charged them with murdering a jeweler. Police reportedly tortured
both detainees while they were in custody. Irfan Ali developed kidney
problems because of his abuse and was released in April. Arif was
released in May, after their family appealed to the family of the dead
jeweler. Local political and social leaders also called on the police
to produce evidence against the accused. According to human rights
NGOs, Station House Officer (SHO) Sadaat Ali admitted there was no
proof that either Irfan or Arif had been involved in the murder. No
charges were brought against SHO Ali.
On July 11, three policemen in Adiala Jail allegedly tortured and
beat Gul Waiz when Waiz threatened to complain about the bribes the
police forced his family to pay when they came to visit him. Waiz
reported severe beatings and the withholding of all food. On July 17,
Waiz's condition deteriorated, and he was moved to the jail hospital.
After his family hired a lawyer, jail Superintendent Nadeem Kokab
Warraich promised the Civil Court Rawalpindi that he would hold an
independent inquiry and take appropriate action against the culprits.
One constable, Muhammad Idrees, was suspended for the month of August.
No action was taken against the other police officers involved.
In October police arrested Muhammad Arshad, a young shopkeeper, for
``misbehaving'' with a female customer at his small grocery store.
Police held Arshad at the Banni Police Station in Rawalpindi, where
they reportedly broke his leg while beating him after he verbally
abused the inquiring officer. Police maintained Arshad slipped in the
toilet and twisted his ankle. Arshad was taken to a hospital and later
discharged. No inquiry against the perpetrators was held, and police
dropped the case against Arshad.
In June Shahnaz Fatima and Javeria Alam complained to the special
superintendent of police Islamabad that they were sexually assaulted at
a police station in Islamabad after the police illegally picked them
up. Police maintained that both were prostitutes and were negotiating
with some clients on the roadside. Fatima and Alam escaped but were
later brought to the police station. After approximately two weeks, the
complainants withdrew their petition from the Office of SSP, Islamabad.
The SHO of the police station Idrees Rathore, reportedly coerced the
petitioners and also paid money to have them withdraw the complaint
against him and his staff.
In July policeman Liaqat Ali was arrested for allegedly raping a
rape victim who went to a police check point in Islamabad to report
being attacked. The accuser, Ms. Surriya, went to the check point along
with her mother to complain about the incident. Ali requested the
mother to wait at the check point while he pretended to take Surriya to
the police station for further investigation and medical checkup.
Surriya reported that Liaqat instead took her to a house and sexually
assaulted her. She filed a complaint in Islamabad civil courts and at
the Office of SSP Islamabad. The civil court ordered an inquiry into
the complaint, and Liaqat Ali was suspended from his job and arrested.
Ali remained in prison at the end of the year.
In May 2005 police claimed to have resolved the April 2005 case
involving Shabbir Hussain, Zafar Abass and Muhammad Sadiq, in which
they claimed they were detained, beaten, and forced to drink urine and
eat mud. According to press accounts, the police apologized but denied
that they made them drink urine or eat mud. The matter was settled
informally when the accusers withdrew their charges through a gathering
of local notables.
In June 2005 the Multan Bench heard a case against eight police in
Vehari accused of sewing shut the lips of Mohammad Hussain, and ordered
that the victim receive medical treatment. While the case against the
eight progressed, there was severe social pressure on Hussain to accept
an apology and a cash settlement from the eight policemen, according to
press accounts.
The Hudood Ordinances provide Koranic punishments for violations of
Shari'a (Islamic law), including death by stoning and amputation.
Authorities did not use such punishments during the year, as they
required a high standard of evidence.
According to human rights organizations such as HRW and HRCP,
security forces sometimes used excessive force in combating domestic
insurgencies in FATA and Balochistan, which resulted in civilian deaths
(see section 1.a.).
There were also incidents of societal violence against members of
religious minorities such as Christians, Ahmadis, and Shi'as (see
section 2.c).
Honor killings and mutilations, including cutting off of women's
noses and stripping women naked to dishonor them, occurred during the
year (see section 5).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions did not
meet international standards and were extremely poor, except for those
cells of wealthy or influential prisoners. Overcrowding was widespread.
According to the Society for Human Rights and Prisoners Aid (SHARP),
there were 86,500 prisoners occupying 87 jails originally built to hold
a maximum of 36,075 persons. The number declined from the previous year
because on July 1, President Musharraf ordered the release of children
and prisoners charged with petty offenses. Others were released as part
of the religious festivals of Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha. During the
year the Government began a prison expansion and improvement program.
Inadequate food in prisons led to chronic malnutrition for those
unable to supplement their diet with help from family or friends.
Access to medical care was a problem. Foreign prisoners often remained
in prison long after their sentences were completed because there was
no one to pay for deportation to their home country.
Authorities routinely shackled prisoners, including juvenile
prisoners. The shackles were tight, heavy, and painful and reportedly
led to gangrene and amputation in several cases.
Police held female detainees and prisoners separately from male
detainees and prisoners. Child offenders were generally kept in the
same prisons as adults, albeit in separate barracks. According to a BBC
report, an independent NGO investigation found that 70 percent of
children who came into contact with the police were abused in some way.
Since the children were not separated from adult prisoners, they were
also subject to sexual abuse. The report noted that the majority of the
children were pre-trial prisoners, who were often acquitted one to
three years later for lack of evidence. Police often did not segregate
detainees from convicted criminals. Mentally ill prisoners usually
lacked adequate care and were not segregated from the general prison
population (see section 5).
There were reports of prison riots, largely due to the poor living
conditions inside the prisons. According to an Islamabad based NGO,
inmates complained about their treatment by jail staff and the
``culture of bribery'' that prevailed at various levels of jail
administration. Few resources were allocated to the maintenance of
prison facilities.
In June 2005 inmates at the Sargodha jail took two assistant
superintendents and four wardens hostage to protest mistreatment. In
the ensuing clash, nine inmates and one guard were injured. One of the
inmates later died from injuries sustained during the riot. An
investigative committee found three main culprits, including jail
inspector Asghar Syed guilty of mistreating the prisoners. Syed was
suspended from service and two years of his service were taken from his
retirement plan. The report blamed Syed for the use of excessive
violence to quell the protest. The punishment of the other two accused
was not known. The prison department gave the relatives of the prisoner
who died a compensation of $3,300 (Rs 200,000).
On April 3, three prisoners in Adiala jail in Rawalpindi went on a
hunger strike against jail officials for not granting visitation rights
to their relatives. When the police tried to force feed the prisoners,
a prison riot ensued. All 5,000 inmates of Adiala jail subsequently
went on a hunger strike and clashed with police, injuring three police
officers and 11 prisoners. Provincial prison authorities resolved the
issue through negotiation between the prisoners and jail
administrators.
In 2005 authorities established special women's police stations
with all female staff in response to complaints of custodial abuse of
women, including rape. The Government's National Commission on the
Status of Women claimed the stations did not function effectively in
large part due to a lack of resources. Court orders and regulations
prohibit male police from interacting with female suspects, but male
police often detained and interrogated women at regular stations.
According to women's rights NGOs, there were approximately 2,500 women
in jails jail nationwide at the end of the year, following the July 1
Presidential order to release several thousand women and children who
were imprisoned for petty offenses.
Authorities subjected children in prison to the same harsh
conditions, judicial delay, and mistreatment as the adult population.
Local NGOs estimated that approximately 2,317 children were in prison
at the end of the year. Child offenders could alternatively be sent to
one of two residential reform schools in Karachi and Bahawalpur until
they reached the age of majority. Abuse and torture reportedly also
occurred at these facilities. Nutrition and education were inadequate.
Family members were forced to pay bribes to visit children or bring
them food. Facility staff reportedly trafficked drugs to children
incarcerated in these institutions.
The Supreme Court continued the suspension of a December 2004
Lahore High Court ruling that struck down the Juvenile Justice System
Ordinance as unconstitutional. The ordinance is a separate procedural
code for accused juveniles. It provides numerous protections for
juvenile offenders not found in the normal penal code.
Landlords in Sindh and Punjab, as well as tribes in rural areas,
operated illegal private jails. According to a BBC report, a religious
seminary in Haripur, NWFP, headed by Maulana Ilyas Qadri was used as a
private ``jail'' to treat drug addicts. In October police raided the
seminary and freed 112 persons, including seven British nationals.
Police reported that they were held in chains. Some bore signs of
torture and sexual abuse.
Persons held for political offenses, or on ``national security''
grounds, were usually held in different conditions than the general
prison population and often in separate facilities.
The Government permitted visits to prisoners and detainees by human
rights monitors, family members, and lawyers with some restrictions
(see section 1.d.). Visits by local human rights monitors occurred
during the year; however, the Government denied the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) access to alleged terrorist
detainees.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, the authorities did not always comply
with the law.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Police have primary
internal security responsibilities. Under the Police Order (Second
Amendment) Ordinance promulgated on July 2005, control of the police
falls under elected local district chief executives known as nazims.
Paramilitary forces such as the Rangers, the Frontier Constabulary, and
the Islamabad Capital Territory Police fall under the Ministry of the
Interior. Provincial governments control these forces when they assist
in law and order operations. During some religious holidays, the
Government deployed the regular army in sensitive areas to help
maintain public order.
Corruption within the police was rampant. Police charged fees to
register genuine complaints and accepted money for registering false
complaints. Bribes to avoid charges were commonplace. Persons paid
police to humiliate their opponents and avenge personal grievances.
Corruption was most prominent among police station SHOs, some of whom
reportedly operated arrest for ransom operations and established
unsanctioned stations to increase illicit revenue collection.
Police force effectiveness varied greatly by district, ranging from
reasonably good to completely ineffective. Some members of the police
force committed numerous, serious human rights abuses. Failure to
punish abuses, however, created a climate of impunity. Police and
prison officials frequently used the threat of abuse to extort money
from prisoners and their families. The inspector general, district
police officers, district nazims, provincial interior or chief
ministers, federal interior or prime minister, or the courts can order
internal investigations into abuses and order administrative sanctions.
Executive branch and police officials can recommend and the courts can
order criminal prosecution. However, these mechanisms were rarely used.
Police often failed to protect members of religious minorities
particularly Christians, Ahmadis, and Shi'as from societal attacks (see
sections 2.c. and 5).
The Punjab provincial government initiated regular training and
retraining of police at all levels, both in technical skills and human
rights. In July 2005 President Musharraf reissued and amended the 2002
Police Order, which transfers oversight responsibility of police from
provinces to districts and establishes the district level chief
executive as principal supervisor. The order also calls for the
immediate establishment of local oversight bodies that have been
stalled since 2002. In Punjab and NWFP, public safety commissions were
established and functioned. Similar commissions in Balochistan and
Sindh were not as well developed. The Government argued that these
reforms would make police more responsive to the local community.
Opponents charged that they would politicize the police force.
Arrest and Detention.--A First Information Report (FIR) is the
legal basis for all arrests. Police may issue FIRs provided
complainants offer reasonable proof that a crime was committed. A FIR
allows police to detain a named suspect for 24 hours, after which only
a magistrate can order detention for an additional 14 days, and then
only if police show such detention is material to the investigation. In
practice the authorities did not fully observe these limits on
detention. FIRs frequently were issued without supporting evidence as
part of harassment or intimidation or not issued when adequate evidence
was provided unless the complainant could pay a bribe. Police routinely
did not seek magistrate approval for investigative detention and often
held detainees without charge until a court challenged them.
Incommunicado detention occurred (see section 1.c.). When requested,
magistrates usually approved investigative detention without reference
to its necessity. In cases of insufficient evidence, police and
magistrates colluded to continue detention beyond the 14 day period
provided in the law through the issuance of new FIRs.
The police sometimes detained individuals arbitrarily without
charge or on false charges to extort payment for their release.
Some women continued to be detained arbitrarily and were sexually
abused (see sections 1.c. and 5). Police also detained relatives of
wanted criminals to compel suspects to surrender (see section 1.f.).
Courts appointed attorneys for indigents only in capital cases. In some
cases persons had to pay bribes to see a prisoner. Foreign diplomats
could meet with prisoners when they appeared in court and could meet
with citizens of their countries in prison visits, although not in all
cases. Despite repeated requests to ascertain the whereabouts of
``disappeared'' foreign citizen Safdar Sarki, diplomats were denied
both information about his whereabouts and access (see section 1.b.).
Local human rights activists reported few restrictions to their access
to prisons.
The district coordinating officer may order preventive detention
for up to 90 days; however, human rights monitors reported instances in
which prisoners were held in preventive detention for up to six months.
Human rights organizations charged that a number of individuals alleged
to be affiliated with terrorist organizations were held in preventive
detention indefinitely. A magistrate may permit continued detention for
up to 14 days if necessary to complete the investigation. In corruption
cases, the National Accountability Board (NAB) may hold suspects
indefinitely provided that judicial concurrence is granted every 15
days (see section 1.e.).
The law stipulates that detainees must be brought to trial within
30 days of their arrest. Under both the Hudood and standard criminal
codes, there are bailable and non bailable offenses. Bail pending trial
is required for bailable offenses and permitted at a court's discretion
for non bailable offenses with sentences of less than 10 years. In
practice judges denied bail at the request of police, the community, or
on payment of bribes. In many cases trials did not start until six
months after the filing of charges, and in some cases individuals
remained in pretrial detention for periods longer than the maximum
sentence for the crime for which they were charged. Human rights NGOs
estimated that 50 to 52 percent of the prison population was awaiting
trial.
As in previous years, the Government used preventive detention,
mass arrests, and excessive force to quell or prevent protests,
political rallies, or civil unrest (see section 2.b.).
Several dozen Mohajir Quami Movement Haqiqi (MQM H) activists,
arrested between 1999 and 2003, remained in custody at year's end, some
without charge for violent acts against members of other parties as
well as expressing views critical of the Government. MQM H claims that
their enemy, the MQM, is behind these delays.
On December 1, President Musharraf signed the Women's Protection
Bill, which reversed the most negative aspects of the Hudood
Ordinances. Although, according to human rights monitors, 80 percent of
the female prison population was awaiting trial on adultery-related
offenses under the Hudood Ordinances, few if any of those women had
been released at the end of the year, despite the new law. Most of
these cases were filed without supporting evidence, trials often took
years, and bail was routinely denied. The Hudood Ordinances were used
by family members to control their children for making their own
choices in marriage, abusive husbands, or neighbors to settle personal
scores. According to the NGO Asian American Network Against Abuse,
research in the country's prisons showed that many of women imprisoned
under zina (adultery or fornication) laws were single or widowed women
living alone, young brides who make their in-laws angry for not
bringing enough dowry, or elderly women whose husbands did not want to
be married to them anymore. There were also several cases of pimps who
filed zina charges against women who were trafficked and refused to
work.
Special rules apply to cases brought by the NAB or before
antiterrorist courts. Suspects in NAB cases may be detained for 15 days
without charge (renewable with judicial concurrence) and, prior to
being charged, are not allowed access to counsel. Despite government
claims that NAB cases were pursued independently of an individual's
political affiliation, opposition politicians were more likely to be
prosecuted (see section 1.d.). The NAB prosecuted no serving members of
the military or judiciary.
Accountability courts may not grant bail; the NAB chairman has sole
power to decide if and when to release detainees. Antiterrorist courts
do not grant bail if the court has reasonable grounds to believe that
the accused is guilty. Security forces may without reference to the
courts restrict the activities of terrorist suspects, seize their
assets, and detain them for up to a year without charges.
In June 2005 the Government assigned a security detail to Mukhtiar
Mai (Mukhtaran Bibi), at her request. Mai was concerned for her safety
following the court-ordered release of five men convicted in her 2002
gang rape ordered by a village council because of an alleged infraction
committed by her brother. Human rights groups claimed that when the
Government learned Mai wished to travel abroad to speak publicly of her
experience, the protection detail controlled her movements and
communication, such that she was under virtual house arrest. The
Supreme Court later intervened and suspended the acquittals of the five
men as well as the eight who were acquitted in the original 2002 trial.
All remained in custody.
On July 22, Sarhad police arbitrarily arrested Naveed Ahmed, a
local reporter for the Daily Koshish, a Sindhi language newspaper,
while Ahmed was recovering from gunshot wounds in the hospital.
According to AHRC, Ahmed was falsely implicated in a kidnapping case.
AHRC reports that Ahmed was a vocal and prominent journalist in the
district, who reported on police atrocities and on cases of financial
corruption by local authorities.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary; however, in practice the judiciary remained
subject to executive branch influence at all levels. In nonpolitical
cases, the high courts and Supreme Court were generally considered
credible. Lower courts remained corrupt, inefficient, and subject to
pressure from prominent religious and political figures. The
politicized nature of judicial promotions enhanced the Government's
control over the court system. Unfilled judgeships and inefficient
court procedures resulted in severe backlogs at both trial and
appellate levels. According to the AHRC, more than 15,000 cases were
pending before the Supreme Court. Ordinary cases take a minimum of five
to six years, while cases on appeal can take as long as 20 to 25 years.
There were several court systems with overlapping and sometimes
competing jurisdictions: criminal, civil and personal status,
terrorism, commercial, family, military, and Shariat.
Feudal landlords in Sindh and Punjab and tribal leaders in Pashtun
and Baloch areas continued to hold jirgas (local councils), at times in
defiance of the established legal system. Such jirgas, particularly
prevalent in rural areas, settled feuds and imposed tribal penalties on
perceived wrongdoers that could include fines, imprisonment, or even
the death sentence. In Pashtun areas, such jirgas were held under the
outlines of the Pashtun Tribal Code. Under this code, a man, his
family, and his tribe are obligated to take revenge for wrongs real or
perceived to redeem their honor. Frequently these disputes arose over
women and land and often resulted in violence. In the tribal areas, the
settling of many family feuds, particularly over murder cases, involved
giving daughters of the accused in marriage to the bereaved (see
section 5).
Many tribal jirgas instituted harsh punishments such as the death
penalty or watta-satta (exchange of brides between clans or tribes)
marriages (see section 5).
The Supreme Court had a history of annulling the rulings and
validity of the military courts trying civilians. A civilian prime
minister, Nawaz Sharif, established military courts in 1998 to dispense
``quick justice.'' The human rights and the lawyers' community appealed
to the Supreme Court to invalidate military courts on the grounds that
they operated outside the rule of law. A 1999 Supreme Court decision
invalidating military courts was not implemented. The Supreme Court
continued to attempt to nullify military court decisions involving
civilians. However, this was often difficult since judges were under an
oath required by the 1999 Provisional Constitutional Order, which
forbids court review of actions taken by the chief executive (President
Musharraf's title at the time) or his designees.
Trial Procedures.--The civil, criminal, and family court systems
provide for an open trial, the presumption of innocence, cross
examination by an attorney, and appeal of sentences. There are no jury
trials. Due to the limited number of judges, heavy backlog of cases,
lengthy court procedures, and political pressures, cases routinely took
years, and defendants had to make frequent court appearances. Cases
start over when an attorney changes.
The Anti Terrorist Act allows the Government to use special
streamlined courts to try violent crimes, terrorist activities, acts or
speech designed to foment religious hatred, and crimes against the
state. Cases brought before these courts are to be decided within seven
working days, but judges are free to extend the period as required.
Under normal procedures, the high court and the Supreme Court hear
appeals from these courts. Human rights activists criticized this
expedited parallel system, charging it was more vulnerable to political
manipulation.
Special accountability courts try corruption cases (see section
1.d.), including defaults on government loans by wealthy debtors
brought by the NAB. The NAB has not targeted genuine business failures
or small defaulters. Accountability courts are expected to try cases
within 30 days. In accountability cases, there is a presumption of
guilt.
Despite government claims that NAB cases pursued independently of
an individual's political affiliation, opposition politicians were more
likely to be prosecuted (see section 1.d.). The NAB prosecuted no
serving members of the military or judiciary, which rely on courts
marshal and Supreme Judicial Council venues, respectively.
On December 1, President Musharraf signed into law the Women's
Protection Act, which rolled back the most negative sections of the
Hudood Ordinances, particularly those sections that had dealt with
sexual relations. The zina clause had made it difficult for rape
victims to seek justice and put them at rise of prosecution for
fornication. Sections of the Hudood Ordinances that remain in effect,
such as those prohibiting gambling, alcohol, and some property
offenses, are tried by ordinary criminal courts. The ordinances set
strict standards of evidence, which discriminate between men and women
and Muslims and non Muslims, for cases in which Koranic punishments are
to be applied (see sections 1.c. and 5). For Hudood cases involving the
lesser secular penalties, different weight is given to male and female
testimony in matters involving financial and contractual obligations.
The Hudood ordinances do not apply to non-Muslims, although non-Muslims
can be implicated in cases that involve wrong-doing by Muslims.
Laws prohibiting blasphemy continued to be used against Christians,
Ahmadis, and members of other religious groups including Muslims. Lower
courts often did not require adequate evidence in blasphemy cases,
which led to some accused and convicted persons spending years in jail
before higher courts eventually overturned their convictions or ordered
them freed.
The Federal Shariat Court is the court of first appeal in all
Hudood cases that result in a sentence of more than two years. The
Supreme Court, however, determined that in cases where a provincial
high court decides to hear an appeal in a Hudood case, even in error,
the Federal Shariat Court lacks authority to review the provincial high
court's decision. The Shari'a bench of the Supreme Court is the final
court of appeal for federal shariat court cases. A 2005 ruling allows
the full Supreme Court to bypass the Shari'a bench and assume
jurisdiction in such appellate cases in its own right.
The Federal Shariat Court may overturn legislation that it judges
to be inconsistent with Islamic tenants, but such cases are appealed to
the Shari'a bench of the Supreme Court and may ultimately be heard by
the full Supreme Court.
In September the Supreme Court heard a case of a 13 year-old rape
victim who gave birth after she was raped while captive of a government
official. On September 28, the Chief Justice remarked that efforts to
charge the girl with fornication demonstrated that the police were a
``highly negligent department,'' unaware of their fundamental duties
without the court's assistance.
The law allows for the victim or his/her family to pardon criminal
defendants in exchange for monetary restitution (diyat) or physical
restitution (qisas). While diyat was invoked, particularly in NWFP and
in honor cases in Sindh, qisas have never been used.
The FATA have a separate legal system, the Frontier Crimes
Regulation, which recognizes the doctrine of collective responsibility.
Authorities are empowered to detain fellow members of a fugitive's
tribe or to blockade a fugitive's village, pending his surrender or
punishment by his own tribe. Tribal leaders are responsible for justice
in the FATA. They conduct hearings according to Islamic law and tribal
custom. The accused have no right to legal representation, bail, or
appeal. The usual penalties consisted of fines. Federal civil servants
assigned to tribal agencies oversee proceedings and may impose prison
terms of up to 14 years.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Some political groups claimed
their members were marked for arrest based on their political
affiliation (see sections 1.c. and 1.d.). In 2001 police arrested Syed
Yousaf Raza Gilani, a former speaker of the National Assembly and an
accountability court in Rawalpindi charged Gilani with misusing his
position. On October 5, Gilani was released on bail. Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz (PML N) leader Javed Hashmi remained in jail, sentenced to
27 years on sedition charges in 2004 after reading in the cafeteria of
the National Assembly a letter critical of the military. His appeal was
ongoing at year's end.
According to Baloch nationalist political leaders and human rights
organizations, there were more than 500 Baloch nationalist political
prisoners who had been detained by military intelligence and security
forces since the military operation began in the province in December
2004. The exact number of the prisoners was not available. The
Government denied imprisoning people because of their political
beliefs, but it was commonly and widely believed that there were
hundreds of Sindhi and Baloch nationalist leaders and activists
imprisoned without any formal charges.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Persons may petition high
courts to seek redress for human rights violations, and courts often
take such actions. Persons may seek redress against government
officials, including on grounds of denial of human rights, in civil
courts. However, observers reported that civil courts seldom or never
issued official judgments in such cases, and that most cases were
settled outside of court. While there were no official procedures for
administrative redress, informal reparations were common.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law requires court issued search warrants for
property but not persons. Police routinely ignored this requirement and
at times stole items during searches. Police were seldom punished for
illegal entry. In cases being pursued under the Anti Terrorist Act,
security forces were allowed to search and seize property related to
the case without a warrant.
The Government maintained several domestic intelligence services
that monitored politicians, political activists, suspected terrorists,
the media and suspected foreign intelligence agents. Despite a Supreme
Court order, credible reports indicated that the authorities routinely
used wiretaps and intercepted and opened mail without the requisite
court approval.
In accordance with the Anti Terrorist Act, the Government banned
the activities of and membership in several religious extremist and
terrorist groups. However, some of the groups that the Government
banned changed their names and remained active. Examples included:
Lashkar e Taiba (new name: Jamatud Dawa), Jaish e Muhammad (new name:
Tehrikul Furqan & Al Rehmat Trust), Tehrik e Ja'afria Pakistan (new
name: Tehrik e Islami Pakistan), Sipah e Sihaba Pakistan (new name:
Millat e Islamia Pakistan).
While the Government generally did not interfere with the right to
marry, local officials on occasion assisted influential families to
prevent marriages that the families opposed. The Government also failed
to prosecute vigorously cases in which families punished members
(generally women) for marrying or seeking a divorce against the wishes
of other family members. Upon conversion to Islam, women's marriages
performed under the rites of their previous religion were considered
dissolved, while the marriages of men who converted remained intact
(see section 2.c.).
In some cases, authorities detained relatives to force a family
member who was the recipient of an arrest warrant to surrender (see
section 1.d.). NGOs alleged that intelligence personnel often harassed
family members of Baloch nationalists (see section 1.b.).
Human rights NGOs expressed concern with the Frontier Crimes
Regulation (FCR) Act, noting that it applied the concept of collective
punishment. According to HRW, the FCR empowered authorities to detain
members of fugitives' tribes, demolish their homes, confiscate or
destroy their property, or lay siege to a fugitive's village pending
his surrender or punishment by his own tribe in accordance with local
tradition.
AI reported that under the FCR, people suspected of committing
criminal offenses did not have legal representation at a formally
constituted tribal jirga or council which submits its recommendations
regarding convictions or acquittals to a Political Agent. There is no
possibility of appealing against conviction or punishment under the
FCR, as the judiciary's appellate powers do not extend to the FATA.
Reports of religious extremists forming parallel administrations,
including justice administrations, in FATA increased during the year.
For example, on March 26, AI reported that Hayatullah Gul in Tiarza,
South Waziristan, was shot by the father of taxi driver who Gul
allegedly killed two weeks earlier. The decision to sanction the
shooting was made by a council of persons described in the media as
``local Taliban.'' Gul had no legal counsel to assist him and no
possibility to challenge the conviction and punishment. Gul was not
brought before a proper jirga, and his case was not decided by the
Political Agent for South Waziristan.
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 citizens generally were free to discuss
public issues; however, some journalists were harshly intimidated and
others practiced self censorship. Newspapers and periodicals had to be
given permission by the Kashmir Council and Ministry of Kashmir Affairs
in order to publish within the territory. According to HRW's recently
released report on Azad Kashmir, these bodies were unlikely to grant
permission to publications sympathetic to an independent Kashmiri
cause.
There were numerous English and Urdu daily and weekly newspapers
and magazines. All were independent. The Ministry of Information
controlled and managed the country's primary wire service, the
Associated Press of Pakistan, which is the official carrier of
government and international news to the local media. The military has
its own press wing, as well as two sections to ``monitor'' the press.
The few small privately owned wire services practiced self censorship.
Foreign magazines and newspapers were available, and many maintained in
country correspondents who operated freely.
The Government directly owned and controlled Pakistan Television
and Radio Pakistan, the only non fee national electronic broadcasters.
Both reflected government views in news coverage. Private cable and
satellite channels GEO, ARY, Indus, and Khyber all broadcast domestic
news coverage and were critical of the Government. Cable and satellite
television with numerous international news stations was generally
affordable. Private radio stations existed in major cities, but their
licenses prohibited news programming. Some channels evaded this
restriction through talk shows, although they were careful to avoid
most domestic political discussions. International radio broadcasts,
including from the BBC and the Voice of America, were available.
Newspapers were free to criticize the Government, and most did so.
Condemnation of government policies and harsh criticism of political
leaders and military operations were common. Media outlets practiced
self-censorship for fear of government agents engaging in retribution
against papers and journalists critical of certain governmental
policies.
There was an increase in government arrests, harassment, and
intimidation of journalists during the year. According to the NGO AHRC,
the Government banned three FM radio stations and two television
channels, although service was restored after protests from civil
society.
According to Internews, an NGO that monitors the state of the media
in the country, there were 127 attacks against the media and
journalists during the year. By the end of the year, at least five
journalists had been killed; nine abducted (of which seven were later
released without charges being filed against their abductors); 191
attacked, beaten, tortured, or shot at; 45 arrested; four jailed; and
13 threatened. In addition 15 publications, 3 television channels, and
23 Web sites were temporarily banned; three newspaper presses were
raided; one FM station was sealed. Seventeen journalists and media
organizations were going through court cases; 30 were prevented from
covering official functions; and 11 newspapers or magazines were denied
state-sponsored advertising from public funds for being critical of
government policies. Internews believed that many cases were not
reported because journalists in small cities and towns functioned at
the mercy of local authorities and were reluctant to complain of
intimidation, even if they knew where to register their problems.
In December 2005 unknown assailants kidnapped journalist Hayatullah
Khan from North Waziristan. According to the Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ), on June 16, Hayatullah was found dead, handcuffed,
and shot in the head from behind. Khan's family accused intelligence
agencies of the crime. According to the CPJ, Khan reported on a
December 2005 explosion in the town of Haisori in North Waziristan that
the Government claimed killed a senior Al-Qaeda commander. Colleagues
suspected that authorities detained Khan after he contradicted a
government report that the senior leader died when munitions exploded
inside a house. Khan quoted local tribesmen as saying the house was hit
by a missile fired from an aircraft.
According to CPJ, on January 14, authorities in Bajaur Agency,
FATA, briefly detained two journalists who were reporting on an
incident in Damadola village, where missiles were fired into three
houses. Both security forces and militants allegedly warned Daily Times
bureau chief Iqbal Khattak and BBC World Service correspondent Haroon
Rashid against reporting in the area. According to CPJ, few journalists
remained in Waziristan, FATA, after attacks and threats from security
forces and militants forced many to flee.
According to the CPJ, intelligence agencies illegally detained GEO
television correspondent Mukesh Rupeta and cameraman Sanjay Kumar on
March 6. In June, the Government filed criminal cases against Rupeta
and Kumar and accused them of filming a government air force base in
violation of the Official Secrets Act. According to international news
reports and human rights organizations, Rupeta was tortured while in
custody. On June 22, family members reported that the two men were kept
blindfolded and that Rupeta and Kumar were released.
On May 30, Munir Ahmed Sangi, a cameraman for the Sindhi-langauge
Kaswish Television Network, was killed while covering a gunfight
between members of the Unar and Abro tribes in Larkana. According to
the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Sangi may have been
deliberately killed by the Unar tribe since he had been reporting on
their tribal council.
On June 6, men associated with a provincial minister, Sohrab Sarki
and a member of the National Assembly from the Pakistan's People's
Party party, Bijarani, beat and ransacked the office of a journalist
named Sarmad who worked for a Sindhi television station. Sarmad had
reported on the outcome of a jirga decision related to a 12-year-old
murder case. The jirga, which included the local feudal landlords and
district mayor, had ordered the murderers to hand over five girls not
exceeding the age of 10 to the members of the deceased family as
compensation.
On July 2, police arrested Mehruddin Mari, a reporter for the
Sindhi language newspaper the Daily Kawish who had reported on human
rights abuses at a police roadblock near Golarchi, in southern Sindh.
Other reporters witnessed the police picking up Mari. At the end of the
year, Mari remained missing.
On August 23, authorities in NWFP, under orders from the Pakistan
Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), closed radio station FM
103 for airing the concerns of earthquake victims who had not received
relief or rehabilitation assistance. The officials at FM 103 strongly
criticized the Government for banning their transmission and filed an
appeal in the district court of Mansehra. Prior to the closure, the
Earthquake Relief and Rehabilitation Authority had warned FM 103 to
``mend its ways.''
On September 3, police and intelligence agencies arrested Rafiq
Ajis, editor of the daily Chamag in Turbat, Balochistan, and Abdul
Sattar Khan from Chiniot, Punjab. On September 20, Saeed Sarbazi from
Karachi, Sindh, was arrested. On September 23, intelligence agencies
released Sarbazi and confirmed that he had been detained by
intelligence agencies without charge. According to the CPJ, Sarbazi
told reporters that he was dragged by unknown kidnappers who covered
his face with his shirt. Sarbazi alleged being interrogated about his
personal and professional life, including his connection with the
Baloch Liberation Army. Sarbazi had written recently of disputes over
access to political unrest in Balochistan.
On September 13, private guards of Federal Minister for Labor and
Manpower Ghulam Sarwar Khan severely beat a senior journalist, C.R.
Shamsi, inside the Parliament premises. Shamsi had asked the minister,
who later apologized to other media personnel for the incident, about a
legal case pending against him. No one was arrested for the incident.
On September 15, two masked gunmen killed journalist Maqbool
Hussain Siyal in Dera Ismail Khan. Siyal worked for the Pakistani
Online News Network and was on his way to interview a leader of the
PPP. The CPJ was investigating whether Siyal's death was related to his
work as a journalist. By the end of the year, police had not made any
arrests.
On September 16, police beat and seized the equipment of two
journalists, Wadood Mushtaq from ARY and Zahid Malik from ATV along
with cameraman Nazir Awan from ARY at a religious congregation in Minar
e Pakistan in Lahore. They had filmed police demanding bribes from
participants in the rally. The journalists also filmed the police
impounding buses under false pretenses. All three were treated for
multiple fractures. By the end of the year, the police officer
involved, Mukhtar Shan, had not been charged.
On September 17, Shakeel Anjum, a senior correspondent for the
News, was included in a FIR involving a triple murder case in
Islamabad. He had written a series of articles highlighting problems in
the police, and the SHO of the Shehzad Town police included his name in
the FIR. On October 16, the police cleared him. The CPJ alleged that
the FIR was punishment for Mari's criticism of the police.
On September 17, officials in Punjab directed cable operators in
the province to stop airing the ARY Digital television network after
ARY repeatedly broadcast the beating of the three journalists at Minar
e Pakistan. The Government allowed the network to resume broadcasting a
week later. A similar incident took place on September 26 after
officials in Punjab forced cable operators in Taxila, Wah Cantonment to
stop broadcasting ARY on September 26 and 27.
On November 8, PEMRA allegedly verbally instructed cable operators
throughout the country not to transmit a Bangkok-based television
network, Sindh Television. According to AHRC, the Sindhi channel had
gained popularity for highlighting government mismanagement. In late
October the channel had broadcast a satirical show about high-level
government officials, including the President and prime minister.
On November 20, unknown individuals in plainclothes illegally
detained Dilawar Khan Wazir, a BBC correspondent and reporter for the
Daily Dawn. The kidnappers released Wazir after detaining and beating
him for approximately 30 hours. During his interrogation, Wazir's
captors allegedly questioned him about his reporting in South
Waziristan. Observers and human rights groups believed security
services were responsible for Wazir's kidnapping and torture.
On December 19, a British reporter working for the New York Times
in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Carlotta Gall, was assaulted by military
intelligence officers for covering a story in Quetta. The officers
searched Gall's room and took her equipment. Gall's photographer was
detained and released a few hours later.
The Anti Terrorist Act prohibits the possession or distribution of
material designed to foment sectarian hatred or material obtained from
banned organizations. As part of the Government's crackdown on
extremists, President Musharraf ordered police to take action against
radical publications. There were no reported cases of such crackdowns
during the year.
Court rulings mandate the death sentence for anyone blaspheming
against the ``prophets.'' The law provides for life imprisonment for
desecrating the Koran and up to 10 years in prison for insulting
another's religious beliefs with the intent to outrage religious
feelings (see section 2.c.). This law was used only against those who
allegedly insulted the Prophet Muhammad. Groups such as the Khateme
Nabuwwat Movement, which considered anyone who questioned the finality
of Prophet Muhammad to be a heretic, were known to insult Ahmadi
beliefs; however, the law was not used against them. Foreign books must
pass government censors before being reprinted. Books and magazines may
be imported freely but are subject to censorship for objectionable
sexual or religious content.
Obscene literature, a category broadly defined by the Government,
was subject to seizure. Television stations broadcast dramas and
documentaries on previously taboo subjects, including corruption,
social privilege, narcotics, violence against women, and female
inequality.
Internet Freedom.--While there were no reports that the Government
limited public access to the Internet, it attempted to control some
extremist and Baloch separatist Web sites based in the country. Telecom
authorities claimed that Internet access had risen by 750 percent in
five years (10.5 million total subscribers during the year, compared
with 1.2 million in 2001), and service existed in nearly all of the
country's urban areas.
On April 23, according to the AHRC, the Government shut down four
Web sites that focus on the area of Balochistan. The Government said
the sites had spread misinformation. Supporters of the sites believed
that sites were shut down because the news offered on these sites
detailed military operations in Balochistan.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government generally did
not restrict academic freedom; however, the atmosphere of violence and
intolerance fostered by student organizations, typically tied to
political parties, continued to limit academic freedom. On some
university campuses, well armed groups of students, most commonly
associated with the All Pakistan Mutahidda Students Organization
(affiliated with the MQM) and the Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT)(affiliated
with the JI), clashed with and intimidated other students, instructors,
and administrators over issues such as language, syllabus content,
examination policies, grades, doctrines, and dress. These groups
frequently facilitated cheating on examinations, interfered with the
hiring of staff, influenced those admitted to the universities, and
sometimes also influenced the use of funds of the institutions. Such
influence generally was achieved through a combination of protest
rallies, control of the campus media, and threats of mass violence. In
response, university authorities banned political activity on many
campuses, but with limited effect.
The religious party coalition (MMA) government in NWFP banned the
use of music in public transportation. Daewoo Bus Service, a major
line, shuts down its in-bus movies and music when it crossed the Attock
river into NWFP. MMA also directed that billboards not feature women.
The Ministry of Culture operated the Central Film Censor Board,
which previewed all foreign and domestic films before exhibit in the
country.
There were no incidents of government crackdowns on art exhibitions
or other musical/cultural activities.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom ``to assemble peacefully and without arms subject to any
reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of public
order,'' and freedom of association, and the Government generally
observed these rights, but with some restrictions.
Freedom of Assembly.--While the law provided for this right, in
practice, the Government placed selective restrictions on the right to
assemble and sometimes refused permits for processions in urban areas.
Ahmadis have been prohibited from holding any conferences or gatherings
since 1984 (see section 2.c.).
The HRCP expressed concern that the Government had permitted a
rally on April 8 of the banned terrorist organization, Sipah-e-Sahaba
Pakistan, during which the participants preached violence against non-
believers and sold videos depicting violent acts.
Police often used preventive detention and excessive force against
demonstrators.
On February 2, police detained leaders of the Jammu and Kashmir
Liberation Front, including Amanullah Khan. Police detained Khan after
he attended a peaceful demonstration in Rawalpindi against the
construction of the Basha Dam in the Gilgit region of the Northern
Areas. According to AI, Khan was not permitted to receive visitors, and
his health deteriorated during his one-week detention.
On April 15, police baton charged and used tear gas to disperse a
rally of journalists and human rights activists in Choa Saidan Shah,
Chakwal, Punjab, when they demanded compensation for the owners of two
shops that caught fire during the Government's anti encroachment drive.
Police also registered two criminal cases against Chaudhary Farzand
Ali, President, and Malik Wazir Muhammad, secretary general, of a
journalists' union, citing their disruption of the public order. Police
also injured local human rights activist Chaudhary Nematullah.
On August 22, approximately 2,000 teachers of the Sindh Employees
Alliance protested in front of the Karachi Press Club against the
Government's ban on teachers' unions. According to the AHRC, police
used teargas and batons to disperse the demonstration. Police arrested
45 teachers and injured six.
On October 12, to protest General Musharraf's coup against Pakistan
Muslim League-Nawaz (PML N) Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999, the
PML N demonstrated in Karachi, Lahore and other cities. In Lahore,
police charged the crowd with batons when they did not disperse.
According to the Dawn and other newspapers, police injured 11
demonstrators and arrested others under section 16 of the Maintenance
of Public Order law.
On November 27, according to AHRC more than 400 human rights and
political activists were arrested in Balochistan to prevent them from
participating in peaceful protests in advance of President Musharraf's
visit to the province. Virtually all were released after the visit.
Unlike in previous years, the authorities did not restrict the
domestic movements of leaders of religious political parties.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for the right of
association subject to restriction by government ordinance and law.
NGOs were required to register with the Government under the 1960
Cooperative Societies and Companies Ordinance. No prominent NGO
reported problems with the Government over registrations during the
year. Some continued to operate without registering and were not
prosecuted.
According to HRW's recently released report on freedom of
expression and civil liberties in Azad Kashmir, individuals and
political parties who did not support Kashmir's accession to the
country were barred from participating in the political process, thus
excluding individuals who supported Kashmir's independence. HRW noted
that individuals who did not support Kashmir's accession to the country
were subject to abuse by the intelligence agencies and the military.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution states that adequate
provisions shall be made for minorities to profess and practice their
religions freely; however, the Government limited freedom of religion
in practice. Islam is the state religion, and the constitution requires
that laws be consistent with Islam. All citizens were subject to
certain provisions of Shari'a, including extensions such as the
blasphemy laws. Reprisals and threats of reprisals against suspected
converts from Islam occurred. Members of religious minorities were
subject to violence and harassment, and police at times refused to
prevent such actions or charge persons who committed them, leading to
an atmosphere of impunity. The constitution stipulates that the
President and the Prime Minister must be Muslim. The Prime Minister,
federal ministers, and ministers of state, as well as elected members
of the Senate and National Assembly (including non Muslims), must take
an oath to ``strive to preserve the Islamic ideology,'' which is the
basis for the creation of Pakistan (see section 3).
Religious groups must be approved and registered; there were no
reports that the Government refused to register any group.
The law declares the Ahmadi community, which considers itself a
Muslim sect, to be a non Muslim minority. The law prohibits Ahmadis,
who claimed approximately two million adherents, from engaging in any
Muslim practices, including using Muslim greetings, referring to their
places of worship as mosques, reciting Islamic prayers, and
participating in the Hajj or Ramadan fast. Ahmadis were prohibited from
proselytizing, holding gatherings, or distributing literature.
Government forms, including passport applications and voter
registration documents, require anyone wishing to be listed as a Muslim
to denounce the founder of the Ahmadi faith. In 2005 the Government
reinstated the religion column for machine readable passports (see
section 2.d.). Ahmadis were frequently discriminated against in
government hiring and in admission to government schools and faced
prosecution under the blasphemy laws.
On June 24, a mob attacked Ahmadi residents in Jhando Sahi near
Sialkot district, Punjab, after allegations of the desecration of the
Koran. The rumors alleged that Ahmadi men were seen burning pages of
the Koran in public. The police arrested the accused Ahmadis, but a mob
gathered and started burning houses, shops, and vehicles of Ahmadis.
There were reports that prior to the incident, Muslim clerics had
encouraged mobs to attack Ahmadis by calling out to Muslims on the
loud-speakers of their mosques that non Muslims should not be allowed
to live among Muslims. Reports indicated that two Ahmadis were injured,
and about 100 Ahmadi villagers fled their homes where they had lived
for 60 years.
On September 10, the Government of Punjab banned the century old
Ahmadi newspaper the Daily Al Fazal and raided its office in Chenab
Nagar, Chiniot District, Punjab. Police arrested printer Sultan Dogar
and journalist Abdul Sattar Khan and lodged cases under (``anti-
Ahmadi'' provisions) 298B and 298C of the Penal Code, Maintenance of
Public Order, and the Anti Terrorism Act against them. Police
confiscated all the publications and sealed their offices. While police
released Khan on September 23, Dogar remained in custody at year's end.
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Saeed Tatla, the raid was
part of the Government's campaign to confiscate religious ``hate
literature.'' In the FIR, the police accused the newspaper of preaching
Qadiyani (``Ahmadian'') beliefs and describing Ahamdis as Muslims,
which is illegal. Qadiyani is a derogatory word for Ahmadis.
Complaints under the blasphemy laws, which prohibit derogatory
statements or action against Islam, the Koran, or the prophets, were
used in business or personal disputes to harass religious minorities or
other Muslims. Most complaints were filed within the majority Sunni
Muslim community. Most blasphemy cases were ultimately dismissed at the
appellate level; however, the accused often remained in jail for years
awaiting the court's decision. Trial courts were reluctant to release
on bail or acquit blasphemy defendants for fear of violence from
religious extremist groups. In January 2005 President Musharraf signed
a bill into law revising the complaint process and requiring senior
police officials to review such cases in an effort to eliminate
spurious charges. However, according to human rights and religious
freedom groups, this was not effective because senior police officers
did not have the resources to review these cases. During the year the
courts convicted one person and acquitted three under the blasphemy
laws; 73 cases were ongoing.
On January 26, Parvez Aslam Choudhry, a prominent human rights
lawyer and chairman of the NGO Legal Aid for Destitute and Settlement,
was attacked and beaten by extremists who tried to intimidate him
because of his work defending blasphemy cases. Prior to the incident,
Choudhry had been threatened outside of court and received death
threats because of his work.
On March 3, according to the NGO Center for Legal Aid and
Settlement, police lodged a blasphemy case against Naseem Bibi for
failing to show respect to a picture of the Kaaba in Mecca. According
to Naseem Bibi, the Muslims in her neighborhood tried to seize her land
by force. In the dispute that ensued between Naseem and the local
residents, the Muslims vandalized a crucifix from Naseem's home, to
which Naseem responded by vandalizing a picture of the Kaaba. On
November 27, Naseem was released.
On August 31, after police refused to register a theft case against
Shahid Masih and Mohammad Ghaffar in Faisalabad, police lodged a false
case against them under the blasphemy law for allegedly burning the
Koran. Local residents attacked Masih and Ghaffar's homes, and their
families were forced to flee. According to AHRC, while in police
custody, both men were tortured.
On November 10, the Lahore High Court overturned the conviction
Ranjha Masih, a Christian, of blasphemy. Masih had been arrested in
1998 and sentenced to life in prison in 2003. While some witnesses
claimed to have seen Masih throw stones at a commercial sign that
included a verse from the Koran, the Lahore High Court found the
witnesses' testimony not credible. Prior to his acquittal, Masih spent
almost 8+ years in jail, where he reportedly was beaten and mistreated.
There were no restrictions on Christian or Hindu places of worship.
District Nazims had to authorize the construction after they assessed
whether a new church or temple was required.
According to HRCP, on November 25, unknown persons burnt down an
Ismaili place of worship in Chitral district. HRCP reported that no
arrests had been made.
On February 19, a mob attacked St. Mary's Church, St. Xavier's
Church, and St. Mary's School at Sukkar, Sindh, after Irfan, a convert
to Islam, allegedly tried to accuse his Christian father-in-law,
Saleem, of burning a copy of the Koran.
According to AHRC, during the year, four churches, five Ahmadi
mosques, and two Hindu temples were burnt, attacked, or destroyed in
different parts of the country, with most occurring in the Punjab.
Religious extremists killed ten Christians and four Ahmadis who were
accused of blasphemy. AHRC reported that 49 Ahmadis and 110 Christians
faced trials or were in prison on charges for desecrating the Koran.
According to AHRC, there were 35 reported cases of forcible conversion
of religious minorities.
The All Pakistan Minority Alliance reported that approximately 25
Hindu girls were allegedly forced to convert to Islam in Sindh.
NGOs such as AHRC reported that during the year, several Hindu
girls had been raped inside a Hindu compound in Karachi. In April
police refused to register a FIR against Javed Qasai for allegedly
kidnapping and raping a Hindu girl. According to the AHRC, police
forced the girl's family to settle the matter with Qasai and did not
arrest him.
All religious groups experienced bureaucratic delays and requests
for bribes when attempting to build houses of worship or obtain land.
The Government prevented Ahmadis from building houses of worship.
Islamiyyat (Islamic studies) was compulsory for all Muslim students
in state run schools. Students of other faiths were exempt from such
classes; however, in practice teachers induced many non Muslim students
to complete Islamic studies.
The Hindu community faced harassment and demands for bribes from
security forces.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Sectarian violence between
Sunni and Shi'a extremists continued during the year and attacks on
mosques and religious gatherings resulted in 127 deaths (see sections
1.a. and 5). Shi'as, Christians, and Ahmadis were the targets of
religious violence (see section 1.a.).
Police arrested five suspects in connection with the October 2005
attack in Mongh, District Mandi Bahauddin that killed eight and wounded
14 Ahmadis.
There were no developments in the March 2005 case where five gunmen
fired at Christians leaving Easter services at a church in Lahore or in
the April kidnapping and murder case of Pastor Shamoon Babar or his
driver.
In October 2005 gunmen opened fire at an Ahmadi worship service in
Mong, Mandi Bahauddin, Punjab, killing eight and injuring 14. On May
11, police arrested four persons linked to the terrorist organization
Lashkar e Jhangvi in Toba Tek Sing, Punjab. Police charged Malik Abrar
and Amjad Shah for planning and executing the attack. The state filed a
case against them under the Anti Terrorism Act. According to the Ahmadi
community, judges feared for their lives if they accepted such cases.
Following the attack by an angry mob in Sangla Hills, Punjab, in
November 2005, high level provincial officials visited the site to
express solidarity with the Christian community. The provincial
government provided funds to reconstruct the destroyed buildings, and
church services resumed in December 2005. At year's end, no charges had
been brought against the mob that destroyed the buildings or its
leaders.
Ahmadi leaders charged that militant Sunni mullahs and their
followers sometimes staged marches through the streets of Rabwah, a
predominantly Ahmadi town and spiritual center in central Punjab.
Backed by crowds of between 100 and 200 persons, the mullahs reportedly
denounced Ahmadis and their founder, creating a situation that
sometimes led to violence. The Ahmadis claimed that police generally
were present during these marches but did not intervene to prevent
violence.
On February 20, a mob attacked St. Mary's Catholic Church in Sukkur
after rumors that the Christian speakers at a Sunday gathering spoke
against Islam and its Prophet. Police arrested seven people including a
local religious leader. All of them were released on bail.
On August 7, three Christians were hospitalized with serious wounds
in Mominpura Thaiki village near Sharaqpur, Punjab. The injuries
occurred during a dispute over land sharing between the Christian
community and Muslims living in the village. Police took action and
Yaqub Maher, a Muslim landowner, was accused and arrested for plotting
the attack on the Christian community.
The Ahmadi, Christian, Hindu, and Shi'a Muslim communities reported
significant discrimination in employment and access to education,
including at government institutions.
Although there were few Jewish citizens in the country, anti
Semitic sentiments appeared to be widespread, and the press commonly
published anti Semitic press articles.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2005 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 limited them in practice. The Government
required that foreigners have special permission to enter certain
restricted areas, including parts of the FATA and Balochistan.
The law prohibits travel to Israel. Despite this, Pakistani
journalists reported on the Israel Lebanon conflict from inside Israel
in July. Government employees and students must obtain ``no objection''
certificates before traveling abroad, although this requirement rarely
was enforced against students. Persons on the publicly available Exit
Control List (ECL) were prohibited from foreign travel. There were
approximately 3,740 names on the ECL. While the ECL was intended to
prevent those with pending criminal cases from traveling abroad, no
judicial action was required to add a name to the ECL, and it was
sometimes used to harass human rights activists or leaders of
opposition and nationalist parties. Those on the list had the right to
appeal for removal to the Secretary of Interior and the advocate
general of the senior judiciary.
Mukhtar Mai was temporarily placed on the ECL, which barred her
from leaving Pakistan. In June 2005 the Government confiscated her
passport after she received a visa to attend an event abroad. Her
passport was returned in August 2005.
The law prohibits forced exile; however, former prime minister
Nawaz Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz Sharif, remained in exile abroad,
in accordance with his 2000 agreement with the Government. In late 2005
the Government granted Nawaz Sharif and his immediate family new
passports, allowing them to travel outside Saudi Arabia. Neither Shabaz
nor Nawaz were permitted to enter Pakistan. Shabaz was denied entry
when he arrived in country by plane in 2004. Former prime minister
Benazir Bhutto remained in self imposed exile. A number of corruption
and contempt of court charges against her remained pending.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--According to press reports
there were approximately 1.5 million displaced Kashmiris, from Indian
held Kashmir, in the country. The law entitles Kashmiris to the same
rights as citizens. According to UN Children's Fund, up to 80,000
Baloch civilians were displaced as the result of clashes between
government forces and Baloch nationalists. These were including among
the more than 200,000 persons who, according to AHRC, migrated to
different places of the country from areas affected by military
operations. According to newspaper reports, many of the displaced lived
in terrible conditions with no safe drinking water and no medical help.
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; however, the
Government has a system to protect 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.
Since 1979 the Government has provided temporary protection to
millions of refugees from neighboring Afghanistan. According to the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) approximately 2.4 million Afghan
refugees remained in country. The Government continued to work closely
with the UNHCR to provide support to this population. As of October 13,
the last day of UNHCR-assisted repatriations, the Government cooperated
with UNHCR in the voluntary repatriation of 133,338 Afghan refugees.
There were also 9,681 spontaneous refugee returns known to UNHCR.
The Afghan refugee camps that the Government scheduled for closure
during the year remained open. A registration of those Afghan refugees
counted in the 2005 census in the country began on October 15 and was
scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, but was extended. The
registration, conducted jointly by country's National Database and
Registration Authority and UNHCR, issues a proof of registration card,
valid for three years, and identifies the holder as an Afghan resident.
Police in some cases demanded bribes from Afghan refugees. There
were credible reports that members of the intelligence services
harassed refugees during their search for al Qa'ida. Some female
refugees who accepted jobs with NGOs reported harassment from Taliban
sympathizers in their own community. Refugees faced societal
discrimination and abuse from local communities, which resented
economic competition, and blamed refugees for high crime rates. Single
women, female headed households, and children working on the streets
were particularly vulnerable to abuse, including trafficking.
Approximately 300,000 Biharis, Urdu speaking non Bengali Muslims in
Bangladesh without citizenship rights since 1971, continued to campaign
for resettlement 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; however, this right was restricted in practice. In October
1999, General Pervez Musharraf overthrew the elected government of
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a military coup and was elected
President in 2002 in deeply flawed elections. Since then, President
Musharraf has controlled the Government and dominated the PML-Q federal
coalition government.
Elections and Political Participation.--Domestic and international
observers found the 2002 national assembly elections, the most recent
national elections, and the August 2005 local elections deeply flawed.
HRW's 2006 report on Azad Kashmir noted that the July Azad Kashmir
Legislative Assembly elections were flawed and ``greeted with
widespread charges of poll rigging by opposition political parties and
independent analysts.'' HRW reported that 60 pro-independence
candidates who belonged to the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, the All
Parties Nationalist Alliance, and smaller political parties were barred
from participating in the state elections.
The Supreme Court sanctioned General Musharraf's 1999 coup;
however, it directed Musharraf to restore elected government within
three years. In 2002 President Musharraf held a nationwide referendum
on a five year extension of his presidency and claimed to have received
a 97.5 percent vote in favor of the extension. Independent observers
found evidence of widespread fraud and coerced voting. The Supreme
Court ruled that the referendum was constitutional; however, the court
allowed the results to be revisited by an elected parliament. In 2003
the National Assembly affirmed Musharraf as President for a five-year
term. Musharraf reportedly promised some members of parliament to
remove his uniform in 2004 but did not do so.
In 2002 elections were held for the national and provincial
assemblies. Musharraf's Legal Framework Order (LFO) created a number of
new candidate eligibility prerequisites. International and domestic
observers found the elections greatly flawed, identifying serious
problems in the election framework and tampering of results in certain
districts. After a number of floor crossings, which the opposition
claims were induced, the PML formed a governing coalition in concert
with the MQM, smaller parties, and dissident groups from opposition
parties. The February 2003 indirect Senate elections resulted in a
majority for the governing coalition. In December 2003, despite
opposition protests, the Parliament incorporated a large part of the
LFO into the 1973 constitution as its 17th Amendment. The amendment
affirmed Musharraf's presidency until 2007 and his right to serve
concurrently as chief of army staff until the end of 2004. The
amendment allowed the President to dissolve parliament but required him
to obtain the consent of the Supreme Court within 30 days. Opposition
parties said the amended constitution legitimized the powerful role of
the military in politics and transfers significant powers from the
Prime Ministership to the previously ceremonial presidency. In October
2004 the National Assembly, over objections from the opposition
parties, approved a bill extending Musharraf's exemption to hold two
offices through 2007.
The National Assembly and the cabinet functioned normally during
the year. In August 2004 the National Assembly elected the PML
candidate, former finance minister Shaukat Aziz, prime minister,
although all opposition parties boycotted the vote because their
candidate, PML N leader Javed Hashmi, was not allowed to appear at the
assembly, having been convicted of sedition. Opposition parties
criticized Aziz's election, claiming his two by election victories to
the assembly were fraudulent. Domestic and international observers
found irregularities but concluded the elections were generally free,
fair, and credible.
President Musharraf continued to back reforms proposed by the
National Reconstruction Bureau to empower local governments. In August
2005 the country held direct local elections to choose members and
executives for the lowest tier of local government, the union council.
International observers found serious flaws in the contests in Sindh
and Punjab provinces, principally during the August 25 round.
Intimidation of opposition candidates and supporters, use of state
resources to influence the election, vote buying, and voting
irregularities that appeared to benefit government endorsed candidates
occurred and likely had an impact on the results of the August 18
contest in Karachi as well as the August 25 contests in Sindh and
Punjab.
In October 2005 indirect elections for executives of reserved
minority and women's seats on the tehsil (county) and district councils
occurred. International observers found that all political parties
engaged in attempted intimidation, coercion, and vote buying during
these contests. According to press reports, in Upper Dir and Battagram
districts, NWFP, local community and religious leaders prevented women
from voting or holding official office. In response, the adviser to the
Prime Minister on women's affairs visited Upper Dir to mobilize women
to stand in elections.
The Government permitted all existing political parties to
function. The Government forced the PPP and PML N to elect in country
leaders other than former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz
Sharif by refusing to register any parties whose leaders had a court
conviction. The amended Political Parties Act bars any person from
becoming prime minister for a third time, effectively eliminating
Bhutto and Sharif.
The Government detained two opposition leaders, Javed Hashmi and
Yousaf Raza Gilliani, on what the opposition claimed were politically
motivated charges. In April 2005 Hashmi was convicted in closed
proceedings on charges of sedition and sentenced to 27 years in prison
for reading in the cafeteria of the National Assembly an anonymous
letter critical of the military. On October 5, the Rawalpindi Bench of
Lahore High Court accepted the bail plea of Yousaf Raza Gillani in a
case for which he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on charges of
giving jobs in the National Assembly secretariat during his
speakership. Hashmi remained in prison at the end of the year.
The Government ban on political party activities in the FATA
continued. According to the Frontier Crimes Regulation Act (FCRA) the
Political Parties Act does not apply to the FATA and no political party
can legally campaign or operate an office there. Two secular political
parties, the Awami National Party and Pakistan People's Party (PPP),
complained that this rule was void, since religio-political parties
such as Jamiat e Ulema e Islam and Jamaat e Islami openly campaigned in
the FATA. The Government did not allow candidates to register by
political party, and did not permit political party rallies. Several
religio-political parties campaigned covertly during the 2002 national
elections.
Inhabitants of the northern areas (Gilgit, Hunza, and Baltistan)
were not covered under the constitution and had no representation in
the federal legislature. An appointed civil servant administered these
areas and an elected Northern Areas Council served in an advisory
capacity. Members of the Azad Jammu Kashmir assembly and government are
required to claim allegiance to Pakistan before they can stand in
elections. Some Kashmiri political parties advocating an independent
Kashmir were not allowed to stand in elections.
On September 21, HRW released a report entitled ``With Friends Like
These. Human Rights Violations in Azad Kashmir'' that noted: ``Azad
Kashmir is a land of strict curbs on political pluralism, freedom of
expression, and freedom of association; a muzzled press; banned books;
arbitrary arrest and detention and torture at the hands of the
Pakistani military and the police; and discrimination against refugees
from Jammu and Kashmir state. Singled out are Kashmiri nationalists who
do not support the idea of Kashmir's accession to Pakistan. Anyone who
wants to take part in public life has to sign a pledge of loyalty to
Pakistan, while anyone who publicly supports or works for an
independent Kashmir is persecuted.''
There were 73 women in the 342 seat National Assembly, five women
in the cabinet, and none on the Supreme Court. Women had 60 reserved
seats in the National Assembly. Women also had 128 reserved seats of
the 758 seats in provincial assemblies and one third of the seats in
local councils. In some districts social and religious conservatives
prevented women from becoming candidates; however, in several districts
female candidates were elected unopposed. Women participated in large
numbers in elections, although some were dissuaded from voting by their
families, religious and tribal leaders, and social customs. The PML-Q
and PPP prohibited their local leaders from entering into agreements
that would prevent women from standing for or voting in the local
elections. The Election Commission of Pakistan invalidated union
council elections in parts of NWFP where women were not allowed to
vote. Provincial chief ministers named women to serve in their
cabinets.
According to press reports, between 2001 and June 2006, four women
councilors were killed in Upper Dir, NWFP, including, in 2004, Zubeida
Begum, a prominent female political activist. Gunmen shot and killed
Zubeida Begum along with her 19 year-old daughter. Women in Upper Dir
had actively campaigned for political power, despite local attempts to
suppress the female vote and the marginalization of women once elected.
There were 10 religious minority members in the 342 seat
legislature, one on the Supreme Court, and one in the cabinet. All
minority members of the National Assembly held reserved religious
minority seats. Such seats are apportioned to parties based on the
percentage of seats each wins in the assembly. Previous direct
elections for minority seats were abolished. Under the law, minorities
held reserved seats in the provincial assemblies. The Government
required voters to indicate their religion when registering.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption among executive
and legislative branch officials remained a problem during the year,
and public perception of corruption was widespread. The National
Accountability Ordinance prohibits those convicted of corruption by the
NAB from holding political office for 10 years (see section 1.d.). The
NAB disproportionately targeted opposition politicians for prosecution
and did not prosecute the active duty members of the military.
The Freedom of Information Ordinance is fairly restrictive in
defining citizens' entitlement to information. The ordinance's
effectiveness was unclear, and there were no reports of citizens using
the act to obtain information during the year.
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
often were cooperative and responsive to their views. The Government
sought their technical cooperation, especially from international NGOs,
in the fields of women's empowerment, election training, election
commission capacity building and other areas. They are required to be
registered, although this requirement was not generally enforced. Human
rights groups reported that they generally had good access to police
stations and prisons. The HRCP investigated human rights abuses and
sponsor discussions on human rights issues during the year.
On January 8, a fact-finding team of the HRCP and journalists was
attacked when their cars were fired at near Kashmore, Balochistan.
According to NGOs, it was not clear who was responsible for the attack.
By the end of the year, the HRCP submitted an application to the police
in Rojhan to file a complaint, but police did not proceed beyond
determining that the assailants were tribals and hard to track down.
International observers were permitted to visit the country and
travel freely. The Government generally cooperated with international
governmental human rights organizations. The ICRC had a delegation in
country and had access to prisons and detention centers. ICRC staff
characterized the Government as ``cooperative.''
The Senate and National Assembly Standing Committees on Law,
Justice, and Human Rights held hearings on a number of issues,
including honor crimes, police abuse of the blasphemy law, and the
Hudood Ordinance. While the committees served as useful fora to raise
public awareness of such issues, their final actions generally adhered
to government policy. The Parliamentarians' Commission for Human
Rights, an interparty caucus of parliamentarians, lobbied effectively
for reform in key areas. The proposed National Human Rights Commission
remained stalled between the Ministry of Law and Justice and the
Speaker's Secretariat.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides for equality for all citizens and broadly
prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, caste, residence, or
place of birth; in practice, however, there was significant
discrimination based on each of these factors.
Women.--Domestic violence was a widespread and serious problem.
Husbands frequently beat, and occasionally killed, their wives. Newly
married women were at times abused and harassed by their in laws. Dowry
and family related disputes often resulted in death or disfigurement
through burning or acid. According to the Karachi-based Lawyers for
Human Rights and Legal Aid, 31,000 crimes against women had been
reported from 2000-2005, including murder, rape, torture, honor
killings, abduction, and torture by police. Approximately 249 cases of
honor killing and attempted honor killing were also reported in the
media in Punjab. SHARP recorded 1,127 incidents of violence against
women during the year. While the Punjab Assembly passed a resolution
against acid attacks in 2003, it was not followed up by action to
control the sale of acid and other corrosive substances. HRCP
documented 96 cases of burnings during the period between November 2004
and August 2005. The Citizen's Commission for Human Development
reported 21 burn cases during the first six months of the year.
According to HRCP estimates, one out of every two women was the
victim of mental or physical violence. On November 28, Oxfam's
representative claimed that approximately 80 percent of the country's
women faced domestic violence in their lives. A survey conducted in
March by the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences and reported by AI
in Lahore found that at least 90 percent of married women in the
country reported being physically or sexually abused by their husbands.
However, the precise figure was difficult to obtain, given the fact
that the crimes took place within homes. The National Commission on the
Status of Women advocated on behalf of specific domestic violence
legislation. In its absence, abusers may be charged with assault, but
cases rarely were filed. Police and judges were reluctant to take
action in domestic violence cases, viewing it as a family problem.
Abused women were usually returned to their abusive family members.
Women were reluctant to pursue charges because of the stigma attached
to divorce and their economic and psychological dependence on
relatives. Relatives were reluctant to report abuse for fear of
dishonoring the family reputation.
During the year there were 97 reported cases of ``stove deaths,''
many of which related to disputes with in laws.
On April 13, Ayesha Jabeen of Chakwal was burned allegedly while
cooking food. She was brought to the district hospital where she died.
Jabeen's family contacted NGOs in Islamabad, suspecting that her in
laws were involved in a plot to kill Jabeen. No further information was
available at year's end.
On April 3, Zakia Bibi married a man of her choice. On October 3,
Zakia was found dead in Ali Khan Brohi village in Sindh. The Ratodero
police said her body was recovered from the house of her husband,
Mohammad Brohi, on report of Araz Mohammed Langah, Zakia's father.
Brohi and other family members escaped from the house. Zakia's parents
reported that her husband and in laws had tortured their daughter to
seek her consent for the second marriage of her husband. Brohi's
parents stated that Brohi had already been engaged to a woman of his
clan. Doctors said Zakia had been hit on the head, causing her death.
Doctors found marks of torture on her body.
In September 2005 according to her in-laws, Safia Khatoon suffered
fatal injuries after a leaking gas cylinder exploded in Gujar Khan,
Punjab. Safia's family lodged a complaint against her in-laws, and the
police found that Safia's husband was involved in spraying her with
kerosene and setting her afire. Police arrested***** her husband, but
by year's end no case has been filed.
The Government established Crisis Center for Women in Distress
locations, which referred abused women to NGOs for assistance. There
were 276 district run emergency centers for women in distress where
they were sheltered and given access to medical treatment, limited
legal representation, and some vocational training. In some cases,
women were abused in the shelters.
For example, in August 2005 Kanwal fell from the roof of the
shelter in Hyderabad and died while trying to escape what other shelter
residents reported were abusive conditions. A preliminary inquiry
charged the night staff of the shelter with neglect for failing to
provide adequate first aid and for failing to summon medical assistance
immediately. Police arrested the caretaker Daarul Aman, Atiya Khatoon,
and two of her staff members. No further activity in the case was
reported.
Rape, other than by one's spouse, is a criminal offense. One cannot
be prosecuted for marital rape or for rape in cases where a marriage
between the perpetrator and victim has been contracted but not
solemnized. Although rape was widespread, prosecutions were rare. It
was estimated that rape victims reported less than one third of rape
cases to the police. Rape victims were often reluctant to report cases
of rape for fear of being implicated in consensual fornication or
adultery under the Hudood Ordinance and because of negative societal
attitudes associated with rape. Since rape was considered a sub-
category of non-marital sex, courts often viewed a woman's allegation
of rape as an admission of illegal sex, making sexual assault victims
susceptible to prosecution themselves, prior to the December 1 signing
of the Women's Protection Bill.
Police were at times implicated in rape cases. According to the NGO
Women Against Rape (WAR), there were 369 rape cases reported in the
media, which WAR estimated to be less than 5 percent of actual
incidents. According to the HRCP, statistically a woman was raped every
two hours, or gang-raped every eight hours.
In April 2005, the speaker of the National Assembly ordered Sonia
Naz's arrest for illegally appearing on the floor of the house to seek
assistance for her husband, who had been allegedly harassed in
connection with an investigation into stolen vehicles. In May 2005,
police allegedly abducted Sonia Naz and detained her for 10 to 12 days,
during which time she claimed that the SHO, Jamshed Chishti, raped her
on the orders of Abdullah Khalid, Faisalabad superintendent of police
for investigation. Police originally refused to file rape charges
against the accused, but following a Supreme Court order in October
2005, they arrested the officers for rape. After an initial
investigation into the rape incident resulted in conflicting
conclusions, including one accusing Naz of falsifying the rape claim,
the Supreme Court established a new investigation team. Courts
cancelled initial bail for Abdullah and Chishti, and the Punjab chief
minister suspended both from the police force. Both Chishti and
Abdullah remained suspended at the end of the year. In April Sonia Naz
complained that she received threats from her husband's brothers, who
later attacked and severely injured her for bringing shame to the
family.
On August 25, the Kabirwala police and 12 persons associated with
Raza Hayat Hiraji, the minister of state for law, parliamentary affairs
and human rights, allegedly kidnapped two lower caste women, Ghazala
Shaheen and her mother Mumtaz Mai from the Batti community in
Kabirwala, Punjab. Shaheen had completed her masters in education from
Baha uddin Zakaria University against the wishes of members of the
higher caste Mirali. The abductors kept the victims captive for 12 days
and gang raped Shaheen and Mai until local villagers raided the house,
caught three of the perpetrators, and helped release the victims. The
police allegedly threatened Shaheen and Mai, warning that if they told
their story to anyone, they would be paraded nude and their male
relatives would be killed in a false police encounter. Local human
rights organizations and activists recorded the women's statements, but
Hiraji allegedly called the police, instructing them not to allow the
women to register a FIR. On September 28, police raided Shaheen and
Mai's home and ordered them to leave the village under orders from a
``big personality.'' No action was taken against the culprits, and both
victims feared for their lives.
On July 28, three staff members of the Islamic Law Department at
Karachi University attempted to rape a female student on campus. She
resisted and escaped. Along with friends and family, she lodged a
complaint with the vice chancellor who suspended all three
perpetrators. The vice chancellor asked the student not to file a
formal police report since he was taking action against the culprits.
All three staff members were reinstated after three weeks. When the
student and her supporters protested, an inspector of the Sindh Rangers
suggested that they not make unnecessary ``noise,'' as the ones who
tried to rape her had been ``punished.'' By the end of the year, no
action had been taken against the staff members.
Many rape victims were pressured to drop charges. Police and
prosecutors often threatened to charge a victim with adultery or
fornication if she could not prove the absence of consent, and there
were many cases in which rape victims were jailed on such charges. When
the zina clause was still included in the Hudood Ordinance prior to the
December 1 passage of the Women's Protection Bill, the standard of
proof established in the Hudood Ordinances was based on whether the
accused was to be subjected to Koranic (hadd) or secular (tazir, or
lesser) punishment. In cases of Koranic punishment, which could result
in public flogging or stoning, the victim was required to produce four
adult male witnesses to the rape or a confession from the accused. No
Koranic punishment has been applied for rape. The punishment for rape
can include up to 25 years in prison, 30 lashes, and $5,000 (Rs 303,000
rupees) fine.
Police often abused or threatened the victim, telling her to drop
the case, especially when bribed by the accused. Police requested
bribes from some victims prior to lodging rape charges, and
investigations were often superficial. Medical personnel were generally
untrained in collection of rape evidence and were at times physically
or verbally abusive to victims, accusing them of adultery or
fornication. Women accused of adultery or fornication were forced to
submit to medical exams against their will, although the law requires
their consent. Judges were reluctant to convict rapists, applied
varying standards of proof, and at times threatened to convict the
victim for adultery or fornication rather than the accused for rape.
Families and tribes at times killed rape victims or encouraged them to
commit suicide.
The January 2005 rape of Dr. Shazia Khalid at the Sui gas field in
Balochistan remained unresolved. Baloch nationalists claimed she was
raped by Frontier Corps personnel; the Government claimed DNA evidence
indicated otherwise. Dr. Khalid was condemned to death by a tribal
jirga for dishonoring the tribe. She and her husband left the country
in March 2005. According to human rights organizations, the Government
pressured Dr. Khalid to leave the country.
After the Lahore High Court overturned the conviction and death
sentence of five of the six persons convicted in the gang rape of
Mukhtar Mai and commuted the sixth to 25 years in prison, the Supreme
Court intervened and assumed jurisdiction of the case. In June 2005 the
court ordered the five convicted to be rearrested and held without
bail. At the end of the year, they remained in custody and the case was
on-going.
There were no developments in the January 2005 Aysha Javed case and
the March Arebeli cases. Javed's uncle Riaz shot and killed her after
accusing of her of having sexual relations with her neighbor. Arbeli
was killed two hours after her wedding ceremony by her husband Yousif,
who accused her of having had sexual relations with her cousin.
Prior to the December 1 signing of the Women's Protection Bill,
husbands and male family members often brought spurious adultery and
fornication charges against women under the Hudood Ordinances in order
to control their behavior as a means of intimidation. The Hudood
Ordinance made rape victims liable to prosecution and led to thousands
of women being imprisoned under false pretext. According to HRCP's 2005
report, there were approximately 4,621 women in jail under the Hudood
Ordinances. Even when courts ultimately dismissed charges, the accused
spent months, sometimes years, in jail, with reputations destroyed.
Honor killings and mutilations, including cutting off of women's
noses and stripping women naked to dishonor them, occurred during the
year. Women were often the victims at the hands of their husbands or
male relatives. No accurate statistics existed on the number of honor
crimes committed during the year. Official statistics stated an average
of 1,000 persons were murdered each year in the name of honor. Other
sources, including the media, reported 1,137 honor killings, through
November. An official from the Citizen's Commission for Human
Development reported that 229 women were murdered from January to June
in the name of honor. Approximately 54 percent were married. The CCHR
estimated that 27 percent were killed by their fathers, brothers, or
in-laws; 25 percent by their husbands; 11 percent by relatives; and 19
percent were murdered by unidentified persons. Human rights groups
believed that such incidents were common in the Sindh, in the Punjab
and among tribes in Balochistan, NWFP, and FATA. In January 2005
President Musharraf signed a bill into law that provides for additional
penalties for all crimes involving honor and criminalizes the practice
of giving women in marriage as restitution for crimes.
However, human rights groups criticized the legislation as not
being forceful enough because it still allows for the victim or the
victim's heirs to negotiate physical or monetary restitution with the
perpetrator of the crime in exchange for dropping physical charges.
Since honor crimes generally occurred within families, perpetrators
were able to negotiate nominal payments and avoid more serious
punishment.
On April 24, The Daily Times reported that the Nihag Dara Wari
jirga in Dir ruled that anyone reporting honor killings to police or
other authorities would be killed. Malik Faiz Muhammad, a leading jirga
member, explained this was because honor killing reporting was giving
the area a bad reputation. According to the report, Muhammad said, ``We
stick to our verdict that honor killing is permissible and those who
commit it will not be liable to any punishment. We will also not allow
the aggrieved party to report the case to the police or file the case
before a court. We will kill those who will violate the jirga
verdict.'' Sajid Mohmand, senior superintendent of police for Upper Dir
declared this ruling illegal and said that honor killings would
continue to be registered and prosecuted.
According to HRCP, on September 5, Khanewal police arrested Ejaz
Draaz, Emtiaz Draaz, Riaz Draaz, and Umer Draaz for allegedly stripping
a widow, Shamim Bibi, and parading her naked in the village market as
punishment for her son disgracing their cousin.
On September 15, Jamroz Khan shot his wife Shahida Bibi in Kohi
Barmol village, district Mardan, NWFP. Khan, who alleged his wife was
of bad repute, escaped. The Katlang police registered the case, but by
the end of the year, Khan had not been located.
On October 2, according to an Islamabad based NGO, Akram Shambhani
killed his niece, Ms. Zadi, daughter of Ameer Bux Shambhani, when she
was in her home, and killed his stepbrother Barocho, son of Bahawal Din
Shambhani. Shambhani suspected that the two were having an affair and
declared them ``karo kari'' (adulterers). By the end of the year,
police had not charged Shambani with the double murder.
On November 20, Hyder Ali Shar of the village Sikandar Shar in
Khairpur axed his daughter Fahmida and her alleged lover, Anwar Ali, to
death. Shar confessed to the crime and admitted he could not control
his anger when he found his daughter and Ali together.
On November 29, a group of armed men killed Mohammad Ayub Mahar's
three daughters and his daughter-in-law, Safia Mahar in the Abdoo
village in Shikarpur district for allegedly having illicit affairs with
other men. The honor killing allegedly occurred at the behest of Shafi
Mohammed Mahar, Safia's father.
In December 2005 Nazir Ahmed of Multan, slit the throats of his
step-daughter and his three young daughters to salvage his family's
``honor.'' Ahmed killed his step-daughter Muqadas for allegedly
committing adultery, and his daughters because ``he didn't want them to
do the same when they grow up.'' Police arrested Nazir in December 2005
while he was attempting to flee Multan. By the end of the year, he
remained imprisoned in Multan, awaiting trial.
Despite laws barring child marriages, there was evidence that many
took place. According to HRCP, the sale of minor girls in marriage to
men much older than them by impoverished families increased, with a
growing number of instances reported in Sindh and southern Punjab.
Despite bans on the handing over of women as compensation for crimes
committed by rival tribes (also known as vani or swara) the practice
continued in the Punjab and NWFP. HRCP reported that watta satta, the
practice in which two men marry each other's sisters, took place
routinely.
In rural Sindh landowning families continued the practice of
``Koranic marriages'' in an effort to avoid division of property.
Property of women married to the Koran remains under the legal control
of their father or eldest brother, and such women are prohibited from
contact with any male over 14 years of age. These women were expected
to stay in the home and not maintain contact with anyone outside of
their family. HRCP documented women in Sindh had been ``married'' to
the Koran.
On July 11, Arisha Bibi was beaten by her father and brothers when
she refused to marry Ghulam Akbar to settle a family dispute that had
led to one death. Arisha, a college student, refused to marry the much
older Ghulam. She was beaten unconscious, her thumb print was taken on
the marriage contract, and her signature was forged. On July 13, her
mother approached the Progressive Women's Association for assistance,
but under pressure from other family members, Arisha finally consented
to the marriage.
On December 7, police arrested Jamal Arain in Harappa district,
Punjab for killing his daughter. Arain argues that he killed his
daughter because she had been possessed by a demon. Arain and his sons
set his daughter's body on a pyre and set it on fire.
The estimated 100,000 Bohra Muslims practiced female genital
mutilation (FGM), which was prohibited by law. While no statistics on
the current prevalence of FGM among the Bohras existed, the practice
reportedly declined.
Prostitution was not legal. Most prostitutes were victims of either
domestic or international trafficking and were held against their will.
Police generally ignored the activity, as long as they were bribed.
Police raided brothels during the year, but many continued to operate
underground, particularly in larger cities. Trafficking in women for
sexual exploitation was a problem.
Sexual harassment was a widespread problem. There was no law to
protect women at the workplace. Press reports indicated that harassment
was especially high among domestic workers and nurses. While the Penal
Code prohibits harassment, prosecution was rare.
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex; however, in
practice this provision was not enforced. Women faced discrimination in
family law, property law, and in the judicial system (see section
2.c.). Prior to the enactment of the Women's Protection Act, the Hudood
Ordinances created judicial discrimination against women. Women's
testimony in cases involving proposed Koranic punishment was considered
invalid or discounted significantly. In other cases involving property
matters or questions of contractual future obligations, a woman's
testimony was equal to half that of a man's testimony.
Family law provides protections for women in cases of divorce,
including requirements for maintenance, and lays out clear guidelines
for custody of minor children and their maintenance. Many women were
unaware of these legal protections or unable to obtain legal counsel to
enforce them. Divorced women were often left with no means of support
and were ostracized by their families. While prohibited by law, the
practice of buying and selling brides continued in rural areas. Women
are legally free to marry without family consent, but women who did so
were often ostracized or were the victims of honor crimes.
Inheritance law discriminates against women. Female children are
entitled to only half the inheritance of male children. Wives inherit
only one eighth of their husband's estate. Women often received far
less than their legal inheritance entitlement.
Women faced significant discrimination in employment and were
frequently paid less than men for similar work. In many rural areas of
the country, strong societal pressure prevented women from working
outside the home. Some tribes continued the traditional practice of
sequestering women from all contact with males other than relatives.
The Ministry for the Advancement of Women lacked sufficient staff
and resources to function effectively. Continuing government inaction
in filling vacant seats on the National Commission for the Status of
Women hampered its efficacy until Arifa Syed Zehra was appointed its
chair on February 1 and began hiring staff. In 2003 the Government
mandated that the NCSW develop policy supporting women. After former
chairperson Majida Rizvi recommended complete repeal of the Hudood
Ordinance in August 2003, the Government funded a further study of the
suggestion. This resulted, in part, in the December 1 Women's
Protection Act.
Numerous women's rights NGOs such as the Progressive Women's
Association, Struggle for Change, and Aurat Foundation, were active in
urban areas. Their primary issues of concern included domestic
violence, the Hudood Ordinance, and honor crimes.
Children.--The Government does not demonstrate a strong commitment
to children's rights and welfare through its laws and programs. Local
laws do not mandate free public education, and schools generally charge
tuition. While some state governments passed laws requiring free public
education, such as Punjab, many public schools continued to charge
tuition and fees for books, supplies, and uniforms. Public schools,
particularly beyond the primary grades, were not available in many
rural areas, leading parents to use the parallel private Islamic
school, the madrassa system. In urban areas many parents sent children
to private schools due to the lack of facilities and poor quality of
education offered by the public system.
According to an Islamabad-based organization, of the 19.1 million
children between the ages of five and nine, only 42 percent were in
school. Less than half of children who enrolled completed more than
five years of education, six percent of enrollees completed grade 12.
The national literacy rate of 38 percent showed a significant gap
between males (57 percent) and females (32 percent) due to historical
and societal discrimination against educating girls. While anecdotal
evidence suggested increasing female participation in education, such
discrimination continued, particularly in rural areas.
Madrassas served as an alternative to the public school system in
many areas. Many madrassas failed to provide an adequate education,
focusing solely on Islamic studies. Graduates were often unable to find
employment. A few madrassas reportedly continued to teach religious
extremism and violence. The Government continued its efforts to
modernize madrassa education during the year. An agreement was reached
with the country's five independent madrassa boards to register the 85
percent of madrassas under their control and to introduce a modern
educational curriculum in those madrassas that are registered. At
year's end, approximately 8,000 of the estimated 13,000 madrassas were
registered.
At the vast majority of madrassas, students were well treated.
However, press reports claimed that there were madrassas, primarily in
isolated parts of NWFP and interior Sindh, where children were confined
illegally, kept in unhealthy conditions, and physically or sexually
abused.
Child health care services remained seriously inadequate. According
to the National Institute of Child Health Care, more than 70 percent of
deaths between birth and the age of five years were caused by easily
preventable ailments such as diarrhea and malnutrition. While boys and
girls had equal access to government facilities, families were more
likely to seek medical assistance for boys. There were 919 hospitals
and 4,632 dispensaries in the country. In addition, there were 907
maternity/child welfare centers.
Child abuse was widespread. According to child rights NGOs, abuse
was most common within families. According to the NGO Lawyer's
Committee for Human Rights, 3,100 children were sexually harassed or
abused during the first nine months of the year in Sindh Province
alone. In rural areas, poor parents sold children as bonded laborers
(see section 6.d.) and at times sold daughters to be raped by
landlords. The legal age of marriage for males is 18 and 16 for
females. There are no provisions to allow marriages at a lower age with
parental consent. No credible statistics were available on the
frequency of child marriage, but NGOs agreed that it was a problem,
especially in the Dir and Swat districts of the NWFP, where the sale or
trading into marriage of girls as young as 11 was reportedly common
practice among the Pashtun subtribes as acts of retribution and to
settle scores between tribes.
Trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation were problems (see
section 5, Trafficking). According to SAHIL, an NGO that focuses on
child sexual exploitation, sexual exploitation of children without the
intervention of a third party was rare.
Child labor was a significant problem (see section 6.d.).
NGOs such as Sahil, SPARC, and Rozan worked on child labor, child
sexual abuse, and child trafficking. NGOs played an important role in
providing counseling and medical services to victims and in raising
awareness of these problems. There was a general consensus among these
NGOs that approximately 100,000 children lived on the streets in urban
cities. Many were run-aways from the interior of Punjab and Sindh
provinces or Afghan refugees and lived in cities
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits international
trafficking in persons but remains silent on internal trafficking;
however, both forms of trafficking were serious problems. All forms of
international trafficking are prohibited under the Prevention and
Control of Human Trafficking, Ordinance 2002, and maximum penalties
range from seven to 14 years' imprisonment plus fines. The Government
arrested 1,393 suspected traffickers and prosecuted 685 under the
ordinance during the year, but it was unclear whether these cases
included human smuggling. According to SHARP, the Government registered
1,700 cases of human trafficking during the year. The Federal
Investigation Agency's (FIA) dedicated antitrafficking unit (ATU) had
primary responsibility for combating trafficking. An Inter Ministerial
Committee on Human Trafficking and Smuggling coordinated federal
efforts. The Government assisted other countries with international
investigations of trafficking.
Although no accurate statistics on trafficking existed, the country
was a source, transit, and destination country for trafficked persons.
Women and girls were trafficked from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran,
Burma, Nepal, and Central Asia for forced commercial sexual
exploitation and bonded labor in the country based on deceptive
promises of legitimate jobs. The NGO Ansar Burney Welfare Trust
estimated that approximately 200,000 Bengali women and 250,000 Burmese
women were trafficked into the country and forced to engage in
prostitution. In a similar fashion, men and women were trafficked from
the country to the Middle East to work as bonded laborers or in
domestic servitude. Upon arrival, traffickers confiscated both groups'
passports and forced them to work to pay off their transportation debt.
While the problem of child camel jockeys was effectively dealt with
in May 2005 when the United Arab Emirates (UAE) banned the use of
children as camel jockeys, the NGO Ansar Burney Welfare Trust reported
that at least 46 child jockeys were sent to the UAE during the year.
The boys were primarily recruited from the impoverished districts of
the southern Punjab and interior Sindh.
Women and children from rural areas were trafficked internally to
urban centers for commercial sexual exploitation and labor. Bonded
labor of children in brick kilns, rice mills and textile factories
remained a serious issue. In some cases families sold these victims
into servitude or believed they were marrying off their children or
sending them for legitimate employment, while in other cases they were
kidnapped. Women were trafficked from East Asian countries and
Bangladesh to the Middle East via the country. Traffickers bribed
police and immigration officials to facilitate passage. During the year
authorities reportedly prosecuted governmental officers and arrested
FIA inspectors for facilitating trafficking. According to an Islamabad
based NGO, 13 officials of the FIA were punished under departmental
laws. The details of the punishment were not available.
The Government rescued some kidnapped victims. The Overseas
Pakistani Foundation and the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust repatriated
nearly 298 camel jockeys from the UAE and Qatar. In March 2005 the
central government opened one model shelter specifically for
trafficking victims. There were 276 additional district run emergency
centers for women in distress where trafficking victims could be
sheltered and given access to medical treatment, limited legal
representation, and some vocational training. The Government provided
temporary residence status to foreign trafficking victims. The FIA and
the International Organization for Migration held training and seminars
on trafficking for government officials and NGOs during the year. Very
few NGOs dealt specifically with trafficking; however, many local and
provincial NGOs provided shelter to victims of trafficking and those at
risk for trafficking.
With the establishment of a dedicated ATU, treatment of trafficking
victims improved, although some women forced into commercial sexual
exploitation may have been treated as criminals under the Hudood
Ordinances before the law was amended during the year. Foreign victims,
particularly Bangladeshis, faced difficulties in obtaining repatriation
to their home countries. Women trafficked abroad and sexually exploited
faced societal discrimination upon their repatriation.
In April the Lahore High Court decided the case of Aisha Parveen,
who was forced into prostitution in Khanpur at the age of 14 by Gul
Sher, who ``married'' her in 1999. Parveen was permitted to start a new
life with Muhammad Akram, her husband who had helped her escape from
Gul Sher's brothel. Both Akram and Aisha left Khanpur, and their
whereabouts were unknown. On March 28, police had arrested Sher and
jailed him for three days. After Sher's release in December, he tried
to kidnap Aisha. The court issued a restraining order against Sher and
later sent Aisha to Darrul Aman (a women's shelter in Lahore) where she
was given protection.
Several NGOs held workshops on trafficking during the year, and the
Government and NGOs worked to publicize the plight of camel jockeys
through press advertisements and the plight of camel jockeys public
awareness campaigns to discourage the continuation of the practice.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not discriminate against
people with disabilities; there are employment quotas at both federal
and provincial levels. The Government has not enacted legislation or
otherwise mandated access to buildings or government services for
persons with disabilities. Families cared for the vast majority of
persons with physical and mental disabilities. However, in some cases
these individuals were forced into begging, and organized criminals
took much of the proceeds. The law requires public and private
organizations to reserve at least 2 percent of their jobs for qualified
persons with disabilities.
Organizations that do not wish to hire persons with disabilities
instead can give a certain amount of money to the Government treasury,
which uses funds for persons with disabilities. This obligation was
rarely enforced. The National Council for the Rehabilitation of the
Disabled provided some job placement and loan facilities as well as a
degree of subsistence funding. The Council also operated the ``Pakistan
Society for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled'' which provided
rehabilitation, vocational training and some medical support to the
disabled. Mentally ill prisoners normally lacked adequate care and were
not segregated from the general prison population (see section 1.c.).
There are no restrictions on the rights of the disabled to vote or
participate in civil affairs.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexual intercourse
is a criminal offense; however, the Government rarely prosecuted cases.
Homosexuals rarely revealed openly their sexual orientation, and
there were no allegations during the year of discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation.
In cooperation with donors and the UN, the Government established
the National AIDS Control Program (NACP), which managed an aggressive
campaign to educate its citizens regarding AIDS. NACP held rallies,
public campaigns and spoke about birth control and AIDS awareness in
mosques. Those suffering from HIV/AIDS faced broad societal
discrimination.
The Shi'a, Christian, Hindu, and Ahmadi communities all faced
discrimination and societal violence (see section 2.c.). The Government
removed religiously sensitive material from new text books.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Industrial Relations Ordinance
(IRO) provides industrial workers the right to form trade unions. The
Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), which applies to the
security forces, most of the civil service, health care workers, and
safety and security personnel at petroleum companies, airports, and
seaports, was often invoked to limit or ban strikes or curtail
collective bargaining rights. Agricultural workers, nonprofit workers,
and teachers, among others, are not afforded the right to unionize.
According to government estimates, union members were approximately 10
percent of the industrial labor force and 3 percent of the total
estimated work force; however, unions claimed that the Government
underestimated the number of union members. The large number of workers
in the informal sector (70 percent of a total labor force of 51
million) was not represented by unions.
On July 21, the Sindh provincial government's education department
banned teachers' unions and sent ``forced leave'' letters to 34
teachers. In addition, the Government threatened another 150 teachers
and lecturers for their involvement in the teacher's association. On
December 13, the Sindh High Court stayed the ban and the education
department was ordered not to interfere with the creation of a union.
At year's end, both teachers' unions were active again.
On August 26, the Registrar of Trade Unions of Sindh banned the
trade union at Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works (KSEW). The
Government reportedly took this action at the behest of the Federal
Minister of Defense Production, who believed the action would result in
higher productivity. This action affected approximately 3,000 workers.
Authorities imposed the ban while KSEW management held conciliation
meetings with a labor union, the sole collective bargaining agency of
the KSEW, regarding the charter of demands that had been pending with
the Ministry of Defense Production since 2003. The ban remained in
place at the end of the year.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--A few sectors
are exempted from the IRO: the police, armed forces, ministry of
defense, Pakistan security printing corporation, civil defense, fire
services, and oil installations. In the rest of the economy the
Government allowed unions to conduct their activities without
interference. The IRO protects the right to collective bargaining,
subject to restrictions, but limits the right of unions to strike. The
IRO allows only one union to serve as the collective bargaining agent
within a given establishment, group of establishments, or industry. In
cases where more than one union exists, the IRO establishes a secret
balloting procedure to determine which union shall be registered as
agent.
Legally required conciliation proceedings and cooling off periods
constrain the right to strike, as does the Government's authority to
end any strike that may cause ``serious hardship to the community,''
prejudice the national interest, or has continued for 30 days. The
Government can and has prohibited all strikes by public utility
services under the IRO. The law prohibits employers from seeking
retribution against leaders of a legal strike and stipulates fines for
offenders. The law does not protect leaders of illegal strikes.
On July 8, the Labor Party of Pakistan organized a 39 day strike in
Faisalabad. More than 15,000 textile workers went on strike when the
owners of the looms and mills fired people who demanded a salary
increase from $1.60 (Rs 97) per day to $2.66 (Rs 161) per day. The
owners of the textile units registered cases of looting, plundering and
sabotage against the union leaders. The Government arrested 28 union
leaders. Following negotiations, the owners withdrew the cases. On
August 16, the union leaders were released; however, by the end of the
year, worker demands were not addressed.
National labor laws require the Government to determine every six
months whether collective bargaining is to be allowed. In cases where
collective bargaining was prohibited, special wage boards decided wage
levels. Such boards were established at the provincial level and were
composed of representatives from industry, labor, and the provincial
labor ministry. Unions generally were dissatisfied with the boards'
findings. Disputes were adjudicated before the National Industrial
Relations Commission.
The estimated 12,500 employees working in the country's three
Export Processing Zones (EPZs) are exempt by the ESMA from the
protection and right to form trade unions provided by the IRO. The
Export Processing Zone Authority drafts labor laws within the EPZs.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or bonded labor, including by children; however, the Government
did not enforce these prohibitions effectively, and there were reports
that such practices occurred. The Bonded Labor System Abolition Act
outlaws bonded labor, cancels all existing bonded debts, and forbids
lawsuits for the recovery of such debts. The act makes bonded labor by
children punishable by up to five years in prison and up to $825 (Rs
50,000) in fines.
Estimates by NGOs SPARC and SHARP suggested that between 1.5 and 2
million persons were involved in some form of bonded labor, primarily
in Sindh Province. Bonded labor was most common in the brick, glass,
carpet, and fishing industries. In rural areas, particularly in the
Tharparkar District of Sindh, bonded labor in the agricultural and
construction sectors was fairly widespread. A large proportion of
bonded laborers were low caste Hindus, or Muslim and Christian
descendants of low caste Hindus. Bonded laborers were often unable to
determine when their debts were fully paid. Those who escaped often
faced retaliation from former employers. Some bonded laborers returned
to their former status after being freed due to a lack of alternative
livelihoods. Although the police arrested violators of the law against
bonded labor, many such individuals bribed the police to release them.
Human rights groups reported that landlords in rural Sindh maintained
as many as 50 private jails housing approximately 4,500 bonded
laborers. Ties between such landlords and influential politicians
hampered effective elimination of bonded labor.
Children were forced to work in the brick kiln and carpet weaving
industries as well as agriculture tied to their family's obligation to
their feudal overlord.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government adopted laws and promulgated policies to protect children
from exploitation in the workplace; however, enforcement of child labor
laws was lax, and child labor was a serious problem. According to HRCP,
there were approximately 10 million child laborers. The media reported
that 70 percent of non-agricultural child labor took place in very
small workshops, complicating efforts to enforce child labor laws as,
by law, inspectors may not inspect facilities that employ fewer than 10
persons. Child labor in agriculture and domestic work was common.
Forced and bonded labor, sexual exploitation, and the trafficking
of children occurred (see section 5).
The Employment of Children Act prohibits the employment of children
under age 14 years in factories, mines, and other hazardous occupations
and regulates their conditions of work. For example, no child is
allowed to work overtime or at night and should be guaranteed one day
off per week; however, there were few child labor inspectors in most
districts, and the inspectors often had little training, insufficient
resources, and were susceptible to corruption. In 2001 the Ministry of
Labor identified 35 hazardous forms of child labor, including street
vending, surgical instrument manufacturing, deep sea fishing, leather
manufacturing, brick making, production of soccer balls, and carpet
weaving, among others.
Authorities obtained hundreds of convictions for violations of
child labor laws, but low fines levied by the courts ranging from an
average of $6 (Rs 364) in the NWFP to an average of $121 (Rs 7,344) in
Balochistan were not a significant deterrent. The Employment of
Children Act allows for fines of up to $333 (Rs 20,200). Penalties
often were not imposed on those found to be violating child labor laws.
The International Labor Organization-International Program for the
Elimination of Child Labor (ILO IPEC) continued programs in the carpet
weaving, surgical instrument, rag-picking, and deep sea fishing
industries as well as a Time Bound Program for the Elimination of the
Worst Forms of Child Labor. Working with industries and the Government,
ILO IPEC used a combination of monitoring, educational access,
rehabilitation, and family member employment to transition children out
of these industries.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage for
unskilled workers was $42 (Rs 2,500) per month. It applied only to
industrial and commercial establishments employing 50 or more workers.
The national minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living
for a worker and family. Significant parts of the work force (such as
those in the informal sector, domestics and migrant workers) were not
covered. Additional benefits required by the Federal Labor Code include
official government holidays, overtime pay, annual and sick leave,
health care, education for workers' children, social security, old age
benefits, and a worker's welfare fund.
Federal law provides for a maximum workweek of 48 hours (54 hours
for seasonal factories) with rest periods during the workday and paid
annual holidays. These regulations did not apply to agricultural
workers, workers in factories with fewer than 10 employees, domestic
workers, and contractors.
Health and safety standards were poor. There was a serious lack of
adherence to mine safety and health protocols. For example, mines had
only one opening for entry, egress, and ventilation. Workers could not
remove themselves from dangerous working conditions without risking
loss of employment.
Provincial governments have primary responsibility for enforcing
all labor regulations. Enforcement was ineffective due to limited
resources, corruption, and inadequate regulatory structures. Many
workers were unaware of their rights.
__________
SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka is a constitutional, multiparty republic with a
population of approximately 20 million. President Mahinda Rajapaksa,
elected on November 17, 2005, and the 225 member parliament, elected in
April 2004, both for six year terms, share constitutional power.
According to the European Union Election Observation Mission (EUEOM),
the 2005 Presidential election was generally conducted in a free and
fair manner, except for the boycott enforced by the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north and east, which intimidated most
Tamil civilians from voting. In 2002 the Government and the LTTE signed
a formal Cease-Fire Accord (CFA) to end a 17-year armed conflict.
During the year violations of the CFA increased in frequency and
seriousness, leading to a de facto breakdown of the agreement, which
technically remained in force. Military confrontations occurred in
several areas of the east and the northern Jaffna peninsula.
The Government's respect for the human rights of its citizens
declined due in part to the breakdown of the CFA. Credible sources
reported human rights problems, including unlawful killings by
government agents, high profile killings by unknown perpetrators,
politically motivated killings by paramilitary forces associated with
the Government and the LTTE, and disappearances. Human rights monitors
also reported arbitrary arrests and detention, poor prison conditions,
denial of fair public trial, government corruption and lack of
transparency, infringement of religious freedom, infringement of
freedom of movement, and discrimination against minorities. There were
numerous reports that armed paramilitary groups linked to government
security forces participated in armed attacks, some against civilians.
Following the December 1 LTTE attempt to assassinate Defense Secretary
Gothabaya Rajapaka, the Government strengthened emergency regulations
that broadened security forces' powers in the arrest without warrant
and non-accountable detention of civilians for up to 12 months.
The LTTE continued to control large sections of the north and east
and engaged in politically motivated killings; suicide attacks;
disappearances; torture; arbitrary arrest and detention; denial of fair
public trial; arbitrary interference with privacy; denial of freedom of
speech, press, and of assembly and association; and the recruitment 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.--There were no
confirmed reports of politically motivated killings by the Government;
human rights organizations and other credible sources reported an
increase in encounter killings by police. Sources further alleged that
paramilitary groups, sometimes with the aid of government security
forces, engaged in targeted killings of political opponents and
civilians. The Government and the army denied the allegations.
In January five Tamil youths were shot execution-style in a coastal
High security zone in Trincomalee heavily controlled by the police
Special Task Force (STF) and the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN). Although civil
groups and members of the Government widely suspected police STF
involvement in the incident, a ballistic report indicated that
standard-issue STF guns had not killed the individuals, and the case
was dropped. Some credible observers believe the STF committed the
killings using non-standard issue weapons.
On May 2, paramilitary cadres entered the offices of the Tamil-
language newspaper Uthayan in Jaffna (Northern Province) and killed
Marketing and Circulation Manager, B. G. Saeadas, and the night
supervisor, R. Ranjith. On October 30, unknown gunmen killed Tamil
National Alliance local government member for Serunuwara, Trincomalee
district-Eastern Province, Gopala Krishnan Padmanathan. On November 10,
assailants linked to a paramilitary organization shot dead moderate
Tamil National Alliance Member of Parliament, Nadaraja Raviraj, on a
main road in Colombo. (The Tamil National Alliance supports the
political goals of the LTTE.)
In May there were a number of civilian killings in Kayts Island,
allegedly by the SLN. For example, unidentified gunmen entered the
house of Sellathurai Amalathas and killed eight people. Another
individual died later in the hospital. Other killings included that of
an elderly man and two members of his family, and a tea shop owner.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Government called for a
police investigation of the incidents. The Government appointed a
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) team, headed by Senior
Superintendent of Police Mahesh Perera, to look into the civilian
deaths. The team went to Jaffna and recorded the statements of the
survivors. One survivor, the only eye-witness, made a statement to the
Magistrate that navy personnel shot her husband and brother, and that
she could identify these sailors. Although Jaffna Magistrate Trotsky
ordered an identification line-up, the police CID team took no action.
At year's end, the case was still pending.
On June 17, uniformed men fired into a church in Pesalai, Mannar,
in which several hundred Tamil civilians had taken refuge, killing one
and injuring at least five others. Authorities published no progress in
these investigations by year's end.
On August 10, military aerial bombardment on LTTE-controlled
Trincomalee left 50 civilians dead and 200 wounded. On August 14, the
army dropped 12 to 16 bombs on a compound in Mullaitivu, killing 51
teenage girls, and injuring more than 100. No investigations have been
conducted.
On August 17, 17 local employees-16 Tamil and one Muslim-of the
French Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) Action Contre La Faim (ACF)
were shot execution-style on their compound in Muttur. The Sri Lanka
Monitoring Mission (SLMM) asserted that security forces had been
responsible for the murders, a charge which the Government denied. The
Government called upon Australian investigators to assist with the
case, agreeing on terms of reference in September. At year's end,
police had made no arrests.
There were several reports of high profile killings by unknown
actors during the year. For example, on April 7, unknown gunmen killed
Tamil National Alliance parliamentary nominee V. Vigneswaran within
sight of a navy checkpoint. Police had made no arrests at year's end.
On April 26, civilians discovered five Tamil farmers beheaded near
Batticaloa. On May 13, on navy-controlled Kayts Island off the Jaffna
Peninsula, unknown assailants killed a family of 13 Tamils in their
home.
On February 5, police arrested Polwatta Ratubaduge Ajiith Wishantna
for his role in the November 2004 shooting death of Gerard Perera.
Authorities had tortured Perera while he was in custody in 2002 and
killed him in November 2004 after he had complained to police and human
rights monitors about his treatment at the hands of the police. Three
of the seven police officers accused of torturing Perera in 2002
admitted that they had Perera killed because they feared his testimony
would lead to their imprisonment. At year's end six officers implicated
in the conspiracy remained in custody. There were two cases before the
Negombo High Court for the original torture of Perera in 2002 and his
2004 death. The trial was ongoing at year's end, after the Chief
Justice ordered that the trial judge hearing the case be removed.
On March 25, in Kalutara District, two police officers from the
Panadura police station beat Nallawarige Sandasirilal Fernando
unconscious while trying to arrest his brother. On March 28, Fernando
died in a local hospital. Authorities indicted two police officers, but
at year's end the officers remained on duty. No one has been arrested
or prosecuted regarding this matter at year's end.
On April 10, in Colombo District, Maharagama police allegedly
pulled Don Wijerathna Munasinghe from his three-wheel taxi for failing
to stop. The officers beat him in front of his wife and son, and then
beat him again while he was in custody. On April 11, Munasinghe was
released, but he subsequently died on April 16 from injuries sustained
during the police beating. At year's end the case was referred to the
Attorney General's department for further action, and the three police
constables accused of the beating remained on duty. Police have made no
arrests in the case.
During the year the LTTE was implicated in attacks on high-profile
political opponents and civilians. An April 17 suicide attack at Army
Headquarters severely wounded Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka and
killed eight others (see section 1.g.). In June a LTTE suicide bomber
killed Army Third-in-Command General Kulatunga in a Colombo suburb (see
section 1.g.).
On August 13, presumed-LTTE gunmen killed Ketheshwaran Loganathan,
Deputy Secretary of the Secretariat for Coordination of the Peace
Process (SCOPP).A former member of the Eelam People's Republican
Liberation Front (EPRLF), Loganathan had served as Conflict Analysis
Director for the Colombo-based think tank, the Centre for Policy
Alternatives.
On August 14, Pakistan's High Commissioner escaped when a bomb hit
his convoy; according to HRW at least seven people died in the
incident.
On September 17, authorities discovered the mutilated bodies of 10
Muslim construction workers in Pottuvil, near Arugam Bay. A survivor
implicated the LTTE in the killings. A Presidential Commission of
Inquiry to investigate serious violations of human rights, appointed in
December, has a mandate to investigate this and a number of other
cases.
On November 24, two brothers wanted by the police surrendered to
the Galle Magistrate's Court. They were taken into custody by the
Special Investigating Unit of Galle from the court premises and were
killed while in the custody of the Ambalangoda Police two days later.
The police officers on site claimed they killed the men in self-
defense. At year's end, no inquiry into the killings had been
conducted.
There were no developments in the 2004 shooting death of
Bellanavithanage Sanath Yasarathne, the 2004 custodial killing of
Muthuthanthrige Chamal Ranjith Cooray, or the October 2004 killing,
allegedly by police, of Herman Quintus Perera.
A trial remains pending and no compensation has been paid to
Perera's family.
There were no developments in the 2005 killing of E. Kausalyan,
political head of the Batticaloa-Ampara division of the LTTE, and
former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian A.C. Nehru. The
LTTE blamed military intelligence for colluding with the breakaway
Karuna faction and other paramilitaries in the killing.
At year's end former People's Liberation Organization of Tamil
Eelam (PLOTE) Arumugam Sriskandarajah, alias Peter, arrested for the
April 2005 murder of Tamil journalist Sivaram Dharmaratnam, awaited
trial. The court released Sriskandarajah on bail.
In December 2005 unidentified gunmen shot and killed TNA
parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham while he was attending midnight
mass within a high security zone in Batticaloa. The LTTE accused
government security forces of conspiring with paramilitaries in the
killing. On April 24, the Government constituted a Presidential
Commission of Inquiry. In July police arrested two suspects in the
killing, but no indictments had been made at year's end.
Land mines continued to be the cause of death and injury for
civilians (see section 1.g.).
b. Disappearance.--The Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC)
reported 345 instances countrywide of politically motivated
disappearances at the hands of the security forces or by paramilitary
forces allegedly tied to the Government, or the LTTE (See section
1.a.).
The SLHRC reported 33 known abductions in the Colombo district with
ransom paid ranging from $23,251 (rupees 2,526,221) to $558,035 (rupees
60,630,502). Of those abducted, 12 have not been released although
ransom was paid. President Rajapaksa appointed former High Court Judge
Mahanama Tilakaratna to inquire into incidents of abductions, but at
year's end no report had been issued.
On May 6, according to Amnesty International (AI), eight Tamil men
decorating a Hindu Temple in Manthuvil East, northeast of
Chavakachcheri town in Jaffna District, disappeared around the time
that security personnel were seen at the temple. The whereabouts of the
eight remained unknown at year's end.
On August 20, two unidentified men abducted Reverend Thiruchchelvan
Nihal Jim Brown and Wenceslaus Vinces Vimalathas of St. Mary's Church
at Allapidy on Kayts Island. Because Allapidy was controlled by the
SLN, involvement by SLN personnel was suspected, according to AI.
On September 29, two unidentified men abducted Balasingham Sugumar,
Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Culture, in Batticaloa town, Batticaloa
District. The abductors reportedly threatened Sugumar's family not to
inform anyone of their earlier visit to Sugumar. According to AI,
because the abduction occurred in a government-controlled area,
observers suspected security force involvement. The abductors demanded
the resignation of Eastern University Vice-Chancellor Professor
Raveendranath in return for the release of Dean Sugumar. Professor
Raveendranath submitted his resignation on October 3, and Dean Sugumar
was released subsequently. After submitting his resignation, Professor
Raveendranath moved to Colombo. On December 15, he disappeared while
attending a conference in a High security zone of Colombo. At year's
end he had not been released.
There were no developments in any of the unclassified disappearance
cases cited by the 2000 UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances; neither was there any apparent effort put forth by the
Government to gather information on these cases. Since 2000, 12
disappearances from previous years were reported by the UN Working
Group, seven of which were still pending.
In 2004 a government commission investigating disappearances that
occurred in Jaffna from 1996 to 1997 issued letters to next of kin
confirming that after being arrested by security forces, the victims
disappeared. Next of kin have used these letters to support habeas
corpus cases, and at year's end there was one case pending.
At year's end the HRC continued to investigate 16,305 past cases of
disappearance by security forces, some of which had been pending for
over a decade. There were no indictments, investigations, or
prosecutions of security force personnel for past disappearances.
During the year the LTTE continued to detain civilians, often
holding them for ransom (see section 1.g.). The SLMM reported that LTTE
and Karuna Faction abductions increased significantly during the year.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law makes torture a punishable offense but does not
implement several provisions of the UN Convention Against Torture.
Human rights groups maintained that while torture is prohibited under
specific circumstances, it was allowed under others. According to the
HRC and other credible sources, the use of police torture to extract
admissions and confessions was endemic and conducted with impunity. In
addition, the Emergency regulations make confessions obtained under any
circumstance, including by torture, sufficient to hold a person until
the individual is brought to court; 528 arrests were made under the
Emergency regulations during the year, although 288 of those arrested
were released within 12 hours. The majority of those arrested were
Tamil, although detainees included Sinhalese and Muslims as well. In
addition to suspicion of terrorism, people were detained for lack of
identification, narcotics, and outstanding warrants (see section 1.d.).
Observers estimate that 200 persons remained in custody under detention
orders at years end. The SLHRC reported that 433 individuals were
tortured in police custody during the year (see section 1.c.).
Methods of torture included beatings-often with sticks, iron bars
or hose; electric shock; suspending individuals by the wrists or feet
in contorted positions; burning; genital abuse; and near-drowning.
Detainees reported broken bones and other serious injuries as a result
of their mistreatment.
The trial that began in October 2005 of three police officers
indicted by the Kurunegala High Court for the 2002 alleged torture and
sexual abuse of Nandini Herat continued at year's end.
The majority of the 44 allegations of police torture came from
police stations outside the north and east. The Government continued to
investigate most cases of torture, according to the SLHRC, with 14
torture cases pending in courts at year's end, with no convictions.
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reported that on August
24, police arrested and tortured farmer Suddage Sirisena at the
Kekirawa Police Station, where he allegedly sustained bodily injuries,
including a fractured nose and the loss of five front teeth. He was
later hospitalized for several days. At year's end, no disciplinary
action had been taken against the police officers implicated in
Sirisena's case.
Separate 2005 police torture cases involving Hevana Hennadige
Priyadarshana Fernando and Jayasekara Vithanage Saman Priyankara were
still pending at year's end. In the 2005 torture case of Palitha Tissa
Kumara, the Supreme Court held that the police subinspector had
violated article 11 (torture) of the constitution by severely torturing
the victim. The amount ordered as compensation was $250 (rupees
25,000). The High Court judge concluded that the police subinspector
had caused the physical injuries mentioned in the medical report, that
his actions amounted to the use of unnecessary force but that the
treatment of Kumara did not amount to torture.
Special sections of the Attorney General's office and the criminal
investigation unit focused on torture complaints. During the year the
units forwarded 218 cases for indictments against 139 police and
security personnel, in which 65 resulted in an indictment, with 30
cases still pending. The interparliamentary permanent standing
committee and its interministerial working group on human rights issues
also continued to track criminal investigations of torture.
In October the Appeals Court ruled that the Inspector General of
Police (IGP) must invalidate promotions offered to officers accused of
human rights violations.
In 2004 the HRC established a torture prevention monitoring unit to
implement its ``zero tolerance'' torture policy (see section 4). The
HRC provided extra training for officers assigned to this unit and
established a policy of quick investigation for torture complaints. The
HRC also assigned special teams to investigate deaths in police
custody. By year's end the HRC had opened cases on 433 torture
complaints.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions did not
meet international standards due to acute overcrowding and lack of
sanitary facilities. In some cases juveniles were not held separately
from adults. Pretrial detainees were not held separately from those
convicted.
The Government permitted visits by independent human rights
observers, including the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC), which reported unrestricted access during its 15 visits to
government and LTTE-controlled prison facilities and detention centers.
Credible observers reported that conditions in prisons were on par with
local standards.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, such incidents occurred. There were 528
arrests while the emergency regulations were active. The Government
stated that most of those arrested were released within a few days.
In December in a reaction to the December 1 LTTE attempt to
assassinate the defense secretary, the Government reinstated certain
provisions of the pre-CFA Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) as an
additional emergency regulation. This gives security forces broader
arrest and detention prerogatives than previously allowed.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Following the November
2005 Presidential election, the Government eliminated the Ministry of
Internal Security and placed control of the 66,000-member police force,
which included the 6,000-strong paramilitary Special Task Force, under
the Ministry of Defense. Senior officials in the police force handled
complaints against the police, as did the civilian-staffed National
Police Commission (NPC). Few police officers serving in Tamil majority
areas were Tamil and generally did not speak Tamil or English.
Impunity, particularly for cases of police torture and disappearances
of civilians within high security zones, was a severe problem. Several
NGOs claimed that corruption was also a problem in the police force.
The NPC, composed entirely of civilians, was authorized to appoint,
promote, transfer, discipline, and dismiss all police officers, except
for the inspector general of police. The NPC also has the power to
establish procedures to investigate public complaints against the
police. In practice, however, the NPC devolved responsibility for
discipline of less senior police officers to the inspector. In November
2005 the three-year term of the NPC lapsed, and by year's end, the
Government had not appointed new commissioners to the NPC.
Arrest and Detention.--Under the law authorities must inform an
arrested person of the reason for arrest and bring that person before a
magistrate within 24 hours, but in practice, detained persons generally
appeared within a few days before a magistrate. A magistrate may
authorize bail for bailable and many non-bailable offences or may order
continued pretrial detention for up to three months or longer. Police
do not need an arrest warrant for certain offenses, such as murder,
theft, robbery, and rape. In the case of murder, the magistrate must
remand the suspect, and only the high court may grant bail. In all
cases, suspects have the right to legal representation. Counsel is
provided for indigent defendants in criminal cases before the high
court and the courts of appeal, but not in other cases.
In August 2005 following the assassination of the foreign minister,
parliament approved emergency regulations, giving power of arrest to
members of the armed forces, who were required to turn suspects over to
the police within 24 hours. Individuals arrested under the emergency
regulations may be detained for up to a year without trial.
In the majority of cases in which security force personnel may have
committed human rights abuses, the Government had not identified those
responsible or brought them to justice. Human rights organizations
noted that some judges were hesitant to convict on cases of torture
because of a seven-year mandatory sentence for committing torture.
There was no witness protection program. According to human rights
organizations, obtaining medical evidence was difficult, as there were
only 25 forensic specialists, and medical practitioners untrained in
the field of torture assessment examined most torture victims. In some
cases doctors were intimidated by police, making accurate medical
reporting on torture victims difficult.
The HRC investigated the legality of detention in cases referred to
it by the Supreme Court and by private citizens.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The President appoints judges to the Supreme Court, the high court,
and the courts of appeal. A judicial service commission, composed of
the chief justice and two Supreme Court judges, appoints and transfers
lower court judges. Judges may be removed for misbehavior or incapacity
but only after an investigation followed by joint action of the
President and the parliament.
Trial Procedures.--In criminal cases, juries try defendants in
public. Defendants are informed of the charges and evidence against
them, and they have the right to counsel and the right to appeal. The
Government provides counsel for indigent persons tried on criminal
charges in the high court and the courts of appeal, but it does not
provide counsel in other cases. Private legal aid organizations
assisted some defendants. The legal aid commission offered legal aid to
assist those who could not afford representation; however, some sources
reported that its representatives extorted money from beneficiaries.
There are no jury trials in cases brought under the PTA. Defendants are
presumed innocent, and confessions obtained by various coercive means,
including torture, are inadmissible in all criminal proceedings except
PTA cases. Defendants bear the burden of proof to show that their
confessions were obtained by coercion. Defendants in PTA cases have the
right to appeal. Subject to judicial review in certain cases,
defendants may spend up to 18 months in prison on administrative order
waiting for their cases to be heard. Once their cases came to trial,
decisions were made relatively quickly.
Despite the law calling for court proceedings and other legislation
to be available in English, Sinhala, and Tamil, most court proceedings
outside of Jaffna and the northern parts of the country were conducted
in English or Sinhala, which, due to a shortage of court-appointed
interpreters, restricted the ability of Tamil-speaking defendants to
get a fair hearing. Trials and hearings in the north were in Tamil and
English. While Tamil-speaking judges existed at the magistrate level,
only four high court judges, one appeals court judge, and one Supreme
Court justice spoke fluent Tamil. Few legal textbooks existed in Tamil,
and the Government had not complied with legislation requiring that all
laws be published in English, Sinhala, and Tamil.
In August 2004 the Office of the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC)
found that Nallaratnam Singarasa's right to a fair trial had been
violated when in 1993 he was tortured and forced to put his thumb print
on a confession that he could not read. The UNHRC called for his
release or retrial and gave the Government 90 days to respond. In
February 2005 the Government replied that the law does not provide for
release or retrial after the conviction is affirmed by the high court.
At year's end Singarasa remained in prison, and his legal team was
preparing a fundamental rights case for the Supreme Court. At year's
end the Government had taken no action in the 2003 Tony Fernado case.
The UNHRC found in March 2005 that the Government should enact
legislative changes and pay Fernado compensation.
The Government permits the continued existence of certain aspects
of personal laws discriminating against women in regard to age of
marriage, divorce, and devolution of property (see section 5).
During the year the LTTE continued to operate its own court system.
The LTTE demanded that all Tamil civilians stop using the Government's
judicial system and rely only on the LTTE's alternative legal system.
Credible reports indicated that the LTTE used the threat of force to
back its demands.
The LTTE's legal system is composed of judges with little or no
legal training. LTTE courts operated without codified or defined legal
authority and essentially as agents of the LTTE rather than as an
independent judiciary. On August 26, the LTTE released the last of
three police officers from the National Child Protection Agency (NCPA)
arrested in September 2005 when they entered LTTE-controlled territory
while pursuing a suspect. The first policeman was released on January
26 and the second policeman was released on February 18 in exchange for
four LTTE navy cadres.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
government-held political prisoners. The LTTE reportedly held a number
of political prisoners; however, the number was impossible to determine
because of the secretive nature of the organization, and the LTTE
refused to allow the ICRC access to these prisoners (see section 1.c.).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law provides for the right to privacy, and the
Government generally respected this provision in practice; however, it
infringed on citizens' privacy rights in some areas. Police generally
obtained proper warrants for arrests and searches conducted under
ordinary law. In response to frequent claymore bomb attacks on security
forces in the north and east during the year, and the discovery of
several claymore bombs in Colombo, cordon and search operations were
conducted regularly on nearby houses.
The LTTE routinely interfered with the privacy of citizens by
maintaining an effective network of informants.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
The LTTE routinely used excessive force in the war, including attacks
targeting civilians. Since the peace process began in 2001, the LTTE
has engaged in targeted killings, kidnapping, hijackings of truck
shipments, and forcible recruitment, including of children.
There were regular reports that the LTTE expropriated food, fuel,
and other items meant for internally displaced persons (IDPs) from both
the conflict with the Government and the 2004 tsunami.
During the year there were credible reports that the LTTE killed
531 members of the police and military, more than 34 members of anti-
LTTE Tamil paramilitary groups such as the Eelam People's Democratic
Party (EPDP), LTTE cadres loyal to the Karuna faction, alleged Tamil
informants for the security forces, and civilians. The LTTE targeted
both current and former members of anti-LTTE Tamil political parties.
During the year 59 current and past anti-LTTE EPDP members were killed.
Credible sources indicated that the LTTE killed 30 members of the
breakaway military leader Karuna's group. There was also credible
evidence that the LTTE killed 10 members of the military intelligence
apparatus in a targeted campaign.
In April and June separate suicide attacks severely wounded army
commander General Sarath Fonseka and killed the third ranking officer
in the army, General Kulatunga (see section 1.a).
On April 22, six Sinhalese farmers in Kalyanapura were killed,
allegedly by the LTTE. On May 27, three LTTE pressure mines killed
seven local tourists, including novelist Nihal de Silva, in the
Wilpattu National Park. On May 29, the LTTE allegedly killed 12
Sinhalese civilians in Ominiyamandu, Valachchennai.
On June 15, LTTE terrorists at Kongollawa, Anuradhapura district,
carried out a claymore bomb attack in a bus carrying at least 150
civilians, Killing 64 and injuring over 86.
At year's end, no arrests had been made in the alleged LTTE
killings in May 2005 of Major Nizam Muthalif, commanding officer of the
First Intelligence Battalion, or the August 2005 assassination of
Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.
The LTTE used claymore bombs against police and military targets
throughout the year, killing an average of five soldiers per week,
according to military sources. In June suspected LTTE cadres detonated
a claymore bomb against a civilian bus near Anuradhapura, killing 69
civilians, one Home Guard soldier, and two security force personnel. No
arrests were made in any of these attacks.
Gunmen from Karuna's paramilitary group allegedly killed 16 LTTE
cadres, including (alias) Ramanan (Deputy Military Commander for
Batticaloa) and Akbar (Artillery Division Director). Karuna's group was
believed also to have killed several hundred civilians, including the
10 killings in conjunction with abductions (see section 2.a.). There
were reports that the Government provided protection and military aid
to Karuna and his cadres to assist them in their fight against LTTE
cadre. The Government denied any connection to Karuna and his cadres.
According to the CFA, the LTTE have no authority to use
international waters. The LTTE says the waters off Mullaitivu, Northern
Province, are in its territory; in the CFA, the territorial waters are
not assigned to the LTTE. On December 23, LTTE cadres boarded and
seized a Jordanian merchant vessel. The captain of the ship stated the
LTTE held his crew by force until their release a few days later. At
year's end, the ship was still aground on a sand bar outside
Mullaitivu.
Landmines were a serious problem in Jaffna and the Vanni region in
the northern part of the country and, to some extent, in the east (see
section 5). Landmines, booby traps, and unexploded ordnance posed a
problem to resettlement of IDPs and rebuilding. The United Nations
Development Program (UNDP) reported 16 mine-related deaths and nine
mine-related injuries. Humanitarian demining operations in the north
and east were suspended periodically due to increasing violence,
although NGO and army demining resumed by the end of the year.
The LTTE forcibly recruited 451 children during the year (see
section 6.d.). However, the LTTE also released 80 children, at least 52
of whom were again recruited. There were intermittent reports of
children as young as eight years escaping from LTTE camps.
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
generally without fear of reprisal. The August 2005 Emergency
regulations allow the Government to stop the publication, distribution,
showing, performance or broadcast of any book, magazine, newspaper,
poster, movie, play, song, radio or television program that it finds
likely to cause public disorder; however, it did not enact any of these
provisions during the year.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), on
December 6, the Government enacted the Prevention and Prohibition of
Terrorism and Specified Terrorist Activities Regulations. The
regulations attempt to define terrorism and allow the Government to
take any necessary actions to imprison suspected terrorists. As
reported by CPJ, one journalist was detained under these provisions.
Although the Government owned the country's largest newspaper
chain, two major television stations, and a radio station, private
owners operated a variety of independent, privately owned newspapers,
journals, and radio and television stations. Several foreign media
outlets operated in the country. Most independent media houses freely
criticized the Government and its policies. The Government imposed no
political restrictions on the establishment of new media enterprises.
There were reports that journalists, especially those in the
eastern part of the country, practiced self-censorship due to pressure
from both the security forces and the LTTE. In September the Ministry
of Defense announced it must clear all defense-related stories in the
interest of national security.
In Jaffna the security forces commander reportedly asked the staff
of the Tamil newspaper group Uthayan Publications not to report on
military operations on any basis other than information provided to
them by the Government.
On January 24, soon after he reported on the January 2 killing of
five Tamil students in Trincomalee, unidentified gunmen killed Tamil
journalist Subramaniyam Sugitharajah. He was a reporter for Tamil
Language daily Sudar Oli (also under Uthayan Publications) and had
published photographs of the head wounds of the dead students.
On May 2, gunmen entered the offices of Uthayan newspaper, and
opened fire on equipment and personnel. Two employees, Suresh Kumar and
Ranjith Kumar, died in the shooting, and four employees sustained
injuries.
On May 31, an unknown assailant killed Aiyathurai Nadesan, an
independent Tamil correspondent in Batticaloa. Independent Tamil and
English media personnel reported incidences of intimidation by unknown
actors.
On July 1, unknown gunmen killed journalist Sampath Lakmal, the
defense correspondent of the independent Sinhala newspaper Sathdina. He
reported on crime and the conflict between the Government and the LTTE
rebel group.
On August 15, Sathasivam Baskaran, a driver attached to Uthayan,
was shot and killed at the wheel of his delivery truck. On August 23,
suspected government security forces set fire to the Uthayan office in
Jaffna.
On October 16, air force planes destroyed the broadcasting towers
of the Voice of Tigers radio station in Killinochchi, injuring two
workers in the attack.
On October 23, suspected members of the Karuna group burned 10,000
copies of the Tamil daily newspaper Virakesari.
On November 24, police arrested Parameswaree Maunasami, a writer
for the weekly newspaper Maybina. Colleagues believed she may have been
arrested for her work covering the fighting between the military and
the LTTE. She was reportedly held under anti- terrorism legislation
that allowed for prolonged detention without charge.
There were no developments on separate 2005 attacks on a TELO-
operated television retransmission station in Vavuniya district and the
Colombo printing and advertising offices of the pro-LTTE newspaper
Sudar Oli. There were also no developments in the June and September
2005 killings of two news agents distributing the pro-LTTE newspaper
Eelanatham in Batticaloa, allegedly by the Karuna Faction of the LTTE,
or in the December 2004 attacks on the Tamil daily Thinakkural or the
MTV/MBC transmitter.
The LTTE tightly restricted the print and broadcast media in areas
under its control. There were reports of LTTE intimidation of Colombo-
based Tamil journalists, and self-censorship was common for journalists
covering LTTE-controlled areas.
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. For
example, Tamilnet, an LTTE Web site, is accessible throughout the
country. There are also hate Web sites that call for the killing of
``traitors to the Sinhala nation.''
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; however, some restrictions
existed. For example, the August 2005 Emergency regulations give the
President the power to restrict meetings, assemblies and processions.
The law states that rallies and demonstrations of a political
nature cannot be held when a referendum is scheduled; however, the
Government generally granted permits for demonstrations, including
those by opposition parties and minority groups.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice; however, some restrictions existed, such as those under the
Emergency regulations.
The LTTE did not allow freedom of association in the areas it
controlled and reportedly used coercion to make persons attend its
rallies.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law accords Buddhism a foremost
position, but it also provides for the right of members of other faiths
to practice their religions freely, and the Government generally
respected this right in practice. There is no state religion; however,
the majority of citizens were followers of Buddhism, and this at times
adversely affected the religious freedom of others.
Foreign clergy may work in the country, but the Government sought
to limit the number of foreign religious workers that were given
temporary work permits. Permission usually was restricted to
denominations registered with the Government.
While the courts generally upheld the right of Christian groups to
worship and to construct facilities to house their congregations, a
Supreme Court decision promulgated in 2003 ruled against recognizing a
Roman Catholic group and determined that its medical services
constituted ``allurement.'' At the same time, the Supreme Court ruled
that although the constitution supports the right of individuals to
practice any religion, it does not support the right to proselytize.
Since late 2003, there have been approximately 250 attacks by unknown
assailants on Christian churches and occasionally pastors and
congregants. During the year there were sporadic attacks on Christian
churches by Buddhist extremists and limited societal tension due to
ongoing allegations of forced conversions and debate on anti-conversion
legislation.
In June rebels opened fire on Somawathi Shrine, located northeast
of Colombo. The military accused the LTTE of shooting at the ancient
Buddhist shrine to stir conflict between Tamils and Hindus, according
to Worldwide Religious News.
In June a Catholic Church in Mannar was attacked by navy grenades,
killing five persons and injuring dozens. In a letter to the Vatican,
the bishop subsequently stated that 200 Tamils had taken shelter in the
church before the grenade explosion.
In June 2005 villagers attacked an Assembly of God pastor in
Ambalangoda in Galle District, his brother, and an associate pastor,
all of whom required hospitalization. While police arrested six of the
attackers, all were free on bail at year's end awaiting trial. The case
remained pending at year's end.
Most Muslims expelled by the LTTE since 1990 remained displaced.
During the year the LTTE continued its intimidation and extortion of
Muslims in the east.
It appeared that attacks by the LTTE against Muslims were not
religiously motivated but were instead part of an overall strategy to
clear the north and east of persons not sympathetic to the cause of an
independent Tamil state. The LTTE made some conciliatory statements to
the Muslim community, but most Muslims viewed the statements with
skepticism.
Societal Abuse and Discrimination.--There were instances of
societal violence and harassment against members of the Christian
community. There were no reported cases of anti-Semitism against the
Jewish community, which numbered less than 100.
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 grants every citizen ``freedom
of movement and of choosing his residence'' and ``freedom to return to
the country,'' and the Government generally respected these rights in
practice; however, during the year it restricted the movement of
Tamils. The war with the LTTE prompted the Government to impose more
stringent checks on travelers from the north and the east and on
movement in Colombo, particularly after dark. Tamils were required to
present special passes for fishing and transiting through high security
zones in the north and the east. While Tamils were no longer required
to obtain police passes to move around the country, they were
frequently harassed at checkpoints.
On August 11, the Government closed entry points to the A-9 Kandy
to Jaffna highway following the start of military engagement between
government forces and the LTTE on the Jaffna peninsula. The road
closure restricted the movement of passengers and supplies through the
LTTE-controlled Vanni region,'' including LTTE headquarters in
Killinochchi. Commercial flights were also suspended in August, and the
LTTE refused to guarantee the safety of civilian flights or passenger
and supply chains by sea operated by the ICRC or the Government.
Limited access continued to certain areas near military bases and
high security zones, defined as areas near military emplacements,
camps, barracks, or checkpoints where civilians could not enter.
Beginning in June the SLMM reported that monitors were restricted from
accessing sites of reported CFA violations. High security zones
extended up to a four-kilometer radius from the fences of most military
camps. Some observers claimed the high security zones were excessive
and unfairly affected Tamil agricultural lands, particularly in Jaffna.
According to government officials, the zones displaced 109,815 persons,
with an additional 46,716 displaced since fighting broke out in August
and occupied over 60 square kilometers. In 2004 the Government lessened
restrictions at one site in Chavakachcheri and allowed farmers and
their families to return to their land; nevertheless, the general
public was still denied access to this area and all other high security
zone areas. In addition, citizens of Jaffna are required to obtain
permission from the army's Civil Affairs unit in order to leave Jaffna.
According to several sources, this waiting list was over five months
long. Curfews imposed by the army from 8 p.m. to8 a.m. also restrict
the movement of Jaffna's citizens.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--According to the UNHCR, as of
May, approximately 418,000 conflict IDPs had returned to their places
of origin, leaving approximately 312,000 IDPs displaced by the
conflict. There were 268 camps for those displaced by ethnic conflict,
and during the year approximately 67,000 persons were in welfare
centers, with approximately 246,000 staying with host families or
relatives. According to various sources, approximately 50,000 IDPs,
primarily Tamils, were unable to relocate as a result of the high
security zones. The UNHCR found sexual abuse to be endemic in IDP camps
and engaged in a number of initiatives with local and international
NGOs to address the problem. According to the UNHCR, approximately
16,000 Tamils fled to India during the year. The Government continued a
program to relocate more than 200 landless IDP families to state lands
in Vavuniya and Kilinochchi districts in the north. Most of the 46,000
Muslims expelled in 1990 by the LTTE remained displaced and lived in or
near welfare centers. Although some Muslim IDP families returned home,
the majority did not move and awaited a guarantee from the Government
for their safety in LTTE-controlled areas.
The LTTE occasionally disrupted the flow of persons exiting the
Vanni region through the two established checkpoints. The LTTE
regularly taxed civilians traveling through areas it controlled.
Fighting between the LTTE and government forces continued to
threaten the safety of IDPs. In early September the Government closed
down IDP camps, and turned off water supplies, forcibly returning IDPs
from Kantale to Muttur. On November 8, artillery from the army hit an
IDP camp in Kathiraweli in the Batticaloa district, killing 47 and
injuring 136 persons.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 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 UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting IDPs and refugees. The
Government assisted in returning to their homes approximately 40,000
civilians displaced in July and August by military engagement in
Muttur. There were no reports of refoulement, the forced return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution. According to UNHCR,
over 16,000 citizens fled to India 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, multiparty, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage. However, recent elections were marred by violence
and some irregularities.
Elections and Political Participation.--The President, elected in
November 2005 for a six-year term, holds executive power, while the
225-member parliament, elected in April 2004, exercises legislative
power.
The EUEOM described the November 2005 Presidential election as
generally satisfactory. The LTTE-enforced boycott of the polls and
seven grenade attacks in the north and east marred the election,
however, and allowed less than 1 percent of voters in the north to
exercise their right to vote. Unlike previous years, there were no
deaths or serious injuries on election day, although the inspector
general of police refused to release any data on election violence. The
EUEOM cited the occurrence of state media bias and misuse of public
resources for campaigning.
The EUEOM described the 2004 general election as having been
conducted in a democratic matter, with the exception of irregularities
in the north and east, where widespread voter impersonation and
multiple voting occurred. Several sources cited the LTTE as responsible
for the irregularities. The EUEOM reported that more than 2,000
incidents of election violence, resulting in the deaths of five persons
and the serious injuring of another 15. Voter turnout was 75 percent.
Unlike in previous elections, the Government allowed persons living in
LTTE-controlled areas to vote in cluster polling booths in government-
controlled areas.
There were 11 women in the 225-member parliament, three women in
the cabinet, and two women on the Supreme Court. There were 34 Tamils
and 24 Muslims in the 225-member parliament. There was no provision for
or allocation of a set number or percentage of political party
positions for women or minorities.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was corruption in
the executive and legislative branches. Transparency International (TI)
identified nepotism and cronyism in the appointment of officials to
government and state-owned institutions. The tendering and procurement
process for government contracts was not transparent, leading to
frequent allegations of corruption by the losing bidders. TI also noted
that corruption was a problem in high value tender processes, including
the establishment of business operations.
The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption
(CIABOC) received 3,212 complaints, of which 943 were under
investigation at year's end. According to the Deputy Director General
of the CIABOC, the trial was still in progress at year's end. The focus
of the prosecution was the questionable acquisition of assets by former
Deputy Defense Minister Ratwatte.
There was no law 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 without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views. Many domestic human
rights NGOs, including the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies; Home
for Human Rights; the University Teachers for Human Rights, Jaffna; the
Civil Rights Movement; and the Law and Society Trust monitored civil
and political liberties. The Government officially required NGOs to
include action plans and detailed descriptions of funding sources as
part of the initial registration process, and every five years
thereafter. In August the Government required that NGOs working in the
north and east register with the Ministry of Defense but did not
enforce this requirement with all agencies. NGO workers viewed the
renewal requirement as an attempt by the Government to exert greater
control over the NGO sector after previous human rights groups'
criticisms. Most NGOs complied with these reporting requirements. After
August the Government did not renew work permits for international NGO
staff working in LTTE-controlled areas.
The Government continued to allow the ICRC unrestricted access to
detention facilities (see sections 1.c. and 1.d.). The ICRC provided
international humanitarian law training materials and training to the
security forces. During the year the ICRC also delivered health
education programs in LTTE-controlled areas in the north and east (see
section 1.g.).
By statute the SLHRC has wide powers and resources and may not be
called as a witness in any court of law or be sued for matters relating
to its official duties. However, according to many human rights
organizations, the SLHRC often was not as effective as it should have
been. The SLHRC did not have enough staff or resources to process its
caseload of pending complaints, and it did not enjoy the full
cooperation of the Government. The SLHRC had a tribunal-like approach
to investigations and declined to undertake preliminary inquires in the
manner of a criminal investigator.
In June 2004 the SLHRC established a torture prevention monitoring
unit to implement its zero-tolerance torture policy. HRC provided extra
training for officers assigned to this unit and established a policy of
quick investigation for torture complaints. To ensure its
sustainability, HRC urged the treasury to cover costs of the monitoring
unit. Like in previous years, HRC was not able to function without
interruptions.
In August Sweden, Finland, and Denmark announced their withdrawal
from the SLMM in response to LTTE demands that European Union (EU)
countries withdraw following the EU's designation of the LTTE as a
terrorist organization. Subsequently, 37 monitors departed, leaving
about 30 civilian monitors in the country.
In July 2004 the LTTE set up the Northeast Secretariat of Human
Rights (NESOHR). Since its inception, NESOHR received hundreds of
complaints ranging from land disputes to child recruitment complaints.
Some groups questioned NESOHR's credibility because of its close ties
to the LTTE.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides for equal rights for all citizens, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice; however, there
were instances where gender and ethnic based discrimination occurred.
Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence, but it was not
strictly enforced. Sexual assault, rape, and spousal abuse continued to
be serious and pervasive problems. The law specifically addresses
sexual abuse and exploitation and contains provisions in rape cases for
an equitable burden of proof and stringent punishments. Marital rape is
considered an offense only in cases of spouses living under judicial
separation. While the law may ease some of the problems faced by
victims of sexual assault, many women's organizations believed that
greater sensitization of police and the judiciary was necessary. The
Bureau for the Protection of Children and Women received 876 complaints
of violent crimes against women in the first half of the year.
At year's end a case continued against two policemen who in 2003
attempted to rape Mrs. Selvarajan in Uyilankulam in Mannar district.
The AG has not yet filed a charge sheet against the two, and as of
year's end they were on active duty.
According to the Bureau for the Protection of Children and Women,
there were 481 reported incidents of rape. The bureau indicated that 11
of the victims were below the age of 18. Services to assist victims of
rape and domestic violence, such as crisis centers, legal aid, and
counseling, were generally limited.
Prostitution was illegal but occurred during the year. Some members
of the police and security forces reportedly participated in or
condoned prostitution. Trafficking in women for the purpose of forced
labor occurred (see section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment is a criminal offense carrying a maximum sentence
of five years in prison; however, these laws were not enforced.
The law provides for equal employment opportunities in the public
sector; however, women had no legal protection against discrimination
in the private sector, where they sometimes were paid less than men for
equal work. They often experienced difficulty in rising to supervisory
positions, and faced sexual harassment. Even though women constituted
approximately half of the formal workforce, according to the Asian
Development Bank (ADB), the quality of employment available to women
was less than that available to men, as the demand for female labor was
mainly for casual and low-paid, low-skill jobs in the formal and
informal sectors.
Women have equal rights under national, civil, and criminal law;
however, questions related to family law, including divorce, child
custody, and inheritance, were adjudicated by the customary law of each
ethnic or religious group. The minimum age of marriage for women is 18
years, and there was no provision for marriage at an earlier age with
parental consent except in the case of Muslims, who may follow their
customary marriage practices and marry at the age of 15. Women were
denied equal rights to land in government-assisted settlements, as the
law does not institutionalize the rights of female heirs. Different
religious and ethnic practices often resulted in uneven treatment of
women, including discrimination.
Children.--The law requires children between the ages of five and
14 to attend school, and the Government demonstrated its commitment to
children through extensive systems of public education and medical
care. Approximately 85 percent of children under the age of 16 attended
school. Education was free through the university level. Health care,
including immunization, was also free.
Many NGOs attributed the problem of exploitation of children to the
lack of law enforcement rather than inadequate legislation. Many law
enforcement resources were diverted to the conflict with the LTTE,
although the police's Bureau for the Protection of Children and Women
conducted investigations into crimes against children and women.
Under the law the definition of child abuse includes all acts of
sexual violence against, trafficking in, and cruelty to children. The
law also prohibits the use of children in exploitative labor or illegal
activities or in any act contrary to compulsory education regulations.
It also broadens the definition of child abuse to include the
involvement of children in war. The NCPA included representatives from
the education, medical, police, and legal professions and reported
directly to the President. During the year the Bureau for the
Protection of Children and Women received 1,278 complaints of violent
crimes against children.
The Government pushed for greater international cooperation to
bring those guilty of pedophilia to justice. The penalties for
pedophilia range from five to 20 years' imprisonment and an unspecified
fine. During the year the Government opened 1,692 files; of which 700
indictments were served for pedophilia, including statutory rape; 134
were discharged; and 992 concluded; 158 files were under further
investigation and the remainder was pending at the end of the year.
Following the 2004 tsunami, the NCPA launched a successful
awareness campaign to protect orphaned or displaced children from
pedophiles.
Child prostitution was a problem in coastal resort areas. The
Government estimated that there were more than 2,000 child prostitutes
in the country, but private groups claimed that the number was as high
as 6,000. Citizens committed much of the child sexual abuse in the form
of child prostitution; however, some child prostitutes were boys who
catered to foreign tourists. Some of these children were forced into
prostitution (see section 5, Trafficking). The Department of Probation
and Child Care Services provided protection to child victims of abuse
and sexual exploitation and worked with local NGOs that provided
shelter. The tourist bureau conducted awareness-raising programs for
at-risk children in resort regions prone to sex tourism.
The LTTE used child soldiers and recruited children, sometimes
forcibly, for use in battlefield support functions and in combat. LTTE
recruits, some as young as eight years of age, escaped LTTE camps and
surrendered to the military or the SLMM. Credible reports indicated
that in February the LTTE and Karuna faction increased recruiting
efforts, particularly in the east (see section 1.g.). Credible sources
reported that there were more than 450 cases of forcible child
recruitment by the LTTE. The Karuna faction of the LTTE forcibly
recruited an estimated 200 children. These sources also reported that
more than 1,000 children remained in LTTE custody at year's end.
Several sources reported that the LTTE continued to obstruct the 2003
action plan between UNICEF and the LTTE on the demobilization and
rehabilitation of child soldiers. Several sources reported that the
LTTE used intimidation or bribes to facilitate recruitment. Some senior
LTTE officials claimed that all child soldiers were volunteers.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
and the legal penalties for trafficking in women include imprisonment
for two to 20 years and a fine. For trafficking in children, the law
allows imprisonment of five to 20 years and a fine. However, the
country was a point of origin and destination for trafficked persons,
primarily women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced
labor and sexual exploitation. Some women were trafficked under the
guise of legitimate employment to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the
United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Qatar for the purpose of involuntary
servitude and commercial sexual exploitation. A smaller number of Thai,
Chinese, and Ethiopian women were trafficked to the country for
commercial sexual exploitation. Women and children were trafficked
internally for domestic and sexual servitude. Boys and girls were
victims of commercial sexual exploitation by pedophiles in the sex
tourism industry. Children were also trafficked as child soldiers in
areas controlled by the LTTE.
Internal trafficking in male children was also a problem,
especially from areas bordering the northern and eastern provinces.
Protecting Environment and Children Everywhere, a domestic NGO,
estimated that 6,000 male children between the ages of eight and 15
years were sexually exploited at beach and mountain resorts. Some of
these children were forced into commercial sexual prostitution by their
parents or by organized crime.
The NCPA has adopted, with International Labor Organization (ILO)
assistance, a comprehensive national plan to combat the trafficking of
children for exploitative employment. With the NCPA, police began work
on children's issues, including trafficking in children.
The Government established rehabilitation camps for trafficking
victims and initiated awareness campaigns to educate women about
trafficking; however, most of the campaigns, with support from the
Bureau of Foreign Employment, were conducted by local and international
NGOs.
Government programs to monitor immigration with computer programs
designed to identify suspected traffickers or sex tourists continued,
as did a cyber-watch project to monitor suspicious Internet chat rooms.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law forbids discrimination against
any person on the grounds of disability; however, there were instances
of discrimination against the disabled in the areas of employment,
education, and provision of state services. The law does not mandate
access to buildings for persons with disabilities, and such facilities
were rare. The Department of Social Services operated eight vocational
training schools for persons with physical and mental disabilities and
sponsored a program of job training and placement for graduates. The
Government also provided financial support to NGOs that assisted
persons with disabilities. Such assistance included subsidizing
prosthetic devices, making purchases from suppliers with disabilities,
and registering 74 NGO-run schools and training institutions for
persons with disabilities. The Department of Social Services selected
job placement officers to help the estimated 200,000 work-eligible
persons with disabilities find jobs. Despite these efforts, persons
with disabilities faced difficulties because of negative attitudes and
societal discrimination.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were approximately one
million Tamils of Indian origin, the so-called Hill, Tea Estate, or
Indian Tamils, whose ancestors originally were brought to the country
in the 19th century to work on plantations. In the past approximately
300,000 of these persons did not qualify for citizenship in any country
and faced discrimination, especially in the allocation of government
funds for education. In 2003 parliament passed a bill granting full
citizenship to more than 460,000 tea estate Tamils. In August 2004
UNHCR began awareness campaigns to alert Tamils to the new legislation
and by the end of 2005 had registered approximately 276,000 persons.
UNHCR confirmed registration for an additional 75,000 persons during
the year. At year's end 117,000 registrations remained unconfirmed.
Both local and Hill Tamils maintained that they suffered
longstanding systematic discrimination in university education,
government employment, and in other matters controlled by the
Government. According to the SLHRC, Tamils also experienced
discrimination in housing.
Indigenous People.--The country's indigenous people, known as
Veddas, numbered fewer than 1,000. Some preferred to maintain their
traditional way of life and are protected by the law. There are no
legal restrictions on their participation in the political or economic
life of the nation. Some Veddas complained that they were being pushed
off their land in protected forest areas.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law criminalizes
homosexual activity between men and between women, but the law was not
enforced. NGOs working on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
issues did not register with the Government. As in recent years human
rights organizations reported that police harassed, extorted money or
sexual favors from, and assaulted gay men in Colombo and other areas.
There was no official discrimination against those who provided HIV
prevention services or against high-risk groups likely to spread HIV/
AIDS, although there was societal discrimination against these groups.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Government respected the legal
right of workers to establish unions, and the country has a strong
trade union tradition. Any seven workers may form a union, adopt a
charter, elect leaders, and publicize their views, but in practice such
rights were subject to administrative delays. Nonetheless,
approximately 20 percent of the seven-million-person work force
nationwide and more than 70 percent of the plantation work force was
unionized. In total, there were more than one million union members.
Approximately 15 to 20 percent of the nonagricultural work force in the
private sector was unionized. Unions represented most workers in large
private firms, but workers in small-scale agriculture and small
businesses usually did not belong to unions. Public sector employees
were unionized at very high rates.
Most large unions were affiliated with political parties and played
a prominent role in the political process, although major unions in the
public sector were politically independent. The Ministry of Employment
and Labor is authorized by law to cancel the registration of any union
that does not submit an annual report, the only grounds for the
cancellation of registration.
Employers found guilty of discrimination must reinstate workers
fired for union activities but may transfer them to different
locations. Anti-union discrimination is a punishable offense liable for
a fine of $166 (20,000 SLR).
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to collective bargaining; however, very few
companies practiced it. Approximately 50 companies belonging to the
Employers' Federation of Ceylon (EFC), the leading employers'
organization, had collective agreements. All collective agreements must
be registered at the Department of Labor. Data on the number of
registered collective agreements were not available. More than half of
EFC's 435-strong membership was unionized.
All workers, other than police, armed forces, prison service, and
those in essential services, have the right to strike. By law, workers
may lodge complaints with the commissioner of labor, a labor tribunal,
or the Supreme Court to protect their rights. The President retains the
power to designate any industry as an essential service.
The law prohibits retribution against strikers in nonessential
sectors; however, in practice employees were sometimes fired for
striking.
Under the law, workers in the Export Processing Zones (EPZs) have
the same rights to join unions as other workers. While the unionization
rate in the rest of the country was approximately 20 percent, the rate
within the EPZs was under 10 percent. Fewer than 10 unions were active
in EPZs, partially because of severe restrictions on access by union
organizers to the zones. Trade unions were formally recognized in eight
out of approximately 200 factories in the EPZs. In a few other
factories, management had begun discussions with the unions. There was
only one operating collective agreement in the EPZs during the year.
Labor representatives alleged that the Government's Board of Investment
(BOI), which managed the EPZs, including setting wages and working
conditions in the EPZs, discouraged union activity. The short-term
nature of employment and the relatively young workforce in the EPZs
made it difficult to organize.
Labor representatives alleged that the labor commissioner, under
BOI pressure, failed to prosecute employers who refused to recognize or
enter into collective bargaining with trade unions.
According to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions,
as in recent years, there were some violations of trade union rights in
the EPZs. The non-recognition of trade unions became a contentious
issue, in part because of obligations under various multilateral and
bilateral trade agreements.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or bonded labor; however, there were reports that such practices
occurred. The law does not prohibit forced or compulsory labor by
children specifically, but government officials interpreted it as
applying to persons of all ages (see section 6.d.). There were credible
reports that some rural children were employed in debt bondage as
domestic servants in urban households, and there were numerous reports
that some of these children had been abused.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
minimum age for employment is 14, although the law permits the
employment of younger children by their parents or guardians in limited
family agriculture work or to engage in technical training. An
amendment to the Employment of Women and Youth Act prohibits all other
forms of family employment of children below 14. A child activity
survey, carried out in 1998 and 1999 by the Department of Census and
Statistics, found almost 11,000 children between the ages of five and
14 working full time and another 15,000 engaged in both economic
activity and housekeeping. The survey found 450,000 children employed
by their families in seasonal agricultural work throughout the country.
Persons under age 18 may not be employed in any public enterprise
in which life or limb is endangered. There were no reports that
children were employed in the EPZs, the garment industry, or any other
export industry, although children sometimes were employed during
harvest periods in the plantation sectors and in non-plantation
agriculture. Sources indicated many thousands of children were employed
in domestic service, although this situation was not regulated or
documented. Many child domestics reportedly were subjected to physical,
sexual, and emotional abuse. Regular employment of children also
occurred in family enterprises such as family farms, crafts, small
trade establishments, restaurants, and repair shops. In 2003 a rapid
assessment survey sponsored by the International Labor Organization/
International Program for Elimination of Child Labor on domestic child
labor in five districts found child domestic workers (under 18 years)
in roughly 2 percent of households, but the prevalence of child
domestics was much larger.
The NCPA is the central agency for coordinating and monitoring
action on the protection of children. The Department of Labor, the
Department of Probation and Child Care Services, and the police are
responsible for the enforcement of child labor laws. The Bureau of
Child Protection reported 18 complaints of child employment during the
year, out of which litigation charges were filed for one case.
Penalties for employing minors were increased from approximately $9
(rupees 1,000) and/or 6 months' imprisonment to $93 (rupees 10,000)
and/or 12 months' imprisonment.
Although the law prohibits forced or compulsory labor by persons of
any age, some rural children reportedly served in debt bondage (see
sections 5 and 6.c.).
The LTTE used children as young as age 13 years in battle, and
children as young as eight often were recruited forcibly (see section
5).
A UNICEF-supported action plan sought to restore normalcy to former
LTTE child soldiers through release and reintegration. Under this
program UNICEF supported the establishment of a transit center in
Kilinochchi for child recruits released by the LTTE.
As required by ILO Convention 182, the Government identified a list
of 50 occupations considered to be the worst forms of child labor (for
children under 18 years). Laws proscribing these worst forms of child
labor have not been formulated.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--While there is no national
minimum wage, 38 wage boards established by the Ministry of Labor set
minimum wages and working conditions by sector and industry. These
minimum wages did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker
and family.
The law prohibits most full-time workers from regularly working
more than 45 hours per week (a 5-day workweek). Regulations limited the
maximum overtime hours to 15 per week. Several laws protect the safety
and health of industrial workers, but the Ministry of Labor's small
staff of inspectors was inadequate to enforce compliance. Health and
safety regulations do not meet international standards. Workers have
the statutory right to remove themselves from dangerous situations, but
many workers were unaware or indifferent to such rights and feared that
they would lose their jobs if they removed themselves from the work
situation.
__________
TAJIKISTAN
Tajikistan, with a population of approximately 7.3 million, is an
authoritarian state; political life is dominated by President Emomali
Rahmonov and an inner circle of loyal supporters. While the country has
a constitution and a multiparty political system, in practice
democratic progress was slow and political pluralism limited. The
November Presidential election lacked genuine competition and did not
fully test democratic practices or meet international standards,
although there were some improvements on voting procedures. The
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
The Government's human rights record remained poor and corruption
continued to hamper democratic and social reform. The following human
rights problems were reported: restricted right of citizens to change
their government; torture and abuse of detainees and other persons by
security forces; threats, extortion, and abuse by security forces;
impunity of security forces; lengthy pretrial detention; lack of access
to prisoners by family members and lawyers; confessions obtained by
torture accepted as evidence in trials; harsh and life-threatening
prison conditions; restricted international monitor access to prisons;
extralegal extradition of prisoners from third countries with apparent
government complicity; restricted freedom of speech and the press;
restricted freedom of association; restrictions on freedom of religion,
primarily for women; registration denial of opposition political
parties; imprisonment of political opposition, including journalists;
harassment of international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs);
difficulties with registration and visas; violence and discrimination
against women; trafficking in persons; child labor and forced labor.
The Government made significant efforts in combating trafficking in
persons by working to repatriate victims to the country, and it
reported a dramatic increase in the number of trafficking convictions.
The Government permitted registration and licensing of some independent
media, an improvement over last 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.
Land mine deaths occurred on the border with Uzbekistan and
Afghanistan; there were a reported five deaths and 12 wounded,
including both civilians and border guards. The Government continued to
work with international organizations to remove land mines along the
border to prevent deaths and casualties.
Several clashes between Tajik border guards and drug traffickers on
the border with Afghanistan resulted in the deaths of two border
guards. In November border guards accidentally shot and killed an Uzbek
border guard.
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, government
security officials reportedly employed them.
Torture and abuse occurred during the year. Security officials,
particularly from the Ministry of Interior (MOI), continued to use
systematic beatings, sexual abuse, and electric shock to extort
confessions during interrogations. Several alleged members of Hizb Ut-
Tahrir (HT), an extremist Islamist political organization, and members
of their families claimed they were tortured and beaten while in police
custody (see sections 1.d. and 2.b.).
In May police arrested Sadullo Marupov, a member of the Islamic
Renaisssance Party (IRPT), on two separate occasions in the Sughd
region. Marupov's relatives and fellow IRPT members alleged he was
tortured while detained and subjected to electric shocks. By official
government accounts, Marupov subsequently committed suicide while in
custody. During a government investigation of the alleged police abuse,
three prison guards under suspicion of involvement were released from
their jobs. One guard remained under investigation at year's end.
There was no official investigation into the 2005 beating and
electric shocks police allegedly administered to Yoribek Ibrohimov
``Shaykh'' and Muhammadruzi Iskandarov while they were in custody.
Beatings and mistreatment were also common in pretrial detention
facilities, and the Government took some action against those
responsible for the abuses (see section 1.d.).
Citizens in the southern regions of the country complained of
harassment and abuse committed by border guards involved in drug
trafficking.
During the year media reported that the main military prosecutor
admitted there were 27 cases of brutal hazing of new soldier recruits
between January and September. This was a decrease of 10 cases from the
previous year.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh and life threatening. Prisons were generally overcrowded and
unsanitary. In March Minister of Justice Khalifabobo Homidov
acknowledged that bad conditions existed in prisons, which in some
incidents led to deaths among inmates. Disease, particularly the spread
of tuberculosis, and hunger were serious problems. There were reports
that up to 73 prisoners died of tuberculosis; 957 prisoners had
tuberculosis and 87 had HIV. With the help of international
organizations, the Government improved conditions in the women's
penitentiary.
On May 4, Sadullo Marupov died by falling from the third story of a
police station in Isfara while in police detention. Authorities
subsequently took three police officers into custody in connection with
the death, although the Government later claimed the incident was a
suicide. Three MOI investigators involved in Marupov's arrest were
dismissed from their positions, and a criminal case against another
investigator was ongoing at year's end.
A separate prison held only former members of so-called ``power
ministries,'' such as the police, intelligence and security officers,
and the military. Conditions in such prisons were better than in normal
prisons. The Drug Control Agency's prison facility for criminals
convicted of drug related crimes was also reportedly better than normal
facilities.
In August a court convicted 12 prisoners of inciting the August
2005 riots at Qurghon-Teppa prison in response to Izzatullo Sharipov's
appointment to be deputy minister of justice in charge of the
penitentiary system; Sharipov reportedly had a reputation for cruelty
and corruption. The court sentenced prisoners to as much as 29 year's
additional imprisonment. Four prison officials involved in the riots
also received shorter sentences.
The Government denied the International Committee for the Red Cross
free and unhindered access to prisons controlled by the Ministry of
Justice (MOJ), including pretrial detention centers. As in the previous
year, the ICRC continued to negotiate with the MOJ to regain free and
unhindered access to all prisons. The MOJ granted some foreign
diplomatic missions limited access to prisons and detention facilities,
including the Drug Control Agency's prison. The MOJ granted a select
group of local NGOs limited access to facilities in order to implement
their assistance programs.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law allows for lengthy
pretrial detention, there were few checks on the power of prosecutors
and police to make arrests, and arbitrary arrest and detention remained
serious problems.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministries of
Interior, Security, Defense, Emergency Situations, National Guard, the
Drug Control Agency, and the State Committee for Border Protection
shared responsibility for internal security. The MOI is responsible
primarily for public order and controls the police force, the Ministry
of Security (MOS) has responsibility for intelligence, and the Ministry
of Defense (MOD) is responsible for military security. Officially the
MOD is responsible for external security; however, it can be employed
in serious domestic conflicts. The Ministry of Emergency Situations
responds to internal problems including natural disasters. The National
Guard is also involved in internal security, but its primary function
is to protect Presidential sites and confront internal threats; it
answers directly to the President. The Drug Control Agency is
responsible for investigating and interdicting narcotics and other
illicit contraband. The State Committee for Border Protection maintains
the border area and is responsible for protecting the country from
external threats crossing the border. The police and security forces in
general were not effective at responding to individual incidents of
crime, although the State Committee on Border Protection and the Drug
Control Agency improved their effectiveness at drug interdictions and
seizures.
Impunity remained a serious problem, and officers who committed
abuses were rarely prosecuted. Officers often bribed their commanders
for promotion. Traffic police frequently stopped cars, unofficially
fined the drivers for traffic violations, and pocketed the fines. The
Government acknowledged that police, army, and security forces were
corrupt and that most abused citizens remained silent rather than risk
retaliation by authorities. However, some abuses were brought to light
and prosecuted. During the year 89 MOI officials were arrested for
corruption or abuse of power. Three officers in a regional police
department were also convicted for mistreatment of suspects and
received sentences of between five and five and a half years
imprisonment (see section 1.c.). Victims of police abuse may submit a
formal complaint in writing to the officer's superior. Victims who
bring their cases to the media have greater success of seeking justice
than those who do not.
Arrest and Detention.--Police may detain persons without a warrant
for up to 72 hours; prosecutors are empowered to detain persons for 10
days, after which charges must be filed. This process was generally
followed in practice. Detainees are given access to an attorney of
their choice. In principle the Government provides state-appointed
attorneys to indigent detainees; however, government-appointed
attorneys generally serve the interests of the Government. In practice
attorneys were not always provided due to a limited state budget. By
law if a detainee is disabled, a juvenile, a high profile figure or
accused of a grave crime, or facing the death penalty, the Government
must provide an attorney, and this requirement was generally followed
in practice. If a detained person does not demand access to an
attorney, government officials often overlook this right. There is no
requirement for judicial approval or a preliminary judicial hearing on
the charge or detention. There is no bail system, although criminal
case detainees may be conditionally released and restricted to their
place of residence pending trial; those on conditional release sign a
``promise letter'' that they will not leave an area around their
residence. According to the law, family members are allowed access to
prisoners only after indictment; officials occasionally denied
attorneys and family member's access to detainees. Many detainees were
held incommunicado for long periods of time and remained in police
custody without being formally charged.
In some cases security officers, principally from the MOI and the
MOS, did not obtain arrest warrants and did not bring charges within
the time specified by the law. Persons released from detention often
claimed they were mistreated, beaten, and tortured (see section 1.c.).
The Government always provided a reason for arresting people,
although in some cases authorities falsified reasons for arrest or
inflated minor problems to make politically motivated arrests. Police
authorities occasionally arrested innocent people, accused them of
committing crimes the police were attempting to solve, and subsequently
framed them in order to falsely report resolution of the case.
According to the General Prosecutor's Office, during the year 61
members of HT were arrested. An unknown number were sentenced in
connection with crimes related to their membership in the banned
extremist political organization (see sections 1.c. and 2.b.).
A person may be detained for two months after an investigation
begins. The prosecutor may petition to detain the suspect for up to 15
months before his case reaches the court system. Once an investigation
is completed, the person may be detained for an additional month.
Following indictment, the law allows for pretrial detention of up to 15
months. The first three months of detention are at the discretion of a
local prosecutor; the next three months must be approved at the
regional level. The prosecutor general must approve longer periods of
detention, and the Government generally followed this in practice.
Pretrial detention was a problem, the Government did not always follow
pretrial procedures in practice, especially if detainees were unaware
of their rights.
International and local sources estimated that approximately 300
former opposition fighters of the United Tajik Opposition remained in
prison after the civil war despite two general amnesties in 1998 and a
review of cases in 2004. Most fighters were determined to be
appropriately jailed for grave crimes, while others were released.
On August 17, the parliament passed a law granting amnesty to 3,960
prisoners. By year's end 2,457 prisoners had been granted reduced
prison terms.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the law provides for an
independent judiciary, in practice the executive branch and criminal
networks exerted pressure on courts and judges, and corruption and
inefficiency were problems.
The President is empowered to appoint and dismiss judges and
prosecutors with the consent of parliament. Judges at the local,
regional, and national level were generally poorly trained and had
extremely limited access to legal reference materials and other
resources. Low wages for judges and prosecutors left them vulnerable to
bribery, which remained a common practice. Judges were commonly subject
to political influence. In 2005 the UN Special Rapporteur on the
Independence of Judges and Lawyers noted in its mission report the
increased roles and powers of prosecutors threatened the separation of
power. The Special Rapporteur's report also concluded that judges are
not independent, and are subject to corruption and influence by the
executive branch.
The judicial system is composed of city, district, regional, and
national courts, and there are parallel economic and military court
systems. Higher courts serve as appellate courts for lower ones. There
also is a constitutional court that reviews citizens' claims of
constitutional violations.
As in the previous year, the Government took steps to improve the
overall situation and address problems of judicial integrity by holding
judges accountable and arresting some of the most corrupt judges and
prosecutors. During the year two judges and three justice system
employees were arrested for corruption.
Trial Procedures.--Trials are public and juries are used, except in
cases involving national security or the protection of minors. While
the law stipulates that a case must be brought before a judge within 28
days after it is entered for trial, most cases were delayed for months
(see section 1.d.). Under the law courts appoint attorneys at public
expense; however, in practice arrested persons often were denied timely
access to an attorney, and some cases were not allowed access to any
legal counsel.
Prosecutors are responsible for conducting all investigations of
alleged criminal conduct. Prosecutors also have the right to initiate
cases. According to the law both defendants and attorneys have the
right to review all government evidence, to confront witnesses, and to
present evidence and testimony. No groups are barred from testifying,
and, in principle, all testimony is given equal consideration.
MOJ officials maintained that defendants benefit from the
presumption of innocence, despite an unmodified Soviet-era statute that
presumes guilt rather than innocence. In practice an indictment implied
that the Government was convinced of a suspect's guilt, and government
officials routinely made public pretrial statements proclaiming a
suspect's guilt. The law provides for the right to appeal. Media
reports stated that over half of cases were appealed, and 10 to 15
percent were successful--an increase over previous years. The law
extends the rights of defendants in trial procedures to all citizens.
``Supervisory powers'' provided for by law allow authorities to
reopen and re-examine court cases, indefinitely in criminal cases,
after the appeal period has expired; re-examinations are conducted by
the court presidium. The general prosecutor and deputies are included
among those who can protest a court decision under supervisory powers,
thereby annulling the effect of the decision and forcing it to be re-
examined by the presidium or at a higher court level. The General
Prosecutor's Office has used such powers, as in the unsuccessful 2005
attempt to annul the supreme court's release of journalist Jum'aboy
Tolibov.
Prosecutors are legally allowed to intervene in cases between
private parties that do not involve the Government, and the Office of
the General Prosecutor has a department that supervises the court
system to ensure cases are correctly decided. There were no reported
incidents of prosecutors exercising this right to intervene in purely
private cases.
Courts routinely used confessions obtained through torture and
beatings (see section 1.c.).
In rare instances military courts try civilians, who have the same
rights as defendants in civilian courts, but there were no reports of
such cases during the year. A military judge and two officers drawn
from the service ranks hear such cases.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Authorities officially stated
there were no political prisoners. During the year authorities made
politically motivated arrests, although there was no reliable estimate
of the number of political detainees. There were reports that the
Government illegally detained other members of rival political
factions.
Many of those arrested are charged with hooliganism or other
unrelated crimes.
Some political detainees alleged torture and abuse during
imprisonment and some political detainees were kept in a separate
facility and not granted visiting access afforded to other prisoners.
On February 21, Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan (SDPT) member
Fayzinoso Vohidova was released from prison after being charged in 2005
with forgery and tax evasion. The ruling against Vohidova prohibited
her from occupying official positions or leadership roles for two
years. Vohidova maintained her innocence and believed the charges
against her were politically motivated. During the year Vohidova
attempted to file an appeal with the Supreme Court, but her application
was rejected.
In May the General Prosecutor's Office repeatedly questioned
Rahmatullo Zoyirov, Chairman of the SDPT, following his assertion that
the Government detained up to 1,000 political prisoners. The office
accused him of HT membership but later informed Zoyirov the office
would not press charges. Zoyirov later suffered from health problems
and claimed to have been poisoned.
IRPT member, Sadullo Marupov, was arrested in the Sughd region in
May for alleged membership in an extremist group (see section 1.c.).
On August 11, former Drug Control Agency chairman General Ghaffor
Mirzoyev was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges including
murder, illegal use of bodyguards, possession of arms, and
privatization of government property and other illegal economic
activities; observers believed the charges to have a political element,
but most recognized Mirzoyev as a corrupt official with alleged
narcotics connections. Fifteen of his supporters were also imprisoned.
During the year Mirzoyev petitioned to appeal his conviction, but the
courts rejected his application.
Muhammadruzi Iskandarov, head of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan
and former chairman of Tojikgaz, the country's state-run gas monopoly,
remained in detention following his April 2005 kidnapping and return to
the country from Moscow by unknown forces. In October 2005 the Supreme
Court sentenced Iskandarov to 23 years in prison as well as other
penalties, including restitution of $434,782 (1.5 million somoni)
allegedly embezzled from Tojikgaz. While most observers believed
allegations of corruption and embezzlement were well-founded, local
observers, human rights activists, and the political opposition charged
that Iskandarov's arrest, trial, and verdict were politically motivated
to intimidate future political challengers. Although Iskandarov was
convicted, he remained in a pretrial detention facility at year's end.
Former interior minister Yakub Salimov remained in prison serving a
15-year sentence for crimes against the state and high treason
following his April 2005 closed trial.
IRPT member Saifiddin Fayzov, arrested and sentenced to four years
in jail in November 2005 for allegedly being ``rough'' towards an
election official following the parliamentary elections, remained in
jail after an unsuccessful IRPT appeal.
Rustam Fayziev, deputy chairman of the unregistered Party of
Progress, was serving a five-year sentence in jail for insulting and
defaming President Rahmonov in a 2005 letter. Mukhtor Boqizoda, editor
in chief of the independent newspaper Nerui Sukhan, was serving a two-
year sentence for stealing electricity. Nizomiddin Begmatov, Chairman
of the SDPT in Rasulov District, and Nasim Shukurov, member of the
presidium of the SDPT in the same district, were released in January
and February, respectively.
Yoribek Ibrohimov ``Shaykh'' remained imprisoned serving a 24-year
sentence for attacking a government office. Ibrohimov maintained his
innocence and alleged that authorities tortured and beat him, resulting
in a broken leg (see section 1.c.).
IRPT officials Shamsiddin Shamsiddinov and Qosim Rakhimov, both
sentenced in 2004, remained in prison. The IRPT alleged that their
convictions were politically motivated to discredit the party and not
an abuse of religious freedom.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Although the constitution
provides for it, the judiciary is not independent or impartial in civil
matters. There is no court system to bring lawsuits seeking damages
for, or cessation of human rights violations and no administrative
remedies.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, although police forces
committed some violations in practice.
Under the law police cannot enter and search a private home without
the approval of a prosecutor, except in special circumstances in which
a delay would impair national security. If police search a home without
prior approval, they must inform a prosecutor within 24 hours. In
practice police frequently ignored these laws and infringed on
citizens' right to privacy. There is no independent judicial review of
police searches conducted without permission.
The law prohibits the Government from monitoring private
communications; however, it is believed that they do so in certain
cases.
Family members of alleged HT members claimed that they were
mistreated and beaten while in police custody (see sections 1.c., 1.d.,
and 2.b.).
Police and Interior Ministry officials often harassed the families
of suspects in pretrial detention or threatened to do so to elicit
confessions (see section 1.c.).
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 restricted
these rights.
On occasion individuals who disagreed with government policies were
subjected to intimidation and discouraged from speaking freely or
critically. Government interference was particularly acute surrounding
the November Presidential election.
Of the 61 HT members detained during the year, the majority faced
charges of publicly calling for the overthrow of the constitution and
the dissemination of subversive literature.
The independent media were active but subjected to different means
of government control and intimidation; some exerted self-censorship
out of fear of government reprisal. As in previous years, the
Government maintained control over the media. According to
international observers and media monitoring groups, the pattern was
part of the Government's effort to consolidate power and influence in
advance of the November Presidential elections.
There were numerous print media outlets, private television, and
radio stations, as well as six government television stations. Of the
25 private television stations, only a handful were genuinely
independent, and not all of them operated without official
interference. During the year the MOJ registered two new newspapers
publishing political material, Fakti I Kommentari and Sobitiye. Six new
publications were registered in total; the other two focused on
entertainment or other nonpolitical topics. The Government also
permitted an opposition newspaper, published by the Democratic Party of
Tajikistan, to print for a limited time. Newspapers can be freely
printed and distributed without government registration as long as the
number of copies does not exceed 99. Some newspapers abided by that
rule in order to avoid registration. In August the Government
registered three television stations and five radio companies as
official organizations; only the three television stations and one
radio station received licenses to operate. Broadcasting entities
require registration and a license in order to apply for frequency
operation and before the entity can truly be on the air. The majority
of international media were allowed to operate freely, including
rebroadcasts of Russian television and radio programs.
During the year the BBC was denied a renewal of its license to
broadcast on FM radio; it remained operational on a middle frequency
wavelength with limited broadcasting ability. Observers generally
attributed the delay in issuance of registration and license to the
Government's efforts to keep tight control on media prior to the
November election. The Government claimed that the BBC had not properly
registered and that an intergovernmental agreement on television
broadcasting was required. At year's end the BBC was not broadcasting
on FM frequency.
From April to July, the Government temporarily suspended the Union
of Journalists. The suspension was a move to oust the corrupt former
chairman. A new chairman was appointed and the Union of Journalists
continued to operate at year's end. The union is perceived as being
largely government influenced.
In July three leading media associations collaborated to form a new
coalition, Partnership for Democracy, to address misunderstandings
among journalistic bodies and foster improved relations between mass
media and the Government. Partnership for Democracy consisted of the
National Association of Independent Mass Media in Tajikistan (NAMSIT),
the Tajik Association of Independent Electronic Media, and the Media
Alliance of Tajikistan. All three organizations continued to operate as
individual entities as well.
International NGO Internews continued to experience registration
and licensing problems that prevented the launch of six new community
radio stations under its auspices (see section 4).
The Government subsidized a large majority of state-sanctioned
publications and broadcast productions. Some of the independent
stations had their own studio facilities and broadcast equipment, but
most depended on government-owned transmission equipment to broadcast
their programs; the Government did not interfere with their broadcasts.
Independent radio and television stations continued to experience
administrative harassment and bureaucratic delays. Individual
journalists were also subjected to harassment and intimidation on
occasion, sometimes perpetrated by government authorities. Unlike the
previous year, there were no instances of violence against journalists
by unidentified persons.
Mukhtor Boqizoda, editor in chief of independent newspaper Nerui
Sukhan, was sentenced in 2005 to two years' labor for the illegal use
of electricity (for use for his foundation's printing house); such
offenses ordinarily receive an administrative fine. Boqizoda's
newspaper was known for criticizing government policy and the
President. In January the Supreme Court ordered the Dushanbe City court
to reverse the verdict and issue a penalty of a fine instead of two
year's labor, and he was released. However, Nerui Sukhan was not
published during the year. There was no progress in the case of Rajabi
Mirzo, the editor in chief of Ruzi Nav, who was beaten in 2004 by
unknown assailants near his home in Dushanbe.
In September police detained two journalists for filming students
picking cotton in Qorghan-Teppa, a violation of labor laws. Authorities
released the journalists and warned them not to publish material that
may destabilize the country.
Other common types of harassment included trials to intimidate
other journalists, warnings made by telephone and in person at a
prosecutor's office or during visits to editorial offices, selective
tax inspections, and close scrutiny of relatively independent
publications and television and radio stations, such as by counting the
number of copies compared to the declared circulation to make sure
publications do not exceed the permitted number. Although this practice
was mainly a tax issue, it was also used for political harassment.
The Government controlled most printing presses, the supply of
newsprint, and broadcasting transmission facilities. In January 2005
the Government closed the private printing house Kayhon, the publisher
of independent newspaper Nerui Sukhan, which was among four popular
independent newspapers (including, Ruzi Nav and Odamu Olam) that
remained unpublished in 2005 because state and private printing houses
refused to print them. Odamu Olam and Nerui Sukhan did not print during
the year. Other independent newspapers faced similar difficulties. In
September Shafohi, a new press operated by the owners of Kayhon, began
printing Adolat, the newspaper belonging to Iskandarov's faction of the
Democratic Party of Tajikistan. However, in November the Government
pressured Shafohi to stop printing Adolat. At approximately the same
time, the new faction of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan began
printing its own paper, also called Adolat, which was allowed to print
unhindered.
The Government also restricted broadcast licenses. To obtain a
broadcast license, individuals must apply to the Ministry of
Communications and the State Television and Radio Committee. The
Government continued the revision of broadcast licensing regulations
with public debate and input by journalists, but the process was
lengthy and licensing of new broadcast outlets generally remained
suspended. The Government granted three broadcast licenses, one for the
state-controlled Bahoriston and two for nongovernmental television
stations.
Journalists reported that government officials limited their access
to information or provided advice on what news should not be covered.
Editors and reporters frequently exercised self-censorship to avoid
problems with the authorities, including reprisals, and fearing
violence such as that committed against journalists during the civil
war. NANMSIT annual reports articulated the primary problem facing
media to be correspondents' limited access to information. In response
the Government mandated regular press conferences by ministries in
which generally laudatory reports were presented and hard questions
ignored.
Under the law a person can be imprisoned for up to five years for
insulting the President. In 2005 Rustam Fayziev received this sentence
for insulting the President (see section 1.e.).
Latif Vakhob, deputy director of Nerui Sukhan, completed his 2005
sentence of one-year forced labor and a fine for a 2004 article
accusing a professor of bribery; this was seen as a comparatively
excessive penalty for libel.
Opposition politicians had very limited access to state-run
television. The Government allowed opposition leaders limited airtime
during the Presidential election campaign in October and November. The
August Presidential election decrees permitted candidates limited free
airtime on state-operated television. The incumbent President received
more airtime on state media than the opposition candidates.
Internet Freedom.--On September 7, the Communications Ministry
ordered Internet providers to block access to Web sites that
``undermined the state's policies,'' including at least five sites that
frequently criticized the Government: centralasia.ru, ferghana.ru,
tajikistantimes.ru, charogiruz.ru, and arianastorm.com. Some service
providers did not initially comply with the request. On October 11, the
Government reversed its decision after many complaints, but four sites
remained blocked at year's end.
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; however, the
Government at times restricted this right in practice.
A permit from a local executive committee is required to organize
any public assembly or demonstration; only registered organizations may
apply for permits. Fear of reprisal was so widespread that unapproved
public protests or political demonstrations were rare; the public was
also wary of any action that could precipitate a return to the civil
war violence of the 1990s. In general the Government refused to grant
demonstration permits in fear that large gatherings of people would
lead to violence and political upheaval.
In August the IRPT applied for a permit to organize a rally
protesting Israel's actions in Lebanon. The Government denied its
application. No public demonstrations were permitted during the year.
On November 4 the authorities arrested four members of the
Iskandarov-led faction of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan, including
Rajabi Mirzo (see section 2.a.) for protesting in front of the MOJ. On
November 19, members were released after 15 day's imprisonment.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association; however, the Government sometimes restricted this right in
practice. All NGOs must register with the MOJ. International NGOs,
particularly ones supported by Western donors and involved in
democracy-building activities, faced registration problems from the
Government (see section 4). Officials cited technical application and
legal problems, which delayed the process.
As in the previous year, the Government increased its monitoring of
the activities of religious institutions, as well as groups, to prevent
them from becoming overtly political. Authorities arrested some
individuals, such as members of the banned extremist HT organization,
and sentenced them to long prison terms for subversion and other
crimes. Others remained in detention awaiting trial or sentencing (see
sections 1.c. and 1.d.).
In 2004, the Government's concern about Islamic fundamentalism
among the country's Muslim population prompted it to ban HT for alleged
links with terrorist organizations. The group promoted hate and praised
acts of terrorism, although it maintained it was committed to
nonviolence. HT's anti-Semitic and anti-Western literature called for
the overthrow of secular governments, including those in Central Asia,
to be replaced with a worldwide Islamic government called the
Caliphate.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, during the year the
Government filed 60 criminal proceedings against 61 HT activists. All
61 were convicted on charges of active membership in the organization,
failure to report criminal activity, distribution of extremist
literature, inciting religious hatred, and seeking to disrupt
constitutional order; they were sentenced to up to 12 years in prison.
The Government continued to refuse to register political parties
and associations that it considered opposition groups.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion;
however, the Government imposed some restrictions.
The country is a secular state, and the Government did not
explicitly ban, prohibit, or discourage specific religions from
practicing their beliefs. Islam is the majority religion, and the
Government promoted respect for traditional Islam; however, it viewed
extremist Islamist groups as a threat to national security (see section
2.b.). The law requires all religious communities to be registered by
the State Committee on Religious Affairs (SCRA). The Government
maintained that registration helped to ensure that religious groups
acted in accordance with the law; in practice the provision was
sometimes used to control political and religious activities.
The SCRA sometimes put up bureaucratic and technical hurdles to
impede registration of new religious organizations. Many mosques and
organized groups remained unregistered. The SCRA organized regular
annual training courses for imams and other mosque employees. Local
observers reported the Government used the exercise as a means to
improve the knowledge of the imams by teaching them the Government's
perceptions about various sects and new developments in Islam as well
as the dangers of HT.
During the year 16 new large ``Friday praying'' mosques and 16
regular daily praying mosques were registered.
The Government in Tursunzoda would not register the local chapter
of Jehovah's Witnesses, although the national charter was approved and
the group was registered. During the year the militia confiscated
religious literature imported by Jehovah's Witnesses. The militia
released the material after detaining nine members and questioning them
for three hours.
In April 2005 the SCRA banned activity of the Son Min Church in the
Sughd Region for violations of their charter. Son Min revised its
charter and functioned without interference.
Missionaries of registered religious groups were not legally
restricted and proselytized openly. However, the Government's fear of
Islamic extremism prompted it to restrict visas for Muslim
missionaries. Local communities did not always welcome missionaries and
harassed some religious groups in response to evangelical activities.
In response to public complaints regarding missionaries, the Government
issued warnings and questioned groups that proselytized. Local Islamic
missionaries proselytizing in Kulob were detained briefly by police.
The Council of Ulamo, an NGO of Islamic scholars that addresses
religious issues and questions, issued a fatwa in 2004 that prohibited
women from worshipping in mosques. Some Mullahs spoke out against women
attending mosques, despite support from some Islamic scholars and
several mosques for them to attend.
Some regional and local interior departments, mainly in the Sughd
region, continued to refuse to issue internal identification documents
to women who refused to be photographed without the hijab (headscarf).
The SCRA intervened as needed to allow those women to obtain documents.
In October 2005 the Minister of Education issued a statement during a
press conference banning hijabs in schools and institutions of higher
education; he cited the need to uphold secular education, although this
provision is not the law. Many female students and teachers were
expelled from schools for wearing hijabs. There was no official
government reaction to the ongoing expulsions.
A mandatory course on the History of Religions was taught in
schools at the 10th grade level.
The Government indicated that religious instruction should not take
place at home, which could deprive many women and children access to
religious practice.
Authorities at times restricted Muslim religious activities. For
example, government printing houses are prohibited from publishing
texts in Arabic and generally did not publish religious literature;
however, they did so in special cases, including copies of the Koran in
Arabic script. There were no restrictions on private Arabic language
schools, but restrictions on home-based Islamic instruction remained in
place because of political concerns.
The SCRA controlled and organized hajj participation by citizens.
The SCRA required hajj pilgrims to register with authorities and travel
by air using the state-owned airline, citing hygiene and safety
concerns regarding other means of travel. During the January hajj
campaign, the SCRA placed a quota of 3,500 citizen hajjis, far below
Saudi Arabia's 6,000 limit for the country, and only permitted 3,450 to
travel. During the year the newspaper Najot alleged that Chairman of
the SCRA Murodullo Davlatov had solicited one million dollars from
hajjis, who are required to deposit $2,300 (7,935 somonis) for travel
costs with the SCRA. There was no official investigation into the
accusation. The Government also controlled a second hajj campaign in
December. As opposed to previous state controlled hajj trips, the
Government lifted the quota limit and all restrictions except for a
minimum age requirement of 18 years. The cost of the hajj campaign was
$2,500 and 4,600 people participated.
During the year the SCRA issued a draft law on religion for
commentary. The draft law restricts freedom of religion, tightening
registration requirements to make it more difficult for religious
institutions to register and establish themselves, prohibiting the
religious education of children under the age of seven in private homes
without registration, and limiting the number of mosques in a
geographic region. The draft law was being reviewed by some parliament
committees at year's end.
Under a Presidential decree that reorganized the Government
structure, the SCRA was placed under the control of the Ministry of
Culture; some observers felt this was an effort to exercise more
control and oversight over the committee. The committee chairman
remained in place.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were about 200 Jews in
the country. Some imams and mullahs reportedly preached anti-Semitic
messages in mosques. In August and September, unknown assailants
attacked the only synagogue in the country using Molotov cocktails. The
September attack coincided with an attack on the Russian Orthodox
Church and followed a break-in at the rabbi's residence. At year's end
authorities were investigating the incidents. On February 8, municipal
officials partially tore down Dushanbe's synagogue, along with one
mosque and several administrative buildings, in a land dispute
unrelated to religious discrimination.
In a July 13 press conference, Murodullo Davlatov reportedly stated
that Jehovah's Witnesses' proselytizing aroused ``public indignation.''
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 the Government imposed some restrictions.
Foreigners are prohibited from traveling within a 15-mile zone
along the country's borders with China and Afghanistan without
permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). The restriction
was not always enforced along the western part of the border with
Afghanistan, although a special visa was required for travelers--
including international workers and diplomats--to Gorno Badakhshan.
Diplomats and international aid workers could travel to the Afghanistan
border region without prior authorization.
There are no laws that provide for exile and there were no reports
of forced exile. Some government opponents remained in self-imposed
exile in Russia.
Persons wishing to emigrate to countries of the former Soviet Union
must notify the MOI prior to their departure. Persons who wish to
emigrate to other countries must obtain an immigrant visa to receive a
passport, and persons who settle abroad are required to inform the
country's embassy or interest section of the nearest Russian embassy or
consulate.
Most persons who left the country were permitted to return freely.
A few people active with the opposition who left during the civil war
experienced administrative difficulty in obtaining new documents that
would permit them to return. Those who were pardoned are permitted to
return; high-level military officials were not pardoned. The Government
provided protection and modest assistance to resettle any citizens who
returned voluntarily and cooperated with international organizations
that helped fund assistance and resettlement programs.
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. During the year, however, the Government's protection of
refugees continued to deteriorate. During the year refusals to
applicants for asylum or refugee status continued to increase.
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. However, some
refugees were not protected from refoulement. In past years the
Government registered asylum seekers up to one year. However, during
the year, in an effort to ensure that asylum seekers do not become
residents, the Government only granted refugee status to asylum seekers
for three months. Refugee status could be continually renewed in three-
month increments. The Government also provided some temporary
protection to individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the
1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol. In April 2005 the Government denied
UNHCR its observer status in the Refugee Status Determination
Commission; but in August the Government reinstated UNHCR's
participation.
The Government deported four refugees to Afghanistan, prompting
UNHCR protest. The refugees were not given access to lawyers or the
opportunity to appeal the decision, as provided for by law. During the
year two of the three deported refugees were permitted to return to the
country.
A group of mostly Afghan refugees, whom UNHCR had prescreened for
asylum, remained in the country with no clear future. They were
awaiting integration into society or third country resettlement. Police
officers continued to mistreat and harass the country's Afghan
refugees, who resided mainly in the capital and in Khujand. Although
their treatment improved in some areas, many Afghan refugees claimed
they were frequently harassed and intimidated into paying illegal
registration fees, bribes, and other fines to police who falsely
accused them of being affiliated with the Taliban. Afghan refugee
children also faced discrimination and harassment from classmates in
schools. UNHCR was working with the Government to implement legislation
allowing refugees to obtain legal residency or citizenship; no refugee
was granted citizenship or presumed legal residency during the year.
Afghan refugees were summarily deported without consultation with
UNHCR, families were broken up, and the Government was not responsive
to UNHCR's 2005 protests.
Refugees currently in detention were denied the right to speak to a
lawyer and the right to appeal a deportation decision within one week,
as provided by law.
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 restricted this right in practice.
The country's political process made little progress in its
transition from a Soviet-style system. The President, together with an
inner circle of loyal supporters primarily from his home region of
Kulob, continued to dominate the Government and further consolidated
his power. The President's political party, the People's Democratic
Party of Tajikistan (PDPT), held the majority of parliamentary seats
and government positions. The President had broad authority to appoint
and dismiss officials.
Elections and Political Participation.--International observers
concluded that democratic electoral practices were not fully tested in
the November 6 Presidential election due to the absence of genuine
competition and political pluralism, which allowed voters only nominal
choices. Requirements for candidates to collect signatures from 5
percent of the electorate-approximately 160,000 signatures-in a short
time span prohibited many opposition candidates from competing. Five
candidates were registered, including incumbent President Rahmonov; the
other four were considered to support the incumbent administration's
policies. President Rahmonov won a third seven-year term with a
reported 79.3 percent of the vote. The Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe reported the Government did not adequately
implement improvements in the legislative and administrative framework,
officials exercised excessive control during the campaign period, and
that the actual voter turnout, while high, did not reach the 91 percent
officially reported.
There were some improvements to the election process. The
Government worked with NGOs to educate the public on proper voting
procedures. Prior to the election, the Central Commission on Elections
and Referenda issued official decrees to clarify media airtime
regulations for candidates, candidate's registration procedures, and
voting day rules.
President Rahmonov and his administration stressed a policy of
noninterference in the election process prior to November. Despite this
stance, during the election observers witnessed examples of officials
failing to follow procedure and denying the presence of official and
accredited observers; family, proxy, and multiple voting; and ballot
box stuffing. The media environment was largely under government
control and Internet sites were blocked in advance of elections (see
section 2.a.). Prior to election day, election commission officials
were seen actively campaigning on behalf of the incumbent President.
The PDPT continued to control an overwhelming majority of seats in
both houses of parliament, the Majlisi Oli. The PDPT's majority status
resulted in a legislative branch dominated by the executive branch.
Eight political parties were legally registered in the country.
Four parties continued to be banned during the year: the Adolatkhoh
Party, the Party of Popular Unity, the Party of Political and Economic
Reforms, and the Agrarian Party. At year's end the MOJ had not
registered the Unity Party, although it was not banned explicitly. Of
three new parties seeking registration, only the Party of Economic
Reform of Tajikistan and a second Agrarian Party of Tajikistan were
successful. The Party of Vahdat (Unity) was not registered due to
technical registration difficulties, but the party asserted the delay
was politically motivated. The Progress Party of Tajikistan did not
seek registration during the year. The law prohibits political parties
from receiving support from religious institutions, but religiously
affiliated parties, such as the IRPT can be registered.
Opposition political parties, including unregistered ones, remained
small, had limited popular support, and were kept under close scrutiny
by the Government. While they were generally able to operate, they had
difficulty obtaining access to state-run media (see section 2.a.). The
chairman of the SDPT alleged that the Government systematically
harassed its supporters. The Government occasionally sidelined
political opponents and potential rivals by bringing criminal charges
against them. While some of the charges were likely accurate, observers
suggested the court cases were politically motivated (see section
1.e.).
During the year Rahmatullo Zoyirov, Chairman of the SDPT, was
questioned by the General Prosecutor's Office. Zoyirov also suffered
health problems and alleged he was poisoned.
The Democratic Party of Tajikistan alleged that the Government
assisted in dividing the party leading to the Presidential election.
The Central Committee on Election and Referenda officially recognized
the new faction of the party and refused to acknowledge the original
Democratic Party, led by imprisoned Chairman, Mahmadruzi Iskandarov.
The party appealed to the MOJ to affirm its status as the only
Democratic Party of Tajikistan.
The parliamentary election code requires candidates to pay a
registration fee of approximately $405.80 (1,400 somonis), 200 times
the minimum monthly wage, which could prevent opposition candidates
from running in parliamentary elections. The Presidential election code
does not require Presidential candidates to pay a registration fee.
There were 16 women (11 in the lower and five in the upper house)
in the 96-seat parliament; one held a position as deputy speaker of the
parliament and two were heads of committees in the lower house of
parliament. Most ministries have one female deputy minister, according
to unofficial quotas; one of the deputy prime ministers and one
minister were women.
There were three members of minorities (two Uzbeks and one Kyrgyz)
in the 96-seat legislature. Ethnic Uzbeks were represented in the
Government, although not in direct policymaking roles.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption in the country
was widespread and pervasive, particularly bribery and nepotism and the
majority of citizens acknowledge corruption is endemic. The Government
acknowledged the problem and took steps to combat corruption, including
trying officials and judges for taking bribes. During the year the
President also acknowledged that over 800 civil servants had been
arrested on drug-trafficking charges in the past five years.
The Government's Center for Strategic Research Studies in
cooperation with the UN Development Program conducted a study on
government corruption and held seminar discussions on the topic. The
General Prosecutor's Office also investigated 112 cases of corruption
by government employees. According to a survey published during the
year in the newspaper Asia-Plus, 65 percent of respondents stated they
would like to talk about corruption if given the opportunity to speak
with the country's President. According to a Center for Strategic
Research Studies survey, participants responded that the most common
form of corruption was bribery of civil servants. Over 58 percent of
respondents believed corruption was a serious problem that affected
their daily lives and nearly 64 percent felt corruption was a priority
problem for the country.
Although the law requires government officials to provide
information to journalists upon request, there was no legal provision
for regular citizens' public access to government information. In
practice the Government did not permit free access to information, and
some officials disregarded the law concerning journalists, as there was
no enforcement. In response to criticisms, the Government mandated
regular press conferences by ministries in which generally laudatory
reports were presented and critical questions ignored.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Domestic and international human rights groups continued to face
increasing government pressure, and international NGOs engaged with
democracy issues encountered registration and visa problems. The
Government continued to request sensitive information from NGOs such as
employees' personal information, information about students affiliated
with the organizations, activities, and financial status. Government
officials were only somewhat responsive to the views of human rights
groups. The Government generally shared information and cooperated with
most local and international NGOs and diplomatic missions on joint
projects and conferences.
The Government did not block the registration of local NGOs
addressing human rights, and the number of domestic human rights
organizations slightly increased during the year. There were over 2,700
NGOs in the country focusing on a wide variety of issues, including
child welfare, civil society, mass media, and health. At times
authorities restricted freedom of assembly and association for
organizations involved in political activities, and forming and
registering an NGO with the MOJ remained cumbersome and bureaucratic.
Otherwise, local NGOs generally did not face systematic governmental
harassment.
The Government permitted some international NGOs to operate in the
country. During the year the Government continued to deny the
registration and reregistration of several international NGOs working
on democracy issues. NGOs were asked to reregister with the MOJ to
implement a law passed three years ago; observers believed the
provision was designed to control NGO activity. International NGOs and
their local staff continued to face a pattern of harassment on a
variety of issues.
The Government's Office for Constitutional Guarantees of Citizens'
Rights under the President continued its work of investigating and
answering citizens' complaints; however, the country does not have an
independent ombudsman. Staffing inadequacies and uneven cooperation
from other government institutions hampered the office's effectiveness.
The parliament's committee on legislation and human rights also
monitored human rights violations, but lacked full independence. The
committee's primary responsibility is to vet new proposed legislation
for compliance with human rights obligations.
The Government commission on fulfillment of international human
rights is a centralized body that receives human rights complaints and
coordinates a response. It delegates each complaint to local
administration and informs the General Prosecutor's Office, MOI, and
other relevant ministries. The body operated at the deputy prime
minister level and was somewhat effective.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides for the rights and freedoms of every person
regardless of race, gender, disability, language, or social status;
however, in practice there was discrimination against women, and
trafficking in persons was a problem.
Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, remained a
widespread problem. Most cases of domestic abuse went unreported, and
reported cases were seldom investigated. Although the law does not
specifically prohibit domestic violence, there are provisions within
the criminal code regarding domestic violence offenders. Penalties
include a minimum fine of 300 times the minimum wage up to 15 years'
imprisonment. Accurate statistics on the number of domestic violence
cases were difficult to estimate. There continued to be reports,
particularly in rural areas, about abductions of young women who were
then raped or forced to marry their abductors.
The law prohibits rape (although not specifically spousal rape),
which is punishable by up to 20 years' imprisonment. As with abuse
incidents in general, it was widely believed that most cases were
unreported and that the problem was growing, particularly in urban
areas. In addition family members and acquaintances often used threats
of rape to intimidate women. There were no official statistics on the
number of rapists charged, prosecuted, or convicted.
A handful of domestic and international NGOs supported women's
resource centers to assist rape and spousal abuse victims. Government
funding for such centers was extremely limited, although it had a
specific committee for women's and family affairs within the office of
the President. NGOs and some government structures discussed violence
against women in the framework of the Government's reporting
obligations for UN conventions. A shelter in Khujand reported
organizing over 300 psychological and legal consultations over a nine-
month period and another 1,000 consultations over a telephone hot line.
Prostitution is illegal, although in practice apprehended
prostitutes were assessed a nominal fine and released. Pimps and madams
were prosecuted regularly. Prostitution was a growing problem.
Trafficking and women and children for the purposes of sexual
exploitation trafficking of men for the purpose of forced labor was a
serious problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment with penalties of up to two
years. In practice women were often sexually harassed or had to perform
sexual favors in order to get a job or maintain one. Cases often went
unreported because of the social stigma attached to victims. Due to
traditional attitudes, it was common for men to sexually harass and
commit acts of violence against women.
Women faced traditional societal discrimination, diminished
educational opportunities, and increased poverty. The law provides
women with equal pay for equal work with men, but it was not always
enforced in practice. The Committee on Women's Affairs sought to
protect women's rights, but enforcement was not effective.
In 2004 the country's highest Islamic body, the Council of Ulamo,
issued a fatwa that prohibited women from praying in mosques. The
Government supported the fatwa but expressed concern over the
separation of church and state. Local observers said the fatwa was
discriminatory and a step backwards from gender equality. In July the
IRPT opened a ``Friday praying'' mosque that permitted women.
The law protects women's rights in marriage and family matters;
however, some female minors were pressured to marry men against their
will, and high incidences of informal polygamy, although illegal, were
reported. Inheritance laws do not discriminate against women although
in practice some inheritances passed disproportionately to sons.
Children.--The Government remained committed to children's rights
and welfare, but it did not devote adequate financial resources to
maintain the social security network for child welfare. Poverty and a
lack of resources contributed to a deterioration of the public school
system and the medical infrastructure available to children.
Free and universal public education is compulsory until age 16. The
law was not enforced and, while most children were enrolled in school
until the mandatory secondary level, attendance was estimated to be
lower because children worked in the home or in informal activities to
supplement family income (see section 6.d.). Girls were disadvantaged,
especially in rural school systems, where families elected to keep them
home to help take care of siblings or work in the fields. International
organizations' statistics reported 71 percent of children attended
school. With the decline of the country's underfunded public schools, a
small number of poor male students were recruited and sent to Egypt,
Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan to receive a free Islamic education.
There were a few reports of violence against children.
Underage marriage was widespread in rural areas, a practice
influenced by the high level of poverty and unemployment which
compelled many families to marry off their daughters as soon as
possible.
Trafficking continued to be a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor continued to be a problem (see section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, trafficking in persons from the country was a problem. The
Government acknowledged that officials facilitated trafficking.
Trafficking in persons was a serious problem. The country was a
source point for trafficked persons, primarily women and girls;
trafficking within the country was also a problem. Men and boys were
reportedly trafficked and used for labor. Media reports estimated that
over 1,000 persons were victims of trafficking during the year.
According to the MOI and information gathered from antitrafficking hot
lines, victims came primarily from Khujand or Dushanbe and most were
trafficked to Russia, former Soviet countries, the Persian Gulf states
(including the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia),
and Turkey. According to official MOI data, at least 420 women from the
country were trafficked for purposes of commercial sexual exploitation
to the former Soviet Union and Middle East countries, including over
250 in the United Arab Emirates.
The majority of trafficking victims were female, single, and
between the ages of 20 and 26. Many were new arrivals to Dushanbe or
Khujand from rural areas with little formal education. Child
trafficking victims usually were in the care of extended family. Ethnic
minorities were overrepresented among victims, particularly those of
Slavic origin. Rural, uneducated, and poor communities were also
particularly vulnerable.
Women and girls were trafficked from the country primarily for
cheap domestic labor or commercial sexual exploitation. Male
trafficking victims were primarily used for labor abroad in
agriculture, factories, or construction; some were without pay.
Traffickers included former field commanders--so-called warlords--
who rose to positions of power and wealth during the country's civil
war. Others, including women, were powerful local figures with private
links to the destination country who used their wealth to cultivate
patron-client relationships throughout their community to create a
trafficking network. Recruiters were also often individuals familiar to
victims, such as neighbors, acquaintances, or relatives.
Victims commonly were recruited through false promises of
employment. Advertisement of such work was conducted through social
contacts; traffickers used their local status and prestige to help
recruit victims. There also were cases of false wedding proposals and,
on occasion, kidnappings in rural areas. Traffickers generally
transported victims by air to the Middle East and by train to Russia
and other former Soviet countries. Traffickers tightly controlled
arrangements for travel and lodging and employed contacts among tourism
agencies. They sometimes used forged documents to evade entry
restrictions in destination countries. Victims commonly were separated
from their travel documents upon arrival in the destination country.
Debt bondage was a common form of control. There were also reports of
male and female medical professionals trafficked from the country to
Yemen to work at medical clinics for substandard wages; traffickers
reportedly seized their travel documents and forced female medical
personnel into prostitution.
The law criminalizes trafficking in persons with penalties of
imprisonment from two to 12 years and confiscation of personal
property. The average sentence for convicted traffickers ranged from
five to 12 years imprisonment. There were no suspended sentences.
Traffickers may also be prosecuted under laws prohibiting exploitation
of prostitution, rape, kidnapping, buying and selling of minors,
document fraud, and immigration violations. The penalties for these
offenses range from fines to imprisonment from five to 20 years.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM),
during the year 43 cases of trafficking in persons were reported
compared to 81 cases in 2005, nine of which were related to trafficking
of minors and newborns during the first six months of the year. The
rest were mostly related to trafficking of women abroad for commercial
sexual exploitation. According to the MOI, 23 criminal groups involved
in trafficking of persons were exposed during the year; 13 of them were
revealed as the result of international cooperation. Specialized
antitrafficking law enforcement units continued to investigate reported
trafficking cases, with 43 trafficking cases launched and 61
traffickers convicted during the year, a dramatic increase from 27
convictions in the previous year.
The MOI is responsible for trafficking investigations and arrests,
the General Prosecutor's Office is responsible for prosecuting and
sentencing convicted traffickers, and the MFA is responsible for
trafficking-related repatriation and extradition matters. The
Trafficking in Persons Investigative Unit, composed of four female
investigators within the MOI, was responsible for combating kidnapping,
trafficking in persons, and racketeering; the five officers in this
year-old division were assigned to investigate trafficking cases. The
division reported that there were at least 12 criminal rings in the
country involved in trafficking young girls to Gulf countries for
commercial sexual exploitation. A high-level interagency commission
focused on coordinating antitrafficking efforts and signed the National
government Action Plan on People Trafficking for 2006-10. The
Government generally worked openly and cooperatively with the
international community and the IOM to combat trafficking. In February
the MOI opened an Intelligence and Analytical Center for Counter-
Narcotics and Trafficking in Persons. Border Guards were trained to
screen for potential traffickers and victims. Authorities established a
data analysis center at the Dushanbe Airport to monitor travelers' data
in and out of the country. During the year the State Migration Service
established a database to track trafficking acts.
During the year government and IOM representatives repatriated 21
women to the country. Upon return they were provided with medical
assistance, training, and other types of support. During the year the
IOM assisted in repatriating three men who were victims of labor
trafficking.
There was no indication of widespread institutional involvement in
trafficking by the Government. However, corruption was endemic, and
reports indicated that high- and low-level government authorities
working in customs, border control, immigration, police, and tourism
took bribes from traffickers. It was also believed that certain
government officials acted as patrons or protectors of individuals who
were directly involved in trafficking. During the year authorities
prosecuted some low-level government officials for involvement in
facilitating trafficking such as providing false passports. Traffickers
used their contacts in government agencies to illegally obtain false
documents. In 2005 14 low-level law enforcement officers who were
arrested in 2004 for engaging in the commercial sexual exploitation of
underage girls were dismissed from their positions; no more recent
statistics were available.
Victims of forced prostitution and labor trafficking cannot be
charged for crimes committed while they were victims. Victims usually
did not pursue legal action against traffickers due to the social
stigma. According to an IOM survey, nearly half of trafficking victims
who returned to the country were blackmailed by local officials
(themselves extorted by traffickers) to change their story or face
exposure as a victim.
There were few resources available to trafficking victims. The
Government officially provided security and assistance to trafficking
victims and endorsed efforts by international and domestic NGOs to
prevent trafficking and provide services to victims. During the year 24
repatriated trafficking victims received such government assistance.
The Government, with the help of IOM, established two shelters for
female trafficking victims.
There were approximately 20 NGOs involved in antitrafficking
activities throughout the country. Several provided various services to
trafficking victims and carried out a wide range of information
programs in conjunction with local authorities throughout the country.
NGOs matched victims with social services, operated crisis centers, and
maintained a hotline for trafficking and domestic abuse victims.
Local NGO programs worked with support from international
organizations to increase awareness of trafficking; NGOs worked with
local officials to conduct training and awareness seminars for the
general public. The Government cooperated with NGOs to raise public
awareness on trafficking in persons. The Government issued press
releases warning about the dangers of trafficking and produced
television programs educating the public about the issues. It also
promoted announcements as well as informational materials produced and
distributed by local and international organizations. The Government
also cooperated with international organizations on prevention programs
by holding joint seminars, conferences, and distributing
antitrafficking brochures. The Government operated a 24-hour telephone
hot line.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination in
employment, education, access to health care, and provision of other
state services, and discrimination was not a problem. There is no law
mandating access to buildings for persons with disabilities, and the
Government did not require employers to provide such access.
Although there were group-living and medical facilities for persons
with disabilities, funding was limited and facilities were in poor
condition.
During the year 13 mentally or physically disabled children were
killed in an orphanage fire in Dushanbe. The Government established a
commission to investigate the tragedy and the director and other
administrators of the orphanage were sentenced to between 2 and 15
years imprisonment for a variety of charges including negligent
homicide, abuse of power, embezzlement of state funds, and
misappropriation of foreign aid.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, the Government commission
on fulfillment of international human rights, the Prosecutor General's
Office, the Society of Invalids, and appropriate local and regional
governmental structures were all charged with protecting the rights of
persons with disabilities.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join unions and they did so in practice. According to official figures
approximately 90 percent of the labor force was unionized. Most unions
were affiliated with the Federation of Trade Unions of Tajikistan, an
independent umbrella organization that attempted to represent all trade
unions in the country. However, it was largely seen as ineffective and
generally supportive of government policies. The law does not
specifically prohibit antiunion discrimination; however, there were no
reported incidents of antiunion discrimination in practice.
From April to July, the Government temporarily suspended the Union
of Journalists. The suspension was a move to oust the former chairman
who was widely perceived as corrupt (see section 2.a.).
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, except ``in
cases specified by law,'' and the Government protected this right in
practice. The laws provide for the right to organize and bargain
collectively, and workers exercised this right in practice. Collective
bargaining contracts covered 90 percent of workers. The law does not
restrict the right to strike, but there were no strikes during the
year. In practice people were reluctant to strike due to fears of
government retaliation.
There were no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including of children, except in cases
defined in the law; however, there were reports that such practices
occurred (see sections 5 and 6.d.).
Owners of privatized farms regularly compelled former state or
collective farm workers to pick cotton. The Government requested
collective farm workers to participate in this labor, and although
there were no official consequences for refusal, workers feared they
would be expelled from their collective farms or that the Government
would destroy their land if they did not oblige. Although all state
farms were privatized, some farmers chose to work in collective groups
for financial reasons. Workers usually were neither paid nor provided
the services they were given under the former collective system for
this labor, such as health care and education.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child labor remained a problem, and the Government neither effectively
enforced child labor laws nor strengthened existing regulations on
acceptable working conditions for children.
The minimum age for children to work is 16, although children may
work at age 15 with local trade union permission. By law children under
the age of 18 may work no more than six hours a day and 36 hours per
week. Children as young as seven years old may participate in household
labor and agricultural work, which are separately classified as family
assistance. Many children under age 10 worked in bazaars or sold goods
on the street.
The Government does not have a comprehensive policy or national
action plan to prevent or eliminate the worst forms of child labor.
Trafficking of children occurred (see section 5).
Unions were responsible for reporting any violations in the
employment of minors. Unresolved cases between unions and employers may
be brought before the prosecutor general for investigation, who may
charge the manager of the enterprise with violations of the law. Very
few violations were reported as most children worked under the family
assistance exception. Enforcement of child labor laws was the
responsibility of the Prosecutor's Office, the MOJ, the Ministry of
Social Welfare, the MOI, and appropriate local and regional
governmental offices.
The illegal Soviet-era practice of closing secondary schools and
universities at cotton harvest time and putting students to work
continued, but to a lesser degree than previous years. The IOM
estimated that 40 percent of the country's cotton was picked by
students, and according to World Bank statistics, as many as one in
eight children worked full-time instead of attending school.
In August the President issued a decree against students picking
cotton, and some authorities in the west and south of the country noted
this was the first harvest students had not picked cotton. However,
there were also reports that local authorities pulled students from
school to help with the annual cotton harvest. According to media
reports, during the year approximately 7,000 students, mostly from the
northern Sughd region, were involved in cotton picking. Working
conditions, wages, and living standards associated with the harvest
were extremely poor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The official national minimum
monthly wage, which increased to $5.80 (20 somoni) a month during the
year, did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family. The World Bank indicated that 42.5 percent of the population
lived below the poverty line which they designated at $2.00 per day
(6.88 somoni). Some observers estimated that a minimum of $23.19 per
month (80 somoni) was required to avoid abject poverty in the capital.
The Government acknowledged the problem of low wages and provided
certain subsidies for workers and their families at the minimum wage.
Some establishments, both governmental and private, compensated their
employees in kind with food commodities or with enterprise-produced
products, which employees either sold or bartered in local private
markets.
The law provides for a standard workweek of 40 hours for adults
over the age of 18. The law mandates overtime payment, with the first
two hours paid at 1+ times the normal rate and the remainder at double
the rate. Overtime payment was inconsistent in all sectors of the labor
force. The Ministry of Finance enforces financial aspects of the labor
law, and the Agency of the Financial Control of the Presidential
administration oversees other aspects of the law.
Government-established occupational health and safety standards
fell far below accepted international norms, and the Government did not
enforce them in practice. The State Technical Supervision Committee
under the council of ministers was responsible for enforcing health and
safety standards. The law permits workers to remove themselves from
hazardous conditions without risking loss of employment. This law was
not enforced effectively, and few workers did so in practice.
__________
TURKMENISTAN
Although the constitution declares the country to be a secular
democracy and Presidential republic, Turkmenistan, with a population of
approximately 5 million people, is an authoritarian state that was
dominated by President-for-life Saparmyrat Niyazov, who retained his
monopoly on political power until his death on December 21. The Halk
Maslahaty (people's council) decided on December 26 to select Niyazov's
successor through public elections on February 11, 2007. Government
efforts continued to focus on fostering centralized state control and
the glorification of the President. All candidates who ran in the 2004
parliamentary elections were members of the Democratic Party, the only
legally recognized political party in the country, and were cleared by
authorities. Candidates who ran in the village, city, and district
elections in July and December did not have to be members of the
Democratic Party or a state union, though it is unclear how many, if
any, of the ``non-party'' candidates won. The elections did not meet
international standards. Of the country's two parliamentary bodies, the
2,500-member people's council is the supreme legislative body and
surpasses the 50-member Mejlis (parliament) in authority. The President
controlled the judiciary. The civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.
The Government continued to commit serious abuses, and its human
rights record remained extremely poor. Authorities severely restricted
political and civil liberties. Human rights problems included:
citizens' inability to change their government; torture and
mistreatment of detainees; incommunicado and prolonged detention; abuse
of religious minority group members; arbitrary arrest and detention,
including family members of accused criminals; house arrest; denial of
due process and a fair trial; arbitrary interference with privacy,
home, and correspondence; restrictions on freedom of speech, press,
assembly, and association; restrictions on religious freedom; a
government-maintained blacklist of individuals not permitted to travel
abroad; violence against women; and restrictions on free association of
workers.
The Government continued to restrict freedom of movement, speech,
press, and assembly. Measured improvements in human rights included: a
continued decrease in harassment of religious groups, release without
sentencing of two conscientious objectors, and dramatically less
evidence of child labor during the cotton harvest.
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
reliable reports that the Government or its agents committed any
politically motivated killings, although families who have not heard
news of imprisoned family members for some time frequently speculated
that they may have died in prison.
In August journalist Ogulsapar Myradova was sentenced to six years
in prison for weapons possession. On September 13, Myradova died in
prison under suspicious circumstances (see sections 1.c. and 2.a.).
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 prohibits such practices;
however, security officials tortured, routinely beat, and used
excessive force against criminal suspects, prisoners, and individuals
critical of the Government, particularly in detention while seeking a
confession. There was no follow-up action in the 2005 case of Alexander
Fatalyiev, who was living in exile at year's end.
The Helsinki Foundation in the country claimed that Ogulsapar
Myradova, Annakurban Amanklichev, and Sapardurdy Hajiyev were tortured
during detention in the summer to extract confessions of weapons
possession. All three were subsequently sentenced to prison (see
sections 1.a. and 2.a.). On September 13, Myradova died in prison under
suspicious circumstances.
In September 2005 according to the Helsinki Foundation in the
country, a young woman was beaten and raped during seven days at a
Turkmenbashy detention facility; she was subsequently sentenced to
prison. After this case received international attention, the Supreme
Court released her on the grounds that she needed to provide for the
child she gave birth to as a result of the rape.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that Ministry of
National Security (MNB) members beat Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
(RFE/RL) associates or members of religious minorities. There were no
developments in the case of the 2004 abduction and beating of RFE/RL
associate Saparmyrad Ovezberdiev, who was living in external exile.
Authorities detained people in psychiatric hospitals as punishment.
For example, on January 4, according to the Moscow-based Memorial Human
Rights Center and several other NGOs, Kakabay Tejenov, a 70-year-old
pensioner, was forcibly hospitalized in Turkmenabat after he tried to
distribute to foreign embassies a statement on human right violations
in the country. Amnesty International reported that Tejenov was
released on October 24 and was hospitalized for a preexisting medical
condition. On October 19, President Niyazov granted Krishna
Consciousness Society member Cheper Annaniyazova amnesty; Annaniyzova
was released from prison.
There were no known reports during the year of specific incidents
of hazing. However, hazing of military conscripts reportedly remained a
problem and led to cases of desertion from units where conditions were
particularly difficult, according to the Memorial Human Rights Center
and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. According to this
report, corruption within the defense ministry and draft commissions,
tribal and ethnicity-based rivalries and disregard for the rights of
soldiers have led to an increasing number of deaths caused by brutal
treatment meted out by soldiers on fellow conscripts. In addition, the
standard of combat training decreased as regular military units were
transformed into an unpaid labor army doing things that had little to
do with the military, such as growing wheat, gathering cotton, and
working as hospital attendants, factory workers, or construction
laborers.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
poor; prisons were unsanitary, overcrowded, unsafe, and posed a threat
to life. Disease, particularly tuberculosis (TB), was rampant. There
continued to be concerns that prisoners with TB were released untested
and untreated into the general population, although the Government
reportedly began screening prisoners for TB, among other diseases, upon
their release and provided some treatment in some cases. Prisoners
diagnosed with TB were transferred to a special Ministry of Interior
hospital in Mary Welayat for treatment. Government officials protested
foreign diplomatic missions' allegations of poor prison conditions, but
they did not respond to direct inquiries. Nutrition was poor, and
prisoners depended on relatives to supplement inadequate food supplies,
although prisoners convicted for treason were unable to receive
supplies from relatives. The Government defined treason as any
opposition to the Government.
Former government officials and others imprisoned for various
alleged crimes, including those implicated in the 2002 armed attack
against the President, were singled out for harsh treatment. There were
no reports available on the conditions and treatment of prisoners
arrested after the 2002 armed attack.
Local sources reported that authorities continued to detain and
threaten relatives of those implicated in the 2002 attack to coerce
confessions and limited their contact with foreigners. Many were placed
on a blacklist that prevented them from traveling outside of the
country (see section 2.d.).
Government opponents reported that former high-level officials were
denied proper medical treatment and suffered beatings while in
detention. Security forces also denied them medical treatment and food,
and used verbal intimidation to coerce confessions.
Two members of Jehovah's Witnesses were detained for several weeks
of physical and psychological harassment; they were subsequently
released without being charged (see section 2.c.). On April 12,
Gurbandurdy Durdykulyev, detained since February 2004 in a psychiatric
hospital for petitioning the Government to hold a peaceful
demonstration, was released from the hospital under international
pressure.
The Helsinki Foundation in the country claimed that Ogulspapar
Myradova, Annakurban Amanklichev, and Sapardurdy Hajiyev were tortured
during detention in the summer in order to extract confessions of
weapons possession. All three were subsequently sentenced to prison
(see sections 1.a. and 2.a.). On September 13, Myradova died in prison
under suspicious circumstances.
Family members and international publications claimed some
prisoners died due to the combination of overcrowding, untreated
illnesses, and lack of adequate protection from the summer heat. There
was no investigation or government response in the August 2005 death in
prison of political prisoner Yazgeldi Gudogdyev. According to Turkmen
Initiative for Human Rights, in June former Lebap Welayat Hakim
(provincial governor) Geday Ahmedov died in prison due to lack of
medical care.
There were three types of incarceration facilities throughout the
country: educational-labor colonies, correctional-labor colonies, and
prisons. Some prisoners, usually former government officials, were sent
into internal exile. In the correctional-labor colonies, relatives of
prisoners reported excessive periods of prisoner isolation. There were
reports that prisoners were forced to work under hazardous and
unhealthy conditions in a kaolin mine in Gyzylgaya Prison, near
Dashoguz.
Prisoners connected with the November 2002 attack were reportedly
held separately at the Owadan Depe Prison. Government officials refused
to respond to inquiries from family members and diplomats about
political prisoners' location or condition. Government officials also
refused to permit family members, foreign diplomats, or international
observers, including the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC), access to detainees or prisoners associated with the November
2002 attack. During the year the ICRC did not conduct any prison
visits, due to unacceptable government limitations on visiting certain
types of prisons and prisoners (see section 1.e.).
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, arbitrary arrest and detention were
serious problems.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of
Internal Affairs (MVD) directs the criminal police, who worked closely
with the MNB on matters of national security. The MNB exercises control
over personnel changes in other ministries and enforces Presidential
decrees. Both the MNB and criminal police operated with impunity.
Corruption existed in the security forces.
In some cases receiving international attention, the Government
investigated allegations of abuse and held some members of the security
forces accountable for abuses. The MNB's primary responsibility was
ensuring that the Government remained in power. The MNB limited
personal freedoms and maintained a blacklist of citizens restricted
from foreign travel. This list was enforced by the MVD's sixth
department, the Department of Organized Crime and Terrorism Prevention.
Arrest and Detention.--A warrant is not required for an arrest.
Authorities can detain individuals for 72 hours without a formal arrest
warrant but legally have to issue a formal bill of indictment within 10
days of arrest to hold detainees longer; however, these provisions were
not always adhered to in practice. The chairman of the Cabinet of
Ministers, a position held by the President, had sole authority for
approving arrest warrants.
Detainees are entitled to immediate access to an attorney once a
bill of indictment is issued, and they were able to choose their
counsel; however, in practice they did not have prompt or regular
access to legal counsel. In some cases legal counsel ceased advising
their clients after government officials altered the charges or case
details initially provided to defendants. Incommunicado detention was a
problem. By law detainees are to be charged within 72 hours;
authorities did not respect this right in practice. There was no bail
system. Authorities denied some prisoners visits by family members
during the year. Families sometimes did not know the whereabouts of
imprisoned relatives (see section 1.c.).
The law characterizes any opposition to the Government as an act of
treason. Those convicted faced life imprisonment and were ineligible
for amnesty or reduction of sentence. Unlike in previous years, there
were no known treason convictions during the year. Those expressing
views critical of or different from those of the Government were
arrested on charges of economic crimes against the state and various
common crimes (see section 2.a.).
Members of Jehovah's Witnesses are occasionally detained for
proselytizing in public; although such detention generally lasts only a
few hours, two Jehovah's Witnesses were detained for several days in
late October, likely because government offices were closed during
celebrations of the 15th anniversary of the country's independence.
Pretrial detention may legally last no longer than two months,
which in exceptional cases may be extended to one year. In practice
pretrial detentions averaged two to three months; authorities often
exceeded legal limits.
The Government used house arrest without due process to control
regime opponents and prevent citizens from meeting with foreign
diplomats. Some nongovernmental organization (NGO) leaders were also
discriminately placed under house arrest. During the year relatives of
those suspected in the 2002 armed attack and some of the 100
individuals placed under house arrest in 2003 to prevent meeting with
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) remained
under occasional or permanent house arrest or were restricted from
traveling outside of certain regions.
Maral Yklymova, daughter of Saparmurat Yklymov, who was sentenced
to lifelong imprisonment in absentia for involvement in the November
2002 assassination attempt against the President, remained in house
arrest in Mary. Gurbandurdy Durdykulyev, detained since February 2004
in a psychiatric hospital for petitioning the Government to hold a
peaceful demonstration, was not always allowed to leave his home,
although he was released from the hospital April 12 under international
pressure. Occasionally, RFE/RL correspondent Halmyrat Gylychdurdyev
(see section 2.a.) and Jehovah's Witnesses leader Andrey Zhbanov were
not allowed to leave their Ashgabat homes.
During the year numerous former ministers and government officials
were dismissed from their positions, sent into internal exile, placed
under house arrest, or sentenced to jail terms, often for valid,
although politically motivated, charges (see sections 2.e. and 3.).
During the year at least 16 former ministers and government officials
were sentenced to jail terms or sent into internal exile after
dismissal; 35 more officials were fired from their positions, but
remained free or their whereabouts were unknown. One of the fired
ministers, former Prosecutor General Gurbanbibi Atanayova (see section
3), probably died in prison.
Amnesty.--President Niyazov granted amnesty to 10,056 prisoners on
October 19. There were reports of prisoners' families purchasing
amnesty, for anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars,
depending on the severity of the crime. Amnestied prisoners swore an
oath of allegiance to the Ruhnama, President Niyazov's spiritual
guidebook on the country's culture and heritage.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary; however, in practice the judiciary was
subordinate to the President. There was no legislative review of the
President's judicial appointments, except for the chairman (chief
justice) of the Supreme Court, who was reviewed by the rubber-stamp
parliament. The President has the sole authority to dismiss all judges
before the completion of their terms and has done so frequently down to
the city level.
The court system consists of a Supreme Court, six provincial courts
(including one for Ashgabat), and, at the lowest level, 64 district and
city courts. Criminal offenses committed by members of the armed forces
are tried in civilian courts under the authority of the Office of the
Prosecutor General.
Trial Procedures.--The draft revised criminal procedure code
released in 2004 remained pending at year's end. The code could
significantly alter the 1961 Soviet code, which was still in force. The
proposal incorporated rights of the accused, including the introduction
of the presumption of innocence, restraints on police searches,
establishment of a bail mechanism, and limits on pretrial detention.
The law provides due process for defendants, including a public
trial, access to accusatory material, the right to call witnesses to
testify on their behalf, a defense attorney, a court-appointed lawyer
if the defendant cannot afford one, and the right to represent oneself
in court. In practice authorities often denied these rights, and there
were few independent lawyers available to represent defendants. There
is no jury system. At times defendants were not allowed to confront or
question witnesses against them, defendants and their attorneys were
denied access to government evidence against them, and defendants
frequently did not enjoy a presumption of innocence. In some cases,
courts refused to accept exculpatory evidence provided by defense
attorneys, even if that evidence would have changed the outcome of the
trial. Even when due process rights were observed, the authority of the
Government prosecutor far exceeded that of the defense attorney, and it
was very difficult for the defendant to receive a fair trial. Court
transcripts were frequently flawed or incomplete, especially in cases
in which defendants' testimony needed to be translated from Russian to
Turkmen. Lower courts' decisions could be appealed, and the defendant
could petition the President for clemency. However, in most cases,
courts allegedly ignored allegations of torture that defendants raised
in trial.
Foreign observers were permitted at some trials. However, many more
trials, especially those considered to be politically sensitive,
including the trial of Helsinki Foundation affiliate and RFE/RL
correspondent Ogulsapar Myradova, were closed to observers (see section
1.c.).
There were regular reports of individuals being arrested and
requested to pay fines for breaking specific laws; however, when asked
to see the law, government officials refused or stated that the laws
were secret.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The law characterizes any
opposition to the Government as an act of treason. Those convicted
faced life imprisonment and were ineligible for amnesty or reduction of
sentence.
At year's end the Government held at least one political prisoner,
Mukhametkuli Aimuradov, imprisoned since 1995. The Government convicted
Annakurban Amanklichev and Sapardurdy Hajiyev of weapons possession,
although some NGOs maintained that their imprisonment was politically
motivated (see sections 1.a. and 1.c.). NGOs made similar assertions
when long-time ecologist and environmental activist Andrey Zatoka was
detained at Dashoguz airport on charges of disorderly conduct on
December 17; he remained under arrest at the end of the reporting
period, pending possible additional charges of weapons and poisonous
material possession following a search of his apartment.
Former mufti Nasrullah ibn Ibadullah, sentenced to 22 years'
imprisonment on charges of treason in 2004 for involvement in the 2002
attack, remained imprisoned.
The exact location of over 50 prisoners being held in connection
with the 2002 attack remained unknown. There were reports they were
held at Owadan Depe Prison outside of Ashgabat and subjected to abuse.
These prisoners were held on charges of planning an assassination of
President Niyazov. There were reports that these prisoners were treated
more harshly than others.
Opposition groups and international organizations claimed the
Government held many political detainees, although the precise number
was unknown. Detainees may include several hundred relatives and
associates of those implicated in the November 2002 attack being held
without charge for their perceived political opinions and possible
involvement in the attack.
Government officials refused to respond to inquiries from family
members and diplomats about political prisoners' location or condition.
Government officials also refused to permit family members, foreign
diplomats, or international observers, including the ICRC, access to
detainees or prisoners associated with the November 2002 attack (see
section 1.c.).
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The civil judiciary system
was not independent or impartial; the President appointed all judges.
There were instances of police investigations that went to court in
which plaintiffs could sue defendants. In theory, the civil court
system functions, but there were reports of bribes to ensure a positive
outcome. In cases when the state had interests vice an individual
citizen, domestic court orders were enforced. The most commonly
enforced court orders were eviction notices.
Property Restitution.--The Government failed to enforce the law
consistently with respect to restitution or compensation for
confiscation of private property (see section 1.f.).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions;
however, authorities frequently did not respect these prohibitions in
practice. Authorities routinely, and in some cases forcibly, searched
the homes of suspected regime opponents, minority religious groups, and
relatives of those suspected in the 2002 attack.
The law does not regulate surveillance by the state security
apparatus, which regularly monitored the activities of officials,
citizens, opponents and critics of the Government, and foreigners.
Security officials used physical surveillance, telephone tapping,
electronic eavesdropping, and informers. There was one government-
controlled Internet service provider. The Government monitored
citizens' e-mail and Internet usage and cut service for accounts used
to visit sensitive websites. The Government reportedly intercepted
surface mail before delivery, and letter packets and parcels taken to
the post office had to remain unsealed for inspection. State-run
Turkmenpochta remained the only courier service after the Government
closed all international courier services in previous years.
The Government continued to engage in forcible resettlement, a
practice observers stated was used to displace internal enemies and
political opponents. On April 26, Hajiniyaz Soyunova and Gozel
Soyunova, wife and daughter respectively of Nazar Soyunov, an
opposition member in exile, were forcibly relocated from their Ashgabat
apartment to Balkanabat; they received no compensation for their
Ashgabat apartment. Humanitarian conditions of most displaced persons
were unknown, and international observers were unable to independently
verify all reports of internal migration. Unlike in previous years,
there were no new cases of forcible resettlement of ethnic minorities.
During the year the Government continued to demolish large numbers of
private homes, including those to which residents had valid legal
title, as part of an urban renewal program to make way for construction
in and around Ashgabat and elsewhere. In some of the worst cases, the
Government required evicted families to pay for removal of the rubble
of their destroyed homes, gave persons as little as 48 hours to collect
their belongings and vacate, and did not provide homeowners with
alternative accommodations or compensation. Others were given two
weeks' notice to vacate and offered apartments or plots of land in
compensation, on undeveloped or non-irrigated plots that resulted in
the loss of livelihood for some. One large demolition project in
southern Ashgabat involved 500 families. Another project involved up to
2,000 families, most of whom did not receive compensation unless their
housing documentation was in order (see section 2.d.).
Non citizens may marry a citizen only after one year's residency in
the country. There were reports of a small number of such marriages.
Authorities punished individuals for the alleged violations of
their family members, including with house arrest and detention (see
section 1.d.).
The Government targeted family members of suspected or convicted
criminals for abuse. Some, like Hajiniyaz and Gozel Soyunov, were
forcibly resettled. Others were forced to leave their jobs; still
others were banned from traveling outside the country.
Harassment of the relatives of Saparmurat Yklymov, convicted as one
of the primary plotters of the 2002 attack, continued (see section
1.d.).
The parents of Arslan Kakaev, the principle suspect in a wire
transfer theft of $40 million from the Central Bank in 2001, are in
jail, allegedly on fabricated charges. Turkmenistan authorities
reported that Kakaev fled the country; Russian newspapers have reported
that he was found dead in St. Petersburg.
Maral and Sona Myradova, the two daughters of deceased journalist
Ogulsapar Myradova, faced harassment and loss of their jobs following
their mother's arrest. Since their mother's death, the authorities have
reinstated them in their places of employment.
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 did not
respect these rights in practice. Persons expressing dissenting views
were arrested on false charges of committing common crimes and in some
cases subject to abuse, harassment, and deprivation, including loss of
opportunities for advancement and employment. On January 4, Kakabay
Tejenov, a 70-year-old pensioner, was forcibly hospitalized in
Turkmenabat after he tried to distribute to foreign embassies a
statement on human right violations in the country. On October 24, he
was released and was hospitalized because of a preexisting medical
condition (see section 1.c.).
Almost all print media were government financed. Except for two
private, although government sanctioned, Turkmen/Turkish and Turkmen
language periodicals, foreign newspapers were banned. The editorial
staffs of the periodicals self-censored the content to not offend the
Government. The Government completely controlled radio and local
television, but use of satellite dishes enabling access to foreign
television programming was widespread throughout the country. There was
no access to cable television. The Government required all foreign
correspondents to apply for accreditation; however, there were no
reported difficulties with foreign media outlet personnel changes
during the year. There was only one accredited foreign correspondent in
Ashgabat, who worked for the Russian news agency RIA Novosti. In 2005,
an ITAR TASS correspondent was deprived of accreditation, and the RIA
Novosti correspondent was arrested, accused of espionage, and given a
15-year prison sentence before ultimately being deported to Russia.
During the year government agents reportedly subjected journalists
to arrest, harassment, intimidation, and violence. In March according
to the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights, ITAR TASS stringer Anna
Kurbanova was deprived of her accreditation for reporting on the
January pension reforms.
The Government harassed RFE/RL reporters and associates. RFE/RL
stringer Halmyrat Gylychdurdyev faced continued surveillance; on
February 18, his cell phone account was cut off during a conference
call to Prague to discuss pension cuts. The mobile service provider
told Gylychdurdyev that ``state security'' was responsible for the cut
off. Gylychdurdyev obtained a new cell phone account, which was also
cut off in early March. Gylychdurdyev's landline had been disconnected
since he reported on domestic flour shortages in October 2005. RFE/RL
stringer Shamyrat Akoyliyev was warned by national security officers in
February of the unacceptability of his affiliation with RFE/RL.
Authorities later cut off his telephone line. In June Akoyliyev was
taken off a train traveling from Balkanabat to Ashgabat by Ministry of
National Security officers. On March 7, RFE/RL stringers Meretmuhammet
Hommadov and Jumadurdy Owezov were arrested and sentenced to 15 days'
administrative detention on for acts of public contempt during a
meeting including district-level elders. However, two police officers
and guards at the detention facility told Hommadov's wife that he had
been arrested for ``dealing with foreigners and betraying his
country.''
The Government tried to control its citizens' access to
international organizations and missions and to harass citizens
cooperating with foreigners. Several foreign workers were asked to
leave or denied return entry for affiliating with religious minority
groups. Individuals were harassed and threatened in some regions for
frequenting foreign-funded information centers. On June 19, the Council
of Ministers accused diplomats and the mission of the OSCE of fomenting
revolution in the country. As evidence of these charges, the state-run
media broadcast pictures of confiscated camera equipment passed to a
citizen by a foreign diplomat in order to cover local events. The
diplomatic mission, while acknowledging it had transferred the
equipment as journalistic technical assistance, denied that it had any
other purpose, and the OSCE center denied authorities' accusations. On
August 25, the Government arrested three citizens in connection with
this affair, journalists Ogulspapar Myradova, Annakurban Amanklichev
and Sapardurdy Hajiyev, and sentenced them to six to seven years
imprisonment for weapons possession in a closed trial. An investigation
against Amanklichev and Hajiyev into additional charges of espionage
and treason was pending at year's end. On September 13, Myradova died
in police custody, under mysterious circumstances. RFE/RL, the
Turkmenistan Helsinki Foundation, and several other human rights
organizations claimed they were charged with criminal activities in
order to end their journalism (see sections 1.a and 1.c.).
There were no developments and none were expected in the following
RFE/RL cases: the 2004 MNB abduction and beating of an associate
correspondent, the 2004 arrest of associate Ashyrguly Bayryev for
smuggling novels into the country, and the 2004 MNB beating of a
Moscow-based correspondent.
The Government initially denied 78-year-old writer Rahim Esenov
permission to travel to the United States in order to receive an award.
After accusing the OSCE of intervening in internal affairs, the
Government allowed Esenov to depart to accept his award. Foreign
diplomatic personnel saw Esenov off at the airport, and he returned to
Turkmenistan December 27. Esenov had been arrested in 2004 on charges
of instigating social, ethnic, and religious hatred for writing a
biographical book about a medieval Turkmen figure, which President
Niyazov deemed inaccurate because Esenov depicted the protagonist as a
Shi'a rather than a Sunni Muslim. All copies of the book were
confiscated.
The Government censored newspapers; prepublication approval from
the office of the President's press secretary was required. The
Government continued to dictate media focus on President Niyazov's
achievements to amplify his cult of personality. The President
personally approved the first-page content every day of the major
dailies, which always included a prominent picture of him. The former
editor-in-chief of the newspaper Esger was tried and given a 17-year
sentence for unspecified crimes.
In May 2005 the Government banned local journalists from all
contact with foreigners unless specifically permitted. Journalists who
did not comply were threatened with losing their jobs.
To regulate domestic printing and copying activities, the
Government required all publishing houses and printing and photocopying
establishments to obtain registration licenses for their equipment. The
Government required the registration of all photocopiers and mandated
that a single individual be responsible for all photocopying activity.
All publishing companies were government owned, and works on topics
that were out of favor with the Government, including fiction, were not
published. Although the Government controlled Union of Writers in the
past expelled members who criticized government policy, and libraries
removed their works, no such cases were reported during the year.
The Government continued to keep Russian government-supported,
Russian language Radio Mayak transmissions off the air during the year.
The Government prohibited reporting opposing political views or any
criticism of the President. Criticism of officials was only permitted
if directed at those who had fallen out of Presidential favor; public
criticism of officials was done almost exclusively by the President
himself. Domestic journalists and foreign news correspondents engaged
in self censorship due to fear of government reprisal.
During the year, the President strongly criticized the poor cotton
and wheat harvests, allowing media to join him in criticizing the
``irresponsible officials'' and ``poor management'' that led to the
poor harvest.
Internet Freedom.--Internet access remained available on a limited
basis, and government-owned Turkmen Telecom was the sole provider to
the general population. Generally only accredited journalists,
embassies, and a few others had satellite Internet access authority.
The Government has not issued any new accounts in Ashgabat since
September 2002, although government officials reported new accounts
were available in the regions. Access was prohibitively expensive for
most citizens, and service was poor. Turkmen Telecom blocked access to
RFE/RL's Turkmen Service Web site.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--During the year the
Government continued to increase already significant restrictions on
academic freedom. It did not tolerate criticism of government policy or
the President in academic circles, and research into areas it
considered politically sensitive, such as comparative law, history,
ethnic relations, or theology, was curtailed. No master's degrees or
doctorates have been granted since 1998, and the degrees were no longer
obtainable in the country. Government permission is required to study
abroad and receive recognition of foreign degrees. Officials from the
Ministry of Education and provincial authorities impeded testing for
foreign exchange programs and sought to prevent students who were not
ethnically Turkmen from participating. UNICEF reported university
enrollment decreased from 40,000 in the 1990s to 3,000 in 2004.
Teachers reported having to spend more class time on President
Niyazov's works rather than traditional academic subjects. Niyazov's
Ruhnama, Ruhnama II, poetry volumes, The Spring of My Inspiration, and
My Beloved, were incorporated into the school curriculum.
Security officials instructed intellectuals and artists to praise
the President in their work and warned them not to participate in
receptions hosted by foreign diplomatic missions. Ministry of Culture
officials temporarily were banned from attending foreign embassy
functions after foreign embassy officials failed to attend official
Ruhnama anniversary commemorative events. Plays required Ministry of
Culture approval before opening to the public, to ensure against
antigovernment or anti Presidential content. Although classical music
was still taught and performed throughout the country, there was little
or no government support for non Turkmen music. Pirated copies of
international films were available for sale or rent for home viewing,
and all public exhibitions-music, art and cultural-are censored then
monitored by the Ministry of Culture.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly,
but the Government restricted this right in practice. Authorities did
not grant the required permits for any public meetings and
demonstrations during the year. Unregistered organizations,
particularly those perceived to have political agendas, were not
allowed to hold demonstrations.
Despite these restrictions, there were reports during the year of
protests against cotton policies and pension reform without incident.
Protests in April against shortages in basic commodities and lack of
occupational safety at a textile factory allegedly resulted in lay-offs
in the Kaka Municipality (see section 6).
In 2004 retired citizen Gurbandurdy Durdykuliev was forcibly
detained in a psychiatric hospital after requesting permission from
authorities to conduct a peaceful demonstration against President
Niyazov's policies (see section 1.c.). On April 10, Durdykuliev was
released on April 10 after significant international pressure but
remained under intermittent house arrest at year's end.
In October in Turkmenabat, local authorities prevented a group of
local students from celebrating the holiday of Halloween, first by
shutting down the restaurant where organizers had hoped to have the
event, and then by entering the venue, where the event was rescheduled,
and demanding the event be cancelled. Authorities claimed the event was
unauthorized because ticket sales, designed to benefit a senior
citizens home, violated tax laws.
Freedom of Association.--Although the constitution and law provide
for freedom of association, the Government restricted this right in
practice. The law requires all NGOs to register with the Ministry of
Justice (MOJ), and all foreign assistance to be registered with the
Ministry of Economics and Finance (formerly with the State Agency for
Investment), the MOJ, and coordinated through the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. Criminal penalties for unregistered NGO activity were
abolished in 2004, although it is still punishable by fines, short-term
detention, and confiscation of property. The Government continued to
routinely deny registration to NGOs and other private organizations
using subjective criteria.
Of 89 registered NGOs, international organizations considered seven
to be independent. The last NGO registration occurred in January 2005.
No new groups were registered during the year, and the Government
continued to present numerous obstacles to those attempting to
register. While some groups reported good cooperation with the MOJ in
the registration process, other NGOs reported difficulties, such as
frequently returned applications on technical grounds. Some NGOs found
alternative ways to carry out activities, such as registering as
businesses or subsidiaries of other registered groups. Other groups
considered themselves temporarily closed.
No political groups critical of government policy met the
requirements for registration. The only registered political party was
the Democratic Party, the former Communist Party of the country. The
Government did not prohibit membership in political organizations;
however, in practice those who claimed membership in political
organizations other than the Democratic Party were harassed (see
section 3).
In December 2005 a member of the Ilkinciler Farmer's Cooperative
was convicted of embezzlement and imprisoned, but was amnestied on
October 19. In the July gengesh (village council) elections, the
cooperative unsuccessfully attempted to run an independent candidate
for local office and was critical of the Government's agricultural
policy. The collective farmers believed the conviction was politically
motivated. In October two members of Ilkinciler, including the
association's head, who were attempting to fly to Kazakhstan for
foreign-funded training, were stopped at the airport and not allowed to
leave the country. The farmers' association head submitted a letter
requesting an explanation to the MNB but did not receive an answer.
On December 17, ecologist and environmental activist Andrey Zatoka
was detained on charges of public disorderliness at the Dashoguz
airport. NGOs have maintained that Zatoka's arrest was politically
motivated (see section 1.e.).
Authorities harassed an unregistered initiative group in Balkan
province for implementing a registered grant involving dissemination of
pamphlets approved by the Ministry of Health and the World Health
Organization (WHO) explaining how to prevent avian influenza. Five
members of the initiative group, who were also state healthcare
workers, lost their jobs when the group was falsely accused of
conducting illegal data gathering.
Numerous recipients of foreign grants throughout the country were
harassed following monitoring visits by employees of foreign embassies.
In one case, in Mary, the director of a kindergarten was harassed and
ultimately transferred to another position in a smaller kindergarten
following a monitoring visit. In Dashoguz, a community leader was
unofficially told by MNB and provincial education department officials
that she should not seek future grants from foreign sources. Also in
Dashoguz, officials from the provincial health department told
implementers of registered health project grants that they should not
seek foreign grants in the future and should avoid contacts with
foreign organizations. In Turkmenabat an activist and member of the NGO
Merjen was fired from her job in a hospital for her activities,
including work with OSCE.
In other cases, the MOJ blocked or failed to act on requests by a
civic group in Lebap and an environmental association to register grant
projects.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, although the Government restricted this right in
practice. There is no state religion, but the majority of the
population is Sunni Muslim. The Government has incorporated some
aspects of Islamic tradition into its efforts to define a national
identity, but in practice the Government closely controlled and
monitored all religious activities and placed some restrictions on
Muslims. The Government required all religious groups and individual
mosques and churches to register with the MOJ and has increased
government monitoring of financial and material assistance to religious
groups from foreign sources. Groups are required to file reports of
proceedings at all meetings. Some groups reported confusion over
registration requirements because of conflicting statements by
government officials from different ministries. At an October 2005
government meeting with representatives of religious minority groups,
the Government explained that individual branches of religious groups
could be temporarily registered by requesting representative powers of
attorney from the registered branch of their particular group; in most
cases this resolved branches' registration problems.
Until 2004 only Sunni Islam or Russian Orthodox congregations were
able to register. Since the 2004 decree reducing the minimum number of
members to five, congregations from nine other groups have been able to
register. No new religious groups were registered during the year. One
group that attempted to register had its registration papers returned
with suggested changes it believed were unacceptable; at year's end the
group was seeking a compromise with authorities. Although the Roman
Catholic Church remained unregistered due to difficulties in
reconciling Church practices with the country's laws, members were not
blocked from attending services. Other non-registered religious
congregations such as Jehovah's Witnesses, a separate group of
Baptists, and Evangelical Christian groups were present in the country,
although the Government restricted their activities. Non-registered
groups were officially prohibited from conducting religious activities.
The Government's Council on Religious Affairs (CRA) exercised
direct control over the hiring, promotion, firing, and, in some cases,
compensation of both Sunni Muslim and Russian Orthodox clergy.
Some members of minority religions claimed that law enforcement
officers abused their members. During the year there were reports that
government agents detained, interrogated, and pressed religious
minority group members to abandon their beliefs. Some were assessed
fines.
In July, August, and September several minority religious
organizations, registered and unregistered, complained that local
police increased harassment, particularly in areas outside of Ashgabat.
Baptists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Seventh-day Adventists experienced
disrupted meetings, detentions (including of children), and
administrative fines. Between July and August security forces broke up
at least three Baptist meetings in Turkmenabat, Mary, and Dashoguz;
members described harassment, detention, questioning, and at least one
beating. Jehovah's Witnesses reported eight incidents of harassment or
short-term detention for the same time period. Jehovah's Witnesses
reported decreased, but continued, harassment.
In 2005 authorities did not allow Pentecostal Church pastor Victor
Mokrousov to cross the border into Uzbekistan at the Farap checkpoint
and three members of two other religious minority groups were prevented
from leaving the country. There were no new reports of obstructed
travel based on religious minority group affiliation.
In December 2005 an ethnic Turkmen Baptist leader in Galkynysh
district was verbally humiliated in public by the local governor, who
accused him of betraying Islam and his country. In March 2005 a
policeman arrested Jehovah's Witness member Vladimir Muratov in
Ashgabat and used his working folder to hit Muratov on his head.
Muratov was released after police confiscated his religious literature,
including a Bible.
Jehovah's Witnesses were detained on at least nine occasions in
late 2005, including one incident where two women were detained for
four days, during which time they were interrogated, threatened with
rape, and beaten. During the year there were reported occasions when
one or more Jehovah's Witnesses were detained, usually for only a few
hours. In late October two Jehovah's Witnesses seeking to proselytize
in public were detained for several days likely because government
offices had closed down for the 15th anniversary celebration of the
country's independence.
Krishna Consciousness Society member Cheper Annaniyazova, who was
detained in a psychiatric hospital in 2005 for illegally leaving the
country in 2000, was given a seven-year sentence in November 2005 for
violating border entry laws (see section 1.c.). Annaniyazova was
released during the October 19 amnesty. During the year one imam
reportedly was harassed but not detained after meeting with foreign
diplomats.
The Government controlled the establishment of Muslim places of
worship and limited access to Islamic education. In 2004 President
Niyazov announced no more mosques would be built in the country.
Registered minority religious groups reported difficulties in finding
appropriate places of worship.
In May authorities broke up a meeting of an unregistered Christian
group at a private residence in Ashgabat. Officials interrogated the
members for several hours, wrote a report, and then requested the
members to re-enact the meeting's activities while police videotaped
them. In the days following the group's release, police continued to
call in local church members and sought to intimidate them into
renouncing Christianity for Islam.
Local police officers subjected ethnic Turkmen who converted to
non-Russian Orthodox Christianity to official harassment and
mistreatment, such as verbal abuse for denying their heritage by
converting. According to the Forum 18 news organization, in January, a
commission of government officials and a local imam pressured an ethnic
Turkmen convert to Christianity to renounce his faith.
Foreign missionary activity is prohibited, although both Christian
and Muslim missionaries were present in the country.
There were no developments concerning the 2005 Jehovah's Witnesses
Nazikgul Orazova case for proselytizing and possessing religious
literature.
There was no official religious instruction in public schools;
however, students were required to study the Ruhnama at all public
schools and institutes of higher learning. The President used these
teachings in part to supersede other established religious codes, as
well as historical and cultural texts, and thereby influence citizens'
religious and cultural behavior. Extracurricular religious education
was allowed only with CRA and Presidential permission. The Government
announced in the summer that it would construct a Ruhnama university
with six faculties that would focus on ``studying the deep roots of the
nation's great spirit.'' In June 2005 the Turkmen State University
Theological Faculty was dissolved and absorbed into the history
faculty; only one institution of Islamic education remained open, and
the Government controlled the curriculum.
Government-supported mosques were required to display copies of the
Ruhnama. Religious literature, with the exception of the Ruhnama, which
officially is considered sacred, was not published in the country.
Government representatives informed religious groups they could only
import as much religious literature as corresponded to registered
congregants, but even registered groups had difficulty importing
religious literature. Ethnic Turkmen members of unregistered religious
groups accused of disseminating religious material received harsher
treatment than members of other ethnic groups, particularly if they
received financial support from foreign sources.
During the year the Government controlled the number of persons
allowed to participate in the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca (the
hajj), specifying that only 188 pilgrims would be allowed to journey to
Mecca, out of the country's quota of 4,600 persons. However, an unknown
additional number of pilgrims participated by arranging travel through
overseas travel agencies.
The Seventh-day Adventists reported no further progress in
receiving compensation for their church, which was demolished in 1999
due to city reconstruction plans.
Two Jehovah's Witness conscientious objectors were released from
detention in December 2005 and in January. In contrast to previous
years, they were not tried, although they were subjected to physical
and psychological harassment and were forced to sign a confession. One
Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector was detained and kept in the
psychiatric ward of a military hospital in June, but he was later
released with no further attempts to enlist him.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were 2,000 self-
identified Jews and no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
The Government did not seek to promote tolerance education, other
than to promote President Niyazov's doctrine of a united people.
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
for full freedom of movement.
Internal passports and residency permits were required. The
Government controlled travel to border cities and regions, and large
parts of the country were considered restricted zones.
The Government denied that it maintained a list of persons not
allowed to travel within or depart the country. However, a restrictive
December 2005 migration law forbids travel by any citizen who: has
access to state secrets, has falsified personal information, has
committed a serious crime, is under surveillance, might become a
trafficking victim, has previously violated the law of the destination
country, or whose travel contradicts the interests of national
security. Citizens are not informed of their travel restriction prior
to arrival at the airport, although citizens have the right to inquire
about their travel status at the State Agency for the Registration of
Foreign Citizens (Immigration) where a comprehensive list is
maintained. Citizens have not encountered problems when asking about
their status. Individuals may appeal the temporary travel ban in most
cases; however, the process remained unclear and was usually
unsuccessful. In practice regime opponents, relatives of those
implicated in the 2002 attack, and those considered to possess ``state
secrets,'' as well as their relatives, were refused permission to board
international flights at the airport.
After foreign diplomatic efforts at the highest levels, four
individuals were permitted to leave Turkmenistan for homes in other
countries. One person was a dual citizen of another country and the
other family was being reunified with a spouse/father who was granted
asylum abroad. During the year the niece of an accused participant in
the 2002 attack, living in self-imposed exile and a participant in
external opposition efforts, was denied permission to return to her
university studies abroad. The Government told the daughters of
deceased journalist Ogulsapar Myradova they will not be permitted to
travel abroad (see section 1.f.).
The Government also refused to allow some study abroad and exchange
program participants to attend programs.
Citizens living in Dashoguz and Lebap provinces may only spend
three days a month visiting relatives in the Bukhara and Khorezm
provinces of neighboring Uzbekistan, under a 2004 summit agreement
between President Niyazov and President of Uzbekistan Karimov. This in
some cases impeded citizens' ability to visit relatives.
The law permits forced internal and external exile, and at year's
end some individuals remained in forced exile, which the Government
used as punishment during the year. The Government confiscated the
passports of political opponents to enforce internal exile during the
year. Numerous former ministers and government officials dismissed from
their positions and sent into internal exile remained under house
arrest. The President allowed the officials, who were sometimes
accompanied by their families, to work off their sentences in internal
exile. Almost all prominent political opponents of the Government chose
to move to other countries for reasons of personal safety; none
returned during the year.
Alexander Fataliyev remained in external exile, and Sazak Begmedov
and Maral Yklymova remained in internal exile or house arrest during
the year. Yklymova, the daughter of one of the accused organizers of
the November 2002 attacks, remained under house arrest in Mary where
she was regularly watched by security officials and periodically had
her passport confiscated and telephone lines cut off. No official
charges were ever filed against her.
There continued to be reports that authorities harassed ethnic
Russians and confiscated their property to hasten their migration. In
contrast to previous years, the Government did not overtly discourage
emigration of ethnic Turkmen living in Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and other
countries, and emigration of non-Turkmen from the former Soviet Union.
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 or asylum status to some
ethnic Turkmen from Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and to other groups of
ethnic Uzbeks and Russians. The Government also provided temporary
protection to individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the
1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol and granted citizenship or legal
residency to over 16,000 individuals during the year. Most of those
granted citizenship were ethnic Turkmen who had fled conflict in
Tajikistan in the early 1990s, ethnic Uzbeks, or Russians. The
Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (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
Citizens could not freely choose and change the laws and officials
that governed them. The constitution declares the country to be a
secular democracy in the form of a Presidential republic. It calls for
the separation of powers among the various branches of government, but
vests a disproportionate share of power in the presidency. In practice
the President's power over the state was absolute; all important and
most minor decisions were made at the Presidential level. Citizens
swore a national oath of personal allegiance to President Niyazov,
rather than just to the country or to the presidency as an institution.
A constitutional amendment named President Niyazov chairman-for-
life of the people's council, giving him authority to approve any
potential successor. A 1994 national referendum, which was neither free
nor fair, extended the President's term, eliminating the 1997 scheduled
Presidential election. A 1999 law allowed an exception to
constitutionally mandated term limits (normally two five-year terms)
for Niyazov, effectively permitting him a lifetime term in office.
However, following President Niyazov's death on December 21, the
national people's council decided December 26 to select the new
President through national elections, to be held February 11, 2007.
Under the constitution, Parliament Chairman Ovezgeldy Atayev should
have become the interim President, but Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov, the
deputy prime minister, was named instead, allegedly because of an
ongoing criminal investigation against Atayev. On December 26, the Halk
Maslahty selected six Presidential candidates, changing the
constitution to allow the candidacy of Interim President
Berdimuhammedov. Residency requirements precluded the candidacy of some
exiles who expressed a desire to run for President. Nurberdy
Nurmamedov, a dissident figure who lives in Ashgabat and whom some of
these exiles hoped would be a candidate, was detained on December 23
and released on December 30.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 parliamentary
elections all candidates were pre-approved members of the Democratic
Party. Citizens reportedly had very little knowledge about the
elections, including both the date and candidates' biographies. Foreign
observers were not invited to monitor the elections.
In 2004 President Niyazov committed to hold a series of elections
with open nominations at all levels of government, culminating in
Presidential elections in 2009. The first of these elections, at the
gengesh level, took place in July; citizens elected 5,320 village
council members, from multiple candidates, at least some of whom were
not affiliated with the party or governmental organizations. It was not
clear whether any of the non-party/governmental candidates won. Village
councils have little actual decision-making responsibility. While these
elections contained genuinely democratic elements, such as non official
party candidates, the election process still did not conform to
internationally recognized standards.
Elections for etrap (district) level people's councils took place
in December. As in the gengesh elections, voters were able to choose
among multiple candidates, some of whom were not affiliated with the
party or government. Voters selected at least one of these candidates.
However, voter turnout was lower than the 96.95 percent rate reported
by the Government, and there were some reports of election officials
taking ballot boxes around to voters' homes in order to encourage a
higher participation rate.
Although the Government did not prohibit membership in political
organizations, political parties other than the President's Democratic
Party were banned. Authorities fired or threatened to fire supporters
of external opposition movements, removed them from professional
societies, and threatened them with the loss of their homes. In
addition some citizens who met with foreigners were subject to official
intimidation.
There were eight women in the 50-member parliament, including the
new Mejlis Chairman, elected in late December. Women were also
represented in the 2,500-delegate people's council. Women served in a
few prominent government positions: minister of culture, minister of
education, minister of welfare and social care, and ambassador to the
UN. In April the female prosecutor general was removed from office and
prosecuted for illegal activities.
There was one member of a minority group in the 50-seat parliament.
This member passed away on November 23, and it is unclear how his seat
will be filled. Ethnic minorities were also represented in the 2,500-
delegate people's council. Preference for appointed government
positions was given to ethnically pure Turkmen, but ethnic minorities
occupied several high governmental positions. The largest tribe, the
President's Teke tribe, held the most prominent roles in cultural and
political life.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was widespread
corruption in all social and economic sectors. Factors included the
existence of patronage networks, a lack of transparency and
accountability mechanisms, and fear of government reprisal.
While the President fired numerous officials of all ranks on
justifiable charges of bribery, nepotism, abuse of office, and
embezzlement, observers maintained that authorities used anticorruption
campaigns to remove potential rivals.
During the year, 16 government ministers and officials were exiled
or sentenced to jail terms after dismissal. Thirty-five more officials
have been fired from their positions but remained free or their status
was unknown.
For example, on March 3, the former director of the state-run
Turkmenbashy Refinery, Amangeldi Pudakov, was fired and subsequently
sentenced for nepotism and corruption; on the same day, the former
deputy head of the Turkmengas State Concern Sapar Yoldashev was also
fired and jailed for corruption. Observers believed that President
Niyazov removed these two individuals in order to increase his direct
control over gas and oil revenues.
In April long-time Prosecutor General Gurbanbibi Atajanova, who in
recent years oversaw the sentencing of individuals allegedly involved
in the 2002 assassination attempt as well as governmental purges, was
herself convicted of corruption and embezzlement and sentenced to 20
years' imprisonment. Observers suspected that Atajanova died while in
police custody (see section 1.c.). Most of the personnel in the
prosecutor general's office were also purged.
There is no law that allows access to government information, and
in practice the Government did not provide access. Requests for
specific information were denied on the basis of information being a
state secret. Statistical data was considered a state secret. There was
no public disclosure of demographical data, and published economic and
financial data was manipulated to justify state policies and
expenditures.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were no domestic human rights groups. The Government warned
its critics against speaking with visiting journalists or other
foreigners wishing to discuss human rights problems. During the year
the Government maintained pressure on nonpolitical social and cultural
organizations. This included detention and routine summoning for
questioning the security services.
There were also no international human rights NGOs with an ongoing
permanent presence in the country; however, the Government permitted
international organizations, including the OSCE and the UNHCR, to have
resident missions. The ICRC and other international human rights groups
monitored the situation from abroad. Government restrictions on freedom
of speech, press, and association severely restricted international
organizations' ability to investigate and criticize the Government's
human rights policies. Officials were somewhat responsive to questions
regarding alleged human rights abuses.
The Government did not respond to a critical UNICEF report on the
rights of children released June 2. The Government sought to censor an
OSCE newsletter reporting the full text of a speech by the visiting
OSCE chairman-in-office. Rather than bow to government demands, the
OSCE Center chose to seek publication of the newsletter outside of the
country.
The National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights (IDHR),
nominally headed by President Niyazov, appeared to have little real
authority. In February 2005 the Committee on the Protection of Human
Rights and Liberties was established in parliament to oversee human
rights-related legislation. The IDHR was mandated to support
democratization and monitor the protection of human rights, and also
maintained a human rights library. In principle the institute reviewed
citizens' complaints and returned its findings to the individual and
the organizations involved; however, the institute was not an
independent body, and its ability to obtain redress was limited.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Although the law provides for equal rights and freedoms for all,
independent of nationality, origin, language, and gender, violence
against women, and discrimination against ethnic minorities continued
to be problems.
Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence, including spousal
abuse, but it is not effectively enforced. Anecdotal reports indicated
that domestic violence against women was common; most victims of
domestic violence kept silent, either because they were unaware of
their rights or afraid of increased violence from husbands and
relatives. There were a few court cases and occasional references to
domestic violence in the media. One official women's group in Ashgabat,
an independent NGO, and several informal groups in other regions
assisted victims of domestic violence.
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal, with penalties of between
three and 25 years based on the level of violence of the incident and
whether the attacker is a repeat offender. The Government generally
enforced the law effectively against citizens; however, it used rape as
a threat against female family members of persons held for religious
offenses (see section 2.c.) as well as against detainees (see section
1.c.).
Prostitution is illegal, but remained a problem throughout the
country. Authorities actively monitored prostitution but did not
attempt to counter it. There is no law specifically prohibiting sexual
harassment, and there were anecdotal reports that sexual harassment
existed in the workforce.
Women had equal rights under family law, property law, and in the
judicial system. Women were underrepresented in the upper levels of
government-owned economic enterprises and were concentrated in health
care, education, and service professions. Women were restricted from
working in some dangerous and environmentally unsafe jobs. The Mejlis
Committee on Human Rights and Liberties is responsible for drafting
human rights and gender legislation. This body was responsible for
integrating a new gender program into the country's education
curriculum and for publishing regular bulletins on national and
international gender laws.
The Government did not acknowledge or address discrimination
against women.
Children.--The Government did not take effective steps or have
adequate resources to fully address the needs of children, in
particular in regard to education, according to a UNICEF report on the
rights of children.
The Government provided nine years of basic education for girls and
boys. Primary and secondary education was free and compulsory. The
Government stated that approximately 95 percent of children between the
ages of seven and 16 attended school on a regular basis; however, a
2003 UN Development Program report listed school attendance at 81
percent. Most children completed school and some went on to university
and vocational schools.
A 2000 Presidential decree continued to reduce the number of
teachers; class sizes therefore continued to increase rapidly,
facilities deteriorated, and funds for textbooks and supplies
decreased. The amount of classroom time dedicated to learning the
Ruhnama and Ruhnama II and other books by Niyazov dramatically limited
the school time available for basic core academic subjects. During the
year the Government continued to limit courses taught in non-Turkmen
languages; the secondary school system further degenerated and
educational opportunities were limited. There were no Turkmen-language
curricula or textbooks in many subject areas and at most grade levels.
By law the Government provides free health care for children until
the age of 18. Hospital care is also free; however, parents regularly
paid bribes for service, medicines and adequate medical equipment,
including syringes.
There were isolated reports of child abuse.
According to UNICEF, nine percent of marriages involved children.
Minimal child labor was seen in the cotton fields during the
harvest; however, this was not encouraged by the Government and was
contrary to a Presidential decree (see section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons; however, articles in the criminal code deal
with sexual exploitation and prostitution, slavery, and encouraging
illegal border crossing, which prohibit trafficking de facto. Women
were trafficked to, from, and within the country; however, trafficking
was not a significant problem.
The Government has used the new migration law to forbid suspected
female trafficking victims from boarding planes to Turkey and the
United Arab Emirates (UAE), the two countries considered to be the most
important trafficking destination countries. Iran was also assumed to
be a trafficking destination. NGOs noted that young women from minority
ethnic groups were most vulnerable to being trafficked.
In contrast to the previous year, there were no reports of
trafficked persons during the year. Traffickers are subject to between
two and eight years' imprisonment and the confiscation of property,
depending on which law they are convicted under. The State Service for
the Registration of Foreigners (SSRF) is responsible for combating
trafficking.
In 2005 there were eight known cases of trafficking in persons and
one successful prosecution on charges of sexual exploitation, slavery,
and encouraging deceitful border crossing. The trafficker received a
prison sentence of seven years.
The MOJ worked with foreign embassies and international
organizations to promote public awareness of trafficking. However, the
Government did not publicly acknowledge trafficking as a problem and
did not monitor the trafficking situation within its borders nor did it
have a strategy to do so.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities, although various regulations
contradict the law, in effect nullifying it. Persons with disabilities
encountered discrimination in employment, education, access to health
care, and provision of other state services. Many persons with physical
disabilities were systematically categorized as persons with mental
disabilities and housed at facilities for the mentally ill. The
Government provided subsidies and pensions for persons with
disabilities, although they were inadequate to maintain a decent
standard of living. Because they received these subsidies, persons with
disabilities were considered ``employed,'' and therefore were
ineligible to compete for government jobs, the country's largest
employer. Some groups of students with disabilities were unable to
obtain education because there were no teachers. Students with
disabilities did not fit the unofficial university student profile and
were not admitted to universities. Children with disabilities,
including those with mental disabilities, were placed in boarding
schools through which they were to be provided with educational and
future employment opportunities if their condition allowed them to
work; in practice neither was provided. There were special schools for
the hearing and sight impaired in the larger cities.
Although the law requires that new construction projects include
facilities to allow access by persons with disabilities, compliance was
inconsistent and older buildings were not accessible. The Ministry of
Social Welfare was responsible for protecting the rights of persons
with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law provides for equal
rights and freedoms for all citizens, although the President previously
made statements promoting the importance of ethnic purity.
Approximately 77 percent of the population was Turkmen, 9 percent
Uzbek, and 7 percent Russian. There were smaller numbers of Kazakhs,
Armenians, Azeris, and many other ethnic groups. Turkmen themselves are
divided into five main tribes and several additional subtribes. Several
minority groups tried to register as NGOs in order to have legal status
to conduct cultural events. No minority groups succeeded in registering
during the year.
There were no reports of forced resettlement of ethnic minorities.
The law designates Turkmen as the official language, although it
also provides for the rights of speakers of minority languages. While
Russian remained prevalent in commerce and everyday life in the
capital, the Government continued its campaign to conduct official
business solely in Turkmen. The Government required employees of
ministries to pass tests demonstrating knowledge of the Ruhnama, state
symbols, and professional subjects in Turkmen; employees who failed the
exam were dismissed. Turkmen was a mandatory subject in school,
although it was not necessarily the language of instruction. Teachers
and staff at Turkish schools were systematically replaced with ethnic
Turkmen teachers and administrators. Only in schools did the Government
dedicate resources toward providing Turkmen language instruction for
non-Turkmen speakers.
Non-Turkmen speakers complained that some avenues for promotion and
job advancement were closed to them and only a handful of non-Turkmen
occupied high-level jobs in the ministries. In some cases applicants
for government jobs had to provide family information on their
ethnicity going back three generations. Non Turkmen were often the
first targeted for dismissal when government layoffs occurred.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was a strong
societal dislike of homosexuality. Homosexuality between men is illegal
and punishable by up to two years in prison; it was believed that
homosexuality between women would also be considered illegal, although
it is not specifically written in law.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right to
form or join unions; however, in practice the Government does not
permit independent unions. Under the umbrella organization Center for
Professional Unions, led by a Presidential appointee, there were
numerous professional unions in most fields, including medicine,
construction, banking, accounting, economists, entrepreneurs, and
leaseholders. Unlike in previous years, unions did not circumvent
government restrictions on independent unions by registering as public
associations. The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination by
employers against union members and organizers and there were no
mechanisms for resolving complaints of discrimination; however, there
were no reports of discrimination.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--All unions are
government appendages and have no independent voice in their
activities. The law does not protect the right of collective
bargaining. There is no law regulating strikes or retaliation against
strikers, and strikes were extremely rare.
There were no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor; however, there were reports it occurred
(see sections 1.c. and 6).
The Government also prohibits forced and compulsory labor by
children. A February 2005 bans child labor and states no children would
participate in the cotton harvest. There continued to be a decrease in
the number of children working in the cotton fields.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in
the workplace, but they were not implemented effectively. The minimum
age for employment of children is 16 years; in a few heavy industries,
it is 18 years. The law prohibits children between the ages of 16 and
18 years from working more than six hours per day. A 15 year-old child
may work four to six hours per day with parental and trade union
permission, although such permission was rarely granted. Child labor
laws were not effectively enforced in practice, although implementation
appeared to have improved during the year. The MOJ and the Prosecutor
General's Office are responsible for enforcing child labor laws.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum monthly wage in the
state sector of approximately $40 to $60 (1 to 1.5 million TMM) per
month did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family.
The standard legal workweek is 40 hours with two days off. Most
public-sector employees also worked at least one-half of a work day on
Saturdays. The law states overtime or holiday pay should be double the
regular payment; maximum overtime in a year is 120 hours and cannot
exceed four hours in two consecutive days. This law, however, was not
enforced.
The Government did not set comprehensive standards for occupational
health and safety. Industrial workers in older factories often labored
in unsafe environments and were not provided proper protective
equipment. Some agricultural workers were subjected to environmental
health hazards. Workers did not always have the right to remove
themselves from work situations that endangered their health or safety
without jeopardy to their continued employment. In April workers at a
knitting factory in Kaka reportedly held a sit-down strike when factory
management failed to provide facemasks. After management threatened
them with losing their jobs, they went back to work (see section 2.b.).
__________
UZBEKISTAN
Uzbekistan is an authoritarian state with a population of
approximately 27.3 million. The constitution provides for a
Presidential system with separation of powers between the executive,
legislative, and judicial branches; however, in practice President
Islam Karimov and the centralized executive branch dominated political
life and exercised nearly complete control over the other branches. The
two chamber Oliy Majlis (parliament) consisted almost entirely of
officials appointed by the President and members of parties that
supported him. The most recent general elections in 2004, for seats in
the lower chamber of the parliament, fell significantly short of
international standards. The civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control over the security forces.
The Government's human rights record, already poor, continued to
worsen during the year. Citizens did not have the right in practice to
change their government through peaceful and democratic means. Security
forces routinely tortured, beat, and otherwise mistreated detainees
under interrogation to obtain confessions or incriminating information.
In several cases, authorities subjected human rights activists and
other critics of the regime to forced psychiatric treatment. Human
rights activists and journalists who criticized the Government were
subject to harassment, arbitrary arrest, politically motivated
prosecution, and physical attack. The Government generally did not take
steps to investigate or punish the most egregious cases of abuse,
although many officials were prosecuted for corruption. Prison
conditions remained very poor and outside monitors did not have full
access to places of detention. In many cases those arrested were held
incommunicado for extended periods without access to family or
attorneys. Criminal defendants were often deprived of legal counsel.
Guilty verdicts were almost universal, and generally based upon
defendants' confessions and witnesses' testimony obtained through
coercion. The Government tightly controlled the mass media and treated
criticism of the regime as a crime. The Government did not observe
citizens' right to free assembly or association; police regularly
detained citizens to prevent public demonstrations and authorities
sought to control all nongovernmental organization (NGO) activity,
forcing many local and international NGOs to close. The Government
restricted religious activity, treating virtually all religious
observance outside state sanctioned structures as a crime. Courts
convicted many independent Muslims of extremist activity, and several
Protestant groups were subjected to harassment. In several cases the
Government pressured other countries to forcibly return Uzbek refugees
who were under the protection of the Office of the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR). There was a widespread public perception of
corruption throughout society. While the Government took steps to
combat trafficking in persons, this remained a serious problem. The use
of compulsory labor, particularly in cotton harvesting, 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
confirmed reports of political killings by the Government or its
agents.
The Government continued to refuse to authorize an independent
international investigation of the alleged killing of numerous unarmed
civilians during the violent disturbances of May 2005 in Andijon, in
which peaceful demonstrations in support of 23 alleged Akromiya members
on trial led to civil unrest. On the evening of May 12, 2005, an
unknown number of individuals attacked a police garrison, seized
weapons, and broke into a nearby prison and released several hundred
inmates. Several witnesses claimed that on May 13, 2005, military
vehicles drove into Bobur Square, where several thousand civilians had
gathered, and fired repeatedly into the crowd without warning. The
Government claimed, based on its own investigation, that armed men in
the crowd initiated the violence by firing on government forces. The
estimated number of dead as a result varied between the Government's
total of 187 and eyewitnesses' report of several hundred. While an
international investigation did not take place, government officials
discussed their own investigation techniques and results with diplomats
and other international representatives.
There were no further developments in the September 2005 death of
Islamic cleric Shavkat Madumarov, who died in custody three days after
he was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment for membership in a
banned Islamic group. During the year a local human rights organization
reported for the first time on the October 2005 death of Azadbek
Satimov, who died in police custody in the Shahrikhon District of
Andijon Province. The report stated that numerous bruises and puncture
wounds on Satimov's body indicated that his death may have resulted
from torture. Police alleged that Satimov killed himself by beating his
head against the concrete walls of his cell.
In January 2005 the Government authorized an international
investigation of the death in prison that month of Samandar Umarov, who
had been serving a 17 year sentence for membership in the prohibited
Hizb ut Tahrir (HT) extremist political movement. While Umarov's family
believed that torture was the primary cause of death, the independent
forensic review, conducted by a foreign pathologist and a foreign
criminal investigations expert under the auspices of Freedom House,
confirmed the conclusions of the original autopsy, which were that
Umarov died of a stroke.
The Government previously allowed international experts to
investigate the 2004 death in custody of Andrei Shelkavenko. In that
case experts concluded that death did not result from police
mistreatment.
The absence of independent medical examiners and frequent official
pressure on families to bury bodies quickly in accordance with Islamic
traditions made it difficult to confirm reports of deaths in custody as
a result of torture or mistreatment.
Local and international observers reported that persons sentenced
to death were often not given an adequate opportunity to mount a
defense or to appeal their sentence. The Government provided no
notification of execution to the families of condemned persons and
treated the execution dates and places of burial of executed persons as
state secrets, a practice the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture
condemned as ``cruel and inhuman.'' The Government considered the
number of prisoners executed each year to be a state secret, and the
number was impossible to estimate. In previous years Amnesty
International (AI) estimated that scores were executed annually, and
the local NGO Mothers against the Death Penalty and Torture had put the
number at well over a hundred. According to the UN Rapporteur, at least
nine inmates whose death sentences were allegedly based on forced
confessions were executed between 2002 and September 2004, despite UN
Commission on Human Rights' (UNCHR) requests for their cases to be
reviewed.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports during the year of
politically motivated disappearances. There were numerous unconfirmed
reports of earlier disappearances in 2005 of persons who were present
at the violent disturbances in May 2005 in Andijon. (See section 1.a.).
The welfare and whereabouts of several of the refugees who were
forcibly returned to the country during the year remained unknown.
There were no developments, and none were expected, in the 2004
disappearance of Farukh Haydarov, Okiljon Yunusov, and Husnuddin
Nazarov.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit such practices,
police and officers of the National Security Service (NSS) routinely
tortured, beat, and otherwise mistreated detainees to obtain
confessions or incriminating information. Police, prison officials, and
the NSS allegedly used suffocation, electric shock, deprivation of food
and water, and sexual abuse, with beating the most commonly reported
method of abuse. Torture and abuse were common in prisons, pretrial
facilities, and local police and security service precincts. Several
cases of medical abuse were reported, including forced psychiatric
treatment on political grounds. Defendants in trials often claimed that
their confessions, on which the prosecution based its cases, were
extracted by torture (see section 1.e.). A 2003 UN Special Rapporteur
on Torture report concluded torture and abuse were systematic
throughout the investigative process. During the year the Government
took no obvious steps to address the UN's conclusions. In 2005
government officials confirmed that prison regulations permitted
beatings under the supervision of medical doctors, and prison
authorities documented all such incidents in detail for prison records.
Judges rarely pursued allegations of torture.
Authorities treated individuals suspected of extreme Islamist
political sympathies, particularly alleged members of HT, more harshly
than ordinary criminals. There were credible reports that investigators
subjected pretrial detainees suspected to be HT members to particularly
severe interrogation. After trial authorities reportedly used
disciplinary and punitive measures, including torture, more often with
prisoners convicted of extremism than with ordinary inmates. Local
human rights workers reported that common criminals were often paid or
otherwise induced by authorities to beat suspected extremists and
others who opposed the Government. As in previous years, there were
credible reports that prison officials abused HT members to obtain
letters of repentance, which are required for a prisoner to be eligible
for amnesty. According to prisoners' relatives, amnestied prisoners,
and human rights activists, inmates who refused to write letters
disavowing their connection to HT were often beaten or sent into
solitary confinement.
In January and February, authorities reportedly beat and otherwise
mistreated suspected religious extremist Nozim Rakhmonov during
pretrial interrogation while he was in the custody of the NSS (see
sections 1.d. and 2.c.).
Between January 15 and March 15, following two months of
incommunicado detention pending his trial on espionage charges, former
Ministry of Defense official Erkin Musaev reportedly suffered torture
during interrogation, including severe beatings to his head, chest, and
feet (see section 1.e.).
In March eight defendants from the town of Yangiyul on trial for
religious extremism in the Tashkent Province Criminal Court testified
that investigators beat and kicked them during interrogation to coerce
them into signing confessions (see section 2.c.). The judge in the case
dismissed their allegations of torture, saying the defendants filed the
complaints to evade responsibility for their crimes.
There were reports that interrogators subjected Azam and Alisher
Karamatov of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU) to torture
and abuse during pretrial detention before their June 15 conviction
(see section 4), including dropping them onto concrete floors, forcing
needles under their fingernails, suffocating them with gas masks, and
burning their skin with lighted cigarettes.
On August 3 and August 11, courts in the Tashkent Province
convicted 29 men of HT membership in two separate trials. Several
defendants in one trial testified that they confessed their guilt only
after interrogators had severely beaten them and threatened them with
further torture (see section 1.e.).
There were no developments in the February 2005 case of two Sufi
Muslims who claimed that authorities tortured them while in detention
(see section 2.c.). In the February 2005 trial in Tashkent of six
defendants charged with terrorism, one defendant testified that he had
been beaten repeatedly while in custody (see section 1.e.). There were
no developments in the June 2005 case in which Ministry of Internal
Affairs (MVD) officers allegedly subjected Yakubjon Aliev to repeated,
severe beatings during interrogation in connection with alleged
religious extremism and anticonstitutional activity. There were also no
further developments in the case of the September 2005 death in custody
of Shavkat Madumarov, whose family alleged authorities tortured during
interrogation and in prison.
During the year outside monitors were unable to gain access to
visit the Tashkent MVD, where in 2004 eyewitnesses, family members,
defense attorneys, and representatives of human rights groups claimed
authorities frequently and systematically applied torture following the
March and April 2004 terrorist attacks.
In 2005 inmates and a guard at one prison corroborated reports that
prison guards systematically beat suspected HT members following the
March and April 2004 terrorist attacks.
As in previous years, there were reports that police beat Jehovah's
Witnesses. On April 12, local police in six cities carried out a
coordinated raid on Jehovah's Witnesses congregations during worship
services; several instances were reported in which police beat church
members, in one case resulting in critical injury (see section 2.c.).
There were several confirmed instances of politically motivated
medical abuse. As in past years, law enforcement authorities had local
political and human rights activists committed to psychiatric
institutions to stop their activities. Victims could request through
legal counsel that their cases be reviewed by an expert medical board;
however, in practice such bodies generally supported the decisions of
law enforcement authorities. On March 17, police reportedly arrested
human rights activist Shokhida Yuldosheva in Tashkent and transported
her to a psychiatric institution in Karshi, where she was subjected to
three weeks of forced treatment. On May 25, Karshi police reportedly
arrested Yuldosheva again and committed her to a second round of
psychiatric treatment. Yuldosheva was involved in monitoring trials of
regime opponents, and human rights activists believed her detention was
politically motivated. Shahnoza Sodikbekova, the daughter of Tashkent
human rights activist Shoira Sodikbekova, was reportedly confined on
several occasions to psychiatric institutions in previous years. On May
16, a medical commission issued a finding, which human rights activists
called politically motivated, recommending further psychiatric
treatment for her. On July 7, Tashkent prison authorities committed
human rights activist Mutabar Tojiboyeva to a prison psychiatric ward,
where doctors reportedly administered oral medications. Four months
earlier, Tojiboyeva had been convicted and sentenced to eight years'
imprisonment on various criminal charges related to her human rights
work. On September 12, authorities arrested journalist Jamshid Karimov,
a nephew of President Islam Karimov, and forcibly committed him to a
psychiatric institution near Samarkand. Authorities did not allow
Karimov contact with his family for the first several weeks of his
detention (see sections 1.d. and 2.a.).
There were several instances in which unidentified assailants
attacked human rights activists, journalists, and persons planning or
participating in public demonstrations (see sections 2.a., 2.b., and
4). On several occasions police forcibly dispersed public
demonstrations, beating protesters and causing varying degrees of
injuries. On May 12 and 13 in Tashkent, unidentified men forcibly
dispersed informal memorial services for victims of the 2005 Andijon
violence. On August 18, a group of approximately 20 local women
attacked Jizzakh human rights activist Bakhtiyor Hamroyev in his home,
causing moderate injuries.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor and life threatening, and there continued to be reports of severe
abuses in prisons. According to reports by human rights activists and
relatives of prisoners, prison overcrowding remained a problem.
Tuberculosis and hepatitis were endemic in the prisons, making even
short periods of incarceration potentially life threatening. Prisoners
often relied on visits of relatives for food and medicine, which were
reportedly in short supply in several prisons. Human rights activists
reported that political prisoners and those convicted of membership in
banned religious extremist organizations were held in specially
demarcated sections of prisons and subjected to harsher conditions and
treatment than other prisoners.
As in past years, there were specific reports that inmates died of
communicable diseases.
According to human rights activists, on May 1, Kakhramon Teshaboyev
died in a Tashkent prison medical facility, four years after he was
convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison on charges of
anticonstitutional activity and membership in a criminal organization.
The reported cause of death was tuberculosis, and Teshaboyev had spent
the six months before his death in the prison infirmary. Authorities
reportedly delivered Teshaboyev's body to his family and pressured them
to bury it as soon as possible.
There were reports of inmates working in harsh circumstances and in
some cases being beaten in detention facilities.
During the year the MVD's Directorate of Prisons (GUIN) continued
to operate a prison training center in Tashkent. The center, which was
intended to eventually train all of the country's prison guards,
utilized a curriculum that included human rights training and basic
courses in psychology and prison management.
The Government did not grant full access to outside monitors to
prisons and detention centers. As in the previous year, independent
human rights organizations did not visit detention facilities to
monitor conditions. Throughout the year the International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC) pursued negotiations with the Government to secure
access to all detained persons consistent with ICRC's usual practices.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) and other NGOs reported that government
agents arrested and physically abused several Andijon residents who
returned from Kyrgyzstan after having fled there in the wake of the May
2005 events in Andijon (see section 2.d.).
There were no further developments, and none were expected, in 2004
criminal proceedings against four police officers in Andijon accused of
torturing suspects in a murder investigation.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, these remained
problems.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The MVD controls the
police, which are responsible for law enforcement and maintenance of
order. The NSS, headed by a chairman who is answerable directly to the
President, deals with a broad range of national security questions,
including corruption, organized crime, and narcotics. Corruption among
law enforcement personnel remained a problem. Police routinely and
arbitrarily detained citizens to extort bribes. Impunity remained a
problem, and officials responsible for abuses were rarely punished. The
MVD's main investigations directorate has procedures to investigate
abuse internally and discipline officers accused of rights violations
and has done so in several isolated cases. However, there is no
independent body charged with investigating such allegations on a
systematic basis. The MVD main investigations directorate incorporated
human rights training into officers' career development.
Arrest and Detention.--The law does not require warrants and grants
wide discretion as to the proper basis for an arrest, but requires the
arresting authority to forward a report justifying the arrest to a
prosecutor within 24 hours of a person being taken into custody. The
law also mandates that all detainees, whether they are considered
suspects or accused, be questioned within 24 hours; however, suspects
have the right to remain silent. There is no judicial determination of
detention. Detention without formal charges is limited to 72 hours,
although a prosecutor may extend it for an additional 7 days, at which
time the person must either be charged or released. In practice
authorities continued detaining suspects after the allowable period
through various means, including filing false charges or detaining
suspects as witnesses in other cases. Once charges are filed, a suspect
may be held in pretrial detention at the prosecutor's discretion during
an investigation. A prosecutor may release a prisoner on bond pending
trial, although in practice authorities frequently ignored these legal
protections. Those arrested and charged with a crime may be released
until trial on the condition that they provide assurance that they will
appear at trial. In such cases the accused is not required to post
bail, but must register each day at a local police station.
A Supreme Court decree provides for a defendant's right to counsel
from the moment of detention. In practice access to counsel often was
denied or delayed. In several cases investigators pressured defendants
to sign statements refusing the services of private attorneys whom
family members had hired to defend them. In their place authorities
appointed state attorneys, who did not provide effective defense.
In several cases during the year, persons were arrested and held
incommunicado, without providing suspects with access to an attorney or
communication with their families. In January and February, authorities
continued to detain several Muslim men, including Sharafutdin Latipov,
Nozim Rakhmonov, and Imam Ruhitdin Fakhrutdinov, who had been arrested
in Kazakhstan in November 2005 and delivered to Uzbek custody (see
sections 2.c. and 2.d.). Some members of the group had been registered
as asylum seekers with UNHCR. They were not given access to attorneys
or family members until March.
After his January 15 arrest on espionage charges, former Ministry
of Defense official Erkin Musaev was held in incommunicado detention
for two months (see section 1.e.).
During the year police frequently and arbitrarily arrested or
detained individuals for expressing views critical of the Government.
These included human rights activist Yodgor Turlibekov (see sections
1.e. and section 4), Utkir Pardayev (see section 4), Alisher Karamatov
and Azam Farmonov (see sections 1.c. and section 4), and journalists
Ulugbek Haydarov and Jamshid Karimov (see sections 1.c. and 2.a.). In
2005 those arrested on similar grounds included human rights activist
Mutabar Tojiboyeva (see sections 1.c., 1.e., and 4) and political
opposition figures Nodira Khidoyatova and Sanjar Umarov (see section
1.e.). In many such cases, authorities resorted to false charges of
economic crimes such as extortion or tax evasion.
There were reports that police arrested persons on false charges as
an intimidation tactic to prevent them or their family members from
exposing corruption or interfering in local criminal activities.
Following the May 2005 events in Andijon, police detained hundreds
of citizens on suspicion of involvement in the events. The national
human rights NGO Ezgulik compiled a list of arrestees totaling 363
persons, in addition to those already convicted by the end of 2005.
Dozens of human rights activists, journalists, and other Andijon
residents who had spoken to the press or reported on the events were
among those detained or arrested. On January 7, the Tashkent Province
Criminal Court convicted one such arrestee, human rights activist
Saidjahon Zaynabitdinov, of extremist activity and other offenses and
sentenced him to seven years in prison.
On January 12, the Tashkent Province Criminal Court convicted
Ferghana Valley-based human rights and political activists Dilmurod
Muhiddinov, Musajon Bobojonov, Nurmuhammad Azizov, Akbar Oripov, and
Hamdam Sulaymonov on charges of conspiracy to overthrow the
constitutional order, slander against the President, and preparing and
distributing materials constituting a threat to public security. All
five defendants had had copies of an opposition Birlik party statement
that condemned the Government's role in the Andijon events. The court
sentenced Muhiddinov to five years' imprisonment but released
Bobojonov, Azizov, Oripov, and Sulaymonov with suspended sentences.
On February 26, former Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
journalist Nosir Zokir, who was arrested and convicted in August 2005
on charges of insulting an NSS officer, completed his six-month prison
sentence and was released. Zokir had reported critically on the
Government's role in the Andijon events (see section 2.a.).
On March 6, the Tashkent Province Criminal Court sentenced human
rights activist Mutabar Tojiboyeva to nine years' imprisonment on
charges including extortion, fraud, tax evasion, forgery, and
disseminating materials constituting a threat to public order.
Tojiboyeva was arrested in October 2005, and human rights groups
asserted the accusations were politically motivated (see section 1.e.).
On April 3, journalist Sobirjon Yakubov was released from prison
after a year in detention during which he was never formally charged
with a crime. Authorities had arrested Yakubov in April 2005 and
accused him of links with banned Islamic groups and of
anticonstitutional activity (see section 2.a.).
Authorities continued to arbitrarily arrest persons on charges of
extremist sentiments or activities, or association with banned
religious groups. Local human rights activists reported that police and
security service officers, acting under pressure to break up HT cells,
frequently detained family members and close associates of suspected
members, even if there was no direct evidence of their involvement (see
section 1.f.). Authorities made little distinction between actual
members and those with marginal affiliation with the group, such as
persons who had attended Koranic study sessions with the group.
As in previous years, there were reports that authorities arrested
and prosecuted persons based on the possession of HT literature (see
section 2.a.). Coerced confessions and testimony were commonplace. Even
persons generally known to belong to HT stated that the cases against
them were built not on actual evidence, which would have been
abundantly available, but on planted material or false testimony.
Police harassed and sometimes arbitrarily detained members of the
opposition Birlik, Free Farmers, and Erk parties (see section 3).
During the year pretrial detention typically ranged from one to
three months. The number of such prisoners in pretrial detention was
unknown.
In general prosecutors exercised near total discretion over most
aspects of criminal procedure, including pretrial detention. Detainees
had no access to a court to challenge the length or validity of
pretrial detention. Even when no charges were filed, police and
prosecutors sought to evade restrictions on the duration a person could
be held without charges by holding persons as witnesses rather than as
suspects.
Local police regularly employed house arrest without due process.
In most cases police surrounded the homes of human rights activists and
government critics to prevent them from participating in public
demonstrations or other activities. Bakhtiyor Hamroyev of the HRSU and
other human rights activists in Jizzakh Province reported that local
police surrounded their homes on a regular basis to prevent their
departure. Tashkent based human rights activist Surat Ikramov reported
similar surveillance of his home to prevent him from monitoring trials
of religious extremists in Tashkent. In several instances police
detained Elena Urlayeva at her home to prevent her participation in
protest actions.
Amnesty.--On March 2, the Government completed the three month
amnesty declared in December 2005. Unlike in previous years, prisoners
convicted of membership in banned organizations, including groups the
Government defined as extremist, were not eligible for amnesty. Media
reported that approximately 28,000 persons were pardoned under the
amnesty. As in previous amnesties, prisoners were reportedly forced to
sign letters of repentance as a condition of release. There were
allegations that authorities physically mistreated some prisoners who
refused to sign such letters (see section 1.c.) and accounts of many
inmates not being released despite having signed such letters. Despite
established conditions allowing release, local prison authorities had
considerable discretion in determining who was reviewed for amnesty,
and, as in previous years, there were reports of corruption. There were
several reports of prisoners being charged with violating prison rules
in order to lengthen their sentences; prisoners who habitually violated
prison rules were specifically excluded from the December 2005 amnesty.
In the past amnestied prisoners stated that government approved imams
were sent to some prisons to make the final determination whether a
prisoner had truly repented. This decision was reportedly frequently
made in consultation with local mahalla (neighborhood) committees.
On November 30, on the occasion of the Constitution Day holiday,
the senate announced the annual amnesty to be implemented over a three
month period. The Government announced that the amnesty would apply to
convicts sentenced for up to 10 years' imprisonment for membership in
banned organizations and for crimes against peace and security.
Authorities released an undetermined number of prisoners under the new
amnesty before year's end. Those released included human rights
activist Yodgor Turlibekov who, at age 69, fell under the amnesty's
provision for release of senior citizens.
The amnesty resolution, as in previous years, specifically excluded
those who ``systematically violate prison rules.'' Human rights
activists reported that prison authorities cited selected prisoners for
repeated violations of internal discipline specifically to render them
ineligible for amnesty. Cases in which this tactic was suspected
included those of human rights activist Mutabar Tojiboyeva, political
opposition figure Sanjar Umarov, and Ikhtiyor Hamroyev, the imprisoned
son of human rights activist Bakhtiyor Hamroyev.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--While the constitution provides
for an independent judiciary, the judicial branch took its direction
from the executive branch, particularly the general prosecutor's
office, and exercised little independence in practice.
Under the law the President appoints all judges for five year terms
and has the power of removal. Removal of supreme court judges must be
confirmed by parliament, which is obedient to the President's wishes.
There are supreme criminal courts with jurisdiction over the
Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic. Decisions of district and
provincial courts may be appealed to the next level within 10 days of a
ruling. In addition a constitutional court reviews laws, decrees, and
judicial decisions to ensure compliance with the constitution. Military
courts handle all civil and criminal matters that occur within the
military. The Supreme Court is a court of general jurisdiction which
handles selected cases of national significance.
Trial Procedures.--Most trials are officially open to the public,
although access was often restricted in practice. Trials may be closed
in exceptional cases, such as those involving state secrets, or to
protect victims and witnesses. Courts often demanded that observers
obtain written permission from the court chairman or from the supreme
court. Permission was difficult and time consuming to obtain, with the
result that international observers in many cases missed important
portions of trial proceedings. Local and international observers,
including foreign diplomats, were often barred entry into trials.
The Government generally announced trials, including those of
alleged religious extremists, only at the court in which the trial was
to take place and only a day or two before the trial began. During the
year various local courts held several trials of defendants involved in
the May 2005 Andijon events. The Government did not publicly announce
the trials or the number or names of defendants, and courts declared
most or all of the trials officially closed to outside observers on
national security grounds.
Either workers collectives committees or neighborhood committees
select three judge panels of one professional judge and two lay
assessors that generally preside over trials. The lay judges rarely
speak, and the professional judge usually defers to the recommendations
of the prosecutor on legal and other matters. There are no jury trials.
Defendants have the right to attend court proceedings, confront
witnesses, and present evidence. These rights were generally observed,
including in high profile human rights and political cases. In all
criminal cases which prosecutors brought to court, however, the verdict
was guilty. Defendants have the right to hire an attorney, and the
Government provides legal counsel without charge when necessary.
However, state appointed attorneys routinely acted in the interest of
the Government rather than of their clients. Authorities often violated
the right to an attorney during pretrial detention, and judges in
several cases denied defendants the right to an attorney of choice.
There were several reports that investigators pressured defendants to
refuse legal counsel. Defense counsel was often incompetent and, in
most cases, the role of defense counsel was limited to submitting
confessions and pleas for mercy. Several private law firms provided pro
bono defense counsel, some financed through international
contributions, although resources were limited.
Government prosecutors order arrests, direct investigations,
prepare criminal cases, and recommend sentences. Defendants do not
enjoy a presumption of innocence. If a judge's sentence does not
correspond with the prosecutor's recommendation, the prosecutor has a
right to appeal the sentence to a higher court. Verdicts are often
based solely on confessions and witness testimony that were often
reportedly extracted through torture or other means of coercion, rather
than evidence. On the rare occasions when a guilty verdict is not
pronounced, the judge seldom acquits the defendant; rather, the case is
sent back for further investigation. Legal protections against double
jeopardy do not apply in practice.
The law provides a right of appeal to defendants. Appeals did not
result in convictions being reversed, but in several cases resulted in
a reduced sentence.
Defense attorneys had limited access in some cases to government
held evidence relevant to their clients' cases. However, in most cases
a prosecution was based solely upon defendants' confessions or
incriminating testimony from state witnesses. Defendants often claimed
that the confessions on which the prosecution based its cases were
extracted by torture (see section 1.c.). In 2005 the BBC quoted a
former interior ministry official who claimed that investigators often
used beatings, psychotropic drugs, or threats against family members to
obtain confessions from defendants. However, the Interior Ministry
strongly denied the allegation. In many cases, particularly those
involving suspected HT members, when the prosecution failed to produce
confessions, it relied solely on witness testimony, which was
reportedly often also coerced. Lawyers may, and occasionally did, call
on judges to reject confessions and to investigate claims of torture.
Judges routinely ignored such claims or dismissed them as groundless.
On January 7, the Tashkent Province Criminal Court convicted human
rights activist Saidjahon Zaynabitdinov of extremist activity and other
offenses in connection with the May 2005 events in Andijon and
sentenced him to seven years in prison. Authorities held Zaynabitdinov
in pretrial detention for seven months after his June 2005 arrest until
his trial and reportedly denied him access to his attorney of choice.
The court barred all outside observers from the trial. The Government
denied or failed to respond to several requests from foreign diplomatic
missions for access to Zaynabitdinov.
On March 6, Mutabar Tojiboyeva, head of the Ardent Hearts Club, a
human rights organization, was convicted of slander and extortion and
forced to undergo 10 days of psychiatric treatment in July.
On August 3 and August 11, courts in the Tashkent Province
convicted a total of 29 men of HT membership in two separate trials and
sentenced them to between one and 13 years in prison (see section
2.c.). Several defendants in one of the trials testified that their
confessions had been coerced through severe beatings (see section
1.c.). According to independent trial monitors, most evidence in the
trial consisted of defendants' confessions and incriminating testimony
from ``witnesses'' who were likely also coerced. Most defendants in the
cases had been previously convicted of the same crimes and had served
time in prison. At least five of the defendants were suffering from
tuberculosis at the time of the trial and were coughing blood during
court proceedings. In the latter of the two trials, the court limited
access to only immediate family members and excluded all journalists
and other observers.
On September 6, Ruhitdin Fakhrutdinov, a former imam of a Tashkent
mosque, was sentenced to 17 years in prison. He was accused of being an
extremist and charged with crimes in connection with a 1999 car bombing
in Tashkent. He had been kidnapped from a Kazakh border town and
delivered to Uzbek authorities. Court guards barred trial monitors from
the proceedings.
Investigators reportedly pressured poet-songwriter Dadakhon
Khasanov to dismiss his attorney, and the court admitted no observers
or other defense attorney into the courtroom during the September
proceedings against him. The court gave Khasanov a suspended three year
sentence (see section 2.a.).
In October the Jizzakh City Criminal Court barred outside observers
from the two-day proceedings against journalist Ulugbek Haydarov (see
sections 2.a. and 4). On November 7, an appeals court commuted his
sentence and released him from custody in response to an appeal by a
foreign government.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--It was impossible to estimate
the exact number of political prisoners or detainees. In 2004 there
were an estimated 5,000 to 5,500 political prisoners, including alleged
HT members, as well as those who were committed to psychiatric
institutions as a form of confinement (see section 1.c.). It was
believed that the number of political prisoners continued to rise
during the year as the number of new prisoners sentenced likely
exceeded the number of prisoners who were amnestied or completed their
sentences. Media reported that approximately 28,000 persons were
pardoned under an annual amnesty from December 2005 to March 2, but the
Government provided no information on the number of political prisoners
amnestied (see section 1.d.). Most persons convicted of political
crimes were charged with the crime for which they were arrested, for
example anticonstitutional activity, involvement in illegal
organizations such as prohibited religious or political groups, or
preparation or distribution of material that threatened public
security. However, several human rights activists and journalists were
convicted on politically motivated charges of other crimes, including
extortion and hooliganism. Several human rights activists, journalists,
and Andijon residents who had spoken about the May 2005 events were
convicted and imprisoned on charges related to the events. The
Government did not allow any independent monitoring groups to visit
political prisoners or detainees during the year (see section 1.c.).
On January 7, the Tashkent Province Criminal Court convicted human
rights activist Saidjahon Zaynabitdinov of extremist activity in
connection with the 2005 Andijon events and sentenced him to seven
years' imprisonment. On January 12, the same court convicted Ferghana
Valley-based human rights and political activists Dilmurod Muhitdinov,
Musajon Bobojonov, Nurmuhammad Azizov, Akbarali Oripov, and Hamdam
Sulaymonov on charges of conspiracy to overthrow the constitutional
order, slander against the President, and preparing and distributing
materials constituting a threat to public security. The court sentenced
Muhitdinov, also of the NGO Ezgulik, to five years' imprisonment but
released Bobojonov, Azizov, Oripov, and Sulaymonov from custody with
suspended sentences. Human rights activists and outside observers
generally considered these cases and that of Zaynabitdinov to be
politically motivated.
On January 15, authorities arrested former ministry of defense
official Erkin Musaev and held him in incommunicado detention for two
months. On June 13, a closed military court convicted Musaev of
espionage and sentenced him to 15 years' imprisonment, based on the
allegation that he had passed state secrets to foreign diplomatic
missions. Subsequently, on July 14, the Tashkent City Criminal Court
convicted Musaev of fraud in connection with his work as a project
manager for the UN Development Program (UNDP) in Tashkent. The second
conviction rendered Musaev ineligible for inclusion in the annual
amnesty and added one more year to his prison sentence. Relatives and
outside observers maintained that the charges against Musaev were false
and politically motivated. Musaev reported suffering torture in
detention during his interrogation, including severe beatings to his
head, chest, and feet (see section 1.c.).
On February 26, former RFE/RL journalist Nosir Zokir, who was
arrested and convicted in August 2005 on charges of insulting an NSS
officer, completed his six-month prison sentence and was released.
Zokir had reported critically on the Government's role in the Andijon
events.
On March 1, the Tashkent City Criminal Court convicted Nodira
Khidoyatova, cofounder of the political opposition Sunshine Coalition,
on charges of tax evasion and illegal commodities trading and sentenced
her to 10 years' imprisonment. Khidoyatova was originally arrested in
December 2005. International observers, human rights activists, and
Khidoyatova's family members maintained that the charges were
politically motivated. On May 23, a Tashkent appeals court commuted
Khidoyatova's sentence and released her. The appeals judge acknowledged
in court that Khidoyatova's payment of substantial ``compensation'' to
the state played a role in her release.
On March 6, the Tashkent City Criminal Court convicted Sunshine
Coalition cofounder Sanjar Umarov on economic charges similar to those
leveled against Nodira Khidoyatova, and sentenced him to 14+ years'
imprisonment. Umarov had been arrested in October 2005. The court
automatically reduced the sentence to 10 years and 10 months under the
December 2005 amnesty resolution. Umarov was also ordered to pay a
total of $8.3 million (10.4 billion soum; this fine was levied against
Umarov in a combination of dollars and soum) in damages to the state.
On April 13, an appeals court reduced Umarov's sentence further to 7
years and 8 months on humanitarian grounds. Umarov's family, attorney,
and human rights NGO observers criticized the trial as politically
motivated.
On March 6, the Tashkent Province Criminal Court sentenced human
rights activist Mutabar Tojiboyeva to nine years' imprisonment on
charges including extortion, fraud, tax evasion, forgery, and
disseminating materials constituting a threat to public order.
Tojiboyeva was arrested in October 2005, and human rights groups
asserted the accusations were politically motivated (see section 1.c.).
In April the Jizzakh Criminal Court convicted Dildora Mukhtarova on
the charge of being accessory to a murder and sentenced her to 17
years' imprisonment. Mukhtarova was arrested in December 2005 on
charges that human rights activists believed were politically
motivated.
On June 16, police arrested human rights activist Yodgor
Turlibekov, a resident of Karshi, after he distributed leaflets
critical of government policies. Police held him in incommunicado
detention for several weeks before giving him access to an attorney.
Turlibekov was charged with ``encroachment upon the President of
Uzbekistan,'' a charge human rights activists claimed was politically
motivated (see sections 1.e.). On October 9, the Karshi Criminal Court
sentenced Turlibekov to 3 years' imprisonment after a trial in which
the court reportedly did not allow Turlibekov his choice of legal
counsel. On December 24, authorities released Turlibekov from prison
under an annual amnesty resolution (see sections 1.d.).
There were several reports that prison officials accused certain
political prisoners of repeatedly violating prison discipline, thereby
extending inmates' sentences or making them ineligible for amnesty. In
particular such tactics were reported in the cases of human rights
activist Mutabar Tojiboyeva, political opposition figure Sanjar Umarov,
and Ikhtiyor Hamroyev, the son of human rights activist Bakhtiyor
Hamroyev. Allegations of prison disciplinary violations were not
subject to review by an independent judiciary, nor were they upheld by
hearings that were open to outside observers.
Civil courts operate on the city or district level, as well as the
interdistrict and provincial levels. Criminal courts operate on the
city or district level. There are also supreme civil courts with
jurisdiction over the Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic.
Economic courts with jurisdiction over the individual provinces,
the City of Tashkent, and the Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic handle
commercial disputes between legal entities. Decisions of these courts
may be appealed to the Supreme Economic Court.
Civil an Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Although the
constitution provides for it, the judiciary is not independent or
impartial in civil matters. Citizens may file suit in civil courts, if
appropriate, on cases of alleged human rights violations. There were
reported cases in which courts decided in favor of plaintiffs in such
cases. However, there were also many reports that decisions in civil
court cases were influenced by bribes to judges.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such action;
however, in practice authorities did not respect these prohibitions.
The law requires a search warrant for electronic surveillance by the
prosecutor, but there is no provision for a judicial review of such
warrants. Citizens generally assumed that security agencies routinely
monitored telephone calls and employed surveillance and wiretaps of
persons involved in opposition political activities.
There were numerous reports during the year of police and other
security forces entering homes of human rights activists and religious
figures without authorization of an independent judiciary. Members of
Protestant churches who held worship services in private homes reported
that, on several occasions, armed security officers raided worship
services and detained church members on suspicion of illegal religious
activity (see section 2.c.). On May 25, in the process of arresting
human rights activist Shokhida Yuldosheva in Tashkent, police
reportedly entered the home of fellow activist Elena Urlayeva without
judicial authorization (see section 1.c.). On August 18, a group of 20
local women forcibly entered the Jizzakh home of human rights activist
Bakhtiyor Hamroyev and severely beat him (see section 4). Police
reportedly appeared on the scene, but failed to render assistance;
human rights activists claimed that the attack was carried out in
collaboration with police.
The Government continued to use an estimated 12,000 local
neighborhood committees as a source of information on potential
extremists. Committees served varied legitimate social functions, but
also functioned as a link between local society, and government and law
enforcement. Neighborhood committees' influence varied widely, with
committees in rural areas tending to be much more influential than
those in cities. Each neighborhood committee assigned a posbon
(neighborhood guardian) whose job it was to ensure public order and
maintain a proper moral climate in the neighborhood. In practice this
meant preventing young persons in the neighborhood from joining
extremist Islamic groups. According to a 2003 HRW report, the
committees kept extensive files on families and collected information
on individual religious practices. During the year there were several
reports that neighborhood committees acted on orders of the NSS to
monitor individual religious practices and specifically discouraged
residents from associating with Protestant Christian churches (see
section 2.c.). Neighborhood committees also frequently identified for
police those residents who appeared suspicious and, working with local
MVD and NSS representatives, reportedly paid particular attention to
recently amnestied prisoners and the families of individuals jailed for
alleged extremism.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of local
authorities or neighborhood committees evicting local residents from
their homes citing suspected illegal activity; however, there were
several reports from members of Protestant churches that neighborhood
committees threatened eviction based upon their Christian affiliation
(see section 2.c.)
Authorities frequently detained and mistreated family members of
persons wanted or jailed for Islamic extremist activities, even if
there was limited evidence of their involvement (see section 1.d.).
There were numerous credible reports that police, employers, and
neighborhood committees also harassed and arrested family members of
human rights activists (see sections 1.d. and 2.b.). There were
numerous reports that officials harassed relatives of residents who
fled to Kyrgyzstan after the Andijon unrest in May 2005 to coerce them
to persuade their family members to return to the country.
Although there were no new cases this year, in 2005 independent
press reports, a national human rights NGO, and at least one healthcare
worker reported that hospitals, primarily in the Ferghana Valley,
performed involuntary hysterectomies on women shortly after they had
given birth. While authorities claimed that hysterectomies were only
performed in cases of medical need, NGO and other sources reported
several cases of medically unnecessary procedures. In other cases it
was reported that doctors implanted contraceptive devices in women who
had recently given birth, without their prior knowledge or consent.
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 generally
did not respect these rights in practice.
The law limits criticism of the President, and public insult to the
President is a crime punishable by up to five years in prison. Citizens
did not criticize the President or the Government on television or in
the press, although they continued to do so occasionally in private.
The law also specifically prohibits articles that incite religious
confrontation and ethnic discord or advocate subverting or overthrowing
the constitutional order (see section 2.b.). On September 8, a Tashkent
court convicted poet songwriter Dadakhon Khasanov of creating and
distributing materials constituting a threat to public order based on a
song Khasanov wrote criticizing government actions during the May 2005
Andijon events. The court gave Khasanov a suspended three year
sentence.
The Government continued to characterize the distribution of
pamphlets by HT members as incitement for political and terrorist
purposes; HT is a banned organization. During the year police
reportedly arrested several people for possessing HT literature.
The Government tightly controlled information. The Uzbekistan News
Agency cooperated closely with Presidential staff to prepare and
distribute all officially sanctioned news and information. The
Government's press and information agency is responsible for monitoring
all media. The Cabinet of Ministers owned and controlled three of the
country's most influential national daily newspapers, Pravda Vostoka
(Russian language), Halq So'zi (Uzbek language), and Narodnoe Slovo
(Russian language). The Government, government controlled political
parties or social movements, and the Tashkent municipal government
owned or controlled several other daily and weekly publications. The
Government also increasingly published news stories on official
Internet sites including UzA.uz, operated by the National News Agency
of Uzbekistan, and Jahon.mfa.uz, operated by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. A few Web sites, most notably Press-uz.info, Gazeta.uz, and C-
Asia.org, purport to be independent, yet invariably their reporting
reflects the Government's point of view.
There were a few private printing houses, located mostly in
provincial cities and printing local newspapers with limited
circulation. Government owned printing houses generally printed all
newspapers. Private citizens and journalist collectives may not
establish newspapers unless they meet the media law's standards for
establishing a ``mass media agency,'' including naming a board of
directors acceptable to the Government. The Government allowed a small
number of private newspapers containing advertising, horoscopes, and
similar features, but no substantive news or editorial content. Three
private national Russian language newspapers Novosti Uzbekistana, Noviy
Vek, and Biznes Vestnik Vostoka carried news and editorials favorable
to the Government, as did two Uzbek language newspapers, Hurriyat
(owned by the Journalists' Association) and Mohiyat (owned by Turkiston
Press, a nongovernmental information agency which was loyal to the
state). The Government did not allow the general distribution of
foreign newspapers and publications. However, two or three Russian
newspapers and a variety of Russian tabloids and lifestyle publications
were available, and a very modest selection of foreign periodicals was
available in major hotels and at other locations in Tashkent.
In June authorities temporarily suspended printing of the Russian
newspaper Trud after it published an article about the financial
activities of the children of senior government officials, including
President Karimov's daughter. The printing house that printed the paper
attributed the interruption to technical difficulties.
The four state run channels, all fully supporting the Government,
dominated television broadcasting nationwide. There were 24 privately
owned regional television stations and 14 privately owned radio
stations. The Government tightly controlled both broadcast and print
media. Journalists and senior editorial staff in state media
organizations reported there were officials at the national television
stations and newspapers whose responsibilities included actual black
pen censorship. Nevertheless, there were also reports that regional
television media outlets were able to broadcast some moderately
critical stories on local issues.
In November 2005 the President signed a decree providing for
further consolidation of the management of broadcast mass media under
government control, with the stated goal of promoting patriotism. The
Government implemented the decree during the year. As one result of the
consolidation, the Government transferred control over several state-
owned radio stations to the directors of the powerful state television
stations, who exercised control over the radio stations through the
National Television and Radio Company.
The Government continued to refuse to allow RFE/RL, the Voice of
America (VOA), and BBC World Service to broadcast from within the
country.
The May 2005 events in Andijon sparked a wave of government
harassment against journalists, which continued during the year. Both
print and broadcast journalists were subject to arrest, harassment,
intimidation, and violence by police and security services, as well as
bureaucratic restrictions on their activity.
In late March authorities refused an exit visa to journalist
Alisher Taksanov, who was seeking to travel to attend a conference
abroad (see section 2.d.). Taksanov, an antilandmine activist, had
written articles critical of the Government, particularly on the
subject of landmines.
On April 3, journalist Sobirjon Yakubov, who formerly worked for
the newspaper Hurriyat, was released from prison and reinstated at
Hurriyat after one year in detention during which he was never formally
charged with a crime. In April 2005 authorities arrested Yakubov and
accused him of links with banned Islamic groups and attempting to
undermine the constitutional order. Yakubov had written articles
advocating democratic reforms.
On July 12, police reportedly entered the Namangan home of former
RFE/RL journalist Nosir Zokir and seized many of his possessions.
Zokir, who was arrested and convicted in August 2005 on charges of
insulting an NSS officer, completed his six month prison sentence and
was released in February (see section 1.d.). Prior to his conviction,
Zokir had conducted an interview with a poet who was critical of the
Government. The officers conducting the July raid reportedly claimed
they were seizing the property in lieu of a fine against Zokir's son,
who had been accused of illegally crossing the border into Kyrgyzstan.
On September 12, authorities arrested journalist Jamshid Karimov,
President Karimov's nephew, in Jizzakh and committed him to a
psychiatric institution near Samarkand. No criminal charges were
announced against Karimov. Human rights activists claimed the arrest
was politically motivated (see sections 1.c. and 1.e.). On September 13
an unknown assailant stabbed and seriously injured Saidburkhon Kadyrov,
editor in chief of the newspaper Bukhara Yoshlari (Bukhara Youth) and a
member of the unregistered opposition political party Birlik. On
October 5, after a two day trial, the Jizzakh City Criminal Court
convicted journalist Ulugbek Haydarov of extortion and sentenced him to
six years' imprisonment (see section 1.d.). Haydarov had reported
extensively on official corruption in Jizzakh Province. Human rights
activists claimed the charges were politically motivated and based upon
police entrapment. On November 7, an appeals court commuted his
sentence and released him (see section 1.d.).
There were several reports that journalists were fired from state
run media outlets in retaliation for their contacts with foreign
diplomats. State controlled media organizations fired some journalists
for attending discussions or participating in other programs sponsored
by foreign embassies. Others were placed on leave without pay or had
their air time reduced.
There were also reports that authorities revoked journalists'
accreditations in retaliation for their reporting. On March 15,
authorities revoked the accreditation of Deutsche Welle journalist Obid
Shabanov because of his critical reporting on the issue of labor
migrants.
A government agency, the Interagency Coordination Committee (MKK),
issues the required broadcast and mass media licenses to approved media
outlets and could revoke licenses and close media outlets without a
court judgment. The Center for Electromagnetic Compatibility issues
frequency licenses. During the year MKK threatened to shut down some
privately owned regional television stations on technical grounds to
enforce control by the National Association of Electronic Mass Media
(NAESMI), which lacks direct licensing authority.
The NAESMI reportedly used its directors' close relations with the
Government to coerce local television stations to join the association
and restrict the content of their programming. Stations that resisted
joining NAESMI were subjected to tax inspections and, in some cases,
lost their broadcast licenses. In many cases NAESMI required affiliated
local stations to broadcast prescribed programming instead of locally
produced content, thus limiting the freedom of broadcasters.
Government security services and other offices regularly gave
publishers articles and letters to publish under fictitious bylines, as
well as explicit instructions about the types of stories permitted for
publication. Often there was little distinction between the editorial
content of a government or privately owned newspaper. There was very
little, if any, independent investigative reporting. During the year
self censorship remained standard practice. The number of critical
newspaper articles remained very low and their scope extremely narrow.
During the year the legal affairs newspaper Advokat Press remained
closed pending receipt of a new license. In December 2005 the
Uzbekistan Press and Information Agency had ordered the newspaper to
close after it published a series of articles criticizing government
officials for violations of the law.
The law holds journalists, as well as editors and publishers,
responsible for the accuracy of news stories that appear in their
publications, exposing them to risk of criminal prosecution for their
reporting. The law establishes the right of government accepted
newspaper boards of directors to influence the editorial content of
media reports. These legal provisions establish mechanisms by which the
Government can indirectly influence media content and further encourage
members of the media to practice self censorship. Television and radio
stations practiced self censorship and, therefore, carried critical
reporting only occasionally.
In December 2005 amendments to the criminal and administrative
liability codes significantly increased fines for libel and defamation.
In general the Government used charges of libel, slander, and
defamation to punish journalists, human rights activists, and others
who criticized the President or government. On March 7, the Cabinet of
Ministers issued a resolution that prohibits journalists from working
without accreditation, as well as working for unaccredited media
outlets.
Internet Freedom.--The Government allowed limited access to the
Internet, although Internet service providers, at the Government's
request, routinely blocked access to Web sites the Government
considered objectionable, including several news Web sites and sites
operated by opposition political parties.
On October 19, the Cabinet of Ministers passed a decree requiring
that all Web sites seeking a ``.uz'' domain name register with the
state Agency for Press and Information. The decree generally affected
only government-owned or controlled Web sites. Opposition Web sites and
those operated by international NGOs or media outlets tended to have
domain names registered outside the country.
On May 12, the Government denied an exit visa to Alo Khojayev,
editor in chief of the news Web site Tribune.uz, effectively barring
him from traveling outside the country (see section 2.d.). In a refusal
letter, visa authorities stated only that his travel abroad was ``not
appropriate.'' Khojayev had drawn official disapproval for his critical
attitude and critical articles toward the Government.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government limited
academic freedom. Authorities often required department head approval
for university lectures or lecture notes. Although authorities
implemented the requirement inconsistently, university professors
generally practiced self censorship. Numerous university students
reported that universities taught mandatory courses on ``Karimov
studies'' devoted to books and speeches by the President, and that
missing any of these seminars constituted grounds for expulsion. An
August 2005 decree of the Ministry of Higher Education effectively
prohibited any cooperation between higher educational institutions and
foreign organizations without explicit prior approval by the
Government. During the year the Government broke up a conference of
teachers and pressured teachers and students not to participate in
conferences sponsored by diplomatic missions or academic exchange
programs. There were many reported threats by school officials to expel
students who participated in international exchange programs. One
student expelled from university claimed that the expulsion was in
retaliation for his participation in an international exchange program.
Others who participated in university-level exchange programs reported
losing their jobs at Uzbek universities upon their return to their
country. There were several reports that government officials pressured
local nationals to prevent them from participating in cultural events
sponsored by foreign diplomatic missions.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly,
but in practice the Government often restricted this right and
authorities also have the right to suspend or prohibit rallies,
meetings, and demonstrations on security grounds. The Government did
not routinely grant the required permits for demonstrations. Under
December 2005 amendments to the criminal and administrative liability
codes, citizens are liable to large fines for facilitating unsanctioned
rallies, meetings, or demonstrations by providing space or other
facilities or materials. The amendments also significantly increased
fines for violations of procedures concerning the organizing of
meetings, rallies, and demonstrations.
In several cases authorities used a variety of tactics to prevent
or stop peaceful protests. On May 12, unidentified men approached a
group of approximately 10 human rights activists who were holding
protest placards at a memorial in Tashkent on the anniversary of the
May 2005 violence in Andijon, seized the placards, and ran away. On May
13, when the group gathered again at the same memorial to carry out a
similar demonstration, unidentified men again seized their placards.
The activists then moved to a foreign embassy, where a local deputy
chief of police personally attempted to disrupt the demonstration.
Unidentified men later apprehended the demonstrators as they rode in a
taxi and detained them on a roadside. Also on May 13, students at two
Tashkent universities reported that university officials ordered them
to appear at the schools to fill out questionnaires or face expulsion.
The students believed the action was intended to prevent possible
protests on the Andijon anniversary.
In several other cases, however, human rights activists reported
that local residents, including in Andijon, protested economic
conditions, apparently without prior permission of the authorities, but
did not face police pressure.
In May 2005 the Government used deadly force to suppress a large
demonstration in the city of Andijon. Demonstrations were sparked by
the trial of 23 businessmen accused of Islamic extremism. Armed
individuals stormed the city prison and freed inmates, occupied
government buildings, and took hostages. Several thousand Andijon
citizens assembled in a city square the following day to peacefully
protest frustration with government abuse of power and social
grievances. Eyewitnesses reported that government forces approached the
square and fired into the crowd without warning. The Government claimed
that armed rebels fired first on security forces, that security forces
fired only on armed rebels, and that 187 persons were killed, while
eyewitnesses and human rights groups estimated several hundred were
killed. The Government continued to refuse international calls for an
independent investigation of the events; however, officials discussed
their investigation techniques and results with diplomats and other
international representatives.
Freedom of Association.--While the law provides for freedom of
association, the Government continued to restrict this right in
practice. The Government sought to control completely all NGO activity.
The law broadly limits the types of groups that may form and requires
that all organizations be formally registered with the Government. The
law allows for a six month grace period for new organizations to
operate while awaiting registration, during which time they are
officially classified as ``initiative groups.'' Registration of NGOs
and other public associations was difficult and time consuming, with
many opportunities for government obstruction. Nonpolitical
associations and social organizations usually were allowed to register,
although complicated rules and a cumbersome government bureaucracy made
the process difficult. Most local NGOs also were compelled to register
with a government controlled NGO association, whose purpose was to
control all funding and NGO activities.
December 2005 amendments to the administrative liability code
impose large fines for violations of procedures governing NGO activity,
as well as for ``involving others'' in illegal NGOs. The law does not
specify whether ``illegal NGOs'' are those that were forcibly suspended
or closed, or those that were simply unregistered. The amendments also
increased penalties against international NGOs for engaging in
political activities, activities inconsistent with their charters, or
activities not approved in advance by the Government. The February 2004
banking decree, although ostensibly designed to combat money
laundering, was selectively enforced to prevent both registered and
unregistered NGOs involved in human rights or political work from
receiving outside funding.
The law allows independent political parties, but also gives the
Ministry of Justice (MOJ) broad powers to interfere with parties and to
withhold financial and legal support to those opposed to the
Government. Registered parties received funding from the Government.
All five registered political parties were controlled by the
Government; no opposition parties were registered at year's end (see
section 3).
The law criminalizes membership in organizations the Government
deems extremist. Under the law the extremist Islamist political
organization HT was banned. HT promoted hate and praised acts of
terrorism, although it maintained that it was committed to nonviolence.
The party's virulently anti Semitic and anti Western literature called
for the overthrow of secular governments, including those in Central
Asia, to be replaced with a worldwide Islamic government called the
caliphate.
The Government has pressured and prosecuted members of the Islamic
group Akromiya (Akromiylar) since 1997. Religious experts claimed that
Akromiya is an informal association that promotes business along
Islamic religious principles, while the Government claimed that the
group is a branch of HT and that it attempted, together with the
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, to overthrow the Government through
armed rebellion in May 2005 in Andijon (see section 2.c.).
In June the MOJ ordered two prominent human rights NGOs to close
(see section 4). In 2005 nearly 200 NGOs were closed due to pressure by
the Government.
During the year the Women's Committee, a government controlled
organization, monitored and often hampered the activities of women's
NGOs, particularly those promoting women's political participation.
During the year the Government also forced many international NGOs
to close, citing alleged violations of the law. The closures were part
of government efforts to minimize the presence of Western
organizations, based on the stated belief that their programs aimed to
forcibly introduce democracy and subvert the existing regime. The
Government required all international NGOs to register with the MOJ.
During the year the ministry continued conducting a series of
exhaustive audits of international NGOs, which also suffered visa,
accreditation, and automobile registration problems. During the audits,
MOJ officials repeatedly referred to an unpublished 2003 decree that
outlined new registration requirements for international NGOs. The
Government used the decree as a basis for requiring prior government
approval for a broad range of program activities and detailed reports
on activities, program participants, and finances. NGOs' activities
were also restricted by a 2004 banking decree that requires a
government commission to review all foreign funding before disbursement
to local NGOs. Although the measure was ostensibly to fight money
laundering, the commission used political criteria to determine which
programs received funds.
On January 11, the Tashkent City Civil Court ordered the human
rights NGO Freedom House to suspend its operations for six months based
on the charge that the organization had provided Internet access
without a license. On February 7, an appeals court rejected the
organization's appeal of the suspension order. Following an
unsuccessful appeal of the suspension and a criminal investigation of
the organization's staff, the civil court ordered Freedom House to
close on March 6. In 2005 the Government had subjected Freedom House
and its employees to frequent harassment in 2005. Official television
stations publicly accused Freedom House of supporting suspected
terrorists in documentaries on the May 2005 violence in Andijon.
On March 6, the Tashkent office of the Eurasia Foundation
voluntarily suspended its activities after the MOJ filed a request for
its suspension with the Tashkent Civil Court. The request alleged that
the foundation had made grants to local NGOs and conducted seminars
without prior government permission, among other technical violations.
On April 19, the country director of the International Research and
Exchanges Board (IREX) departed the country, and the representative
office subsequently liquidated its operations, following its
unsuccessful appeal of a December 2005 court order to close and a
criminal investigation of several of its local staff members. The
Government based IREX's expulsion primarily on the charge that the
organization had provided Internet access without a license.
On April 27, the Tashkent Civil Court ordered the Tashkent office
of the American Bar Association's Central European and Eurasian Law
Initiative (ABA/CEELI) to close. According to the Government controlled
press, the decision was based on activities that ran counter to ABA/
CEELI's charter, including supporting and providing legal assistance to
local NGOs. On May 23, the court denied ABA/CEELI's appeal of the
ruling.
On May 4, the court ordered the closure of the NGO Counterpart
International, ruling that the organization had violated its charter.
On June 1, the court ordered the closure of the American Councils
for International Education (ACTR/ACCELS), a student exchange
organization. Government controlled press agencies attributed the
closure to the allegation that ACCELS had sent over 100 high school
students abroad without informing authorities. The city prosecutor
subsequently initiated a criminal investigation of its staff, but
closed it without any findings because the organization's former office
director died.
On June 15, the court ordered the closure of the Tashkent office of
Central Asian Free Exchange (CAFE), a faith based NGO engaged in small
scale development and community education projects. Authorities accused
the organization's employees of proselytizing illegally, providing
Internet service without a license, and violating other regulations.
In late June the court ordered the NGO Global Involvement Through
Education to close, accusing it of activities that violated the
organization's charter.
Local experts estimated that by year's end government pressure had
forced between two-thirds and three-fourths of local NGOs to cease
operations.
On July 12, the Tashkent Civil Court ordered the closure of the NGO
Urban Institute, which had worked to help develop resident managed
condominium associations. The court accused the organization of
``discussing the socioeconomic, social, and political situation in the
country'' without government authorization during its training
seminars.
On July 21, the court ordered the closure of Winrock International,
an NGO that had assisted farmers with irrigation issues. The court
based the liquidation order on printed and recorded materials on
women's legal rights, which, according to the court, contained
``unapproved religious content.'' The materials in question had been
released under a 2003 program, since discontinued. On August 18, the
court upheld the closure order on appeal. The criminal investigation
was ongoing at year's end.
On August 23, the Tashkent Civil Court ordered the closure of the
NGO Crosslink Development International, ruling the organization did
not report on its programs, carried out unlicensed educational
activities, and granted loans without banking institution involvement,
according to a quoted court official. Press articles quoted government
officials accusing Crosslink employees of illegally providing financial
support to the Pentecostal Church (see section 2.c.).
In late August the MOJ refused to accredit 24 expatriate staff
working for the NGO Partnerships in Academics and Development (PAD) and
informed PAD that its microfinance program was illegal, as the
Government decree under which it had been working had expired. The
Government subsequently ordered PAD's closure, accusing it of illegal
missionary activity.
On October 2, the state tax authority sued Mercy Corps, alleging it
had concealed over $497,000 (621 million soum) in income to avoid
taxes. The Tashkent Economic Court in the first instance and a later
appeals court both rejected the tax authority's claim. However, the
Government controlled press accused Mercy Corps of espionage and
subversive activity in connection with a civil society development
program coordinated by the NGO in the Ferghana Valley. In December the
Government froze the organization's local bank account and declared it
liable for approximately $566,000 (708 million soum) in taxes.
On November 6, the MOJ notified the economic policy research
organization Bearing Point, LLC, that it had requested the
organization's liquidation. The Government alleged that Bearing Point
had violated the law by training journalists in economic analysis and
giving economic advice to the Government, among other offenses. On
November 8, Bearing Point declared its intention to liquidate
voluntarily, whereupon the Tashkent Civil Court suspended action
against the organization.
On November 8, the Tashkent Civil Court dismissed a suit filed by
the MOJ requesting the closure of the NGO Joint Development Associates
(JDA), when the organization declared its intention to voluntarily
liquidate. The Government had accused the organization of illegal
missionary activity. In December the Government froze JDA's local bank
account and declared it liable for over $67,000 ($86 million soum) in
penalties for alleged violations of the tax code.
On November 30, the Tashkent Civil Court ordered the NGO
Cooperative Housing Foundation International to liquidate, based on
allegations of tax evasion, failing to provide the Government with
sufficient information about its activities, and maintaining
unregistered branch offices outside of Tashkent. An appeals court
subsequently upheld the ruling.
In December the Government froze the local bank accounts of the
NGOs Agricultural Cooperative Development International/Volunteers in
Overseas Cooperative Assistance (ACDI/VOCA) and the Foundation for
International Community Assistance (FINCA), in addition to those of JDA
and Mercy Corps, and declared the organizations liable for large
penalties for alleged violations of the tax code.
During the year the Government forced the closure of a Hungarian
NGO, the Ecumenical Charity Service, as well as the Participation,
Education, and Knowledge Strengthening (PEAKS) Program, an education
development program managed by the Academy for Educational Development.
The Government also ordered the closure of two Korean organizations and
one Swiss NGO based on charges of illegal missionary activity, and
authorities detained two employees of the Swiss NGO on allegations of
illegal activity. The Government also warned a British and Dutch NGO
about alleged illegal activities and opened an investigation of the
Calcutta based Missionaries of Charity. The Government followed a
policy of auditing all international NGOs. Generally following an
audit, the MOJ sent each audited NGO a letter outlining the violations
discovered during the process, with a 30-day time limit to resolve the
violations.
The Government insisted that NGOs coordinate their training
sessions or seminars with government authorities. NGO managers believed
this amounted to a requirement for prior official permission from the
Government for all NGO program activities. NGOs under the auspices of
the Government controlled Institute for the Study of Civil Society were
generally successful in conducting events.
c. Freedom of Religion.--While the constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion and separation of church and state, in practice the
Government restricted religious activity. The Government supported the
country's Muslim heritage by funding an Islamic university, supporting
preservation of historic Islamic sites, and providing logistical
support for citizens' participation in the hajj. The Government sought
to promote what it considered a moderate version of Islam through the
control and financing of the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan (the Muftiate),
which in turn controls the Islamic hierarchy, the content of imams'
sermons, and published Islamic materials. The Committee for Religious
Affairs (CRA), under the Cabinet of Ministers, oversees registered
religious activity and must approve all religious literature. A small
number of unofficial, independent mosques were allowed to operate under
the watch of official imams.
The law requires all religious groups and congregations to register
and provides strict and burdensome registration criteria, including a
requirement that each group present a list of at least 100 national
citizen members to the local branches of the MOJ. This and numerous
other provisions, such as a requirement that a congregation already
have a valid legal address, enabled the Government to find technical
grounds for denying a group's registration petition, such as
grammatical errors in a group's charter. This process suppressed the
activities of Muslims who sought to worship outside the system of state
sponsored mosques, as well as members of unregistered Christian
churches and other groups.
Any religious service conducted by an unregistered religious
organization is illegal. Police occasionally broke up meetings of
unregistered groups, which were generally held in private homes (see
section 1.f.). Members of some Christian evangelical congregations were
detained during the year and occasionally beaten by authorities.
Members of the registered Pentecostal church in Tashkent reported that
police raided a worship service in April. On November 30 and December
1, video tape of that raid appeared in a documentary film on government
television which warned viewers against associating with evangelical
Christians. On April 12, police raided several Jehovah's Witnesses
worship services across the country on that church's annual holy day.
The Greater Grace Church in Samarkand also reported continuing
harassment from authorities. Religious groups are prohibited from
forming political parties and social movements.
During the year the number of registered religious congregations
increased from 25 to 2,226 registered religious groups, of which 2,046
were Muslim. Local authorities continued to block the registration or
reregistration of evangelical Christian congregations in Tashkent,
Samarkand, Guliston, Chirchiq, Gazalkent, Andijon, and Nukus. The
International Church of Tashkent, a Protestant nondenominational church
ministering exclusively to the international community, has been unable
to obtain registration for several years, due in part to its inability
to meet the legally required minimum of citizen 100. Jehovah's
Witnesses in Tashkent were unable to obtain registration. On August 25,
the Government canceled the registration of the Jehovah's Witnesses
congregation in Ferghana Province, accusing members of ``aggressive
missionary work.'' Out of the 11 Jehovah's Witnesses' churches in the
country, only the one in Chirchiq was registered at year's end. Police
routinely questioned, searched, and arbitrarily fined individual
members of Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the country. On April 12, as
in previous years, police and security personnel disrupted Jehovah's
Witnesses meetings in Tashkent and several other cities and arrested
approximately 100 church members. Most were released soon afterwards,
but some were subjected to longer administrative detention, some were
reportedly beaten by police, and several were required to pay small
fines.
Most Muslims arrested for religious reasons were tried for
anticonstitutional activity and participating in ``religious extremist,
separatist, fundamentalist, or other banned organizations,'' a charge
that encompasses both political and religious extremism. The
overwhelming majority of those arrested on this charge were accused of
HT membership. The Government also arrested members of other groups
that it broadly labeled Wahhabi. Individuals arrested on suspicion of
extremism often faced severe mistreatment including torture, beatings,
and particularly harsh prison conditions, and were typically sentenced
to between 7 and 12 years in jail (see sections 1.c. and 1.d.). Prison
authorities reportedly did not allow many prisoners suspected of
Islamic extremism to practice their religion freely and, in some
circumstances, did not allow them to own a Koran. Authorities
reportedly punished inmates who attempted to fulfill their religious
obligations against prison rules, or who protested the rules
themselves, with solitary confinement and beatings.
In past years the Government's campaign against extremists resulted
in official suspicion of more religiously observant (yet nonextremist)
persons, including frequent mosque attendees, bearded men, and veiled
women. In practice this approach often resulted in the Government
singling out observant Muslims for surveillance or harassment based on
outward expressions of their religious belief. During the year there
were no reports of arrests or harassment of Muslim believers on this
basis. While a large and increasing number of young men attended Friday
prayers in general, hardly any were bearded. The law prohibits the
wearing of ``cult robes'' (religious clothing) in public except by
those serving in religious organizations; however, this provision did
not appear to be enforced. On August 9, the government-controlled
newspaper Turkiston published an editorial warning against wearing
white skullcaps, which the author associated with Islamic extremism. In
November, according to the Forum 18 News Service, Andijon Province
authorities ordered that mosques cease the traditional call to prayer,
that teenage boys be barred from mosque attendance, and that Muslim
clerics be prohibited from participating in wedding services.
The Government did not consider repression of groups such as HT to
be a matter of religious freedom but directed against those who
allegedly advocated overthrowing the Government. Unlike in prior years,
there were no reported arrests or prosecutions of members of Tabligh
Jamoat, an Islamic group with origins in South Asia.
There were no developments regarding the February 2005 case of two
Sufi Muslims who claimed authorities tortured them while in detention
(see section 2.c.).
On April 19, the Tashkent Province Criminal Court convicted eight
men from the town of Yangiyul of unregistered religious activity and
sentenced seven of them to three years of compulsory labor and one man
to two years in prison. Prosecutors initially charged the men with
membership in a banned extremist organization, which would have carried
a maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment; however, for unspecified
reasons, prosecutors reduced the charges during the trial. Observers
reported that the evidence presented in court rested entirely upon
testimony of a convicted thief, and that other court testimony did not
implicate the defendants in any illegal activity (see section 1.c.).
During the year several persons were prosecuted and convicted of
religious extremism and membership in an unregistered religious group
for their affiliation with Akromiya. Religious experts claimed that
Akromiya is a religious association that promotes business, not
extremism.
Many trials were related to the May 2005 Andijon events (see
section 1.a.). In public statements the Government referred to all on
trial, in prison, and those killed on May 13, 2005, as religious
extremists. During the year approximately 70 persons were convicted of
various charges, including Islamic extremism, murder, terrorism, and
anticonstitutional activity in connection with the Andijon events, in
addition to 187 convicted in 2005. During the year many of those
convicted in 2005 appealed their convictions, resulting in reductions
of sentences in several cases. All Andijon related trials during the
year were closed to outside observers, and details of the cases,
including names of defendants and lengths of sentences, were not
available.
During the year the Government tried and convicted eight Muslims
who were deported from Kazakhstan in November 2005 (see section 1.d.).
Authorities committed one of the nine total returnees, Shoirmat
Shorakhmetov, to an institution for the criminally insane and did not
place him on trial. Most were followers of Imam Abidkhan Nazarov, an
influential Tashkent cleric who was dismissed from his position in
1995, fled to Kazakhstan, and was resettled to a third country as a
refugee in March. Nazarov's followers were principal targets of the
Government's efforts against extremism. On April 12, the Tashkent City
Criminal Court convicted two of the returnees, Sharafutdin Latipov and
Nozim Rakhmonov, of membership in a religious extremist organization
and sentenced them to six years' imprisonment. On September 15, the
Tashkent Province Criminal Court convicted the most prominent
defendant, Imam Ruhitdin Fakhrutdinov, on charges of religious
extremism and terrorism in connection with the 2004 terrorist bombings
in Tashkent and Bukhara, and sentenced him to 17 years' imprisonment.
Other defendants in the group of returnees received sentences averaging
approximately six years' imprisonment. While the trials were not
officially closed to outside observers, court guards barred trial
monitors from the proceedings.
On August 3 and August 11, courts in the Tashkent Province
convicted a total of 29 men of HT membership in two separate trials and
sentenced them to prison terms between one and 13 years. Several
defendants in one of the trials testified that their confessions had
been coerced through severe beatings (see section 1.c.).
Christians who tried to convert Muslims or who had among their
congregations members of traditionally Muslim ethnic groups often faced
official harassment, legal action, or, in some cases, mistreatment. The
law prohibits proselytizing and severely restricts activities such as
the import and dissemination of religious literature. Uzbek society is
generally tolerant of religious diversity but not of proselytizing.
Government officials have specifically cited the Jehovah's Witnesses
and Pentecostals as extremists and ``militant missionaries'' and have
targeted them for harassment. The Government accused employees of four
Western based NGOs--CAFE, Crosslink Development International, Global
Involvement Through Education, and Partnership in Academics and
Development--of illegal religious activity, including proselytizing, in
its decision to close them (see section 2.b.). While these
organizations are faith-based, all denied conducting any religious
activity in the course of their work.
On April 12, approximately 100 members of Jehovah's Witnesses were
detained in several coordinated raids in Tashkent, Karshi, and five
other cities during worship services on their annual holy day. Similar
raids took place during the same services in March 2005. Jehovah's
Witnesses reported several instances of police brutality in the course
of the raids. According to reports from Jehovah's Witnesses, most of
those detained were released within a day, several with administrative
fines. On April 26, authorities detained and deported a Russian citizen
attorney upon his arrival at the Tashkent airport as he was traveling
to Karshi to defend members of the group who were on trial.
In two reported instances authorities deported to Russia members of
the Vifaniya (Bethany) Baptist Church without stating a cause. Both
deportees had been residents of Tashkent for several years; one was a
Russian citizen and the other was stateless (see section 2.d.).
State media propagated a policy of opposition to evangelical
Christianity and missionary activity. On November 30 and December 1,
government television broadcast a two-part documentary entitled
Hypocrisy which profiled evangelical Christian groups, including the
Pentecostal Church and Jehovah's Witnesses. The program labeled such
groups as ``dangerous'' and alleged that foreign NGOs carried out
illegal missionary activity in the country in the guise of charity with
the aim of turning converts into ``spiritually poor zombies'' and
fomenting religious conflict.
The law limits religious instruction to officially sanctioned
religious schools and state approved instructors and permits no private
instruction or the teaching of religion to minors without parental
consent. There were no reports of active efforts to prevent parents
teaching religion to their children. On June 26, according to the
newspaper Novyy Vek, authorities closed a religious school for children
in Tashkent Province and charged two teachers with involvement in a
religious extremist organization.
A state religious censor approved all religious literature. The
Government controlled the publication, import, and distribution of
religious literature, discouraging and occasionally blocking the
production or import of Christian literature in the Uzbek language,
although Bibles in other languages were available. The Government
required a statement in every domestic publication indicating the
source of its publication authority, for example the phrase
``permission for this book was granted by the CRA,'' or ``this book is
recommended by the CRA.'' Possession of literature deemed extremist
could lead to arrest and prosecution. Religious literature imported
illegally was subject to confiscation and destruction.
On June 22, President Karimov signed into law a series of
amendments concerning religious literature. An amendment to the
administrative code punishes ``illegal production, storage, import or
distribution of materials of religious content'' with a fine of 20 to
100 times the minimum monthly wage for individuals, or 50 to 100 times
the minimum monthly wage for officials of organizations, together with
confiscation of the materials and the means of publication and
distribution. A new article of the criminal code addresses the same
offense, punishing those already convicted under the corresponding
article of the administrative code with a fine of 100 to 200 times the
minimum monthly wage or ``corrective labor'' of up to three years.
Other changes introduced simultaneously to the criminal and
administrative codes punish the production and distribution of
``literature promoting racial and religious hatred.''
The Government had not implemented any of the recommendations of a
2003 Organizations for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) expert
panel that concluded the Religion Law and associated statutes were in
violation of international norms. The OSCE specifically cited bans on
proselytizing, private religious instruction, and the criminal status
of activities by unregistered religious organizations.
The Government provided logistical support for 5,000 selected
Muslim citizens to participate in the hajj. The Government required all
pilgrims to travel as part of an officially organized group at a set
price of approximately $2,400 (3 million soum). According to the Forum
18 News Service, the number of pilgrims allowed was only a fraction of
the possible number allowable under Saudi Arabia's quota system, and
less than the number of citizens who wished to participate. According
to reports applications for hajj participation were subject to approval
by neighborhood committees and other government bodies. However, there
were no published criteria for participation.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were persistent reports
of discrimination against and harassment of ethnic Uzbek Muslims who
converted to Christianity. Bakhtitor Tuychiyev, the ethnic Uzbek pastor
of the Full Gospel Pentecostal Church in Andijon, reported frequent
harassment by authorities, including threats of eviction from his home.
There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts or pattern of
discrimination against Jews. There were eight registered Jewish
congregations and the World Jewish Congress estimated the Jewish
population at approximately 20,000, concentrated mostly in Tashkent,
Samarkand, and Bukhara. Their numbers were declining due to emigration,
largely for economic reasons. Unlike previous years there were no
reports of HT members distributing anti Semitic fliers. Although the
religious press carried initial stories speculating on anti Semitic
motives for the February 25 death from head injuries of a Tashkent
Jewish community leader, Avraam Yagudayev, and the June 8 murders of a
secretary to prominent a Tashkent based Rabbi, Karina Loifer, and her
mother, preliminary investigations did not indicate that anti Semitism
motivated these deaths.
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
free movement within the country and across its borders, although the
Government severely limited this right in practice. Permission from
local authorities is required to move to a new city. The Government
rarely granted permission to move to Tashkent, and local observers
reported that persons had to pay bribes of up to $80 (100,000 soum) to
obtain registration documents required to move.
The Government required citizens to obtain exit visas for foreign
travel or emigration, and while it generally granted these routinely,
local officials often demanded a small bribe. In 2005 the Government
introduced a registration system requiring citizens to obtain a special
stamp from local authorities in their place of residence to leave the
country. Citizens continued generally to be able to travel to
neighboring states, and the new stamp requirement was not uniformly
enforced. Land travel to Afghanistan, however, remained difficult, as
the Government maintained travel restrictions on large parts of
Surkhandarya Province bordering Afghanistan, including the border city
of Termez. Citizens needed permission from the NSS to cross the border,
while Afghans did not need permission, aside from a visa, to enter the
country to trade.
In several instances during the year, the Government denied exit
visas to journalists and human rights activists. In late March
authorities denied an exit visa to journalist Alisher Taksanov, and on
May 12, the Government denied an exit visa to Alo Khojayev, editor in
chief of the news Web site Tribune.uz (see section 2.a.). Authorities
justified the actions by saying only that the journalists' travel
abroad was inappropriate. In August independent journalist Jamshid
Karimov applied for an exit visa; authorities seized his passport, and
on September 12, they arrested him and committed him to a psychiatric
institution (see sections 1.c. and 2.a.).
Foreigners with valid visas generally could move within the country
without restriction; however, visitors required special permission to
travel to Surkhandarya Province bordering Afghanistan.
Authorities in some cases delayed or prevented entry of foreign
diplomats, as well as other foreign nationals, on political grounds.
Those affected included a Russian citizen attorney who was deported
upon arrival at the Tashkent airport in April as he traveled to defend
Jehovah's Witnesses in court cases (see section 2.c.).
The law does not explicitly prohibit forced exile, but the
Government did not generally employ it. However, in August authorities
deported to Russia two members of the Vifaniya (Bethany) Baptist Church
without stating a cause. Both deportees had been residents of Tashkent
for several years; one was a Russian citizen and the other was
stateless (see section 2.c.). At year's end several opposition
political figures and human rights activists remained in voluntary
exile.
Emigration and repatriation were restricted in that the law does
not provide for dual citizenship. In practice returning citizens had to
prove to authorities that they did not acquire foreign citizenship
while abroad, or face prosecution. In practice citizens often possessed
dual citizenship and traveled without issue. In some cases individuals
who had previously emigrated and/or acquired foreign citizenship while
abroad and who were traveling in former Soviet countries that enforced
the Uzbek exit permission regime had difficulty departing.
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 force persons given refugee status
by the UNHCR to leave the country, according to a 1999 agreement.
Unlike in previous years, in practice the Government did not cooperate
with the UNHCR in allowing it to provide assistance to refugees and
asylum seekers.
On March 17, the Government ordered UNHCR to close its Tashkent
office within one month, stating the agency had fulfilled its mission.
Earlier the Government had criticized the agency for its assistance to
Uzbek refugees who had fled into Kyrgyzstan following the May 2005
Andijon unrest. Upon UNHCR's closure in April, the UNDP assumed some of
UNHCR's humanitarian functions and continued to assist with monitoring
and resettlement of the approximately 1,800 refugees who remained in
the country at year's end.
The Government considered the Afghan and Tajik refugee populations
economic migrants and subjected them to harassment and bribe demands
when they sought to regularize their status as legal residents. Such
persons could be deported if their residency documents were not in
order. Most Tajik refugees were ethnic Uzbeks; unlike their Afghan
counterparts, Tajik refugees were able to integrate into and were
supported by the local population. Although most Tajik refugees did not
face societal discrimination, many of them faced the possibility of
becoming officially stateless, as many carried only old Soviet
passports rather than Tajikistan passports. Although the Government
generally tolerated the presence of Afghan refugees, they faced
protection problems. There were isolated reports of harassment and
detention of UNHCR-mandated Afghan refugees by local police; however,
the extent of the problem was not known. The UNHCR reported that Afghan
refugees had no access to the legal labor force and, therefore, had
limited means to earn a livelihood.
The Government pressured several other countries to forcibly return
citizens who were under UNHCR protection in those countries. On
February 14, Ukrainian authorities returned to government custody 10
asylum seekers whom it accused of involvement in the Andijon events. In
July, 12 refugees, who had fled the country after the Andijon events,
returned to their homes from a third country, where they had been
resettled. There were reports that government authorities had pressured
relatives of these refugees to urge them to return home. On August 9,
Kyrgyz authorities returned to government custody four UNHCR mandate
refugees--Jahongir Maksudov, Rasul Pirmatov, Odiljon Rahimov, and Yakub
Tashbaev--who had fled after the Andijon events, as well as one asylum
seeker, Fayezjon Tajihalilov. On October 24, Russian authorities
returned asylum-seeker Rustam Muminov to government custody after he
had applied to the UNHCR for refugee status. Government authorities
accused Muminov of involvement in the Andijon events. Previously, in
November 2005, Kazakh authorities returned nine asylum seekers to the
country, some of whom had registered with the UNHCR (see sections 1.c.,
1.d., and 2.c.). The group included former Tashkent Imam Ruhitdin
Fakhrutdinov. With only two reported exceptions, the returnees were
held in incommunicado detention, and the Government did not allow
relatives or other outsiders to monitor their condition.
In 2005 HRW, AI, and other sources reported that authorities
pressured relatives of citizens who had fled the country following the
events in Andijon and coerced them to travel to refugee camps in
Kyrgyzstan to ask them to return. Uzbek security forces were also seen
outside camps in Krygystan, and, in some cases, plainclothes officers
infiltrated the refugee population and reportedly attempted to remove
persons from a refugee camp by force.
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; in practice this was not possible through peaceful
and democratic means. The Government severely restricted freedom of
expression and repressed the political opposition (see sections 1.c.,
1.d., and 2.a.). The Government was highly centralized and was ruled by
President Karimov and the executive branch through sweeping decree
powers, primary authority for drafting legislation, and control of
government appointments, most of the economy, and the security forces.
Elections and Political Participation.--President Karimov was
reelected in 2000 to a second term. The OSCE declined to monitor the
election, determining preconditions did not exist for it to be free and
fair. A 2002 referendum, which multilateral organizations and foreign
embassies also refused to observe, extended Presidential terms from
five to seven years. In 2004 parliamentary elections were held for
representatives to the lower chamber; an OSCE limited observer mission
concluded the election fell significantly short of international
standards for democratic elections. In January 2005 a new upper
chamber, or senate, of the parliament was formed; 84 of the 100 members
of the chamber were selected by regional legislatures, and President
Karimov personally appointed the remaining 16. Five registered
progovernment political parties held the majority of seats in the
directly elected lower house of parliament; the remainder consisted of
nominally independent politicians tied to these progovernment parties.
These parties, created with government assistance and loyal to
President Karimov, were the only ones permitted to participate in the
2004 parliamentary elections. Many government officials were members of
the People's Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, the country's largest
party. The party did not appear to play a significant role in
government decision making, which President Karimov and other
government leaders dominated.
The law makes it extremely difficult for opposition parties to
organize, nominate candidates, and campaign. Twenty thousand signatures
are required on any application to register a new party. The procedures
to register a candidate are burdensome, and the Central Election
Commission (CEC) may deny registration. A Presidential candidate must
present a list of 700,000 signatures in order to register and is
prohibited from campaigning without registration. The CEC may deny
registration of Presidential candidates if they would ``harm the health
and morality of the people.'' Parties and candidates that are denied
registration have no right of appeal. The law allows the MOJ to suspend
parties for up to six months without a court order. The Government also
exercised control over established parties by controlling their
financing. In March 2005 the Cabinet of Ministers issued a decree
giving the MOJ control over state funds to parties. Under the decree
the MOJ may adjust funding on a monthly basis according to the size of
a party's parliamentary caucus and the ministry's judgment as to
whether the party is acting in accordance with its charter, among other
factors.
In addition to registered political parties, only citizen
initiative groups with 300 or more members may nominate parliamentary
or Presidential candidates. Initiative groups may nominate
parliamentary candidates by submitting signatures of at least 8 percent
of the voters in an election district. For Presidential candidates a
list of 150,000 signatures is required. Except for registered political
parties or initiative groups, organizations were prohibited from
campaigning, and candidates were allowed to meet with voters only in
forums organized by precinct election commissions. Only the CEC may
prepare and release Presidential campaign posters.
The law prohibits judges, public prosecutors, NSS officials,
servicemen, foreign citizens, and stateless persons from joining
political parties. The law prohibits parties based on religion or
ethnicity; those that oppose the sovereignty, integrity, and security
of the country and the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens;
or those that promote war, or social, national, or religious hostility,
or those that seek to overthrow the Government.
The Government frequently harassed members of unregistered
political organizations (see section 2.b.). In November the Birlik
opposition political party applied with the MOJ for registration for
the sixth time. Authorities most recently denied registration to the
party in April 2005. Birlik members were among those arrested and
detained in connection with the 2005 Andijon events. The leaders of
three of the four unregistered opposition political parties Mohammed
Solikh of Erk (convicted on terrorism charges in absentia in 1999),
Abdurakhim Polat of Birlik, and Babur Malikov of the Free Farmers Party
remained in voluntary exile.
There were 21 women in the 120 member lower chamber of the
parliament, and 15 in the 100 member senate. There was one woman in the
28 member cabinet.
There were 9 members of ethnic minorities in the lower house of
parliament and 15 minorities in the senate; the number of members of
ethnic minorities in the cabinet was unknown.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
public perception of corruption throughout society, including in the
executive branch. It was generally accepted that applicants could buy
admission to prestigious educational institutions with bribes.
Likewise, bribery was widespread in the traffic enforcement system, and
there were several reports that bribes to judges influenced the
outcomes of civil suits. However, it was also reported that local
administrative or police officials were removed from office in isolated
cases in response to charges of corruption.
The law states that all government agencies must provide citizens
with the opportunity to examine documents, decisions, and other
materials affecting their freedoms. In practice the Government seldom
respected these rights. The public generally did not have access to
government information, and information normally considered in the
public domain was seldom reported. In 2004 the NGO Article 19 Global
Campaign for Free Expression released an analysis of the country's
secrecy and freedom of information laws, which concluded that the types
of information that can be considered classified, and thus protected by
the state, were so broad as to include virtually all information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic human rights groups operated in the country,
although they were hampered by a fear of official retaliation. The
Government frequently harassed, arrested, and prosecuted human rights
activists.
Two domestic NGOs Ezgulik and the Independent Human Rights
Organization of Uzbekistan were registered with the Government;
however, others were unable to register but continued to function at
both the national and local levels. The Government continued to deny
registration to organizations such as the Human Rights Society of
Uzbekistan (HRSU), Mazlum (``Oppressed''), and Mothers against the
Death Penalty and Torture. Registration of human rights organizations
was denied for a variety of reasons, including for grammatical errors
in applications. Although these organizations did not exist as legal
entities, they continued to function, albeit with difficulty.
Unregistered groups had difficulty renting offices or conducting
financial transactions and could not open bank accounts, making it
virtually impossible to receive funds legally. Operating an
unregistered group was technically subject to government prosecution.
In June the MOJ ordered two prominent Bukhara-based human rights
NGOs, Humanitarian Legal Center of Bukhara and Bukhara Medical
Association, to close. Both organizations had received foreign
assistance. Following the May 2005 events in Andijon, hundreds of NGOs,
including many human rights groups, were forced to close (see section
2.b.).
Government officials occasionally met with domestic human rights
defenders, and individual rights defenders noted that they were able to
successfully resolve some cases of abuse through direct engagement with
authorities. A foreign NGO continued a 2004 initiative to provide a
forum for domestic human rights defenders to meet with members of the
police, prison directorate, and security services. The Government
cooperated on a limited basis with the NGO.
Police and security forces continued to increase harassment of
domestic human rights activists and NGOs during the year. Security
forces regularly threatened and intimidated human rights activists to
prevent their activities. Unknown assailants frequently attacked human
rights activists (see section 1.c.). Authorities regularly detained or
arrested human rights activists and subjected them to house arrest, as
in the case of Elena Urlayeva (see section 1.d.). In some cases
authorities committed activists to involuntary psychiatric treatment
(see section 1.c.), or filed false criminal charges against them (see
section 1.d.). Additionally, government officials publicly accused
specific activists of conspiring with international journalists to
discredit the Government.
On January 12, the Tashkent Province Criminal Court convicted
Dilmurod Muhitdinov of the NGO Ezgulik of anticonstitutional activity
in connection with the 2005 Andijon events and sentenced him to five
years' imprisonment (see section 1.e.). On January 7, the same court
convicted Saidjahon Zaynabitdinov of the Andijon based human rights NGO
Apellyatsiya of extremist activity in connection with the Andijon
events and sentenced him to seven years' imprisonment (see sections
1.d. and 1.e.).
In March police reportedly arrested human rights activist Shokhida
Yuldosheva and subjected her to forced psychiatric treatment on two
occasions (see section 1.c.). On March 6, the Tashkent Province
Criminal Court sentenced Mutabar Tojiboyeva of the human rights NGO
Ardent Hearts Club to nine years' imprisonment. Tojiboyeva was also
later subjected to forced psychiatric treatment (see sections 1.c.,
1.d, and 1.e.).
On April 20, authorities arrested Azam Farmonov and Alisher
Karamatov of the HRSU and charged them with extortion. On June 15, a
criminal court in Guliston convicted them and sentenced them to nine
year's imprisonment.
On June 16, Yodgor Turlibekov, a human rights activist, was
arrested and charged with ``encroachment upon the President'' (see
sections 1.d. and 1.e.). Activists claimed the charge was politically
motivated. On June 30, a Jizzakh court convicted activist Utkir
Pardayev of the Independent Human Rights Organization of Uzbekistan on
charges of hooliganism and sentenced him to four years imprisonment in
a labor camp.
On July 19, a Jizzakh court convicted HRSU activist Mamarajab
Nazarov of extortion and sentenced him to three and one half years'
imprisonment. On several occasions government agents employed similar
tactics against domestic journalists who reported on human rights
issues (see section 2.a.).
On August 18, a group of 20 local women forcibly entered the
Jizzakh home of human rights activist Bakhtiyor Hamroyev and severely
beat him in the presence of a foreign diplomat. Hamroyev called police,
who reportedly appeared on the scene and observed, but failed to render
assistance. Human rights activists claimed that the attack was carried
out in collaboration with police. During the attack, the assailants
accused Hamroyev of being a traitor to his country.
The Government also severely restricted activities of international
human rights NGOs and subjected their employees to frequent harassment
and intimidation. During the year the Government forced the closure of
most international NGOs dealing with human rights issues, including
Freedom House and ABA/CEELI (see section 2.b.). In particular official
media accused Freedom House of supporting terrorist organizations that
plotted to overthrow the Government during the May 2005 Andijon events.
Government officials and the Government controlled press frequently
accused international NGOs of participating in an international
``information war'' against the country. During the year government
prosecutors launched criminal investigations of international NGOs and
their local partners, such as public defender centers and private law
firms that defended human rights and political opposition activists,
which the Government had charged with antistate activity.
On April 26, authorities detained and deported a Russian citizen
attorney upon his arrival at the Tashkent airport on his way to Karshi
to defend members of Jehovah's Witnesses who were on trial (see section
2.c.). Following a July 7 government audit of the NGO HRW, the MOJ
criticized the organization for publishing ``biased and tendentious''
information about the human rights situation in the country. On
December 21, customs authorities detained a local employee of HRW for
several hours at the Tashkent airport, confiscated a computer, and
accused her of transporting documents constituting a threat to state
security. The investigation was pending at year's end.
The Government continued to restrict the activities of
international bodies and foreign diplomatic missions and severely
criticized their human rights monitoring activities and policies. On
March 17, the Government ordered the closure of UNHCR's Tashkent
office, having harshly criticized the institution for its assistance to
refugees following the 2005 Andijon violence (see section 2.d.). The
Government criticized the OSCE's focus on human rights as unwarranted
interference in the country's internal affairs. On July 1, following
lengthy negotiation with the Government, the OSCE was forced to
reorganize its mission in Tashkent, with a substantially reduced
emphasis on human rights programming. On several occasions police and
other government agents harassed and threatened human rights activists
who met with foreign diplomats and ordered them to cease contact with
foreigners. The Government denied accreditation to some foreign
diplomats, thus forcing them to leave the country, and criticized
others for meeting with members of unregistered organizations.
The Government continued to defy international demands for an
independent international investigation into the May 2005 Andijon
unrest. Following the May violence in Andijon, foreign governments, the
UN, the OSCE, the European Union (EU), and other international
organizations called on the Government to allow an independent
international investigation. The Government repeatedly refused to do so
and instead formed a ``diplomatic monitoring group'' consisting of
selected foreign diplomatic representatives who were invited to
periodic meetings to hear the conclusions of the prosecutor general's
investigation. According to participants in the group, the process was
not transparent. In July 2005 the UNHCR released a report on the
Andijon violence, based on a mission to refugee camps in neighboring
Kyrgyzstan, which concluded, ``Consistent, credible eyewitness
testimony strongly suggests that grave human rights violations . . .
were committed by Uzbek military and security forces . . . It is not
excluded . . . that the incidents amounted to a mass killing.'' During
the week of December 11 to 15, EU representatives visited the country
to discuss the Andijon events, and human rights issues more broadly,
with a view towards renewing a regular dialogue on these issues. At
year's end neither party had published results of the talks.
The human rights ombudsman's office, affiliated with the
parliament, had the stated goals of promoting observance and public
awareness of fundamental human rights, assisting in shaping legislation
to bring it into accordance with international human rights norms, and
resolving cases of alleged abuse. The ombudsman may mediate disputes
between citizens and the Government, and it may make recommendations to
modify or uphold decisions of government agencies, but its
recommendations are not binding. The ombudsman has offices in all
provinces of the country, as well as in the Karakalpakstan Autonomous
Republic and Tashkent. During the year the office handled hundreds of
cases, a large majority of which dealt with abuse of power and various
labor and social welfare issues. The ombudsman published reports
identifying the most serious violations of human rights by government
officials; the majority of these involved procedural violations and
claims of abuse of power by police and local officials. Throughout the
year the ombudsman's office hosted meetings and conferences with law
enforcement, judicial representatives, and limited international NGO
participation, to discuss its mediation work and means of facilitating
protection of human rights. During the year the ombudsman's office
reported that it placed representatives in selected prisons to monitor
treatment of inmates and also began establishing a network of college
and university ombudsmen to assist in resolving student-faculty
disputes.
The National Human Rights Center is a government agency responsible
for educating the population and officials on the principles of human
rights and democracy and for ensuring the Government complies with its
international obligations to provide human rights information. In the
view of many observers, the center was neither independent nor
effective.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender,
disability, language, or social status; the constitution prohibits
discrimination on the basis of race, gender, disability, and language,
but does not specifically prohibit discrimination on the basis of
disability. Societal discrimination against women and persons with
disabilities, and child abuse persisted.
Women.--The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence,
which remained a common problem. While the law punishes physical
assault, police often discouraged women from making complaints against
abusive husbands, and abusers were rarely taken from home or jailed.
Wife beating was considered a personal family affair rather than a
criminal act; such cases were usually handled by family members or
elders within the neighborhood committee and rarely came to court.
Local authorities emphasized reconciling husband and wife, rather than
addressing the abuse. A 2002 HRW report on neighborhood committees
concluded that although the committees played no formal role in divorce
proceedings, in practice women frequently were unable to obtain a
divorce without the committee's approval, which was seldom granted even
in cases of obvious abuse. NGOs working on domestic violence problems
reported that local government officials cooperated on education
programs, with a number of initiatives taken to increase cooperation
with neighborhood committees. Some police and religious leaders
participated in NGO training.
The law prohibits rape. Marital rape is implicitly prohibited under
the law, although there were no cases known to have been tried in
court. Cultural norms discouraged women and their families from
speaking openly about rape, and instances were almost never reported in
the press.
As in past years, there were many reported cases in which women
attempted or committed suicide as a result of domestic violence. Local
media reported 54 instances of suicide by women in Andijon Province
during the year. Most cases went unreported, and there were no reliable
statistics on the problem's extent. Observers cited conflict with a
husband or mother in law, who by tradition exercised complete control
over a young bride, as the usual reason for suicide. NGOs serving
survivors of suicide attempts reported varying degrees of cooperation
from individual officials, neighborhood committees, and local
governments.
In 2005 there were reports in independent press and from human
rights activists and healthcare workers that hospitals, primarily in
the Ferghana Valley, performed involuntary hysterectomies on women
shortly after they had given birth. While authorities claimed that
hysterectomies were only performed in cases of medical need, NGO and
other sources reported several cases of medically unnecessary
procedures. In other cases it was reported that doctors implanted
contraceptive devices in women who had recently given birth, without
their prior knowledge or consent. There were no new cases of such
practices reported during the year (see section 1.f.).
The law prohibits prostitution; however, it was an increasing
problem, particularly among ethnic minorities. Police enforced the laws
against prostitution unevenly; some police officers harassed and
threatened prostitutes with prosecution to extort money.
Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation remained a problem
(see section 5, Trafficking).
The law does not prohibit sexual harassment. Social norms and the
lack of legal recourse made it difficult to assess the scope of the
problem.
The law prohibits discrimination against women; however,
traditional, cultural, and religious practices limited their role in
society. Women were severely underrepresented in high level positions
and in the industrial sector. A deputy prime minister at the cabinet
level was charged with furthering the role of women in society and
headed the National Women's Committee. In practice the committee was
widely viewed as ineffective, and at times even obstructed the work of
NGOs promoting women's rights.
Children.--The Government was generally committed to children's
rights and welfare, although it did not adequately fund public
education and health care.
The law provides for children's rights and for free compulsory
education for 12 years through basic and secondary school. In practice
shortages and budget difficulties meant that many education expenses
had to be paid by families. Teachers earned extremely low salaries and
routinely demanded regular payments from students and their parents.
According to government statistics, 98 percent of children completed
nine years of education through basic school. However, anecdotal
evidence indicated that children increasingly dropped out of middle and
high schools as economic circumstances continued to deteriorate.
According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), net secondary school
attendance reflecting children who continue after enrollment was 70
percent for boys and 73 percent for girls.
The Government subsidized health care, including for children, and
boys and girls enjoyed equal access. As with education, low wages for
doctors and poor funding of the health sector led to a widespread
system of informal payments for services; in some cases this was a
barrier to access for the poor. Those without an officially registered
address, such as street children and children of migrant workers, did
not have access to government health facilities.
Child abuse was a problem that was generally considered an internal
family matter, although elders on neighborhood committees frequently
took an interest at the local level in line with the committees'
responsibilities to maintain harmony and order within the local
community. There were no government led campaigns against child abuse,
although efforts against trafficking involved the protection of
underage victims.
Child marriage was not prevalent, although in some rural areas
girls as young as 15 sometimes married in religious ceremonies not
officially recognized by the state. According to UNICEF, 13 percent of
young women were involved in child marriages.
There were reports that girls were trafficked from the country for
the purpose of sexual exploitation and that girls were engaged in
forced prostitution (see section 5, trafficking).
During the cotton harvest, many school children, particularly in
rural areas, were forced to work in the cotton fields (see section
6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, the constitution does not specifically prohibit it.
Trafficking was a significant problem. A few NGOs reported that some
local officials accepted bribes from traffickers; at year's end there
were no reported investigations or prosecutions of corrupt officials.
The country was primarily a source and, to a lesser extent, a
transit country for the trafficking of women and girls for the purpose
of sexual exploitation and men for labor exploitation. There were no
reliable statistics on the extent of the problem, although NGOs and the
Government reported labor trafficking was much more prevalent than
trafficking for sexual exploitation, and was likely rising due to poor
economic conditions. The International Organization for Migration (IOM)
estimated in late 2005 that over 500,000 citizens annually fell victim
to trafficking for labor and sexual exploitation. There were credible
reports that women traveled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait,
Bahrain, India, Israel, Georgia, Malaysia, Russia, South Korea,
Thailand, Turkey, Japan, and Western Europe for the purpose of
prostitution; some of them reportedly were trafficking victims. Labor
trafficking victims were typically trafficked to Kazakhstan and Russia
to work in the construction, agricultural, and service sectors. Some
transit of trafficked persons may also have taken place from
neighboring countries and to or from countries for which the country
was a transportation hub Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, South
Korea, and the UAE. Women between the ages of 17 and 30 were highly
vulnerable to sexual exploitation, and men of all ages were targets for
labor trafficking.
Traffickers operating within nightclubs, restaurants, or
prostitution rings solicited women, many of whom had engaged in
prostitution. In large cities such as Tashkent and Samarkand,
traffickers used newspaper advertisements for marriage and fraudulent
work opportunities abroad to lure victims. Travel agencies promising
tour packages and work in Turkey, Thailand, and the UAE were also used
to recruit victims. In most cases traffickers confiscated travel
documents once the women reached the destination country. Victims of
labor trafficking were typically recruited in local regions and driven
to Kazakhstan or Russia where they were often sold to ``employers.''
Traffickers held victims in a form of debt bondage, particularly in the
case of those trafficked for sexual exploitation.
Recruiters tended to live in the same neighborhood as the potential
victim and often may have known the victim. These recruiters introduced
future victims to the traffickers, who provided transportation, airline
tickets, visas, and instructions about meeting a contact in the
destination country.
The law prohibits all forms of trafficking and provides for prison
sentences of five to eight years for international trafficking. The
majority of convicted traffickers who received prison sentences served
no time in prison. Recruitment for trafficking is punishable by six
months' to three years' imprisonment and fines of up to approximately
$720 (900,000 soum). The recruitment charge may be brought against
international or domestic traffickers. All law enforcement agencies are
charged with upholding the antitrafficking provisions of the criminal
code. During the year law enforcement authorities continued to focus on
trafficking offenses, and the number of public service announcements
and similar programs on state television regarding human trafficking
rose. Enforcement was generally effective, but convicted traffickers
were often amnestied and served little or no jail time. The Government
annually amnestied first offenders and those with sentences of less
than 10 years; almost every convicted trafficker fell into one of these
categories.
Government offices with responsibility for fighting trafficking
included the MVD's Office for Combating Trafficking, its Crime
Prevention Department, and Department of Entry-Exit and Citizenship;
the NSS's office for Fighting Organized Crime, Terrorism, and Drugs;
the Office of the Prosecutor General; the Ministry of Labor; the
Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and the State
Women's Committee. The Government cooperated on a limited basis with
the IOM on trafficking issues.
Some local officials working at the MVD, customs, and border guards
reportedly accepted bribes in return for ignoring instructions to deny
exit to young women suspected to be traveling to work as prostitutes.
Local sources claimed that officials were involved in document fraud
and accepted bribes from persons attempting to travel illegally or from
the traffickers themselves.
The Government in some cases prosecuted victims of trafficking for
illegal migration in the course of being trafficked. Repatriated
victims often faced societal and familial problems upon return.
At year's end internationally supported NGOs operated two shelters
to help victims reintegrate, one of which was opened during the year.
During the year NGOs provided repatriation assistance to 368
trafficking victims. The IOM reported that police, consular officials,
and border guards referred women returning from abroad who appeared to
be trafficking victims to the organization for services. The Government
also routinely allowed the IOM to assist groups of returning women at
the airport, help them through entry processing, and participate in the
preliminary statements the victims gave to the MVD.
During the first half of the year, the OSCE continued cooperation
on antitrafficking programs with local NGOs and schools. In March a
local NGO in Termez, with the participation of law enforcement and
local government officials, conducted seminars for secondary schools,
placed antitrafficking notices in local newspapers, and developed
informational brochures and educational manuals for teachers and
students with OSCE support. Law enforcement and local government
officials gave presentations on combating trafficking in persons and
provided information on cases under prosecution. On May 23, the OSCE
cooperated with a local NGO in Navoi and local authorities, to organize
an antitrafficking youth forum for 150 volunteers, who in turn
disseminated information in local schools about the nature and dangers
of trafficking in persons. OSCE also translated a victim referral
handbook into Uzbek and distributed it to NGOs, law enforcement bodies,
government agencies, and other interested stakeholders. Law enforcement
officials and local government officials actively participated in the
forum and provided some funding.
During the year the Government increased its focus on trafficking
prevention. A specialized antitrafficking unit in the MVD established
in 2004 continued to cooperate with NGOs on antitrafficking training
for law enforcement and consular officials, as well as organizing
public awareness campaigns.
Government controlled newspapers carried targeted articles on
trafficked women and prostitution. In several cases during the year
victims cited these awareness campaigns as their first contact with IOM
and other antitrafficking NGOs. Government radio continued a weekly
call in program for women who were involved in the sex trade, and
government television broadcast numerous documentary features on
trafficking. Government owned television stations worked with local
NGOs to broadcast antitrafficking messages and to publicize the
regional NGO hot lines that counseled actual and potential victims. The
Government worked with NGOs to place posters on trafficking hazards on
public buses, in passport offices, and in consular offices abroad. As a
result the IOM reported an increase in the number of calls to its 10
antitrafficking hot lines that were specifically directed at victim
assistance. The hot lines received more than 16,000 calls during the
year.
Persons With Disabilities.--Although the law prohibits
discrimination against persons with disabilities in the workplace and
in education, the constitution does not specifically prohibit it, and
there is no law specifically prohibiting such discrimination in housing
or in access to state services. There was some societal discrimination
against persons with disabilities, and children with disabilities were
generally placed in separate schools. The Government cared for persons
with mental disabilities in special homes. The law does not mandate
access to public places for persons with disabilities; however, there
was some wheelchair access throughout the country. The law does not
provide effective safeguards against arbitrary involuntary
institutionalization. A special department and commission under the
Ministry of Health was responsible for facilitating access for persons
with disabilities to health care and a special department under the
Ministry of Labor and Social Protection was responsible for
facilitating employment of persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The population was mainly
Uzbek, with significant numbers of Russians, Tajiks, Tatars, and
Kazakhs as well as ethnic Koreans.
The law prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of
ethnicity or national origin; while the constitution does not
specifically prohibit such discrimination, it does provide for the
right of all citizens to work and to choose their occupation. However,
Russians and other minorities frequently complained about limited job
opportunities. Senior positions in the Government bureaucracy and
business generally were reserved for ethnic Uzbeks, although there were
numerous exceptions.
The law does not require Uzbek language ability to obtain
citizenship; however, language remained a sensitive issue. Uzbek is the
state language, and the constitution requires that the President speak
it. The law also provides that Russian is ``the language of interethnic
communication.'' Russian was spoken widely in the main cities, and
Tajik was spoken widely in Samarkand and Bukhara.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was social stigma
against HIV/AIDS patients. People living with HIV reported social
isolation by neighbors, public agency workers, health personnel, law
enforcement officers, landlords, and employers after their HIV status
became known. Recruits in the armed services found to be HIV positive
were summarily expelled. A brochure produced by the MVD's Department of
Corrections for its staff who deal directly with detainees focused
primarily on the risk to staff of becoming infected during casual
contact. A proposal from the National Institute of Virology recommended
channeling HIV positive patients into clinics and laboratories closed
off to the rest of the public. The Government's restrictions on local
NGOs left only a handful of functioning NGOs that assisted and
protected the rights of persons with HIV/AIDS.
In October 2005 the Government, in cooperation with UN agencies and
NGOs, launched a national HIV/AIDS prevention program aimed at
increasing awareness of the disease and curbing its spread. President
Karimov's daughter, Lola Karimova, was a prominent spokesperson for the
campaign.
Nearly all of the risk behaviors associated with being HIV
positive, including prostitution, injecting drug use, and homosexual
activity are crimes. Homosexual activity is punishable by up to three
years' imprisonment. Some homosexuals reportedly left the country due
to the restrictive environment.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers the right to
form and join unions of their choice, although workers were unable to
exercise this right in practice. The law declares unions independent of
governmental administrative and economic bodies, except where provided
for by other laws. In practice unions remained centralized and
dependent on the Government. There were no independent unions. The law
prohibits discrimination against union members and officers; however,
this prohibition was irrelevant due to unions' close relationship with
the Government.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Unions and
their leaders were not free to conduct activities without interference
from the Government. The law provides the right to organize and to
bargain collectively; in practice the Government did not respect these
rights. Unions were government organized institutions that had little
power, although they did have some influence on health and work safety
issues.
The law states that unions may conclude agreements with
enterprises, but because unions were heavily influenced by the state,
collective bargaining in any meaningful sense did not occur. The
Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and the Ministry of Finance, in
consultation with the Council of the Federation of Trade Unions (CFTU),
set wages for government employees. In the small private sector,
management established wages or negotiated them individually with
persons who contracted for employment.
The law neither provides for nor prohibits the right to strike.
There were no reports of significant labor actions during the year.
There were no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution and
law prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by children, except
as legal punishment or as specified by law; however, there were reports
that such practices occurred, particularly during the cotton harvest
(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 workplace. The national labor code
establishes the minimum working age at 16 and provides that work must
not interfere with the studies of those under 18. The law provides an
exception to the minimum working age for children between the ages of
14 and 16, who may work a maximum of 20 hours per week when school is
not in session and 10 hours per week when school is in session.
Children between the ages of 16 and 18 may work 30 hours per week while
school is not in session and 15 hours per week while school is in
session. A 2001 government decree prohibits those under age 18 from
engaging in manual cotton harvesting and other jobs with unhealthy
working conditions; however, in rural areas children often helped to
harvest cotton and other crops.
The large scale compulsory mobilization of youth and students to
help in the fall cotton harvest continued in most rural areas. Such
labor was poorly paid. There were occasional reports from human rights
activists that local officials in some areas pressured teachers into
releasing students from class to help in the harvest and in many areas,
schools closed for the harvest. According to UNICEF, 15 percent of
children were involved in child labor. Much child labor was
concentrated in family organized cotton harvesting.
There were reports that girls were trafficked from the country for
the purpose of sexual exploitation and that girls were engaged in
forced prostitution (see section 5).
Enforcement of child labor laws is under the jurisdiction of the
prosecutor general and the MVD and its general criminal investigators.
The law provides both criminal and administrative sanctions against
violators, but authorities did not punish violations related to the
cotton harvest, and there were no reports of inspections resulting in
prosecutions or administrative sanctions. Enforcement was lacking due
to long-standing societal acceptance of child labor as a cheap method
of cotton harvesting.
In July government television stations ran an International Labor
Organization public service announcement on child labor with the
approval of the Cabinet of Ministers and other governmental bodies.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Ministry of Labor and Social
Protection, in consultation with the CFTU, sets and enforces the
minimum wage. At year's end the minimum wage was approximately $10
(12,420 soum) per month, which did not provide a decent standard of
living for a worker and family.
The law establishes a standard workweek of 40 hours and requires a
24 hour rest period. Overtime pay exists in theory, but it was not
usually paid in practice. Payment arrears of four to six months were
common for workers in state owned industries, including government
office workers and officials.
The Labor Ministry established and enforced occupational health and
safety standards in consultation with unions, but reports suggest that
enforcement was not particularly effective. The press occasionally
published complaints over the failure of unions and the Government to
promote worker safety. While regulations provide for safeguards,
workers in hazardous jobs often lacked protective clothing and
equipment. Workers legally may remove themselves from hazardous work
without jeopardizing their employment, although few workers, if any,
attempted to exercise this right, as it was not effectively enforced.
__________
WESTERN HEMISPHERE
----------
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
Antigua and Barbuda is a multiparty, parliamentary democracy with a
population of approximately 76,000. In the 2004 parliamentary
elections, which observers described as generally free and fair, the
United Progressive Party (UPP) defeated the ruling Antigua Labour Party
(ALP), and Baldwin Spencer became prime minister. The civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
While the Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, there were problems in a few areas, including excessive use
of force by police, poor prison conditions, sexual abuse of children,
and societal discrimination and violence 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 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 specifically prohibits such practices,
and the authorities generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Nonetheless, there were occasional reports of police brutality,
corruption, excessive force, discrimination against homosexuals, and
allegations of abuse by prison guards.
On January 19, police shot Kelly Jackson in the leg while searching
him and taking him into custody. On June 9, police shot a 13-year-old
suspect running away from detention. On July 22, a man charged that
police robbed and assaulted him. Also in July there were allegations
that a man who died in the hospital from internal injuries had been
beaten while in police custody. At year's end investigations into these
incidents were still pending.
On October 24, two police officers responded to a domestic
disturbance between a husband and wife. While there, the police shot
the husband during an altercation. An investigation was pending at
year's end.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
poor. Her Majesty's Prison, the country's only prison, held 193 inmates
(188 men and five women). The prison did not have toilet facilities,
and slop pails were used in all 122 cells.
Prison overcrowding was attributed in part to a law that limited
the ability of magistrates to grant bail to those accused of certain
offenses. This resulted in an increase in the number of people held on
remand while awaiting trial, which totaled 52 at year's end. Due to
space limitations, authorities sometimes held persons on remand
together with convicted prisoners.
Female prisoners were held in a separate section and were not
subject to the same problems encountered in the men's prison.
Juveniles were held with adult inmates.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, although no such visits were known to have occurred.
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.--Security forces consist
of a police force and the small Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force. The
police force comprises 712 officers, 138 of whom are part of the
country's fire brigade.
Corruption and impunity were not problems. There was no standing
internal investigation body within the police. The police fall under
the Prime Minister's area of responsibility, and he can call for an
independent investigation into an incident as needed.
Arrest and Detention.--The law permits police to arrest without a
warrant persons suspected of committing a crime. Criminal defendants
have the right to a prompt judicial determination of the legality of
their detention. The police must bring detainees before a court within
48 hours of arrest or detention. Criminal detainees were allowed prompt
access to counsel and family members. The bail system was recently
modified to require those accused of more serious crimes to appeal to
the High Court for bail, taking this responsibility away from the lower
court magistrates.
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 is part of the Eastern Caribbean legal system
and reflects historical ties to the United Kingdom. The first level is
the magistrate's court, followed by the Court of Appeals and the High
Court. The constitution designates the Privy Council in the United
Kingdom as the final court of appeal, which is always employed in the
case of death sentences.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides that criminal
defendants should receive a fair, open, and public trial. Trials are by
jury. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence, have timely access
to counsel, may confront or question witnesses, and have the right to
appeal. In capital cases only, the Government provides legal assistance
at public expense to persons without the means to retain a private
attorney. Courts often reached verdicts quickly, with some cases coming
to conclusion in a matter of days.
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.--A court of summary
jurisdiction, which sits without a jury, deals with civil cases
involving sums of up to $550 (EC$1,500); three magistrate's courts deal
with summary offenses and civil cases of not more than $185 (EC$500) in
value. Persons who allege that their constitutional rights are being or
have been violated may apply for redress to the High 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 of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice.
Privately owned print media, including daily and weekly newspapers,
were active and offered a range of opinion.
There was continued tension between the Government and ZDK Radio,
which is owned by the family of Lester Bird, the former prime minister
and leader of the opposition ALP. In April 2005 authorities arrested
government critic and ZDK radio announcer James ``Tanny'' Rose for
misbehavior in public office, in connection with Rose's position as
chief information officer of the state-owned ABS Radio and Television
Authority in 1994. The prosecutor brought criminal charges against
Rose, but he had not been tried as of year's end, and he continued to
broadcast a daily program on ZDK Radio.
Authorities filed defamation charges against Observer Radio in
November 2005, claiming it misreported actions by police during the
investigation of a building that had been ordered sealed. The news
story was widely reported, but the Government filed charges only
against that radio station.
In 2004 the former government cited violations of the
Telecommunications Act to revoke the license held by the owners of
Observer Radio to operate satellite transmission equipment, and 17
police officers seized the equipment from the owner's home. Authorities
later withdrew the charges against Observer Radio and tried to
institute them against Winston Derricks, the owner, but by that time
the statute of limitations had expired. At year's end the matter was
still before the courts, and the equipment had not been returned.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that 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.--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. The police
generally issued the required permits for public meetings but sometimes
denied them to avert violent confrontations.
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.
Rastafarians complained that the use of marijuana, an aspect of
their religious ritual, was prohibited. In 2004 Rastafarian
representatives met with the Prime Minister and submitted a petition to
decriminalize the use of marijuana, but the Government took no action
to change the law.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Rastafarians complained of
widespread discrimination, especially in hiring and in schools. There
were no other 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
in practice.
Protection of Refugees.--The laws provide for granting 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 provided 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 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.--In the 2004 elections, the
opposition UPP won 12 of 17 seats in the House of Representatives and
55 percent of the popular vote. Members of a Commonwealth observer
group reported that the elections were free and fair. UPP leader
Baldwin Spencer was sworn in as prime minister in March 2004, replacing
Lester Bird, whose ALP had held power continuously since 1976.
There was one woman in the 17-seat House of Representatives and two
women appointed to the 17-seat Senate. In addition the speaker of the
House of Representatives and the President of the Senate, both
appointed positions, were women. There were no women in the cabinet.
There were no members of minorities in parliament or in the
cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated
reports of government corruption during the year. The Spencer
administration created the Special Task Force on Crime and Corruption
following the 2004 election, and it continued investigations of former
ALP officials. Attorney General Justin Simon headed an investigation
regarding the diversion of $15 million (EC$41 million) in tax revenue
that was used to purchase equipment in Japan; some of the money had not
been accounted for.
In January various media reported that three police officers
attached to the English Harbour police station habitually extracted
bribes from tourists caught with controlled substances. Authorities
transferred the officers to different districts pending investigation.
An independent investigation was inconclusive, no charges were filed,
and the case was closed.
The director of public prosecution dismissed the three counts of
conspiracy charges brought in March 2005 against an advisor to a UPP
minister for alleged improper approaches to the Government tender
board.
Attorney General Simon filed a lawsuit against former prime
minister Lester Bird and two of his cabinet ministers. The charges
pertained to alleged corruption in repayment of a loan used to purchase
a desalination plant in 1984. The lawsuit was the third that the
Government filed against Bird in attempts to reclaim public funds
allegedly lost to corruption during Bird's 1994-2004 government.
The Freedom of Information Act gives citizens the statutory right
to access official documents from public authorities and agencies, and
it created a commissioner to oversee the process. In practice, however,
citizens found it difficult to obtain documents, possibly due to
funding constraints rather than government obstruction.
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 prohibits discrimination based on race, sex,
creed, language, or social status, and the Government generally
respected these prohibitions in practice.
Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was a
problem. The Domestic Violence Act prohibits and provides penalties for
domestic violence, rape, and other sexual offenses, with maximum
sentences (rarely imposed) ranging from 10 years' to life imprisonment.
Many women were reluctant to testify against their abusers.
Organizations such as the Government's Directorate of Gender Affairs
sought to increase women's awareness of their rights under the law in
cases of domestic violence. The Directorate of Gender Affairs operated
a domestic violence program that included training for police officers,
magistrates, and judges. The directorate also ran a domestic abuse hot
line and worked with a nongovernmental organization to provide safe
havens for abused women and children.
Violence against women came into sharp focus in October 2005, when
Senate President Hazelyn Francis was assaulted and raped in her home.
In January authorities charged an 18-year-old youth with the attack and
remanded him to custody awaiting trial, which had not been held by
year's end.
The Directorate of Gender Affairs holds an annual walk and
candlelight vigil for the eradication of violence against women and
girls.
Prostitution is prohibited, but it remained a problem. In April
immigration officials uncovered a prostitution ring disguised as a
dating service involving several women from the Dominican Republic. The
women were legal immigrants, and no investigation into possible
trafficking was reported. There were also a number of brothels that
catered primarily to the local population (see section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment is illegal, but it was rarely prosecuted.
According to the Labor Department, there was a high incidence of
sexual harassment reported by employees in both the private and public
sectors. No information was available whether any cases had been
brought to the labor courts.
While the role of women in society is not restricted legally,
economic conditions in rural areas tended to limit women to home and
family, although some women worked as domestics, in agriculture, or in
the large tourism sector. Women were well represented in the public
sector, accounting for 54 percent of the public service and more than
half of the permanent secretaries--the most senior level in each
government department. In addition 41 percent of bar association
members were women. There was no legislation requiring equal pay for
equal work. Women faced no restrictions involving ownership of
property. The Directorate of Gender Affairs was responsible for
promoting and ensuring the legal rights of women.
The Professional Organization for Women of Antigua was a networking
and resource group for professional women that held seminars for women
entering the workforce.
Children.--While the Government repeatedly expressed its commitment
to children's rights, its efforts to protect those rights in practice
were limited. The Government provided free, compulsory, and universal
education for children through the age of 16. Schools faced many
shortages, however, and parents typically provided desks and chairs.
Although shared textbooks were provided, parents often purchased books;
parents also provided uniforms. More than 95 percent of school-age
children attended school, and most children achieved a secondary
education.
Boys and girls had equal access to health care and other public
services.
Child abuse remained a problem. The press reported regularly on the
rape and sexual abuse of children. Adult men having regular sexual
relations with young girls was also a problem. According to one
regional human rights group, the girls were often the daughters of
single mothers with whom the perpetrators also had regular sexual
relations.
Trafficking in Persons.--There are no laws that specifically
address trafficking in persons. Although there were no reports that
persons were trafficked from or within the country, there were a number
of brothels staffed mostly by women from the Dominican Republic. Others
came from Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, and Jamaica, and they traveled to
Antigua as ``entertainers'' or ``dancers.'' In October authorities took
close to 40 women into custody and found that most held fraudulent
immigration documents or no passports at all. It is possible that in
some cases brothel owners retained these documents to exert influence
over the victims.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no reported discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services. Although the
constitution contains antidiscrimination provisions, no specific laws
prohibit discrimination against, or mandate accessibility for, persons
with disabilities.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers have the right to associate
freely and to form labor unions. Approximately 60 percent of workers
belonged to a union. In 2005 the owner of Caribbean Star Airlines,
based in the country, fired nine pilots and five stewardesses who had
organized a union. At year's end the matter was still before the
Industrial Relations Court.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Labor
organizations were free to organize and bargain collectively. The Labor
Code applied equally to workers in the country's free trade zones.
The Labor Code provides for the right to strike, but the Industrial
Relations Court may limit this right in a given dispute. Workers who
provide essential services (including bus, telephone, port, petroleum,
health, and safety workers) must give 21 days' notice of intent to
strike. Once either party to a dispute requests that the court mediate,
strikes are prohibited under penalty of imprisonment. Because of the
delays associated with this process, unions often resolved labor
disputes before a strike was called. In addition an injunction may be
issued against a legal strike when the national interest is threatened
or affected.
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 stipulates a minimum working age of 16 years, which corresponds
with the provisions of the Education Act. In addition persons under 18
years of age must have a medical clearance to work and may not work
later than 10 p.m. The Ministry of Labor, which is required by law to
conduct periodic inspections of workplaces, effectively enforced this
law. The labor commissioner's office also had an inspectorate that
investigated exploitive child labor matters.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Labor Code provides that the
minister of labor may issue orders, which have the force of law, to
establish a minimum wage. The minimum wage was $2.22 (EC$6.00) an hour
for all categories of labor, which provided a barely adequate standard
of living for a worker and family. In practice the great majority of
workers earned substantially more than the minimum wage.
The law provides that workers are not required to work more than a
48-hour, six-day workweek, but in practice the standard workweek was 40
hours in five days. Laws provide for overtime work in excess of the
standard workweek; excessive overtime is not specifically prohibited.
Although the Government had not developed occupational health and
safety laws or regulations, apart from those regarding child labor, a
section of the Labor Code includes some provisions regarding
occupational safety and health. While not specifically provided for by
law, workers could leave a dangerous workplace situation without
jeopardy to continued employment.
__________
ARGENTINA
Argentina is a federal constitutional republic with a population of
approximately 39.5 million. In 2003 voters elected President Nestor
Kirchner in free and fair multiparty elections; on October 23, 2005,
national legislative elections were held. The civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
While the Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, the following human rights problems were reported: instances
of killings and brutality by police and prison officials, which the
Government investigated but often did not punish; overcrowded,
substandard, and life-threatening prison and jail conditions;
occasional arbitrary arrest and detention; prolonged pretrial
detention; weakening of the independence of the legislative and
judicial branches; government pressures on the media; domestic violence
and sexual harassment against women; trafficking in persons for sexual
exploitation and labor, primarily within the country; and child labor.
During the year, the Government resumed trials that were suspended
in 1989-90 when the Government pardoned perpetrators of human rights
abuses committed during the Dirty War era. In addition, judges
convicted several perpetrators of Dirty War-era human rights abuses for
the first time since the Supreme Court's 2005 annulment of amnesty laws
that had been promulgated in the 1980s.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--While the Government
or its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings, police
and prison officers committed killings involving unwarranted or
excessive force. The authorities investigated, and, in some cases,
detained, prosecuted, and convicted the officers involved.
Provisional figures for the first half of the year provided by the
Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) indicated that security
forces were involved in 45 deaths in the City of Buenos Aires and its
outskirts, including individuals killed in confrontations during the
presumed commission of a crime. The human rights nongovernmental
organization (NGO)Coordinator Against Police and Institutional
Repression reported 69 killings nationwide from January through late
July. There was no distinction in these figures between deaths
attributed to justified use of force and those attributed to arbitrary
or unlawful deprivation of life.
On July 10, authorities detained three police officers and an agent
in Jujuy province in connection with the investigation of the death of
Saul Mendoza, a 17 year old who was found hanged with his coat in a
police station's restroom on June 30. Some sources reported the
teenager was tortured before he died.
On July 31, the Buenos Aires Province security minister fired two
police officials for the presumed beating and shooting death of Miguel
Eduardo Cardozo, a 15 year-old who accidentally set off one of the
policemen's car alarm. The police officers were detained in connection
with the investigation of the crime. At year's end, the police officers
remained under investigation and had not been formally charged.
In April a judge sentenced Buenos Aires provincial police corporal
Adrian Bustos to life in prison for the 2005 killing of the 14 year old
pregnant teenager Camila Arjona in Villa Lugano, Buenos Aires Province.
In the same case, Oral Tribunal No. 10 also found Corporal Miguel Angel
Almiron and Agent Mariano Cisneros guilty of abusive deprivation of
freedom and causing injuries. The judge sentenced them to three year
prison terms.
There was no new information on the status of the investigation of
the nine policemen connected to the 2004 deaths of three juvenile
detainees in a fire in a Buenos Aires police station.
In the case of the 2003 killings of Patricia Villalba and Leyla
Bashier Nazar in the province of Santiago del Estero, 16 indictees,
including seven individuals in pretrial detention, were awaiting oral
trial at year's end. The trials were scheduled for early 2007. The
former intelligence chief in Santiago del Estero Musa Azar, his son,
three former police officers, and two other individuals were charged
with killing Bashier Nazar, and nine other police officers and another
suspect were charged with killing Villalba.
In July a court sentenced a police officer to life imprisonment and
acquitted four other officers for the torture and killing of Andrea
Viera in a police station in Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires Province,
in 2002.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
On December 27, federal lower court judge Norberto Oyharbide
decided that kidnappings, disappearances, and killings committed
between 1973 and 1975 by the defunct extremist armed group Argentine
Anti-Communism Alliance(Triple A), were crimes against humanity and, as
such, the statute of limitations is not applicable. The Triple A was an
extreme right-wing organization, founded and led by then minister of
social welfare Jose Lopez Rega. The National Commission on the
Disappeared documented 428 political killings attributed to the Triple
A, but other estimates put the total number killed at 600 to 2,000. The
court asserted that state terrorism began long before the 1974 military
coup d'etat.
Judicial proceedings related to killings, disappearances, and
torture committed by the 1976 83 military regimes continued (see
section 1.e.). A July report by the National Secretariat of Human
Rights submitted to the UN stated that there were 958 unresolved cases
and 211 former ``repressors'' who remained in pretrial detention.
In August former police officer Julio Simon, also known as ``el
Turco Julian,'' was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the kidnapping,
torture, and forced disappearance of Jose Poblete and Gertrudis Hlaczik
and for the illegal appropriation of the couple's eight month-old baby.
This was the first judgment against a Dirty War security official since
the Supreme Court found the 1986 and 1987 amnesty laws
unconstitutional.
On September 19, a court convicted former commissioner general of
the Buenos Aires Province police Miguel Etchecolatz and sentenced him
to life for the extrajudicial killing, torture, and kidnapping of six
individuals during the military dictatorship. The judges based their
decision on the argument that Etchecolatz's acts were ``crimes against
humanity, committed in the framework of genocide,'' a concept not
incorporated into the criminal code but conforming to international
conventions ratified by the country. Jorge Julio Lopez, a 77-year-old
torture victim and a key witness in the case against Etchecolatz, was
last seen the day before Etchecolatz's sentencing. The Government
offered a $130,000 (400,000 peso) reward for any information that would
help locate Lopez and conducted extensive searches, but he remained
missing at year's end. Despite speculation, no credible evidence
emerged of state involvement in the missing-person case. Some family
members of disappeared persons from the Dirty War era, as well as a
number of judges and prosecutors involved in cases connected to crimes
during the military dictatorship, reported receiving anonymous threats.
On December 27, Luis Gerez, a witness who made depositions against
Luis Patti for human rights abuses committed under the 1976-83 military
regime, was reported missing. Gerez had testified against Patti, the
former police chief during the military dictatorship, during an April
20 appearance before the Lower House. His reported torture by electric
shock served as important evidence that ultimately prevented Patti from
assuming his seat as a national congressman after being elected to the
position in October 2005. President Kirchner ordered federal and Buenos
Aires law enforcement agencies to conduct intensive searches, and Gerez
was located two days after he went missing. Prosecutors later confirmed
that Gerez displayed physical indications of torture and was suffering
from psychological trauma. Some opposition leaders, including former
President Carlos Menem, suggested the kidnapping was staged by agents
of the Kirchner administration, which in turn blamed unknown covert
paramilitary groups for the crime. The case remained pending at year's
end.
In early September, lower court federal judge Norberto Oyarbide
ruled a number of the pardons granted in 1989-90 to be unconstitutional
and reinforced the nonapplicability of the statute of limitations for
crimes against humanity. The decision allowed resumption of trials
against former de facto President Jorge Rafael Videla and two of his
cabinet members, Jose Alfredo Martinez de Hoz and Albano Harguideguy,
who were charged with the kidnapping of businessmen Federico and Miguel
Gutheim in 1976. In September the Criminal Court of Appeals upheld a
lower court ruling rendering unconstitutional the pardons granted
during the 1990s. The issue then went to the Supreme Court, which had
not rendered a decision by year's end.
The National Human Rights Secretariat, which maintained the files
of the National Commission on Disappeared Persons, received 9,005
claims for financial compensation from families of those who died or
disappeared during the military dictatorship.
Judicial authorities continued to investigate cases of kidnapping
and illegal adoption by members of the former military regime of
children born to detained dissidents. At year's end, 85 children born
to detained and disappeared dissidents and illegally adopted had been
identified and made aware of their true backgrounds.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the law prohibits such practices and provides
penalties for torture similar to those for homicide, some police and
prison guards continued to employ torture and brutality. CELS reported
police brutality and occasional torture of suspects. While the
Government investigated reports of police brutality in prisons, there
were few convictions in comparison to the number of complaints.
The National Human Rights Secretariat stated in late June that the
kidnapping, torture, and death of 15-year-old teenager Lucas Ivarrola,
which occurred on June 26, had been modeled after methods used in the
Dirty War era. Two lower-ranking Navy officials and a civilian (who
accused Ivarrola of having stolen a television set) kidnapped him, beat
him, and shot him three times in the head. Forensics also showed that
Ivarrola's body had been burned while he was still alive. One of the
perpetrators confessed to the crime, and the three suspects accused of
aggravated homicide remained in pretrial detention at year's end.
In February an expert witness's opinion confirmed the complaints
made by the provincial Committee Against Torture (part of the Buenos
Aires Provincial Memory Commission) in the October 2005 case of
electric shock torture of prisoner Julio Ortiz in La Plata
Penitentiary. The director of forensic medicine in La Plata was under
investigation for his alleged obstruction in the investigation of the
case.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions often
were poor and life threatening. Inmates in many facilities suffered
extreme overcrowding, poor nutrition, inadequate medical and
psychological treatment, inadequate sanitation, limited family visits,
and frequent inhuman and degrading treatment, according to various
reports by human rights organizations and research centers. Provisional
statistics provided by CELS on violent deaths through September in
Buenos Aires provincial prisons showed a decrease in the number of
violent deaths compared to 2005: 34 through September, compared with
104 in 2005.
Fifteen prison guards and officials remained in preventive
detention pending completion of the investigation into the October 2005
fire at the Buenos Aires Magdalena provincial prison, in which 33
prisoners died from smoke inhalation in a fire set in a prison
dormitory during a disturbance. Authorities charged prison officials
with negligence in the inmates' deaths and dismissed them from the
provincial prison service. A total of 41 prison officers were either
dismissed or faced disciplinary actions in connection with the inmates'
deaths. The investigation continued at year's end.
While women are held separately from men, human right groups
reported that some women were held in police stations and that 150
children under the age of four lived in federal and Buenos Aires
provincial prisons. Only four out of ten mothers of children living in
federal prisons had been convicted, whereas the rest were pretrial
detainees.
Overcrowding in juvenile facilities often resulted in minors being
held in police station facilities, although separate from adult
detainees. The National Secretariat of Human Rights reported that 85
percent of 19,579 children lodged in juvenile institutions nationwide
were there for ``social reasons,'' i.e., they had not committed any
crimes but had been abandoned, had no families or had families unable
to take care of them, or were considered ``at risk'' for other reasons.
In April the Government issued partial implementing regulations for the
Law of Integral Protection of Children and Teenagers, aimed at
strengthening family ties and providing support to families in order to
avoid children being sent to juvenile institutions due only to their
social circumstances.
Pretrial prisoners often were held with convicted prisoners.
Official estimates reported by the Secretariat for Criminal Policy and
Penitentiary Issues indicated that 60 percent of those held in prisons
and police jails were pretrial detainees. In Buenos Aires Province,
provisional statistics from CELS indicated that close to 80 percent of
detainees were in pretrial detention, with an average wait of 36 months
before trial. Of that 80 percent, 30 percent were eventually acquitted
or had their cases dismissed. From late September to early October,
there was a widespread, two week long protest by prisoners in Buenos
Aires provincial penitentiaries demanding, among other things, an
accelerated trial process and a revision of pretrial detention
statutes.
A 2005 report on the penitentiary system by the research center
Unidos por la Justicia estimated prison overcrowding at 20,000
prisoners nationwide. Overcrowding in federal prisons was approximately
9 percent. The situation was generally worse in provincial prisons,
with some penitentiaries holding almost double their capacity, as was
the case in Corrientes and Tucuman provinces.
Following several rulings by the Inter American Court of Human
Rights that ordered the Government to take effective measures to
protect life and integrity of prisoners in Mendoza Provincial
Penitentiary, the Supreme Court instructed the national and Mendoza
provincial governments to report the concrete measures they took to
improve conditions. By year's end, there were no indications that the
national and provincial governments had complied with the Supreme
Court's order, despite a second request for information that received a
unanimous vote in the lower house of Congress on November 15.
Government officials noted that the findings of both the Inter-
American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Inter American
Court of Human Rights were limited to the Mendoza penitentiary.
Elsewhere in the prison system, authorities noted progress in areas
such as budget and human resources, ongoing programs for increasing
prison capacity, construction of new prisons, and strengthening of the
parolee related work of the ``Patronato de Liberados,'' the provincial
agencies responsible for assisting and monitoring parolees and ex
convicts. The Government reported that the number of detainees in
police stations in Buenos Aires Province decreased significantly, from
7,506 in 2002 to 4,400 at year's end.
The Government permitted prison visits by local and international
human rights observers, and such visits took place during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions; however, police occasionally arrested and detained
citizens arbitrarily. In the past, human rights groups reported
difficulties in documenting such incidents because victims were
reluctant to file complaints for fear of police retaliation or because
of skepticism that police would act.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Federal Police
under the Interior Ministry have jurisdiction for maintaining law and
order in the federal capital and for federal crimes in the provinces.
Additionally, each province has its own police force that responds to a
provincial security ministry or secretariat. Individual forces varied
considerably in their effectiveness and respect for human rights.
Corruption was endemic in some forces, and impunity for police abuses
was common.
The most common abuses included extortion of and protection for
those involved in illegal gambling, prostitution, and auto theft rings,
as well as detention and extortion of citizens under the threat of
planting evidence to charge them for crimes. Some police also were
involved in drug trafficking.
Efforts continued in the province of Buenos Aires to remove and
prosecute police for corruption and other offenses. In late March the
Buenos Aires Province governor and his security minister fired 119
police officers, citing force restructuring as the reason. Authorities
fired, dismissed, or suspended more than 2,600 Buenos Aires provincial
police since 2004 for alleged abuse, corruption, extortion, and
unjustified homicide. In late September, following the disappearance of
a witness who had testified in the case against former Buenos Aires
Province Police Commissioner General Miguel Etchecolatz (see section
1.b.), the governor suspended, and in other cases dismissed, 36
provincial police agents who had worked in detention centers during the
Dirty War.
The provincial security minister reported some recent improvements
in the provincial police force: trainees received university training,
were required to take human right courses, and were trained at a campus
run by the national Border Patrol.
Arrest and Detention.--Police may detain suspects for up to 10
hours without an arrest warrant if the authorities have a well founded
belief that the suspects have committed, or are about to commit, a
crime or if they are unable to determine the suspected person's
identity. Human rights groups argued that there was little compliance
with this provision of law, with the police often detaining suspects
longer than 10 hours.
The law provides a person in detention with the right to a prompt
determination of the legality of the detention, which entails
appearance before a criminal lower court judge who determines whether
to proceed with an investigation. There were frequent delays in this
process and in informing detainees of the charges against them,
partially due to the fact that the majority of defendants relied on the
overburdened public defender system.
The law provides for the right to bail. Although the bail system
was used, civil rights groups claimed that judges were more likely to
order the holding of indicted suspects in preventive or pretrial
detention than to allow suspects to remain free pending their trial.
Detainees were allowed prompt access to counsel, and public
defenders were provided for detainees unable to afford counsel,
although such access was sometimes delayed due to an overburdened
system. Lack of resources for the Public Defender's Office resulted in
an excessive caseload for public defense attorneys. Detainees also were
allowed access to family members, although not always promptly.
The law provides for investigative detention for up to two years of
indicted persons awaiting or undergoing trial; the period could be
extended to three years in limited situations. The slow pace of the
justice system often resulted in lengthy detentions beyond the period
stipulated by law (see section 1.e.). A convicted prisoner usually
received credit for time already served.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the law provides for an
independent judiciary, some judges and judicial personnel were
inefficient and at times subject to political manipulation. Following
the unexplained absence of a key witness who testified against Miguel
Etchecolatz (see section 1.b.), some judicial officials and witnesses
complained that anonymous groups had threatened them. The system was
hampered by inordinate delays, procedural logjams, changes of judges,
inadequate administrative support, and incompetence. Judges have broad
discretion as to whether and how to pursue investigations, contributing
to a public perception that many decisions were arbitrary. Allegations
of corruption in provincial courts were more frequent than at the
federal level, reflecting strong connections between some governors and
judicial powers in their provinces.
The judicial system is divided into federal and provincial courts,
both headed by a supreme court with chambers of appeal and sections
courts below it. The federal courts are divided between the criminal
courts and economic courts.
On November 29 the legislature passed a law to reduce the number of
the Supreme Court ministers (justices) from nine to five. The seven
justices on the bench were to remain in place until two seats are
vacated via retirement, death, or impeachment. The two Supreme Court
vacancies created by an impeachment and a resignation in 2005 were not
filled.
Trial Procedures.--Trials are public, and defendants have the right
to legal counsel and to call defense witnesses. During the
investigative stage, defendants can submit questions in writing to the
investigating judge. A panel of judges decides guilt or innocence.
Federal and provincial courts continued the transition to trials with
oral arguments in criminal cases, replacing the old system of written
submissions. Although the 1994 constitution provides for trial by jury,
implementing legislation was not passed. Lengthy delays in trials were
a problem. There is a provision for counsel for indigents; however, in
practice counsel may not always be provided due to a lack of resources.
Defendants are presumed innocent and have the right to appeal, as do
prosecutors. Minors under the age of 16 cannot be criminally
prosecuted.
There is a military court system, which has jurisdiction over
military personnel, and in some cases can impose more severe punishment
for crimes and disciplinary violations than that contemplated by the
ordinary criminal code of justice.
On February 22, Congress passed a law reducing the number of
members of the Council of Magistrates, the body charged with the
selection, investigation, and sanctioning of judges and management of
the judiciary, from 20 to 13. Most opposition parties, civil rights
NGOs, and lawyers' associations observed that the amendment favored
political representatives over the representatives of judges, lawyers,
and academics and undermined the independence of the judiciary.
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 anyone may bring lawsuits
seeking damages or the protection of rights provided by the
constitution. Government agencies, professional bar associations,
universities, and NGOs provide free legal counseling and may represent
indigent people before civil courts as well as assist them in
alternative dispute resolution proceedings.
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. However, independent media, NGOs, and
international organizations complained about the lack of transparency
and oversight in the distribution of federal and provincial government
spending on advertising in the media. They also criticized the
Government's generally aggressive and confrontational attitude toward
critical media outlets and journalists, which led to such acts as
publicly singling out by name individual reporters for reproach.
The independent media were numerous and active and, despite the
Government's confrontational attitude, expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. All print media were owned privately, as
were a significant number of radio and television stations. The federal
government owned the Telam wire service, a radio network, and a
television station. A few provincial governments also owned broadcast
media. In February the Government signed an agreement with Telesur, a
Venezuelan government initiative for a Latin American multinational
television service. The Government contributed 20 percent of the
capital stock and was initially transmitting Telesur's news programs
through the state owned Channel Seven.
Some national and international civil rights organizations, as well
as several media and press associations, claimed that national and
provincial government agencies interfered with media freedom and
editorial independence by directing government advertising for partisan
political and personal purposes. National government spending on
advertising increased significantly over the past few years, from
approximately $5 million (15.4 million pesos) in 2002 to approximately
$47 million (127.5 million pesos) during the year. This increased
spending allowed the survival of a number of media outlets, according
to many observers; however, NGOs, press associations, and civil rights
advocates contended there was little oversight, few regulations, and
that political motives often governed how these funds were allocated to
independent media outlets. At the national level, the majority of
government agencies were legally obligated to advertise their
activities. The responsibility for deciding how to allocate funds for
such advertising fell to the secretary for media, who answered directly
to the chief of cabinet. Public contracting was done through the
Government press agency Telam, which, according to critics, followed no
established procedure in allocating these funds.
In mid September the national prosecutor general rendered an
opinion in a case brought by the leading daily newspaper in Rio Negro,
which also serves Neuquen Province, against the Neuquen provincial
government. The newspaper contended that the Government of Neuquen had
withdrawn its advertising in retaliation for a series of articles in
2001 regarding Neuquen provincial corruption. Because the Government of
Neuquen historically had advertised heavily in the paper, critics
argued that removal of this source of revenue constituted de facto
censorship. The prosecutor general overruled the paper's petition for
the restoration of provincial government advertising, based on the lack
of actual regulation governing the issue. In May Grupo Editorial
Perfil, the country's second largest media company, sued the national
government for its alleged discriminatory policy in withholding
official advertising from some of its magazines and its Sunday
newspaper. The case remained pending at year's end.
Some radio and television programs critical of the Government went
off the air, which some observers suggested resulted from government
pressure. Two prominent journalists who had regularly published
criticisms of the Government reported receiving death threats. On
several occasions, senior government officials singled out one of the
journalists by name for public criticism for having written pieces
critical of the administration.
In 2005, by virtue of a Presidential decree, the Government
extended radio and television broadcast licenses for 10 more years.
Numerous FM radio stations also continued to broadcast with temporary
licenses. In November a public tender, which promised to conclude the
licensing process for most of the country's radio and television
broadcasting entities, was opened by the Federal Broadcasting
Committee, the executive branch agency in charge of regulating
broadcast media.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet. The Association for Argentine Reporter Entities
(ADEPA), complained about violation of e mail privacy in a case where
transcripts of e-mail exchanges between a reporter and a federal judge
investigating an international drug trafficking network appeared in one
of the law firms representing the defendants. ADEPA argued that the
intelligence service must have been monitoring the reporter's e mails
and had given the e-mails to the defendant's law firm, since the
communications were private and had not been made public or shared by
either the reporter or the federal judge.
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 law states that the federal government ``sustains the
apostolic Roman Catholic faith,'' and the Government provided the
Catholic Church with a variety of subsidies not available to other
religious groups. Other religious faiths were practiced freely.
In order to hold public worship services, obtain visas for foreign
missionaries, and obtain tax exempt status, religious organizations
must register with the Secretariat of Worship in the Ministry of
Foreign Relations, International Trade, and Worship and report
periodically to maintain their status.
In apparent contradiction of nondiscrimination laws, a judge ruled
that a landlord could refuse to rent an apartment to a Jewish couple
because of the landlord's fear of a possible (terrorist) attack. The
National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism
(INADI) declared that the judge's decision violated antidiscrimination
laws. The Delegation of Israeli Argentine Associations (DAIA) appealed
the judge's decision. On October 24, the Civil Court of Appeals
overturned the lower judge's decision and ordered the landlord to pay
compensation for moral damage to the Jewish couple. This was the first
time the courts had ordered defendants to pay compensation as a
consequence of discriminatory behavior.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Acts of discrimination and
vandalism against religious minorities, particularly the Jewish
community, continued.
The Jewish community was estimated to number between 280,000 and
300,000. There were a number of reports of anti Semitic acts, including
threats against Jewish organizations and individuals. In August
activists of the left-wing group Quebracho, armed with staffs and with
faces covered, prevented Jewish community groups from demonstrating in
front of the Iranian Embassy. The DAIA filed a suit against Quebracho,
but there was no progress in the judicial case at year's end.
On August 13, more than 15 examples of anti Semitic graffiti that
were linked to left-wing groups against Israel appeared on walls and in
restrooms at the University of Buenos Aires College of Philosophy and
Letters; these were followed in late September by anti-Semitic graffiti
displaying a nationalist right-wing ideology that appeared in men's
restrooms in the University of Buenos Aires College of Social Sciences.
On September 21, 20 examples of anti-Semitic graffiti were painted on
the walls of buildings in the Palermo district, near Jewish
institutions. The vandalism, which occurred just prior to the Jewish
High Holy Days, included swastikas and the slogans, ``long live
Hitler,'' ``long live the Fuhrer,'' and ``Jewish murderers.''
On October 25, the Special Prosecuting Unit investigating the 1994
terrorist bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA)
presented its findings and recommendations to the investigating judge.
The Special Prosecuting Unit found that the AMIA bombing, which killed
85 persons and injured more than 300, was planned and financed by the
Government of Iran and carried out with the operational assistance of
Hizballah and local Iranian diplomats. Prosecutors urged the judge to
seek national and international arrest warrants for former Iranian
President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and seven other persons involved
in the attack on the Jewish community center. On November 9, the judge
issued arrest warrants for all eight individuals listed in the
prosecutors' indictments.
Jewish community representatives expressed concern over perceived
anti Semitic comments made by a government official following the AMIA
Prosecuting Unit's recommendation to issue arrest warrants. The
Government did not make an immediate response to the official's remarks
that it was ``disgusting'' that Israel claimed to fight against
terrorism while the country itself practiced terrorism, but it ousted
him from his position on November 14 after he paid a visit on the
Iranian Charge d'Affaires to support Iran and condemn the decision by
the judiciary to issue arrest warrants.
The DAIA noted its concern over increased receipt by individuals of
threatening and anti-Semitic e-mails, which they attributed to
individuals rather than any organized group.
The Government continued to support a public dialogue to highlight
past discrimination and to encourage improved religious tolerance. In
July the secretary of worship presided over the signing of a document
by representatives of the Archbishopric of Buenos Aires, the Islamic
Center of the Argentine Republic, and the AMIA calling for peace in the
Middle East. On August 18, the National Ministry of Education sponsored
a gathering of 400 students from public, secular, and private religious
schools of various faiths, where they sang songs calling for respect
and tolerance and prayed in various languages such as Hebrew, Arabic,
and Armenian.
DAIA's representatives emphasized the good work of the Government
of the City of Buenos Aires in removing offensive graffiti from walls
shortly after DAIA provided a list with the locations of the offensive
graffiti.
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 exile
anyone.
Protection of Refugees.--The Law for Recognition and Protection of
Refugees, passed on November 8, makes it easier for authorities to
grant asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol,
and for providing protection to refugees. This law creates a new
National Committee for Refugees (CONARE), which replaces the previous
interministerial committee charged with evaluating refugee and asylum
claims. In addition to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Office of Immigration, CONARE also
includes the Ministry of Social Development and INADI. The new law also
allows CONARE to begin including refugees in its national, provincial,
and municipal assistance programs. 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 temporary protection for humanitarian reasons, consistent with the
norms established by international law. The Government only granted
asylum status to Brazilian, Uruguayan, and Paraguayan citizens on a
very limited basis, as stipulated in the 19th-century Montevideo
Treaty.
The Government continued the implementation of the agreement with
the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for a
program to resettle at risk Colombian families. The majority of a group
of 24 Colombians residing in Ecuador arrived in the country in mid-
December; the Government expected the remainder of the group to arrive
in January. Unlike in previous years, resettlement was to mostly occur
in provincial cities like Mendoza and Rosario in order to facilitate
the families' integration, with only one family staying in Buenos
Aires.
The Government maintained an interministerial committee to evaluate
refugee and asylum claims, which was scheduled to be replaced by
CONARE. The Government accepted refugees for resettlement and granted
refugee status to 68 persons as of November 21. Applications came from
foreigners of over 30 nationalities, the majority of whom were African,
Peruvian, and Colombian citizens. Authorities attributed the
significant decrease in the number of requests for refugee status(163
applications compared to 385 during 2005) to the implementation of the
2005 06 National Program for Migrant Regularization aimed at citizens
of the Southern Common Market associate states; Peruvian and Paraguayan
citizens, who had comprised the majority of persons previously applying
for refugee status, were now able to receive temporary residence in the
country by virtue of their nationality.
The law also allows the Government to provide temporary protection
for humanitarian reasons, including family reunification, to
individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention
and the 1967 Protocol, and the Government provided such protection
during the year.
The Government cooperated with the Office of 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 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 2003 Nestor Kirchner won
a plurality of votes in Presidential elections generally regarded as
free and fair. In October 2005 national and provincial legislative
elections were held. At the national level, one half of the seats in
the Chamber of Deputies and one third of those in the Senate were
contested. Observers considered the elections to be free and fair, and
there were no claims of fraud by any of the major parties.
On October 29, voters in Misiones Province defeated a referendum to
amend the provincial constitution to remove limits on reelection of the
governor. Thereafter, other governors who were seeking reelection
renounced their candidacies, and other provinces amended their
constitutions to institute term limits.
Decrees provide that one third of the members of both houses of
congress must be women, a goal achieved through balanced election
slates. There were 29 women in the 72 seat Senate and 86 women in the
257 seat Chamber of Deputies. There were two female Supreme Court
justices and three women in the cabinet.
There were no known indigenous, ethnic, or racial minorities in the
national legislature, in the cabinet, or on the Supreme Court.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Transparency
International's 2006 annual index reported perceptions of a ``rampant
corruption problem'' in the country. Historically weak institutions and
an often ineffective and politicized judicial system made rooting out
corruption in any systemic fashion difficult; however, the Government
continued to pursue anticorruption measures. In late August a federal
judge indicted nine persons, including six former national senators, a
former labor minister, a former head of State Intelligence, and a
former Senate staffer, in a bribery case relating to votes for amending
the labor laws in 2000. The oral trial was tentatively scheduled for
2008.
In late August the Bahia Blanca Deliberative Council removed Mayor
Rodolfo Lopes from office for irregularities and malfeasance in the use
of public monies, irregular hiring practices of personnel, and other
charges. Lopes was under judicial investigation at year's end.
The law provides for public access to government information. At
the national level, an executive decree requires executive agencies to
answer requests for public information within 10 working days. A study
by NGO Poder Ciudadano, covering the first six months of the year, on
executive branch compliance with a 2003 decree regulating public access
to information regarding meetings by executive branch officials,
concluded that there were improvements in the quantity and quality of
the information posted on official Web sites. The study noted, however,
reluctance on the part of some agencies to comply with the decree as
well as the absence of similar regulations governing the legislative
and judicial branches.
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
usually were cooperative and generally 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
provisions in practice.
Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence, including spousal
abuse, and provides for removal of the abusive spouse from the home,
but it does not provide penalties unless the violence involves crimes
against ``sexual integrity.'' In this case penalties can be as much as
20 years' imprisonment.
Domestic violence against women was a serious problem. In Buenos
Aires Province, the special Women's Police Stations and Family's police
stations received a daily average of 53 complaints of violence.
Any person suffering physical or psychological domestic violence
may file a formal complaint with a judge or police station. The law
gives family court judges the right to prevent the perpetrator of a
violent act from entering the victim's home or workplace. Charges also
may be brought in criminal court, which may apply corresponding
penalties. However, lack of vigilance on the part of the police and the
judicial system often led to a lack of protection for victims.
In March the Interior Ministry launched a federal program that
included creating a mobile unit for providing assistance to victims of
sexual and domestic violence. Although the program was planned to have
a national reach, its initial implementation started in late October in
the City of Buenos Aires. There were two mobile units working 24 hours
a day. Each unit was composed of a psychologist and a social worker,
and two police officials also took part when they received complaints
of domestic violence.
In March the provincial Cordoba legislature passed its first
domestic violence law, leading to a significant increase in the number
of complaints filed. The legislation is quite inclusive. The term
``family'' includes fiancees and former or current common-law husbands
or wives. The law also defines domestic violence as physical,
psychological, and economic violence.
In early December the Buenos Aires Supreme Court ordered the
criminal, family and minors' courts, as well as provincial courts in
civil and family matters, to have duty officers to receive complaints
of domestic violence and assist victims after normal court hours.
Victims could call a cell phone number to get assistance.
Public and private institutions offered prevention programs and
provided support and treatment for abused women, but there was little
transitional housing. The Buenos Aires municipal government operated a
small shelter for battered women and a 24 hour hotline offering support
and guidance to victims of violence; however, few other shelters
existed.
NGOs stressed that women often did not have a full understanding of
their rights or of what actions could be considered punishable
offenses. In addition there was a great disparity between urban centers
and rural areas with respect to women's awareness of, and access to,
equal rights. Indigenous women particularly were vulnerable, due to
higher rates of illiteracy and insufficient bilingual educational
resources.
The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, but the need for
proof, either in the form of clear physical injury or the testimony of
a witness, often presented problems. The penalties for rape ranged up
to 20 years' imprisonment. According to the National Office for
Criminal Policy, law enforcement agencies received 3,154 complaints of
rape during 2005. Women's rights advocates claimed that police,
hospital, and court attitudes toward sexual violence victims often
revictimized the individual.
Promotion, facilitation, or exploitation of people into
prostitution is illegal, but it occurred. NGOs considered sex tourism a
problem but had no estimates of its extent. Trafficking of women to and
within the country for prostitution was a problem (see section 5,
Trafficking).
Sexual harassment in the public sector is prohibited under laws
that impose disciplinary or corrective measures. In some jurisdictions
(for instance, in the city of Buenos Aires) sexual harassment may lead
to the abuser's dismissal, whereas in others (such as Santa Fe
Province) the maximum penalty is five days in prison. No federal law
expressly prohibits sexual harassment in the private sector. Lugar de
Mujer, a women's rights NGO, reported that it received approximately 70
complaints of sexual harassment per month. A survey carried out by the
Government Administration Workers Union estimated that 47.4 percent of
women interviewed had been sexually harassed.
Although women enjoyed equality under the law, including property
rights, they encountered economic discrimination and held a
disproportionately higher number of lower-paying jobs. Men earned, on
average, 38 percent more than women for equivalent work, an imbalance
explicitly prohibited by law. Approximately 70 percent of women
employed outside the home worked in nonskilled jobs, although more
women than men held university degrees. The law provides for prison
terms of up to three years for discrimination based on gender.
The National Council of Women carried out programs to promote equal
social, political, and economic opportunities for women. The council
worked with the special representative for international women's
issues, the Ministry of Labor, and union and business organizations to
form the Tripartite Committee on Equal Opportunity for Men and Women in
the Workplace, which sought to foster equal treatment and opportunities
for men and women in the job market.
Children.--Although the Government voiced strong commitment to
children's rights and welfare, many programs remained underfunded.
On December 14, Congress passed a new Education Law, which extends
free and compulsory education from 10 to 13 years, beginning at age
five. The law stipulates an increase in government funding for
education beginning in 2010 and requires that schools establish
breastfeeding rooms to help students with infants stay in school.
Although a 2001 government survey reported school attendance rates
between 92 percent (at age five) to 97 percent (ages 13 to 14), a World
Bank appraisal stated that of 100 students entering primary school, 84
would enter the seventh grade, and 40 would enter the last year of
secondary school. Attendance rates were lowest among children from low
income households. Access to schooling was limited in some rural areas
of the country. School enrollment rates for girls were slightly higher
than for boys.
There were numerous federal and provincial health care programs
available equally for boys and girls. While such programs were
available in all provinces, they tended to be limited to larger urban
areas, which made access difficult for children in isolated rural
communities.
While child abuse continued to occur and was not uncommon, the
Government took measures to combat it. The National Council for
Children, Adolescents, and the Family instituted a national hot line
which children could use to call for advice, make complaints, and
report instances of abuse or other rights violations. In conjunction
with other agencies and organizations, the council also conducted
educational and awareness raising efforts. Prosecutors and police
pursued cases of Internet child pornography. Children also were
involved in sexual exploitation, sex tourism, and drug trafficking.
Trafficking of children was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was also a problem (see section 6.d.).
The lodging of children in juvenile institutions due to social
circumstances was a problem (see section 1.c.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The country lacks specific antitrafficking
statutes. Traffickers are prosecuted under the criminal code and the
2005 Immigration Law for charges of prostitution through fraud,
intimidation, or coercion, or, in the case of minors, alien smuggling,
indentured servitude, and similar abuses. The law also criminalizes
offenses often associated with trafficking, such as kidnapping, forced
labor, the use of false documents, and prostitution. Penalties for
trafficking ranged from one to 20 years in prison, depending on the
nature of the violation and the age of the victim. In the absence of
antitrafficking laws, officials were unable to provide accurate
information regarding investigations and prosecutions against
traffickers.
Trafficking in persons primarily involved citizens trafficked
within the country for the purposes of sexual and labor exploitation.
They were trafficked mostly from the northern provinces to the central
provinces and Buenos Aires, and from Buenos Aires to several southern
provinces. To a lesser degree, the country was a destination for
victims, principally women and minors from Paraguay, Bolivia, Brazil,
the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Chile.
While there were no official reports on the activities of
traffickers, the media reported that traffickers often presented
themselves as employment agencies or even as individual recruiters.
Traffickers confiscated travel documents to prevent victims from
appealing to authorities for protection. Victims, particularly women
and girls in prostitution, were at times denied contact with the
outside world. Victims often were threatened or beaten.
Trafficking detection and antitrafficking prosecution efforts
continued, but with limited success. The Federal Office of Victim
Assistance (OFAVI), a unit under the Federal Prosecutor's Office, is
the lead agency for coordinating antitrafficking efforts. OFAVI
coordinates activities with law enforcement agencies, including the
Federal Police and the National Border Patrol Office, with the
Ministries of Justice, Interior, and Foreign Affairs, the Immigration
Service, and the Secretariat of Children, Teenagers, and Family.
Although law enforcement officers lacked a clear mandate from political
leaders and sufficient resources to pursue aggressively domestic and
international traffickers, investigations and arrests increased. OFAVI
also reported an increase in the number of complaints of human
trafficking during the year, which it attributed to increased public
awareness of the problem and improved training of judges and
prosecutors. The Government cooperated on international investigations
and worked with Paraguayan and Bolivian authorities on several cases of
trafficked persons.
There were no allegations of federal government official
involvement in trafficking, and local police and officials suspected of
involvement were investigated and prosecuted. In September former
federal police commissioner Jorge Luis Gonzalez was found guilty of
subjecting individuals to indentured servitude and for the promotion of
prostitution of a teenager in Inriville, Cordoba Province, and was
sentenced to 14 years in prison. Three women, who had originally been
trafficking victims themselves and who had worked in the brothel,
received three year prison terms.
Trafficking victims normally were not detained, jailed, or
deported, although those arrested for prostitution related crimes are
sometimes jailed (for example, if trafficking victims later become
abusers), or deported (particularly when cases were handled by
prosecutors or judges with little experience or training in trafficking
issues).
Although the country lacked a comprehensive nationwide policy of
victim assistance, the city of Buenos Aires in particular assisted
dozens of victims, and most provinces had facilities for victims'
assistance, including psychologists to aid victims and witnesses. Some
victims qualified for federal government assistance, but most
provincial officials were not trained to identify or help victims of
trafficking specifically. The International Organization for Migration
(IOM) assisted with repatriation of foreign victims of trafficking.
The Government did not have a comprehensive policy to prevent
trafficking, but among other efforts it implemented an ``interagency
table'' to try to coordinate actions among offices involved in this
problem. The table was part of a program, Victims Against Abusers, led
by the Ministry of the Interior. The Office for Criminal Intelligence,
the Border Patrol, the Secretariat of Human Rights, the National
Registry for Missing Children, IOM, and the National Council for
Children, Adolescents, and Families regularly sit in the meetings. The
Government made efforts to improve its effectiveness in combating
trafficking, notably in the city of Buenos Aires, where it established
a network to conduct information campaigns, outreach, and child victim
identification. In addition, the Government participated in an
International Labor Organization (ILO) project to prevent and eliminate
commercial sexual exploitation of children in the border region with
Brazil and Paraguay.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and laws prohibit
discrimination against persons with physical or mental disabilities in
employment, education, access to health care, or the provision of other
state services, but the Government did not effectively enforce these
laws. A specific law also mandates access to buildings for persons with
disabilities; however, the Government did not effectively enforce it.
Laws mandating greater accessibility to buses and trains for
persons with disabilities also were not enforced fully. Through August
the National Institute Against Discrimination received a significant
number of complaints about discrimination based on disability, mainly
for noncompliance with statutes requiring accessibility to means of
communication.
On October 17, the city legislature in Buenos Aires amended a 2005
law to exempt disabled people from paying tolls on city freeways.
On September 13, a national newspaper reported complaints of
negligence, maltreatment, and other irregularities at the Association
of Help to Disabled Children (APAND), an NGO lodging minors with mental
and physical disabilities in Baradero, Buenos Aires Province. Although
civil courts in Buenos Aires City and in San Nicolas, Buenos Aires
Province, were investigating the complaints, reports stated that the
Ministry of Social Development continued sending disabled children to
APAND.
The National Advisory Committee for the Integration of People with
Disabilities, under the National Council for Coordination of Social
Policies, has formal responsibility for actions to accommodate persons
with disabilities.
Indigenous People.--The constitution recognizes the ethnic and
cultural identities of indigenous people and states that congress shall
protect their right to bilingual education, recognize their communities
and the communal ownership of their ancestral lands, and allow for
their participation in the management of their natural resources. In
practice, indigenous people did not fully participate in the management
of their lands or natural resources, in part because laws do not
specifically contemplate communal ownership. The National Institute of
Indigenous Affairs is the Government agency responsible for
implementing these provisions.
Poverty rates were higher than average in areas with large
indigenous populations. Indigenous people had higher rates of
illiteracy, chronic disease, and unemployment. The lack of trained
teachers hampered government efforts to offer bilingual education
opportunities to indigenous people. Examples drawn from the 2004 05
survey of indigenous people revealed that 33.4 percent of the Mbya
Guarani in Misiones, and almost 20 percent of the Wichi in Chaco,
Formosa, and Salta over the age of 15, never attended school or
received any formal education.
Individuals of indigenous descent from the northern part of the
country, as well as from Bolivia, Peru, and other Latin American
countries, reportedly were subjected frequently to verbal insults
because of their dark skin.
Some communities were involved in land disputes with provincial
governments and private companies, particularly over questions of
natural resource extraction, pollution, and road construction. On March
1, the Nam Qom Toba community in Formosa Province filed a complaint
before the IACHR charging multiple violations of human rights by the
provincial police and the provincial and national authorities in 2002.
The suit contended that 80 community members were tortured and were
detained arbitrarily, some for almost two years. New witnesses made
depositions, and their statements were sent to the IACHR for
consideration. In August authorities in the Chaco provincial government
and the President of the Institute for Chaco Indigenous People signed
an agreement for the regularization of land ownership. The agreement
followed a 31 day hunger strike of 12 indigenous members of the Toba,
Mataco, and Mocobi communities. The case of the indigenous communities
association Lhaka Honhat, which had filed a petition before the IACHR
to consider the case, was preliminarily allowed on October 21. The
parties were given two months' time to provide the IACHR with
additional information before it started evaluating the facts. The
IACHR also offered to try to help the parties reach an amicable
solution.
On November 1, Congress passed a law to suspend for four years the
dispossession of lands occupied by indigenous communities. The law also
provided for approximately $10 million (30 million pesos) to carry out
census and real state studies of lands in dispute in order to identify
ways to solve recent conflicts with indigenous communities.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides all workers, with
the exception of military personnel, the right to form and join ``free
and democratic labor unions, recognized by simple inscription in a
special register,'' and workers exercised this right. An estimated 35
percent of the work force was organized.
Labor groups not affiliated with the General Confederation of Labor
contended that the Professional Associations Law provision for legal
recognition of only one union per sector conflicts with ILO Convention
87. One of those unions, the Argentine Workers Central, presented this
claim to the IACHR in March 2004, and its petition was pending at
year's end.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination and requires employers
to reinstate workers illegally dismissed for union related activities.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides unions with the right to negotiate collective bargaining
agreements and to have recourse to conciliation and arbitration. The
Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Security ratifies collective
bargaining agreements, which covered roughly 75 percent of the formally
employed work force. According to the ILO, the ratification process
impeded free collective bargaining because the ministry considered not
only whether a collective labor agreement contained clauses violating
public order standards but also whether the agreement complied with
productivity, investment, technology, and vocational training criteria.
However, there were no known cases during the year of government
refusal to approve any collective agreements under these criteria.
Unions have the right to strike, although those representing civil
servants and workers in essential services are subject to the condition
that ``minimum services'' (undefined) are rendered. Workers exercised
this right by conducting legal strikes, but there was little tolerance
of strike action. A mass dismissal of employees from Aerolineas
Argentinas and suspension of school head teachers both occurred in
response to strikes.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the three functioning export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--While the law
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5). An investigation
into an apparent case of forced labor involving potentially hundreds of
Bolivian citizens working in clothing sweatshops in Flores Sur, a
neighborhood in the city of Buenos Aires, was underway at year's end. A
federal judge declined to review the case, citing lack of jurisdiction,
and referred the case to the National Court of First Instance. Some of
the workers involved appealed the federal judge's decision, and the
case remained pending at year's end.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace. In 2004 the
National Commission for the Eradication of Child Labor (CONAETI)
estimated that up to 1.5 million children, or 22 percent of the
children under the age of 15, worked in some capacity, an estimate
still considered valid. Most illegal child labor took place in the
informal sector, where inspectors had limited ability to enforce the
law. Child labor in urban zones included such work as small scale
garment production, trash recycling, street sales, domestic service,
and food preparation. In June CONAETI approved a new list of hazardous
jobs for children and will introduce a bill in Congress to raise the
age at which minors can perform them; at year's end, the list was
awaiting the approval of the Ministry of Labor (MOL). Children also
were involved in prostitution, sex tourism, and drug trafficking (see
section 5).
The law sets the minimum age for employment at 14 years; in rare
cases the Ministry of Education may authorize a younger child to work
as part of a family unit. Children between the ages of 14 and 18 may
work in a limited number of job categories and for limited hours if
they have completed compulsory schooling, which normally ends at age
15. Legal penalties for employing underage workers ranged from $350 to
$1,750 (1,000 to 5,000 pesos) for each child employed. Provincial
governments and the city government of Buenos Aires are responsible for
labor law enforcement.
CONAETI worked with the ILO's program for the elimination of child
labor during 2005 to complete a national child labor regional survey,
which was released during the year. CONAETI also prepared a national
plan to combat child labor, which was formally announced in June and
began to be implemented during the year. The Government also worked
with provincial authorities in the tri border area with Brazil and
Paraguay to address child sexual exploitation. CONAETI and the NGO
Conciencia also provided technical assistance to teachers and tobacco
companies involved in the Porvernir 1 program, designed to provide
school meals and recreational activities to children of tobacco workers
during the summer holidays. In 2004 congress acknowledged that the
country lacked sufficient inspectors and programs to detect child labor
or to rescue exploited children and that there were inadequate
sanctions against employers for exploiting children. CONAETI carried
out an information campaign in late October that included public
service announcements, conferences, and roundtables to raise awareness
about the problems, as well as inspections that confirmed that child
labor remains a problem in the country.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The monthly national minimum
wage was approximately $266 (800 pesos), 10 percent less than the
estimated amount of $293 (879 pesos) needed by a family of four to
maintain a ``decent'' standard of living. Most workers in the formal
sector earned significantly more than the minimum wage. The MOL is
responsible for enforcing legislation related to working conditions. A
MOL report based on inspections conducted during the year reported that
the rate of nonregistered work was 23.29 percent, and that 36.7 percent
of the companies had at least one nonregistered worker. A September
report by the National Institute of Statistics and Census, the
Government agency that provides official statistics, pointed out that
the informal sector employed 44 percent of the workforce, or
approximately 4.77 million persons.
Federal labor law sets standards in the areas of health, safety,
and hours. The maximum workday is eight hours, and the maximum workweek
is 48 hours. Overtime pay is required for hours worked in excess of
these limits. The law sets minimums for periods of rest, requiring a
minimum of 12 hours of rest to start a new workday. Sundays are
holidays, and those required to work on Sundays are paid double.
However, laws governing acceptable conditions of work were not enforced
universally, particularly for workers in the informal sector.
The law requires employers to insure their employees against
accidents at the workplace and when traveling to and from work. Workers
have the right to remove themselves from dangerous or unhealthy work
situations without jeopardy to continued employment. However, workers
who leave the workplace before it has been proven unsafe risk being
fired; in such cases, the worker has the right to judicial appeal, but
the process can be very lengthy.
__________
BAHAMAS
The Commonwealth of the Bahamas is a constitutional, parliamentary
democracy with a population of approximately 320,000, not including an
estimated 30,000 undocumented Haitians. Prime Minister Perry Christie's
Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) regained control of the Government
after 2002 elections that observers found to be generally free and
fair. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective control
over security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, but there were problems in some areas. The most significant
human rights problems were arbitrary arrest and detention, complaints
of abuse by prison and detention center guards, lengthy pretrial
detention and delays in trials, violence against women and children,
and continued discrimination against persons of Haitian descent.
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 killings by prison guards.
On January 17, prison guard Sandy Mackey allegedly killed inmate
Neil Brown in retribution for the death of a fellow officer during a
prison escape. The coroner's court recommended murder charges against
the guard, but criminal charges had not been filed by year's end.
In March 2005 a coroner's court found that police committed
unlawful manslaughter in two killings in 2003 and 2002, and authorities
brought charges against two police officers. At year's end their trials
were still pending.
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, but human
rights monitors and members of the public expressed concern over
continued instances of police abuse of criminal suspects. Police
officials, while denying systematic or chronic abuses, acknowledged
that police on occasion abused their authority (see section 1.d.).
On October 6, a judge ordered that a convicted criminal be
subjected to whipping with a cat-o'-nine-tails, punishment that was
supported by the Government and previously upheld by the Privy Council.
Human rights observers alleged that flogging was inhuman and degrading
punishment.
There were no further developments in the 2004 case of a 19-year-
old detainee from Grand Bahama Island who claimed police stripped him,
handcuffed him to a tree, and beat him with a metal pipe to extract a
confession before charging him with attempted armed robbery.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions at Fox Hill
Prison, the country's only prison, improved slightly but remained harsh
for the vast majority of prisoners. Overcrowding was a major problem.
The men's maximum-security block, originally built in 1953 to hold 450
inmates, held more than 725 of the approximately 1,500 total inmate
population. The remaining prisoners were held on remand, and in medium-
and minimum-security units that were at intended capacity. The prison
remand area, built to hold 300 prisoners awaiting trial, was
insufficient to hold the 650 prisoners awaiting trial, leaving many
pretrial detainees confined in cells with convicted prisoners in the
maximum-security unit. Male prisoners placed in the maximum-security
unit were crowded into poorly ventilated cells that generally lacked
regular running water, toilets, and laundry facilities. Most prisoners
lacked beds, slept on concrete floors, and were locked in small cells
23 hours per day, often with human waste. Maximum-security inmates were
allowed outside for exercise four days a week for one hour per day.
Inmates complained of inadequate medical care and treatment.
Fox Hill Prison hired a nutritionist to plan prisoner meals,
increased the variety of educational courses available to prisoners,
installed recreational equipment for prisoners, and refurbished two
dormitories, including a dormitory formerly known for inhumane
conditions. The Government also increased training on use-of-force
guidelines adopted in 2005, working with foreign experts on humane
prisoner control techniques.
Local attorneys and human rights observers asserted that the
prison's internal affairs unit, established in 2005, lacked the
independent authority needed to impartially investigate allegations of
abuse and misconduct. During the year the unit recommended that one
officer be prosecuted following abuse of an inmate. Prosecution was
pending at year's end.
There were allegations of abuse by prison guards. Guards killed one
inmate and beat several others following a January 17 escape attempt
that resulted in the death of a prison guard (see section 1.a.). Citing
an unpublished internal investigation, prison officials maintained
that, prisoner claims and photographic evidence notwithstanding, there
were no unlawful beatings of the escaped inmates.
Organizations providing aid, counseling services, and religious
instruction had regular access to inmates. The Government continued
funding improvements in prison facilities and prisoner rehabilitation
programs. Prison officials continued to improve technical and
vocational programs, opening the programs to women and increasing
course offerings from 18 to 25. Approximately 500 of the 900 eligible
prisoners participated in training and work release programs.
Although conditions for women prisoners were less severe, they did
not have access to work release programs available to male prisoners.
The maximum-security building has a separate section for juvenile
offenders between the ages of 16 and 18. There was occasional mixing of
juveniles with adult inmates depending upon the severity of their
crimes. Offenders younger than 16, along with children made wards of
the court by their parents because of ``uncontrollable behavior,'' were
held at the Simpson Penn Center for Boys and the Williamae Pratt Center
for Girls.
The Carmichael Road Immigrant Detention Center held up to 500
detainees (with tent space for an additional 500), and women and men
were housed separately. Haitians and Cubans were the most commonly
interdicted migrants. The highest occupancy during the year was
approximately 850. Detainees complained that non-English speaking
migrants were sometimes unable to communicate with guards regarding
basic needs and detention center rules. Detainees also continued to
complain of abuse by guards. Human rights groups expressed concern that
complaint investigations were handled internally without independent
review and oversight.
Children under the age of 14 were held in the women's dormitory.
Many children arriving with both parents were not allowed contact with
the father. Despite the possibility of being held for months, these
children did not have access to education.
There were no developments regarding any investigation of the 2004
allegations that guards unlawfully beat and shot a detainee with rubber
bullets.
On February 7, Royal Bahamas Defense Force (RBDF) guards allegedly
beat Mario Vallejo, a reporter covering the condition of migrants at
the detention center. The Government claimed it completed an
investigation, but it was not forthcoming with details.
On May 2, a detention center guard allegedly hit and beat Haitian
national Jason Lionels with a gun, breaking the guard's weapon.
Following the incident, there were protests by Haitian detainees.
According to immigration officials, an investigation had not been
completed by year's end.
Neither domestic nor international human rights groups visited the
detention center or prison during the year. In response to a request
for review of conditions following the January 17 jailbreak, death of
an inmate, and alleged beatings, authorities denied a local human
rights group access to the prison.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Although the constitution
prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention, police occasionally arrested
and detained persons arbitrarily.
On April 7, police and immigration officials conducted raids of
several suspected Haitian communities on Exuma, Eleuthera, and Ragged
Islands. Officials arrested and detained hundreds of persons on the
basis of suspected Haitian nationality. Approximately 231 persons
legally residing in the country were forcibly relocated and detained in
Nassau, many of whom were not permitted to provide documentation of
legal residency prior to arrest and relocation. Detainees claimed that
the raids were conducted illegally without warrants in the middle of
the night. The Government said that the arrest and detention of legal
residents was lawful and necessary to confirm that documents were not
fraudulent. The Government did not make provisions to return the
detainees to their home islands.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Royal Bahamas
Police Force (RBPF) maintains internal security, and the small RBDF is
responsible for external security, security at the Carmichael Road
Detention Center, and some minor domestic security functions such as
guarding foreign embassies and ambassadors. The Ministry of National
Security oversees the RBPF and the RBDF.
On December 6, the new RBDF commander acknowledged potential
corruption in the defense force by calling 25 percent of the force
``bad apples'' that he would ``seek to remove'' from the force.
The Police Complaints and Corruption Branch, which reports directly
to the deputy commissioner without any independent oversight, was
responsible for investigating allegations of police brutality. This
unit determines if enough evidence of abuse or misconduct exists in a
particular case to warrant disciplinary action within the police system
or, in some cases, criminal prosecution by the Attorney General. Local
attorneys and human rights observers expressed concern that the
complaints and corruption branch lacked the independent authority
needed to impartially investigate allegations of abuse and misconduct,
and that perceived lack of impartiality discouraged full reporting of
complaints.
Police officials insisted that their investigations were fair and
thorough. A police officer involved in shooting or killing a suspect is
automatically placed under investigation. There were 283 complaints
against police during the year, compared with 253 in 2005. Of these 283
cases, authorities resolved 99, 59 remained before a tribunal, and had
125 still under investigation at year's end. Of the 99 completed
matters, 16 were resolved informally and the remainder were dismissed
or withdrawn as unsubstantiated.
Following investigations into complaints against police during the
year, including unethical conduct, assault, wrongful arrest, and
excessive use of force, authorities dismissed three officers and
brought criminal charges against 15 officers, all of which were pending
at year's end.
During the year police underwent training in human rights issues,
including in-house training for officers on use of force, human rights,
internal investigations of complaints against police, and corruption.
Police officials believed that additional training was necessary to
address continuing problems.
Arrest and Detention.--In general the authorities conducted arrests
openly and, when required, obtained judicially issued warrants. Serious
cases, including those of suspected narcotics or firearms offenses, do
not require warrants where probable cause exists. The law provides that
a suspect must be charged within 48 hours of arrest. Arrested persons
appear before a magistrate within 48 hours (or by the next business day
for cases arising on weekends and holidays) to hear the charges against
them. Police can apply for a 48-hour extension upon simple application
to the court and for longer extensions with sufficient showing of need.
Some persons on remand claimed they were not brought before a
magistrate within the 48-hour time frame. The Government generally
respected the right to a judicial determination of the legality of
arrests.
Although there is a functioning bail system, the law prohibits bail
for repeat offenders and those accused of certain violent crimes.
Judges sometimes authorized cash bail for foreigners arrested on minor
charges; however, in practice foreign suspects generally preferred to
plead guilty and pay a fine rather than pursue their right to defend
themselves, given possible delays in court cases and harsh conditions
in the prison. Many foreign suspects paid bail and fled the country to
avoid prosecution and extended detention.
Attorneys and other prisoner advocates continued to complain of
excessive pretrial detention (see section 1.e.). The constitution
provides that suspects can be held for a ``reasonable period of time''
before trial. Suspects commonly were held two to four years before they
received a trial. Government officials stated that 650 of the 1,500
prisoners at Fox Hill prison were awaiting trial. Prison officials
estimated that approximately 100 prisoners had been held on remand
without trial for over two years. Some prisoners claimed that the
prospect of lengthy remand provided strong disincentive to demand a
trial because a guilty plea could mean less time in prison.
On March 9, the Court of Appeal awarded damages to Atain Takitota,
a Japanese man who had been held at Fox Hill Prison without trial since
1992, as a result of illegal detention without provision of due
process. Local human rights observers claimed that a lack of
transparency in the prison system and a lack of legal representation of
Takitota allowed him to become ``lost'' within the prison system.
While the numbers of prisoners on remand and length of time
remanded did not change, the Government made efforts to improve the
problem. It instituted a ``Swift Justice Initiative'' with the goal of
bringing all matters to trial within two years. It passed legislation
to ease burdens on witnesses in an attempt to lessen trial delays and
instituted a new process to speed prosecution of serious cases.
However, members of the judiciary criticized the initiative for failure
to adequately protect defendants' rights (see section 1.e.).
The authorities detained illegal immigrants, primarily Haitians and
Cubans, at the Carmichael Road Immigrant Detention Center until
arrangements could be made for them to leave the country, or they
obtained legal status. Haitians usually were repatriated within 48
hours, due to increased cooperation between Bahamian and Haitian
authorities and improved efficiency in processing. Average length of
detention varied significantly by nationality and availability of funds
to pay for repatriation. Illegal immigrants convicted of crimes other
than immigration violations were held at Fox Hill prison, where they
often remained for weeks or months after serving their sentences,
pending deportation.
Authorities held seven Cuban nationals at Carmichael Road Detention
Center for more than two years, including five whom, according to the
Department of Immigration, the office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) determined to have a legitimate fear of persecution if
sent back to Cuba. International observers claimed that the length of
detention for these and other Cuban detainees was excessive.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
However, on November 7 the Court of Appeal issued two rulings
finding undue government influence on the judiciary. In one ruling, the
judge asserted that the Swift Justice Initiative, by assessing judges
on conviction rates and speed while creating procedural mechanisms to
speed trials, reduced judicial independence. The second ruling found
that the mechanism for government control of judicial salaries also
interfered with judicial independence, removing the court's ability to
fairly adjudicate matters. Following the ruling, other judicial and
legal officials, including the President of the Court of Appeal and the
Bar Association President, echoed judicial independence concerns. The
Government denied the allegations, reasserted its belief in judicial
independence, and appealed the determination that the Court of Appeal
could not act independently. The appeal was pending at year's end.
Magistrate's courts are the lowest level courts and only handle
crimes with a maximum sentence of five years. Trial by jury is
available only in the Supreme Court, which handles most major cases.
Magistrate's court decisions may be appealed to the Court of Appeal;
the Privy Council in the United Kingdom is the final court of appeal.
The governor general appoints judges on the advice, in most cases, of
the independent Judicial and Legal Services Commission.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence until proven guilty and are
permitted to question witnesses at trial and view government evidence.
Defendants have a right to appeal. There is a functioning system of
bail, but individuals who could not post bail were held on remand for
indefinite time periods.
The judicial system had a large backlog of cases, and delays
reportedly lasted as long as four years. Local legal professionals
attributed most delays to slow police investigation and prosecution
rather than a lack of judicial capacity, suggesting that prosecutors
had little incentive to quickly bring a matter to trial while the
accused were detained for long prison terms while awaiting trial. There
were isolated complaints of deviations from normal, fair court
proceedings--particularly in civil matters--but there were no
indications that this was a widespread problem.
Defendants may hire an attorney of their choice, but the Government
only provided legal representation to destitute suspects charged with
capital crimes. In a 2003 report, Amnesty International (AI) estimated
that 41 percent of inmates did not have legal representation at their
trial, and there were no indications of improvement in recent years.
Local legal professionals and human rights observers believed that this
lack of representation risked hasty convictions on the basis of
unchallenged evidence, particularly in the case of poor or illiterate
defendants. Local legal professionals and human rights observers also
reported that this lack of representation contributed to excessive
pretrial detention, as the accused may lack the means to press his or
her case towards 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, and there is access to a
court to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human
rights violation.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
While the law usually requires a court order for entry into or
search of a private residence, a police inspector or more senior police
official may authorize a search without a court order where probable
cause to suspect a weapons violation or drug possession exists.
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 independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without significant restriction. However, members of independent
media complained that the Government restricted access to some
information, providing preferential access to government media sources
and denying access to certain government information. Some members of
the independent media claimed to be subject to pressure from the
Government regarding content and tone of reporting.
On February 7, guards allegedly beat a reporter covering the
condition of migrants at the detention center (see section 1.c.).
On April 25, in response to a critical article in the Tribune, the
largest circulation daily newspaper, the leader of the governing party
issued a ``last warning'' to the newspaper that its method of coverage
of politics must cease. Government officials again complained of press
coverage of politics in May and June. In June the Tribune reported that
the Government had failed to issue a work permit to John Marquis,
author of the critical article. Some observers expressed concern that
the failure to issue was an attempt to limit press freedoms. The
Government denied the allegations and subsequently issued the work
permit after claiming it had completed legally required processes.
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. However, there is
a Plays and Films Control Board, which rates and censors entertainment.
On March 31, the Control Board banned an Academy Award-winning movie on
the grounds that it lacked public value.
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 explicitly calls for respect for Christian
values.
The practice of Obeah, a version of voodoo, is illegal, and those
caught practicing it were liable to three months' imprisonment. In
August 2005 police raided a Rastafarian religious service and briefly
detained worshipers.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal violence or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts. There
was a local Jewish community of approximately 200 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 law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--Although the country is a signatory to
both the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its
1967 Protocol, the Government has not established a consistent system
for providing protection to all refugees and asylum seekers. In
practice the Government provided some protection against refoulement,
the return of persons to a country where they feared persecution.
Applications for political asylum were adjudicated on a case-by-case
basis at the cabinet level. The authorities did not grant asylum during
the year.
The Government generally cooperated with the UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Although the Government asserted that all migrants who claimed asylum
were interviewed by trained immigration officials, AI disputed this
claim. The UNHCR reviewed the interview records of cases provided to it
and offered recommendations on certain cases.
The Government stated that it would not grant refugee protection to
five persons whom UNHCR deemed to have a legitimate fear of
persecution. The five persons remained in detention at year's end as
the Government sought a country willing to accept them.
Local and international human rights observers criticized the
Government for failing to screen potential asylum applicants
adequately. These organizations claimed that some Haitians with a
legitimate fear of persecution were repatriated without having the
opportunity to make a claim for asylum. There were insufficient Creole-
speaking immigration officers, and Haitian migrants often were unaware
of their right to claim asylum, resulting in limited requests for
asylum screening. In addition those requesting asylum screening often
lacked access to legal counsel. Human rights observers claimed that the
Government detained Cuban migrants for exceedingly long periods. The
Government denied it inadequately screened potential asylum applicants.
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 based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The two principal political
parties are the ruling PLP and the opposition Free National Movement
(FNM). In 2002 national elections generally considered free and fair,
the PLP won 29 of 40 seats in the House of Assembly and formed the new
government under Perry Christie. The FNM won seven seats, and
independents won four.
The 40-seat House of Assembly had eight elected female members;
there were seven appointed female senators, including the President of
the Senate. A woman served as deputy prime minister and minister of
national security. Women also headed several other ministries.
Information on racial background was not collected, but it was
estimated that there were four members of minorities in parliament and
none in the cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were allegations of
government corruption during the year. The new RBDF commander
acknowledged problems in the defense force (see section 1.d.). Citizens
reported 15 matters to the complaints and corruption branch of the RBPF
during the year, an increase from eight in 2005. The branch resolved
five corruption matters and had 10 under investigation at year's end.
On October 24, a local religious official expressed concern
regarding the influence of money on local politics and called for
campaign finance restrictions. The official also criticized ethical
standards in government.
Prison officials reported isolated incidents of corruption among
prison guards, including corruption that played a role in a January
prison break (see section 1.c.).
A May auditor's report of 2003 government spending showed
irregularities, including missing funds, that did not allow the auditor
to certify government accounts. Outside observers alleged the
irregularities showed corruption. In addition, observers complained
that the Government failed to appropriately account for public spending
or to share records on a timely basis with the Public Accounts
Committee.
The Government was also accused of corruption and lack of
transparency regarding contracts to construct low-income housing from
2002-05. Following allegations of irregularities in provision of
contracts, the Government did not provide records in response to media
requests. On November 1, media obtained the records from other sources
and reported unaccounted funds resulting from the housing contracts.
The Government denied wrongdoing.
There were no laws providing for public access to government
information. Members of the local press complained that the Government
failed to provide regular, open access to information, including
information regarding alleged human rights violations. Specifically,
press and local human rights groups complained that the Government was
not forthcoming about alleged human rights abuses by prison and
detention center guards, citing a lack of transparency in
investigations and publication of investigative reports.
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
usually 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,
place of origin, political opinion, creed, or gender, and the
Government generally enforced these provisions. However, the
constitution and the law contained certain provisions that discriminate
against women.
Women.--Violence against women continued to be a serious,
widespread problem. The law prohibits domestic violence, and the
Government generally enforced the law. However, domestic violence laws
do not provide penalties separate from other crimes of assault and
battery, and the law does not criminalize sexual violence within a
marriage. The RBPF reported that a majority of the 60 recorded killings
were the result of domestic violence. Police received an estimated
1,000 domestic violence complaints during the year. Women's rights
groups cited a general reluctance on the part of law enforcement
authorities to intervene in domestic disputes. The police recognized
domestic violence as a high priority, provided specialized training for
all incoming officers, and offered continuing training in domestic
violence. The Government specifically made efforts to increase
awareness of domestic violence in the Family Islands. The courts
imposed various legal constraints to protect women from abusive spouses
or companions. Women's rights proponents advocated the need to improve
the effectiveness of enforcement of court orders and to increase legal
aid for women. Women's rights advocates also called for improvements to
the domestic violence law, including criminalization of spousal sexual
abuse.
The Government operated a toll-free hot line in New Providence and
Grand Bahama, with trained volunteers to respond to emergency calls 24
hours a day. Government and private women's organizations conducted
public awareness campaigns highlighting the problems of abuse and
domestic violence. The Ministry of Social Services, in partnership with
a private organization, operated a safe house to assist battered women.
Rape is illegal, but the law does not address spousal rape. The
maximum penalty for a first-time offender is seven years' imprisonment,
and in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, the penalty is 14
years' imprisonment. On occasion rapists were given life sentences.
Some rape accusations brought by foreign victims did not result in
formal charges. According to the RBPF, there were 72 rapes reported, an
decrease from 82 in 2005. More than half of the victims knew their
attacker. Prosecutions and convictions on rape charges were common, and
the maximum penalty frequently was applied.
Prostitution is illegal and was not a widespread problem. There are
no laws specifically addressing sex tourism. Police officials
acknowledged that sex entertainment was a developing industry but did
not consider sex tourism a problem.
The law prohibits criminal ``quid pro quo'' sexual harassment and
authorizes penalties of up to $5,000 (B$5,000) and a maximum of two
years' imprisonment. Civil rights advocates complained that criminal
prohibitions were not effectively enforced, and that civil remedies,
including a prohibition on ``hostile environment'' sexual harassment,
were needed.
The law does not provide women with the same right as men to
transmit citizenship to their foreign-born spouses. The law also makes
it easier for men with foreign spouses to confer citizenship on their
children than for women with foreign spouses. The law does not include
gender as a basis for protection from discrimination. Women continued
to advocate an amendment to the constitution and revision of related
laws to redress this situation. Women were generally free of economic
discrimination, and the law provides for equal pay for equal work.
Children.--The Government claimed child welfare and education were
priorities but did not allocate sufficient funding to maintain and
improve standards.
Some public schools lacked basic educational materials and were
overcrowded. Public education is compulsory and free for children
through the age of 16, and 90.5 percent of school-age children attended
school. Cultural biases often forced unwed, pregnant teenagers to leave
public schools.
Both the Government and civic organizations conducted public
education programs aimed at child abuse and appropriate parenting
behavior; however, child abuse and neglect remained serious problems.
The RBPF operated a hot line regarding missing or exploited children.
During the year the Ministry of Social Services reported 618 cases
of child abuse, including 19 reports of incest, 164 reports of physical
abuse, 119 reports of sexual abuse, 293 reports of neglect, 15 reports
of verbal abuse, and eight reports of abandonment. The ministry
believed that only a minority of cases were reported.
The law requires that all persons having contact with a child they
believe to have been physically or sexually abused report their
suspicions to the police. The Ministry of Social Services tracks
reports of child abuse, but statistics were not available by year's
end. The police routinely referred cases of sexual and physical abuse
to the ministry, which investigates them and can bring criminal charges
against perpetrators. The ministry may remove children from abusive
situations if the court deems it necessary. The ministry provided
services to approximately 150 abused and neglected children through a
public-private center for children, through the public hospital family
violence program, and through a nonprofit crisis center.
The Ministry of Social Services is responsible for abandoned
children up to 18 years of age but had very limited resources at its
disposal. The Government found foster homes for some children, and the
Government hospital housed eight abandoned children (all of whom had
physical disabilities) during the year when foster homes could not be
found. During the year the Government also opened a home to house
orphaned children infected with HIV/AIDS.
Trafficking in Persons.--There are no laws that specifically
address trafficking in persons, but the law prohibits prostitution and
the procurement of persons for purposes of prostitution either in or
outside the country by force, threats, intimidation, or the
administering of drugs. The maximum penalty for prostitution is five
years' imprisonment; procurement for the purpose of prostitution
carries a penalty of eight years' imprisonment. Local observers
complained that the law does not protect trafficking victims, who might
be fearful of pressing complaints due to local emphasis on immigration
enforcement.
There were reports that persons were trafficked within, to, or from
the country, but the full nature and extent of the problem was
undetermined. A 2002 report by the International Labor Organization
estimated that 35 children were involved in commercial sexual
activities (see section 6.d.), and the Government acknowledged the
estimate as generally reflective of current levels of exploitation.
The lack of a legal prohibition rendered it difficult to assess
accurately the extent of trafficking within the vulnerable illegal
migrant communities, especially Haitian communities. In 2005 the
International Organization of Migration issued a report on human
trafficking suggesting a link between irregular migration and forced
labor for domestic servitude, agriculture, and construction.
Persons With Disabilities.--There is no specific law protecting
persons with physical or mental disabilities from discrimination in
employment, education, access to health care, or in the provision of
other state services. Although the law mandates access for persons with
physical disabilities in new public buildings, the authorities rarely
enforced this requirement, and very few buildings and public facilities
were accessible to persons with disabilities. Advocates for persons
with disabilities complained of widespread job discrimination and
general apathy on the part of private employers and political leaders
toward the need for training and equal opportunity.
The Disability Affairs Unit of the Ministry of Social Development
and National Insurance worked with the Bahamas Council for Disability,
an umbrella organization of nongovernmental organizations that offered
services for persons with disabilities, to provide a coordinated public
and private sector approach to the needs of persons with disabilities.
A mix of government and private residential and nonresidential
institutions provided limited education, training, counseling, and job
placement services for adults and children with both physical and
mental disabilities.
Former residents of the Cheshire Home, who alleged government
disability discrimination in their June 2005 eviction from the home,
were relocated to new housing at government expense. However, the
residents claimed that the new housing did not meet disability access
requirements.
In September employees at Sandilands Rehabilitation Center
protested inhumane conditions at the Government center, which provides
assistance to the mentally disabled. The employees claimed the center
lacked sanitary conditions and regular power, creating respiratory
problems for residents. The Government stated that it was addressing
the concerns through improved maintenance of the facility.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to unofficial
estimates, between 10 and 25 percent of the population are Haitians or
persons of Haitian descent, making them the largest and most visible
ethnic minority. Many persons of Haitian origin lived in shantytowns
with limited sewage, garbage, law enforcement, or other infrastructure.
Haitian children generally were granted access to education and social
services, but some Haitians complained of discriminatory treatment in
education.
Children born to non-Bahamian parents or to a Bahamian mother and a
non-Bahamian father do not automatically acquire citizenship. Locally
born persons of foreign heritage must apply for citizenship during the
year after their 18th birthday, sometimes waiting many years for a
government response. Some persons claimed that the short window for
application, difficult documentary requirements, and the long waiting
times created generations of persons without citizenship in any nation.
Anti-Haitian prejudice and resentment regarding continued Haitian
immigration was common. Observers reported that efforts by the
authorities to stem the influx of illegal Haitian immigrants, and
efforts by politicians to appear tough on immigration, fueled anti-
Haitian attitudes. Interethnic tensions and inequities persisted. Human
rights observers criticized the April raids by police and immigration
officials who arrested and detained hundreds of persons on the basis of
suspected Haitian nationality (see section 1.d.).
Members of the Haitian community complained of discrimination in
the job market, specifically that identity and work permit documents
were controlled by employers seeking leverage by threat of deportation.
Those persons also complained of tactics used by immigration officials
in raids of Haitian or suspected Haitian communities. Individuals born
in the country to Haitian parents were required to pay the tuition rate
for foreign students while waiting for their request for citizenship to
be processed.
In January 2005 a dispute over police handling of a traffic
accident led to complaints of police bias against Haitians, including
two days of violence in a Nassau Haitian neighborhood. Following the
incident several persons with Haitian surnames were prosecuted, and two
officers were investigated for alleged improper use of force.
Investigation of one officer determined that he acted in self defense,
while investigation of the second officer continued.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal discrimination
against homosexuals occurred, with some persons reporting job and
housing discrimination based upon sexuality. Although homosexual
relations between consenting adults are legal, there was no legislation
to address the human rights concerns of homosexuals, lesbians,
bisexuals, or transgendered persons. In March the Constitutional Review
Commission found that sexual orientation did not deserve protection
against discrimination. The Government banned a film containing
homosexual content, sponsored an antihomosexual rally, and included
antihomosexual content in public schools.
On February 22, a private security guard allegedly beat Loxsley
Bastian as a result of his sexual orientation. Bastian alleged that in
response to the incident, police hit him, used slurs against him, and
failed to take appropriate action against the security guard. Police
denied wrongdoing, claiming Bastian was abusive and disruptive.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join unions without previous authorization or excessive requirements,
and those laws were applied in practice. However, there were instances
in past years of the Government frustrating unions, most commonly by
not honoring industrial agreements. Trade unions believed that some
employers deliberately dragged out negotiations for over a year, after
which the employer may call for the union's recognition to be revoked.
Members of the police force, defense force, fire brigade, and prison
guards may not organize or join unions. Almost one-quarter of the work
force (and 80 percent of the workers in the important hotel industry)
belonged to unions.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination, and employers can be
compelled to reinstate workers illegally fired for union activity. This
law was generally enforced. Under the law labor disputes first are
filed with the labor ministry and then, if not resolved, are
transferred to an industrial tribunal. The tribunal's decision is final
and only can be appealed in court on a strict question of law. Some
employers complained that the industrial tribunal was biased unfairly
in favor of employees.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Workers freely
exercised their right to organize and participate in collective
bargaining, which the law protects. Unions and employers negotiated
wage rates without government interference.
The law provides for the right to strike, and while workers
exercised this right in practice, the Government has the right to
intervene in the national interest to assure delivery of essential
services. The Industrial Relations Act requires that before a strike
begins, a simple majority of a union's membership must vote in favor of
a motion to strike. The Ministry of Labor and Immigration must approve
a strike ballot.
Freeport is a specially designated free trade zone. Labor law and
practice in this zone do not differ from those in the rest of the
country.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Although the law
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 6.d.).
d. Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment.--Although
the law prohibits the employment of children under the age of 14 for
industrial work or work during school hours, some children worked part-
time in light industry and service jobs. Children under the age of 16
may not work at night. There was no legal minimum age for employment in
other sectors. The Ministry of Labor and Immigration is responsible for
enforcing these laws and does so adequately.
Although no current data existed, observers generally acknowledged
that a small number of children were involved in the worst forms of
child labor, including slavery/bondage, sexual exploitation of children
through incestuous relationships, illicit or unlawful activities,
hazardous activities, and commercial sexual activities (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage for government
employees, set in 2000, was $4.45 (B$4.45) per hour. A minimum wage for
the private sector was established in 2002 at $4.00 (B$4.00) per hour.
The labor ministry was responsible for enforcing the minimum wage but
was unable to do so effectively. Undocumented migrant workers often
earned less than the minimum wage. The minimum wage did not provide a
decent standard of living for a worker and family.
The law provides for a 40-hour workweek, a 24-hour rest period, and
time-and-a-half payment for hours worked beyond the standard workweek.
These standards were effectively enforced.
The Ministry of Labor and Immigration is responsible for enforcing
labor laws and had a team of inspectors that conducted on-site visits
to enforce occupational health and safety standards and investigate
employee concerns and complaints; however, inspections occurred
infrequently. The ministry normally announced inspection visits in
advance, and employers generally cooperated with inspectors to
implement safety standards. It was uncertain whether these inspections
effectively enforced health and safety standards. The law does not
provide a right for workers to remove themselves from dangerous work
situations without jeopardy to continued employment.
__________
BARBADOS
Barbados is a parliamentary democracy with a population of
approximately 278,000. In the 2003 parliamentary elections, which were
considered generally free and fair, citizens returned the Barbados
Labour Party (BLP) to a third successive term in office over the
opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP). The civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
Although the Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, problems included excessive use of force by police, poor
prison conditions, and societal violence against women and children.
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 three suspects in separate altercations during
the year. Authorities had not made any determination regarding possible
culpability in these killings by year's end.
In June police shot and killed an unidentified man who reportedly
had stabbed a police officer. In August a media report stated that
police returned fire after being shot at while intercepting a
suspicious-looking vehicle, killing one unidentified man and injuring
two others. In October the media reported that police shot and killed
Kevin Ellis, 32, after a confrontation with officers. Authorities
planned to conduct inquests into the killings but had not commenced at
year's end.
In July the authorities completed the inquest into the fatal police
shooting of convicted murderer and frequent escapee Winston Hall in
2004, and the coroner ruled the killing lawful.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--While the constitution specifically prohibits torture and
inhuman or degrading punishment or other treatment, there were reports
that police sometimes used excessive force. The majority of complaints
against the police alleged unprofessional conduct and beating or
assault. Police were occasionally accused of beating suspects to obtain
confessions, and suspects often recanted their confessions during their
trial. There were many cases where the only evidence against the
accused was a confession.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
very poor. Prisoners continued to be held in the temporary prison
facility constructed at Harrison Point after the March 2005 riots
destroyed Glendairy Prison. A new permanent prison, designed to meet
modern international standards, was under construction with completion
slated for August 2007.
In March media reports attributed the motive behind the Glendairy
Prison fire to widespread incidents of rape within the prison and
alleged that rape was also prevalent in the temporary facility in
Harrison Point. After his release and deportation, a British citizen
incarcerated at Glendairy at the time of the riot wrote several
articles highlighting prison conditions at both facilities. In addition
to describing the circumstances that led to the Glendairy Prison fire,
he also reported on conditions at the temporary facility in Harrison
Point. His account alleged unchecked gang violence, indifference of
guards to medical needs, cramped quarters, and unsanitary conditions.
In April authorities charged Gerald Orland Clarke with killing
fellow inmate Junior ``Nook Nook'' Boyce during the 2005 riot. The
commission investigating the Glendairy Prison fire charged 26 other men
with arson in June.
Conditions and services at the temporary prison remained
inadequate. Press reports included complaints by prisoners and their
families about poor conditions, including unsanitary cells, inedible
food, and unclean drinking water. Family members complained that they
were denied the opportunity to visit or communicate with their
relatives in prison. Attorneys also complained that they were denied
access to their clients held at Harrison Point. The superintendent of
prisons responded that the emergency situation necessitated temporary
restrictions on visits but that attorneys were allowed to visit
prisoners.
While the Government normally permitted prison visits by
independent human rights monitors, no such visits were known to have
taken place during the year at the Harrison Point facility.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Royal Barbados
Police Force (RBPF) numbered 1,394--including 110 special constables--
and is responsible for internal law enforcement. While still a male-
dominated profession, the number of female recruits to the RBPF was on
the rise. The small Barbados Defence Force (BDF) protects national
security and may be called upon to maintain public order in times of
crisis, emergency, or other specific need. The RBPF reports to the
minister of home affairs, and the BDF reports to the minister of
defense and security. Although the police largely were unarmed, special
RBPF foot patrols in high crime areas carried firearms in response to
public concern. An armed special rapid response unit continued to
operate. The law provides that the police can request the BDF to assist
them as needed with special joint patrols.
The Office of Professional Responsibility, headed by a
superintendent, handled complaints of inappropriate police conduct. In
2004 an independent Police Complaints Authority (PCA) was established
to review complaints against the police. In 2005 the PCA's chairman
resigned and was not replaced; reportedly no complaints were ever
submitted to the PCA.
Arrest and Detention.--Police are authorized to arrest persons
suspected of criminal activity; a warrant is typically required. The
constitution permits detainees to be held without charge for up to five
days; however, once charged, detainees must be brought before a court
without unnecessary delay. There is a functioning bail system. Criminal
detainees were given prompt access to counsel and were advised of that
right immediately after arrest. Access to family members generally was
permitted; however, some families complained that they did not receive
regular access at the temporary facility in Harrison Point. Authorities
confirmed this, asserting that the location and security provisions at
the temporary facility limited accessibility.
Police procedures provide that, except when expressly permitted by
a senior divisional officer to do otherwise, the police may question
suspects, and other persons they hold, only at a police station. An
officer must visit detainees at least once every three hours to inquire
about the detainees' condition. After 24 hours the detaining authority
must submit a written report to the deputy commissioner. The
authorities must approve and record all movements of detainees between
stations.
There were 269 prisoners in pretrial detention at year's end.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The judiciary includes the courts of first instance, or
magistrate's courts, and the Supreme Court of Judicature, which
consists of the High Court and the Court of Appeals. The new Caribbean
Court of Justice is the final court of appeal.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides that persons charged
with criminal offenses be given a fair public hearing without
unnecessary delay by an independent and impartial court. Although the
Government generally respected this right in practice, some accused
persons spent years in prison awaiting trial. At least one person,
Clyde Anderson Grazettes, has been held on remand in pretrial detention
over four years. Defendants have the right to be present and to consult
with an attorney in a timely manner. The Government provided free legal
aid to the indigent in family matters, child support, serious criminal
cases such as rape or murder, and all cases involving minors.
Defendants are allowed to confront and question witnesses and present
evidence on their own behalf. Defendants and their attorneys have
access to government-held evidence relevant to their case. Defendants
are presumed innocent until proven guilty and have the right of appeal.
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.--Magistrate's courts have
both civil and criminal jurisdiction, but the civil judicial system
experienced heavy backlogs. Citizens can seek redress for human rights
or other abuses through the civil 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. An independent press, an effective
judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to
ensure freedom of speech and of the press.
The Government restricted the receipt and importation of foreign
publications deemed to be pornographic.
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.
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.--In August the Barbados
Advocate newspaper published an op-ed by David ``Joey'' Harper,
chairman of the Child Care Board and chief executive officer for the
BLP, which was offensive to the small local Jewish community, members
of which quickly registered objections to the article. The newspaper
printed an apology a day later, taking responsibility for inadvertently
allowing the piece to run, while dissociating itself from the views
expressed by the author.
For more detailed information, 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 it was not used.
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, 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. The Government did not grant 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, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In the 2003 elections, the
BLP, led by Prime Minister Owen Arthur, won its third parliamentary
election, returning to office with a 23 to 7 seat majority over the
DLP.
There were no restrictions on the political opposition. Individuals
and parties were free to declare their candidacy and stand for
election. In January the leader of the opposition DLP, Clyde Mascoll,
changed parties, joining the ruling BLP.
Approximately one-third of cabinet members were women, including
the deputy prime minister, who served concurrently as the minister of
economic affairs and development. There were four women and no
minorities in the 30-seat House of Assembly. There were seven women and
three minorities in the 21-member Senate.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of
government corruption during the year, and the public perception of
corruption in government was reportedly low.
There was no law providing citizens access to information held by
the Government. While access to information was provided on government
Web sites, responses to requests for specific government information by
citizens and other interested parties often were slow.
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 were cooperative and
responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides for equal treatment regardless of race,
origin, political opinion, color, creed, or sex, and the Government
effectively enforced these provisions.
Women.--Violence and abuse against women continued to be
significant social problems. The law prohibits domestic violence,
provides protection to all members of the family, including men and
children, and applies equally to marriages and to common-law
relationships. Penalties depend on the severity of the charges and
range from a fine for first-time offenders (unless the injury is
serious) up to the death penalty for a killing. Victims may request
restraining orders, which the courts often issued. The courts can
sentence an offender to jail for breaching such an order. The police
have a victim support unit, made up of civilian volunteers, which
offered assistance primarily to female victims of violent crimes.
Spousal abuse remained a problem during the year, despite legal
protections against spousal rape for women holding a court-issued
divorce decree, separation order, or nonmolestation order. The law
prohibits rape, and the maximum penalty for it is life imprisonment.
There were public and private counseling services for victims of
domestic violence, rape, and child abuse. The Business and Professional
Women's Club operated a crisis center staffed by trained counselors and
provided legal and medical referral services. The Government funded a
shelter for battered women, operated by nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs), which accommodated up to 20 women and children. The shelter
offered the services of trained psychological counselors to victims of
domestic violence.
The Bureau of Gender Affairs cited a lack of specific information
and an appropriate mechanism for collecting and evaluating data on
incidents of domestic violence as the major impediments to tackling
gender-based violence.
Prostitution is illegal, but it remained a problem, fueled by
poverty and tourism. The media reported on prostitution, usually in the
context of its role in the upcoming Cricket World Cup in 2007 and
concern over HIV/AIDS. There is no statute specifically prohibiting
sexual tourism, and no statistics on it, but anecdotal evidence
suggested that it occurred.
The law does not deal with sexual harassment, and sexual harassment
in the workplace was a problem, but no statistics were available. An
advocacy group called the Coalition on Sexual Harassment worked with
the Department of Labor, among others, to develop legislation on this
issue. Media reports often indicated that women were afraid to report
sexual harassment because they feared retribution in the workplace.
The Office of Gender Affairs in the Ministry of Social
Transformation worked to ensure the rights of women. Women have equal
property rights, including in a divorce settlement. Women actively
participated in all aspects of national life and were well represented
at all levels of the public and private sectors. A Poverty Eradication
Fund focused on encouraging entrepreneurial activities to increase
employment for women and youth. The Government reported that the number
of female applicants for the police force, as well as for other jobs
traditionally held by men, continued to increase. According to the
Barbados Economic Society, unemployment among women fell over the past
two decades and was on course to dip below the rate for men for the
first time, in contrast with the figures for 1987, when the female
unemployment rate was 10 percentage points higher than that for men.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's human rights
and welfare, although violence and abuse against children remained
serious problems.
Education was free, compulsory, and universal until the age of 16.
The Government estimated that 98 percent of children between the ages
of five and 16 attended school. The highest educational level achieved
by most children was secondary school.
The National Health Insurance Scheme provided children with free
medical and dental services for most medical conditions.
The Child Care Board has a mandate for the care and protection of
children, which involved investigating day care centers and cases of
child abuse or child labor, and providing counseling services,
residential placement, and foster care. The Welfare Department offered
counseling on a broad range of family-related issues, and the Child
Care Board conducted counseling for child abuse victims.
Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution and laws do not
specifically prohibit trafficking in persons. Although laws against
slavery, forced labor or other crimes could be applied, no trafficking
cases were prosecuted. There were reports that persons were trafficked
to the country.
A 2005 assessment by the International Organization for Migration
(IOM) stated that persons were trafficked both to work as prostitutes
and as domestic workers. Persons also reportedly were trafficked to
work in the construction and garment industries, where they were
subject to low wages and false contracts. The IOM noted that in cases
where trafficking may have occurred, the Government typically deported
the persons suspected of being trafficked and failed to investigate or
prosecute the alleged traffickers. The Government has no dedicated
facilities to assist victims and does not provide funding to
antitrafficking NGOs.
In May authorities filed criminal charges against an India-based
construction company alleged to have trafficked 14 laborers who
protested at a construction project in November 2005. The Government
immediately deported the workers and subsequently charged the foreign
company with violating the Immigration Act.
On December 8, authorities charged racecar driver Geoffrey Ullyett
with living off the proceeds of prostitution between October 23 and
December 4. The alleged prostitutes were two Ukrainians who said that
Ullyett abused them and withheld their passports. At year's end the
case was still pending, but prosecutors were hampered because key
witnesses were no longer in the country.
Although prostitution is illegal, a number of brothels with women
from Guyana, the Dominican Republic, and other Caribbean islands
operated in the country. The police and immigration officers
periodically raided brothels and deported women found working
illegally. There were anecdotal reports of government officials
involved in labor and sex trafficking.
Through August the Immigration Department deported 68 persons for
various immigration violations, eight of whom were deported for
prostitution. Trafficking victims were often treated as criminals and
deported.
In May the Government's Bureau of Gender Affairs, in conjunction
with the IOM, sponsored a two-day capacity-building workshop on
trafficking in persons to heighten awareness about potential human
trafficking. Although there were no reliable statistics on trafficking,
several media articles addressed the issue and highlighted possible
instances of trafficking as well as the various means through which
persons were trafficked.
Persons With Disabilities.--There are no laws that specifically
prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities in
employment, education, or the provision of other state services, other
than constitutional provisions asserting equality for all. In practice
persons with disabilities faced some discrimination. The Ministry of
Social Transformation operated a Disabilities Unit to address the
concerns of persons with disabilities, but parents complained of added
fees and transport difficulties for children with disabilities at
public schools.
In April the Prime Minister officially opened Harambee House, a
resource and community center specifically for persons with
disabilities. Although in April 2005 the cabinet established a National
Advisory Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, whose
mandate was to coordinate government efforts to fully integrate persons
with disabilities into society, the committee apparently never met.
While there is no legislation mandating provision of accessibility
to public thoroughfares or public or private buildings, the Town and
Country Planning Department set provisions for all public buildings to
include accessibility to persons with disabilities. As a result, the
majority of new buildings had ramps, reserved parking, and special
sanitary facilities for such persons.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There are no laws that
prohibit discrimination against a person on the basis of sexual
orientation in employment, housing, education, or health care. Although
no statistics were available, anecdotal evidence suggested that
societal discrimination against homosexuals occurred.
The Government initiated programs designed to discourage
discrimination against HIV/AIDS-infected persons and others living with
them. The International Labor Organization operated a three-year
program to reduce risk behavior among targeted workers and to reduce
employment-related discrimination among persons with HIV/AIDS. Seven
enterprises adopted workplace policies, and stakeholders met to discuss
developing a national strategic plan on HIV/AIDS.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers freely exercised their right
to form and belong to trade unions. Approximately 25-30 percent of the
120,000-person workforce was unionized; unionized workers were
concentrated in key sectors such as transportation, government, and
agriculture. There were two major unions, one in the public sector and
the other focused on the private sector; with no competition between
them, the unions wielded significant influence.
Although employers were under no legal obligation to recognize
unions under the law, most did so when a significant percentage of
their employees expressed a desire to be represented by a registered
union. While there is no specific law that prohibits discrimination
against union activity, the courts provide a method of redress for
employees who allege wrongful dismissal. The courts commonly awarded
monetary compensation but rarely ordered reemployment.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Workers
exercised the legal right to organize and bargain collectively. Since
1993 a series of negotiated protocols contained provisions for
increases in basic wages and increases based on productivity.
Government, private sector, and labor representatives signed a fifth
such protocol in May 2005.
There are no export processing zones.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice. All private and public sector employees are
permitted to strike, but essential workers may strike only under
certain circumstances and after following prescribed procedures.
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 provides for a minimum working age of 16, and this provision
generally was observed in practice. Compulsory primary and secondary
education policies reinforced minimum age requirements (see section 5).
The Labor Department had a small cadre of labor inspectors who
conducted spot investigations of enterprises and checked records to
verify compliance with the law. These inspectors may take legal action
against an employer who is found to have underage workers.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law provides for and the
authorities established minimum wage rates for specified categories of
workers. The categories of workers with a formally regulated minimum
wage are household domestics and shop assistants. The minimum wage for
these employees was $2.50 (BDS$5) per hour, which provided a decent
standard of living for a worker and family; most employees earned more
than the minimum wage. The Labor Department within the Ministry of
Labor and Social Security was charged with enforcing the minimum wage.
There were occasional press reports alleging that migrant workers
received less than the minimum wage.
The standard legal workweek is 40 hours in five days, and the law
requires overtime payment for hours worked in excess. The law
prescribes that all overtime must be voluntary.
During the year the Labor Department consulted extensively with
unions and employers' organizations regarding core regulations to
implement the 2005 Occupational Safety and Health at Work Act. The
draft regulations cover general duties, drinking water, visual display
units and workstations, washing facilities, sanitary conditions,
personal protective equipment, and noise. The Labor Department enforced
other health and safety standards and followed up to ensure that
management corrected problems cited. The law requires that in certain
sectors firms employing more than 50 workers create a safety committee
that could challenge the decisions of management concerning the
occupational safety and health environment. Trade union monitors
identified safety problems for government factory inspectors to ensure
the enforcement of safety and health regulations and effective
correction by management. The Labor Department's Inspections Unit
conducted several routine annual inspections of government-operated
corporations and manufacturing plants. Workers had the right to remove
themselves from dangerous or hazardous job situations without
jeopardizing their continued employment.
__________
BELIZE
Belize is a constitutional parliamentary democracy with an
estimated population of 291,700. Prime Minister Said Musa's People's
United Party (PUP) held 22 of the 29 seats in the House of
Representatives following generally free and fair multiparty elections
in 2003. 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. Human rights problems included brutality and the use of
excessive force by security forces but in most cases the Government
took steps to prosecute or punish the abusers. Lengthy pretrial
detention remained a problem, as did domestic violence and
discrimination against women, as well as sexual abuse of children.
Trafficking in persons for sexual and labor exploitation 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.--The Government and
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings, and there
were no instances of government security force members being accused or
convicted of unlawful or unwarranted killings during the year. However,
some cases of such killings from previous years remained unresolved and
others were resolved years later.
After reviewing the August 2005 case in which police constable
Randy Sanchez shot and killed Andrew Wallace, the Office of the
Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) determined that the killing was
justified since Sanchez was acting in self defense. Sanchez
subsequently returned from administrative leave and resumed his police
duties.
In 2004 authorities charged police constable Burton Caliz for the
killing of Leroy Pilgrim in San Pedro that year. On November 14, the
charges were reduced to manslaughter, and the trial was postponed until
January 2007.
The DPP appealed the July 2005 sentence of police corporal Sherwood
Wade, convicted of manslaughter by negligence for killing Darnell
McDonald while off duty in 2003, on the grounds that it was unduly
lenient. In June the Court of Appeal overturned the original sentence
and fined Wade $7,500 ($15,000 BLZ), or nine months in prison if he
defaults.
In March the Court of Appeal overturned the convictions of Belize
Defense Force (BDF) private Giovanni Gutierrez and police constable
Dennis Palacio for the 2002 killing of Aaron Mariano, and ordered a
retrial. Subsequently, the deceased's father accepted compensation of
$2,500 ($5,000 BLZ), and the case was closed.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--While the constitution prohibits torture or other inhuman
punishment, there were numerous reports that police and prison staff
used excessive force. The Office of the Ombudsman received complaints
of alleged misconduct and abuse by police and Department of Corrections
personnel. Several cases of alleged abuse featured in the press were
never reported to the ombudsman or to the Police Department's Office of
Internal Affairs (OIA) for investigation. In a number of cases, the
Government ignored reports of abuses, withheld action until the case
had faded from the public's attention, and then failed to take punitive
action or transferred accused officers to other districts. During the
year the OIA recorded 74 allegations of police violence. In response
authorities disciplined 44 police officers, dismissed two, and arrested
five who faced criminal charges. The remaining 23 cases were still
under investigation. The ombudsman's office received 101 general
complaints of police abuse and resolved 96 cases. The ombudsman
determined that police use of force was appropriate in the majority of
cases investigated, even if the level of force used was sometimes
excessive.
On August 23, police beat 61-year-old Elario Elijio when he tried
to intervene while police were arresting his son.
On September 19, police allegedly beat Justin Stuart until his ears
bled, and tortured him by putting a plastic bag over his head and
tightening it around his neck. Stuart also claimed that police kicked
him repeatedly in the stomach and one officer tried to kick him in the
groin. At year's end OIA was investigating the incident.
On November 5, police allegedly used batons to beat brothers
Goldburn Miller, Elbert Anderson, and Ashton Myers in their home.
Miller suffered a broken arm, while Elbert Anderson was transported to
the local hospital after having a seizure. Authorities detained the
three men and charged them with obstruction. The OIA investigated the
alleged beatings. Constable Dennison Longsworth, charged with using
unwarranted personal violence, will face a police disciplinary
tribunal.
The OIA investigated the claim by John and Frans Faux that Dangriga
police tortured them in July 2005 by means of electric shock and
beating. The case file was forwarded to the Solicitor General who
represented the police officers in a suit brought by the victims
against the Government. At year's end the Solicitor General's office
was negotiating a settlement with the victims.
On July 17, authorities dismissed charges against police constable
Julio Shal in connection with the 2004 shooting injury of Pedro Guzman
after Guzman refused to testify.
Former police constable Cyril Wade was convicted and sentenced to
five years' imprisonment in connection with the beating of Emile
Pinelo. After Wade appealed, the Court of Appeal reaffirmed his
conviction in October.
After a court acquitted police superintendent Ewart Itza of all
charges stemming from a 2003 brutality investigation, the DPP filed an
appeal, and a retrial was ordered. Itza, who retired from the police
force in 2004, was charged with false imprisonment, and his trial was
tentatively scheduled for January 2007.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
poor and did not meet international standards. The country's only
prison, Hattieville Central Prison, which was designed for 1,200
inmates, held 1,411 inmates, including 33 women and 79 adolescents.
Whereas the prison budget provided six dollars ($12 BLZ) per prisoner
per day to cover all operating costs, a local nonprofit organization,
the Kolbe Foundation, which administered Hattieville Central Prison
under a Ministry of Home Affairs contract, reported that actual costs
were $7.50 ($15 BLZ) per inmate per day. Prison officials reported
overcrowding, with over 330 inmates in the two buildings that served as
the remand section of the prison. Adult remanded prisoners were held
separately from convicted inmates.
During the year there were reports that prison authorities
brutalized troublesome prisoners, including placing inmates in a small,
unlit, and unventilated punishment cell called ``supermax.'' Inmates
claimed that prison officials sometimes withheld food and water as
further punishment, conducted strip searches and beatings, and extorted
money for transfers to better conditions.
The Kolbe Foundation investigated reports of abuse or excessive
force by prison officials. In February Lisa Lauriano and Bernadine Reid
reported that nine prison officials tortured them using stun guns. The
Kolbe Foundation's Board of Directors, prison management, and the
ombudsman launched separate investigations. The board and prison
management determined that the two inmates had a history of unruly
behavior and assault and often had to be physically restrained to
prevent them from harming others. The ombudsman's investigation
determined that the punishment was excessive and the officers involved
should be punished; however, no further action was taken.
Matters of inmate-on-inmate abuse were directly turned over to
police. Prisoners convicted or accused of certain serious crimes such
as child molestation were often held in the remand section of the
Hattieville prison for their protection.
During the year the Kolbe Foundation established a three-month drug
rehabilitation program. Inmates who participated in the program were
housed separately from the general prison population in Hattieville's
newly constructed Drug Rehabilitation Center. The first ``class'' of 51
inmates graduated on July 1, and a new class of 100 started the program
on July 17.
The Government's Women's Department provided counseling and
educational services for female inmates. The prison included a separate
facility for women, located 200 yards outside the main compound.
Conditions in the women's facility were significantly better than those
in the men's compound. The Government does not incarcerate female
juveniles charged or convicted of crimes, but places them in the care
of the Government social services authorities. During the year there
were no female juveniles in the custody of the social services
authorities. Juvenile male prisoners, on remand and convicted, lived in
a separate facility outside the main perimeter fence. The youth
facility employed seven staff, including two teachers and one
counselor.
The Government permitted visits by independent human rights
observers, although none took place during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Although the constitution and
law prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, there were
occasional accusations of arbitrary arrest and detention.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--National and local
police under the Office of the Commissioner of Police maintain internal
security. The Ministry of Home Affairs supervises the Department of
Police and the Department of Immigration and Customs, which also has
national security responsibilities. The BDF, under the Ministry of
Defense, handles external security and also has some domestic security
responsibilities and supplied approximately 80 soldiers daily to the
Office of the Commissioner of Police. The 1,014-member national police
force has a hierarchical structure and generally responded to
complaints. A lack of government resources, including low pay for
officers as well as corruption, remained problems. During the year
there were no reported cases of impunity for security authorities.
The Police Department's OIA, the DPP, and the Office of the
Ombudsman investigated allegations of police abuses. The OIA handled a
total of 235 complaints, including 62 for alleged brutality by the
police resulting in the arrests, dismissals, or disciplining of 51
officers. Similarly, the OIA received 29 complaints of police
corruption. Authorities disciplined and dismissed 19 police officers
and arrested five who faced criminal charges. The five remaining
complaints were withdrawn by the complainants. Although the total
number of complaints increased by 78 percent between 2005 and 2006,
complaints of police abuse decreased by 84 percent.
Arrest and Detention.--Police were required to obtain search or
arrest warrants issued by a magistrate, except in cases of hot pursuit,
when there was probable cause, or when the presence of a firearm was
suspected. Customs officers could search a premise with a writ of
assistance issued by the Office of the Comptroller of Customs. The law
requires police to inform a detainee (in writing) of the cause of
detention within 48 hours of arrest and to bring the person before a
magistrate to be charged within a reasonable time (normally 24 hours).
In practice arresting police informed detainees immediately of the
charges against them.
Police were required to follow the ``Judges' Rules,'' a code of
conduct governing police interaction with arrested persons. Although
cases were sometimes dismissed when the Judges' Rules were violated,
more commonly a confession obtained through violation of these rules
was deemed invalid. Detainees usually were granted timely access to
family members and lawyers, although there were occasional complaints
that inmates were denied access or a phone call after arrest. Bail was
available for all cases except killing and generally was granted. In
cases involving narcotics, the law does not permit police to grant
bail, but a magistrate's court may do so after a full hearing.
Detainees sometimes could not afford bail; backlogs in the docket
often caused considerable delays and postponement of hearings,
resulting in an overcrowded prison and at times prolonged pretrial
detention. By year's end approximately 24 percent of the prison
population was in pretrial detention (see sections 1.c. and 1.e.).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice. The constitution is the supreme law of the land
and persons have the right to bring legal actions for alleged
violations of rights protected under the constitution, regardless of
whether there is also implementing legislation.
Judges hold appointments until a mandatory retirement age of 65;
however, the constitution allows extending a judge's tenure to age 75.
There were five Supreme Court justices and 18 magistrates. Only eight
magistrates had a legal training. Most judges were members of the civil
service and routinely were transferred between judicial and
administrative postings. The Government appoints the DPP for life.
The judiciary consists of the alcalde courts, which have
jurisdiction over small civil claims and minor criminal infractions,
the magistrate's courts, the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, and a
family court that handles cases of child abuse, domestic violence, and
child support. The family court is at the same level as the
magistrate's courts. Family court trials generally were private. The
defendants in family court may appeal to the Supreme Court. Those
convicted by either a magistrate's court or the Supreme Court may
appeal to the Court of Appeals. In exceptional cases, including those
resulting in a capital sentence, the convicted party may make a final
appeal to the Privy Council in the United Kingdom. Trial by jury is
mandatory in capital cases.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. The law
extends the following rights to persons accused of civil or criminal
offenses: presumption of innocence, protection against self-
incrimination, defense by counsel only in capital cases, a public
trial, and appeal. Defendants have the right to be present at their
trial unless the court determines that the opposing party has a
substantiated fear for safety, and in those cases, the court can grant
interim provisions that both parties be addressed individually during a
five-day period.
The Government provided legal counsel for indigent defendants only
in capital murder cases. Most defendants could not afford an attorney,
and there was a higher rate of conviction of defendants without legal
representation. From January through June, the sole staff attorney of
the Legal Aid Center handled approximately 200 cases (including
criminal, civil, administrative, and family court cases), but many
defendants remained unrepresented. A severe lack of trained personnel
constrained the judicial system, and very junior counsels or police
officers often acted as prosecutors in the magistrate's courts.
Lengthy trial backlogs continued in the judicial system and
increased during the year. The Government cited staffing constraints as
the main reason for the growing backlog. During the year the Government
took a number of remedial steps, including increasing the number of
Supreme Court justices, recruiting five additional crown counsels, and
simplifying the civil procedures rules. Routine cases without a defense
attorney were decided within one month, but cases involving a serious
crime or in which a defense attorney was present took more than one
year. As in the previous year, the DPP dismissed a large number of
cases, citing uncooperative witnesses and a lack of evidence.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Most civil suits are heard
in the Supreme Court, however, the Magistrate's Court has jurisdiction
over civil cases involving sums of less than $2,500 ($5,000 BLZ). In
addition to civil cases, the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over cases
involving human rights issues. The backlog of civil cases in the
Supreme Court remained a problem. To address the backlog, the Attorney
General's Office in early December appointed two temporary judges from
other courts.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such practices, and
government authorities 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. The constitution, however, permits authorities to
forbid any citizen to question the validity of financial disclosure
statements submitted by public officials. Anyone who questions these
statements orally or in writing outside a rigidly prescribed procedure
is subject to a fine of up to $2,500 ($5,000 BLZ), imprisonment of up
to three years, or both. There were no reports that this prohibition
was used during the year.
The independent media presented a range of viewpoints without
restriction, and the international media operated freely. All
newspapers were subject to libel laws that were enforced during the
year.
The Belize Broadcasting Authority regulated broadcasting and had
the right to preview certain broadcasts, such as those with political
content, and to delete any defamatory or libelous material from
political broadcasts. This right was not exercised 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.
Lack of infrastructure, as well as high cost, 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 law 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 abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts. There
were fewer than 10 persons in the 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 these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The constitution prohibits forced internal or external exile of
citizens, and there were no reports that the Government used 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. Since 1999 the Government had not accepted asylum
applications, and there was no legislation that formalized the asylum
process. The Government had no procedure in place to accept or resettle
refugees.
In February a Somali asylum seeker arrived in the country and, in
an effort to reach the UNHCR office in Mexico City, attempted to cross
the northern border with Mexico where he was detained by immigration
authorities. Help for Progress, UNHCR's NGO implementing partner in the
country, had access to the asylum seeker while he was in detention. On
May 19, UNHCR learned that the asylum seeker had been released from
prison and was escorted to the western border of the country. His
whereabouts were unknown at year's end.
UNHCR was seeking clarification from the Government as to whether
there were any persons in need of international protection among the
small number of undocumented foreigners (including some Cubans) in
detention in the country.
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 by secret ballot and on
the basis of universal suffrage for all citizens age 18 and older.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2003 the PUP won
reelection in generally free and fair elections.
There were two women in the 29-seat House of Representatives, one
of whom was appointed to serve as Speaker of the House, and two women
in the 12-member appointed Senate. In October the opposition UDP
replaced three of its senators, bringing the total number of women in
the Senate to three. There was one woman in the cabinet, and six women
were chief executive officers of ministries. Among the country's ethnic
groups, Mestizo, Creole, Maya, Garifuna, and other minority and
immigrant groups were represented in the National Assembly and at the
highest levels of government.
Governmental Corruption and Transparency.--Public surveys and the
NGO Transparency International indicated that perceptions of serious
corruption increased compared with 2005. Evidence of government
corruption was revealed during the year. The Prime Minister appointed
commissions to investigate the Social Security Board (SSB) and
Development Finance Corporation (DFC), which was accused of allegedly
authorizing the use of millions of dollars in public, domestic, and
international loan funds to inappropriately assist the business
interests of certain citizens. In July the Senate committee tasked with
investigating the SSB issued a highly critical 124-page report which
resulted in the resignation of the SSB chairman, Yasin Shoman and the
firing of the SSB chief executive officer, Narda Garcia. The committee
also pledged to forward a copy of its report to the DPP for a
determination of criminal charges, but no charges had been filed by
year's end. In August the commission of inquiry investigating the DFC
began its public hearings. The hearings were postponed due to the
illness, and subsequent death, of the commission's chairman and had not
resumed at year's end.
The law provides for public access to documents of a ministry or
prescribed authority upon written request, although it protects a
number of categories, such as documents from the courts or those
related to national security, defense, or foreign relations. The
Government must supply to the ombudsman a written reason for any denial
of access, the name of the person making the decision, and information
on the right to appeal. The ombudsman's office reported that it had not
received any such appeals during the year.
Section 4. Government Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
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.
The ombudsman, although appointed by the Government, acts as an
independent check on governmental abuses. In his seventh annual report,
the ombudsman reported receiving 345 formal complaints (mostly against
government agencies), including 101 against the Police Department, 10
against the Lands Department, 18 against Magistrates Court, 15 against
the family court, 20 against the Department of Corrections, and two
against the Belize City Council. The ombudsman investigated 90 percent
of these cases, despite being allocated limited resources to conduct
investigations. According to the ombudsman, most cases were
investigated and closed without involving any other authorities.
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 effectively
enforced these prohibitions.
Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence and contains penalties,
including imprisonment for violations, depending on the crime. The law
empowers the family court to issue protection orders against accused
offenders. Domestic violence against women remained a significant
problem. Between January and September, the Ministry of Health recorded
710 cases of domestic violence of which 624 were cases of violence
against women. Approximately 45 percent of the cases (324) arose in the
Belize District, which includes Belize City. Only 112 of the 710 cases
were reported to the police. There was one shelter for battered women;
it contained nine beds and offered short-term housing.
The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape. The Criminal Code
states that persons convicted of rape or marital rape shall be
sentenced to a prison term of not less than eight years, but which may
extend to imprisonment for life. In practice, however, sentences were
often much lighter. In a number of instances, the DPP dropped the
charges if the accusing party did not testify at trial. Arrests and
convictions for rape received widespread press coverage. Police and
courts enforced statutory rape laws; however, in relation to the number
of accusations, convictions were infrequent. During the year the
Supreme Court tried 45 rape cases resulting in four convictions with
sentences varying between nine and 18 years' imprisonment. The
defendant appealed one case and was subsequently acquitted. Another
four cases resulted in acquittals, while 12 cases were pending trial at
years' end. The DPP withdrew 25 cases.
The law does not explicitly address adult prostitution; therefore,
the Government did not use law enforcement resources to combat
prostitution. Loitering for the purposes of prostitution, operating a
brothel, and sexual solicitation are illegal.
Under the Sexual Harassment Act, the magistrate's courts deal with
sexual harassment complaints. There are no criminal penalties for
sexual harassment, and no sexual harassment cases were brought during
the year.
Despite legal provisions for gender equality, the media continued
to report that women faced social and economic discrimination. There
were no legal impediments to women owning or managing land or other
real property. Women were active in all spheres of national life but
held relatively few top managerial positions. Although the law mandates
equal pay for equal work, women tended to earn less than men. The
median monthly income for a working woman was $381 ($763 BLZ), compared
with $418 ($836 BLZ) for a man.
The Women's Department under the Ministry of Human Development,
Women and Children, and Civil Society is responsible for developing
programs to improve the status of women. A number of officially
registered women's groups also worked closely with various government
ministries to promote social awareness programs.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare.
Education is compulsory for children between the ages of five and
15. After finishing primary education, children may enter a secondary
school, a government-run apprenticeship program, or a vocational
institution. These programs, however, had spaces for only half of the
children completing primary school. Education was nominally free, but
school, book, and uniform fees placed education out of reach for many
poor children. According to a UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) survey, the
primary school attendance rate was 90 percent while the secondary
school attendance rate was 38 percent. The majority of students reached
fifth grade. Schools expelled pregnant students, who then had to wait a
year before applying for readmission.
Several government-run clinics provided health care to children,
with boys and girls having equal access to such care.
Child abuse was not considered to be widespread or a societal
problem. However, the Toledo area reportedly had high incidence of
child labor and sexual abuse of children (see section 6.d.). The Family
Violence Unit recorded 80 cases of domestic violence against children
and 19 cases of sexual abuse against minors. The law allows authorities
to remove a child from an abusive home environment and requires parents
to maintain and support children until the age of 18. Many parents sold
their daughters as child brides to men, often a friend of the family
(see section 5, Trafficking).
On April 24, authorities arrested the parents of an 11-year-old
female rape victim and a 13-year-old female rape victim for allegedly
kidnapping the suspected rapists. The father of one of the rape victims
spent two days in police custody and 20 days in jail. On August 4,
authorities charged the two victims with kidnapping, denied them bail,
and remanded them for eight days to a youth hostel. Charges against the
female victims were eventually withdrawn, as were kidnapping charges
against their fathers after one of the complainants and her family left
the country. No charges were filed against the alleged rapists.
Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.).
The Family Services Division in the Ministry of Human Development,
Women and Children, and Civil Society was the Government office devoted
to children's issues. The division coordinated programs for children
who were victims of domestic violence, advocated remedies in specific
cases before the family court, conducted public education campaigns,
investigated cases of trafficking in children (see section 5,
Trafficking), and worked with local and international NGOs and UNICEF
to promote children's welfare.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
which is punishable by fines of up to $5,000 ($10,000 BLZ) and
imprisonment of up to five years. There were reports that persons were
trafficked within and to the country, mainly from neighboring
countries.
There were no reliable estimates of the extent of trafficking.
There were reports that women were trafficked to the country from
neighboring countries primarily for prostitution and nude dancing. NGOs
that worked with commercial sex workers reported that most prostitutes
were in the country (and in their current occupation) by choice,
usually at the suggestion of a friend or family member who was also
engaged in commercial sex work. Victims generally lived in squalid
conditions in the bars where they worked. Some bar owners reportedly
confiscated victims' passports.
There were reports of persons trafficked for labor purposes,
including instances of Chinese immigrants being forced to work in local
Chinese-owned sweatshops and of children working in activities such as
shining shoes or selling newspapers at kiosks (see section 6.d.).
Members of the East Indian community also trafficked persons from India
as bonded laborers, holding their passports and paying less than
minimum wage.
During the year the Government improved its efforts to identify
trafficking victims by increasing the number of investigations and
raids on suspected brothels. In August the Government reported that it
conducted six unannounced raids over a 60-day period, which resulted in
the identification of seven trafficking victims. The Government
reported no arrests as a result of these raids.
In June police arrested Jitendra Chawla (also known as Jack
Charles), an Indian businessman, and charged him with withholding his
employees' travel documents; the case was pending at year's end.
In July authorities arrested Amparo Zetina and charged her with
trafficking in persons. Amabilia Esquivel, a 19-year-old Guatemalan
woman, reported that she had been hired to work in Zetina's restaurant,
but after arriving in the country she was repeatedly asked to sexually
satisfy male patrons. When she declined, Zetina withheld her pay.
Esquivel claimed that when she went to a friend for help, she was
ambushed and beaten by people believed to be acting on Zetina's behalf.
The case was adjourned until January 2007.
The Government's National Committee for Families and Children
reported instances of minors engaged in prostitution with older male
clientele, in some cases of their own volition, in others arranged by
their family. Although the girls were typically of high-school age,
some were as young as 12 and many came from economically disadvantaged
families in which their mothers also were victims of the same abuse.
The girls often provided sexual favors to older men in exchange for
clothing, jewelry, or school fees and books. In many cases, the
Government was not able to prosecute individuals for unlawful carnal
knowledge because the victims or their families were reluctant to press
charges.
The February 2005 case of a Salvadoran national and mother of a 12-
year-old girl, charged with abetting carnal knowledge, as well as the
cases of three other persons held on related charges were pending at
year's end.
The December 2005 police case of Petronila Urratio, charged with
forcing her 12-year-old daughter to have sexual intercourse with
clients, was set for preliminary inquiry before the San Ignacio
Magistrate's Court on January 25, 2007.
In the December 2005 case in which a Salvadoran national, Santos
Martinez, took a 12-year-old girl to El Salvador for the purpose of
sexual exploitation, Salvadoran authorities detained Martinez, but it
was unknown whether Belizean authorities applied for his extradition.
The law also provides for limited victims' assistance, although in
practice there were insufficient government resources to provide
meaningful aid to victims. Noncitizen victims willing to assist in
prosecuting traffickers are legally eligible for residency status.
The Trafficking in Persons Committee, under the Ministry of Home
Affairs, is the official government agency responsible for combating
trafficking.
The Government's newly revitalized Antitrafficking Committee, made
up of NGOs, Ministry of Human Development, social workers, and police,
provided training programs for police, immigration officials, and
social workers.
Persons With Disabilities.--Although the law does not expressly
prohibit discrimination against persons with physical and mental
disabilities, the constitution provides for the protection of all
citizens from any type of discrimination. The law does not provide for
accessibility for persons with disabilities. There are two schools--the
Cayo Deaf Institute in Central Farm and the Stella Maris School for
disabled children in Belize City--and four special education centers
(located in Corozal, Punta Gorda, Orange Walk, and Dangriga) for
children with disabilities. During the year there were no reports of
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, and other state services. The
government-operated Committee for those with Disabilities is tasked
with enforcing protection and public education.
Private companies and NGOs, such as the Belize Association of and
for Persons with Disabilities and the Belize Center for the Visually
Impaired, provided services to persons with disabilities. The Ministry
of Education maintained an educational unit offering limited special
education programs with strict entry requirements, within the regular
school system.
Indigenous People.--The country is a pluralistic society comprising
several ethnic minorities and indigenous Mayan groups. Among the
country's indigenous population, the Mopan and Ke'kchi historically
were characterized under the general term Maya, although self-
proclaimed leaders more recently asserted that they should be
identified as the Masenal (``common people''). The Maya Leaders'
Alliance (MLA), which comprised the Toledo Maya Cultural Council, the
Q'eqch'' Council of Belize, the Toledo Alcaldes Association, and the
Toledo Maya Women's Council, monitors development in the Toledo
District with the goal of protecting Mayan land and culture. While
there were legal disputes concerning land development, there were no
reports of governmental violations of civil or political rights.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Ethnic tension,
particularly resentment of recently arrived Central American and Asian
immigrants, continued to be a problem.
There was some societal discrimination against persons with HIV/
AIDS, and the Government worked to combat it through the public
education efforts of the National AIDS Commission (NAC) under the
Ministry of Human Development and through the Pan-American Social
Marketing Organization, which received foreign government assistance.
In December 2005 the country adopted a national HIV/AIDS policy that
promotes voluntary counseling and testing. Shortly thereafter, the BDF
announced its intent to implement a policy requiring HIV testing for
all new recruits. After the NAC expressed concern that BDF's policy was
inconsistent with national policy, the NAC undertook a dialogue with
BDF to synchronize BDF's HIV testing requirements with the national
policy. No agreement had been reached by the end of the year.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--By law and in practice, workers
generally were free to establish and join trade unions. Nine
independent unions, whose members constituted approximately 7 percent
of the labor force, represented a cross-section of workers, including
most civil service employees. The Ministry of Labor recognizes a union
after it has registered with the registrar's office. The National Trade
Union Congress of Belize only recognized unions that held free annual
elections of officers. Both law and precedent effectively protect
unions against dissolution or suspension by administrative authority.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination but does not require
reinstatement of employees fired for union organizing activities.
However, an aggrieved employee can seek such redress from the courts.
In practice, effective redress for workers dismissed for union
organizing was extremely difficult to obtain. Although workers are able
to file complaints with the Labor Department, it was difficult for
workers filing complaints to prove that a termination was due to union
activity.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for collective bargaining, and unions practiced it freely.
Although employers and unions can set wages in free negotiations, more
commonly employers simply established them. The labor commissioner or
his representative has the authority to act as a mediator in deadlocked
collective bargaining negotiations between labor and management,
offering nonbinding counsel to both sides. If either union or
management chooses not to accept the commissioner's decision, both may
request a legal hearing.
Unions may organize freely, but the law does not require employers
to recognize a union as a bargaining agent if no union within that
sector covers more than 50 percent of the workers.
The law permits unions to strike and does not require notice before
a strike. However, this right is not extended to public sector workers
in areas designated as ``essential services,'' which is broadly defined
and includes postal, sanitary, health, and other services, as well as
services in which petroleum products are sold. The law also empowers
the Government to refer a dispute to compulsory arbitration in order to
prohibit or terminate a strike.
In July 80 percent of the DFC workforce went on a one-day strike to
protest the Government's decision to recommend that the DFC Board of
Directors forgive $3.2 million ($6.4 million BLZ) in outstanding
student loans. Their main concerns were that the Government failed to
consult the union before making the recommendation, that the loan
forgiveness packages were not properly executed, and that the program
included persons capable of paying off their loans. In the end, the
Government made no attempt to address the employees' concerns.
There are no special laws or exemptions from the regular labor laws
in the country's four general and 26 special export processing zones
(EPZs). There were no unions in the EPZs.
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.--
Child labor was a particular problem in family-related commercial
activities. The law prohibits the employment of children under age 12
and the employment of children between the ages of 12 and 14 before the
end of school hours on official school days. While the law does not
expressly provide for a maximum number of weekly hours of work that can
be performed by persons under 18 years of age, it generally limits work
hours for all persons to 45 hours per week. The law expressly prohibits
children from working overtime. By law, children are permitted to work
on family farms and in family-run businesses. The minimum age for
employment involving hazardous machinery is 17 years. There were
ambiguities in the legal definition of child labor in relation to light
work, hazardous work, and artistic performance. Inspectors from the
Departments of Labor and Education are responsible for enforcing these
regulations, but there were no updated reports on whether child labor
laws were well enforced during the year.
In 2003 the Central Statistical Office issued the findings of an
ILO study that estimated that 6 percent of children between the ages of
five and 17 were working, with 69 percent engaged in hazardous work.
The study did not include the sizeable population of undocumented
minors, many of whom were not in school. The Department of Labor
coordinated with police and social services authorities to provide
health and other services to undocumented foreign children who worked.
Children in rural areas worked on family plots and businesses after
school, on weekends, and during vacations, and were involved in the
citrus, banana, and sugar industries as field workers. Children in
urban areas shined shoes, sold food, crafts, and other small items, and
worked in markets. Adolescent girls, some of whom were trafficked
within the country and to and from neighboring countries, worked as
domestic servants, while some worked in commercial sexual activities
(see section 5). There were no government-sponsored child labor
prevention programs.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage varies
according to the type of work in which the employee is engaged. For
those in agriculture, agro-industry, or the economic processing zones
and for ``bona fide students,'' hourly minimum wage is one dollar
($2.00 BLZ); for manual and domestic workers, it is $1.12 ($2.25 BLZ).
The minimum wage law did not cover workers paid on a piecework basis.
The Ministry of Labor was charged with enforcing the minimum wage,
which generally was respected in practice. The national minimum wage
did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
The law sets the workweek at no more than six days or 45 hours and
requires premium payment for overtime work. The exploitation of
undocumented Central American workers, particularly young service
workers and agricultural workers, continued to be a problem.
Several different health and safety regulations covered numerous
industries, and the Ministry of Labor set and enforced these
regulations to varying degrees. The Government committed its limited
inspection and investigative resources principally to urban and more
accessible rural areas where labor, health, and safety complaints were
registered. Workers had the legal right to leave a dangerous workplace
situation without jeopardy to continued employment, and did so in
practice.
__________
BOLIVIA
Bolivia is a constitutional, multiparty democracy with a population
of 8.5 million. In December 2005 in a generally free and fair process,
citizens elected Evo Morales Ayma, an indigenous politician and coca
union leader, as President. Morales took office January 22, and under
his administration the civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.
On July 2, citizens elected a Constituent Assembly (CA) to re-write
the country's constitution, and Morales' Movement Toward Socialism
(MAS) party won 137 of the 255 available CA seats. The election did not
give the MAS the two-thirds majority needed to approve constitutional
changes, which became a growing source of tension between the MAS and
opposition parties. Nonetheless, the MAS used a simple majority vote to
give the CA plenipotentiary powers to ``re-found'' the state (as
opposed to simply revising the constitution), an action taken over the
objections of the opposition. At year's end the MAS and the opposition
remained deadlocked over the CA's voting rules.
While the Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, there were problems in some areas. The most significant human
rights problems were abuses by security forces, including several
deaths; harsh prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention;
threats to civil liberties, including the right to a fair and public
trial, press and religious freedoms; corruption and a lack of
transparency in government; discrimination based on gender and
ethnicity; trafficking in persons; child labor; and brutal working
conditions in the mining sector.
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. Nevertheless, three persons were killed, dozens were injured, and
several others were held hostage during violent demonstrations in Oruro
and Cochabamba (see section 2.b.). Additionally, security forces killed
at least four persons in unrelated events during the year.
On June 9, off-duty police officer Santiago Orocando Arevillca was
shot and killed during a conflict with security forces (see section
2.b.).
On July 5, naval officer Wilder Rene Blanco Mendoza was found dead
in El Alto; his body showed signs of torture. Officer Blanco had
disappeared on June 16. The prime suspects, the last two individuals to
have seen him, were also military officers. The case remained under
investigation at year's end.
On September 29, 50 to 60 security force members attempted to enter
the Carrasco national park to eradicate coca. Reportedly, approximately
200 armed coca growers (cocaleros) conducted a surprise attack on the
security force, which resulted in the death of cocaleros Rember Guzman
Zambrana and Celestino Rinaldi, as well as eight injuries and the
taking of nine police hostages. The police were set free after security
forces released four people detained in the attack.
There were several deaths due to prison violence during the year
(see section 1.c.).
During the year vigilante action killed at least four persons (see
section 1.c.). On June 28, a mob of approximately 400 residents of El
Alto lynched a presumed thief. On July 24, in Pampa San Miguel,
Cochabamba, a 22-year-old man was severely beaten and burned by his
neighbors, who accused him of sexually assaulting a senior citizen. He
died two days later. On August 6, neighbors beat to death one of two
suspected intruders in Villa Nueva, Potosi, after residents came to the
aid of their neighbor, who discovered the suspects in her home. On
October 28, citizens burned to death Juan Pesoa Chuve of the indigenous
community of Puesto Nuevo de Lomerio in Santa Cruz Department.
According to preliminary police findings, an ad hoc people's tribunal
sentenced him for having committed acts of witchcraft that harmed his
community. (The penal code has no law against witchcraft.)
In the January 2005 case in which naval officer Ruben Dario Rojas
shot and killed a 12-year-old boy in Riberalta, on July 1, authorities
sentenced Dario to three years in prison.
There were no developments regarding the June 2005 death of Carlos
Coro Mayta, who was killed by unknown actors during civil unrest
outside the city of Sucre. The Government indemnified the family for
his death, and the investigation continued at year's end.
The case of the August 2005 death of military conscript Fredy
Moises Kanqui, shot and killed by army officer Luis Fernando Pereara
Ramos, was still pending in a military court at year's end, and Pereara
remained in preventive detention.
There were no new developments in the August 2005 case of police
officer Santiago Calderon Romero, killed during a confrontation in
Santa Cruz, or in the September 2005 case of Gumercindo Mamani, Damaso
Condori, and Dionicio Flores, killed on the outskirts of El Alto in
Viacha in a dispute between two communities over land ownership.
There were no developments in the investigations of the 2004 deaths
of officer Saul Coronado and two peasants, Hernan Masay and Eddy
Argmon, during confrontations between security forces and civilians in
the town of San Pablo.
There were no new developments in the investigations of the 2004
confrontations between cocaleros and security forces inside the Isiboro
Secure nature reserve, which resulted in the deaths of cocaleros Juan
Colque and Genaro Canaviri.
There were no developments and none were expected in the
investigation of the 2004 killing of Medrin Colque Mollo, presumably by
police, during a confrontation between more than 100 squatters and
security forces.
On March 17, judicial authorities freed Spanish citizen Francisco
Javier Villanueva and Freddy Hurtado, suspects in the 2004 murder of
prosecutor Monica von Borries in Santa Cruz. Judicial authorities ruled
that Brazilians Ricardo Borba Mezquita and Sandro Carvalho, who escaped
from a Santa Cruz prison in 2005, as well as Italian Marco Marino
Diodato, who remained at large, were responsible for the murder (see
section 1.c.).
In the case of the 2004 lynching of Ayo Ayo Mayor Benjamin
Altamirano, authorities filed formal criminal charges consisting of
conspiracy, deprivation of freedom, coercion, kidnapping, and murder
against 25 suspects. Rufino Penafiel and Nicanor Mamani, both sentenced
in 2005 for their association with the killing, were released from
prison. Three other persons were tried and sentenced to no more than
five years in prison. In December 2005 police arrested the principal
suspect and alleged mastermind of the crime, Cecilio Huanca, in Santa
Cruz. The oral arguments phase of the trial against 18 suspects began
on October 31; judgment was pending at year's end.
With respect to the Government's case against former President
Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and his cabinet for the approximately 59
deaths and more than 400 persons injured in the October 2003 civil
unrest, on April 11, the Government formally charged military officers
Juan Veliz Herrera, Luis Aranda, Oswaldo Quiroga, Roberto Claros, and
Gonzalo Rocabado with genocide, murder, conspiracy, and ``violating
individual guarantees'' and the ``expressed tenor of the
constitution.'' On December 4, the prosecutor ordered that the former
President's daughter appear and provide information on her father's
involvement in the events of October 2003. On December 18, the Attorney
General formally presented charges against the former President, which
included genocide, multiple counts of homicide and assault leading to
injuries, deprivation of civil liberties, torture, slander, acts
against the freedom of press, destruction of property, and other acts
contrary to the constitution.
The Government's delay in completing effective investigations and
identifying and punishing those responsible for either civilian or
security force deaths resulted in a perception of impunity. The
congressional human rights committee, the ombudsman's office, the Vice
Ministry of Justice and its Directorate of Human Rights, citizens'
groups, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) continued to press the
Government to expedite action in a number of cases under investigation
or within the court system.
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 a number of
allegations of vigilante violence that resulted in extrajudicial abuses
against persons (see section 1.a.). Although there were no specific
reports of beatings and abuse by members of security forces, the human
rights ombudsman released a report in December 2005 stating that of all
government institutions, police were the most frequent violators of
human rights.
The Chimore Center for Justice and Human Rights (CCJHR), which was
converted into an Integrated Justice Center, received 12 complaints of
security force abuse during the year from citizens in the Chapare
region. Cases were not formally filed with the Public Ministry but
instead were referred for action to the police Office of Professional
Responsibility.
Indigenous communities in areas with little or no government
presence imposed punishments that reportedly included the death penalty
for members who violated traditional laws or rules, although the
constitution prohibits the death penalty. The burning of Juan Pesoa
Chuve (see section 1.a.) was an example of ``communitarian justice''
that contradicted the formal legal system. Vigilante justice was a
regular occurrence in the mostly indigenous city of El Alto, where
images of presumed thieves were hung routinely in effigy near stores
and markets.
In addition to the lynchings cited in section 1.a., there were
press reports of 16 attempted lynchings during the year. On March 10, a
group of neighborhood residents confused Jose Luis Lopez for a thief
and tied Lopez to a venomous ant tree for three hours until police
released him. At year's end the police were still investigating this
case. Also in March union members, including Carlos Delgadillo and
Constantino Quinteros, tied coca farmer Juan Chavez to a venomous ant
tree for two hours for failing to attend a March 15 union meeting. The
police detained five suspects at year's end.
Law enforcement officials complained of the danger of intervening
in lynchings because they were frequently outnumbered by neighborhood
residents with whom they had to negotiate to gain the release of
suspected criminals into government custody. In neighborhoods known for
lynching attempts, residents attempted to justify vigilante action by
asserting a lack of local law enforcement.
There were no new developments in the December 2005 beating of
Alvaro Guzman, director of human rights for the Vice Ministry of
Justice, by La Paz police officers Rene de Rio Rosales, Mario Vaca, and
Edgar Choque.
There were no new developments and none were expected in the public
ministry investigation of accusations that Santa Cruz police tortured
Spanish citizen Francisco Javier Villanueva in 2004 in connection with
the car bombing of State Prosecutor Monica Von Borries (see section
1.a.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
harsh. Prisons were overcrowded and in poor condition. At year's end
there were 6,915 (5,934 men, 981 women) inmates in facilities designed
to hold 4,700 prisoners. Overpopulated jails included: San Pedro in La
Paz by 500 percent, Mocovi by 345 percent, and the women's jail in La
Paz by 300 percent. Prison escapes were common; on June 30, 10 persons
escaped from Bahia prison in Puerto Suarez. With the exception of the
maximum-security prison of Chonchocoro in El Alto, government
authorities effectively controlled only the outer security perimeter of
each prison. Inside prison walls, prisoners usually maintained control,
and criminal gangs operated from their cells without hindrance.
Violence among prisoners, and in some cases the involvement of
prison officials in violence against prisoners, were problems. On April
13, prisoners killed five fellow inmates during an uprising in the
Palmasola prison in Santa Cruz.
Corruption was a problem among low-ranking and poorly paid guards
and prison wardens. The number of persons held in detention centers,
intended to hold persons prior to the completion of their trials and
sentencing, significantly decreased due to the Code of Criminal
Procedure (CCP) but was still a problem due to judiciary strikes and a
general increase in crime.
Prisoners were not separated by classification of crime or status.
A prisoner's wealth often determined cell size, visiting privileges,
day-pass eligibility, and place or length of confinement. Inmates
reportedly paid fees to prior cell occupants or to prisoners who
controlled cellblocks. Although the law permits children up to six
years old to live with an incarcerated parent, children as old as 12
lived with their parents in prisons. There were approximately 700
children living with a parent in prison, as an alternative to being
left homeless.
The standard prison diet was insufficient, and prisoners who could
afford to do so supplemented rations by buying food. On April 8,
prisoners rioted in San Pedro prison to demand dietary improvements. In
October prisoners around the country went on a hunger strike; their
demands centered on modifying counternarcotics legislation, Law 1008,
which prohibits prisoners from working and restricts other benefits.
The law provides that prisoners have access to medical assistance,
but prisons lacked adequate health care, and it was difficult for
prisoners to get permission for outside medical treatment. Of the
country's 14 jails, five failed to provide doctors or medical
assistance. NGOs and prisoners reported tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in
the jails. The Government was unaware of the number of ill prisoners.
However, affluent prisoners could obtain transfers to preferred prisons
or even to outside private institutional care for ``medical'' reasons.
Inmates who could pay had access to drugs and alcohol.
There were separate prisons for women, except for Morros Blancos
prison in Tarija, where men and women shared facilities. Conditions for
female inmates were similar to those for men; however, overcrowding at
the San Sebastian women's prison in Cochabamba was worse than in most
prisons for men.
The 706 convicted juvenile (16 to 21 years old) prisoners were not
segregated from adult prisoners in jails, and adult inmates sometimes
abused them. Rehabilitation programs for juveniles or other prisoners
were scarce to nonexistent. Pretrial detainees were held with convicted
prisoners.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) visited in
November, and its special rapporteur on the rights of persons deprived
of liberty reviewed three prisons. The IACHR expressed concern
regarding prisoner health and safety as well as overcrowding. The
special rapporteur urged the Government to take measures to ensure that
family cohabitation in prisons conform to international human rights
standards, particularly in view of the ``precarious state of
infrastructure, sanitation, and security in those prisons.''
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, judges, and media representatives, and such visits took
place during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention. While the Government generally observed these
prohibitions, there were high-profile exceptions to this rule.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police
have primary responsibility for internal security, but military forces
may be called upon for help in critical situations, which occurred
during the year. The National Police disciplined its officers when
appropriate, issuing 533 administrative sanctions during the year.
Prosecutors generally were reluctant to prosecute security officials
for alleged offenses committed while on duty, in part because they
relied on the Judicial Technical Police to investigate their own
officers.
Arrest and Detention.--Arrests were carried out openly, but there
were credible reports of high-profile arbitrary arrests and detentions.
The CCP requires an arrest warrant, and the police must inform the
prosecutor of an arrest within eight hours. The law requires that a
detainee see a judge within 24 hours, during which time the judge must
determine the appropriateness of continued pretrial detention or
release on bail and must order the detainee's release if the prosecutor
fails to show sufficient grounds for arrest. Credible reports indicated
that in some cases detainees were held for more than 24 hours without
court approval.
The law provides that persons older than 60 are subject to
domiciliary detention. However, on April 3, authorities imprisoned 68-
year-old Jose Maria Bakovic, former President of the National Roads
Agency, for three weeks on corruption charges. On September 1, the
prosecution suspended its case against Bakovic in order to obtain
additional time for case preparation. Although no formal charges were
filed, Bakovic was prohibited from leaving La Paz (see section 1.e.).
On July 28, authorities placed former Central Bank General Manager
Marcela Nogales in preventive detention for her alleged role in the
improper withdrawal of government funds in 2003. The police failed to
present an arrest warrant, a requirement under the law. Subsequently,
Nogales was detained for 66 days before being released. Financial
audits conducted by a government accounting authority before and after
her detention found no evidence of criminal activity but did find
administrative irregularities. At year's end the Government continued
its investigation but had not filed any charges.
On September 8, four Chinese citizens were detained for eight days
without charge. In early November the Constitutional Tribunal upheld
their right to habeas corpus. The court ordered that the Government
determine the defendants' immigration status immediately.
Many prisoners awaited trial; as of October over 70 percent of
inmates were awaiting sentencing, but the courts provided release on
bail for some prisoners. Judges have the authority to order preventive
detention for suspects deemed to be a flight risk. If a suspect is not
detained, a judge may order significant restrictions on the suspect's
movements.
Prisoners were allowed access to lawyers, but approximately 70
percent could not afford legal counsel, and public defenders were
overburdened (see section 1.e.).
The Government trained 317 police officers in safeguarding human
rights during criminal investigations, while 800 police officers and
prosecutors were trained in human rights issues in 2005.
Denial of justice through prolonged detention remained a problem.
Although the CCP provides that a detainee cannot be held for longer
than 18 months awaiting trial and sentencing, this was not respected in
practice (see section 1.e.). If the process is not completed in 18
months, the detainee may request release by a judge; however, judicial
corruption, a shortage of public defenders, inadequate case-tracking
mechanisms, and complex criminal justice procedures kept some persons
incarcerated for more than 18 months before trial.
Children from 11 to 16 years of age may be detained indefinitely in
children's centers for known or suspected offenses, or for their
protection, on the orders of a social worker. There is no judicial
review of such orders (see section 5, Children).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, but according to court officials the Government
attempted to undermine judiciary independence. At a December 20 press
conference, the Supreme Court President stated that the Government had
systematically trampled and subjugated the courts, violating the
principle of separation of powers. Corruption and inefficiency in the
judicial system remained major problems. The Government reduced already
low judicial salaries in February, a move which led to the resignation
of many senior judges and weakened the judiciary.
President Morales and other high-level government officials
publicly commented on their desire to pursue criminal charges against
several former government officials.
The Government attempted to bring criminal charges against five
former Presidents for reasons that appeared to be politically
motivated. On March 16, the Attorney General declared his intent to
bring legal proceedings against former Presidents Carlos Mesa, Jorge
Quiroga, and Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada for signing contracts to sell
hydrocarbons to neighboring countries during their respective
presidencies. (In October 2004, congress approved criminal charges
against Sanchez de Lozada for genocide, murder, and conspiracy in
connection with the October 2003 civil unrest.) In August the
Government announced its intent to reopen a legal case against former
President Jaime Paz for narcotics trafficking that was closed in 1996.
On August 3, the Government completed its investigation of former
President Eduardo Rodriguez' responsibility for the transfer of
surface-to-air missiles for destruction. At year's end the cases
against Quiroga, Paz, Mesa, and Rodriguez were pending the required
congressional approval to proceed.
On August 25, the Government reopened the prosecution of National
Unity party leader and Constituent Assembly delegate, Samuel Doria
Medina, on charges that were dismissed 12 years ago. The Government
initiated this case after Medina's August 7 public statements in
defense of former President Eduardo Rodriguez.
The judicial system has three levels of courts: trial court,
superior court, and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court hears appeals
in general. The Constitutional Tribunal is an independent institution
and has original and appellate jurisdiction on constitutional matters.
The CCP provides for a system of transparent oral trials in
criminal cases, requires that no pretrial detention exceed 18 months,
provides for a maximum period of detention of 24 months in cases in
which a sentence is being appealed, and mandates a three-year maximum
duration for a trial.
The law provides that the prosecutor is in charge of the
investigative stage of a case and must give suspects an opportunity to
confront charges before a trial formally begins. Former President
Rodriguez claimed he did not have an opportunity to confront the
charges against him before the Government sought congressional approval
to levy them. The IACHR, reporting on its November visit, cited
``alarming statistics relating to access to justice,'' noting that only
55 percent of municipalities had any judicial authority and only 23
percent had a prosecutor.
The prosecutor instructs the police regarding witness statements
and evidence necessary to prosecute. Counternarcotics prosecutors lead
the investigation of narcotics cases. The prosecutor pursues
misdemeanor cases (with possible sentences of less than four years)
before a judge of instruction and felony cases (with possible sentences
of more than four years) before sentencing courts, both of which
feature a five-member panel that includes three citizens and two
judges. The Forensic Medical Institute opened in 2005, although the
Attorney General's office did not have the proper chemicals to begin
conducting investigations.
Superior court review is restricted to a review of the application
of the law. Supreme Court review is restricted to cases involving
exceptional circumstances. During superior court and Supreme Court
reviews, the courts may confirm, reduce, increase, or annul sentences
or provide alternatives not contemplated by lower courts.
Trial Procedures.--Defendants have constitutional rights to a
presumption of innocence, to a speedy trial, to remain silent, to have
an attorney, to confront witnesses, to present evidence on their own
behalf, to due process, to an appeal, and to confront legal charges
with government prosecutors before a formal court process is initiated.
In practice the rights to an attorney and to a speedy trial were not
protected systematically, although the CCP facilitated more efficient
investigations, transparent oral trials, and credible verdicts.
Budget shortfalls at the National Public Defender Service,
established to provide indigent defendants with defense attorneys at
public expense, reduced the staff to 54 public defenders, nine legal
assistants, and nine district directors. There was a significant
shortage of public defenders in rural areas; the IACHR reported that
only 3 percent of municipalities had a public defender.
The CCP also recognizes the conflict resolution (community justice)
traditions of indigenous communities, provided that the resolution does
not conflict with the rights and provisions established under the
constitution.
The military justice system generally was susceptible to senior-
level influence and tended to avoid rulings that would embarrass the
military. When a military member is accused of a crime related to his
military service, the commander of the affected unit assigns an officer
to conduct an inquiry and prepare a report. The results are forwarded
to a judicial advisor, usually at the division level, who then
recommends a finding of innocence or guilt. For major infractions, the
case is forwarded to a military court. Authorities recognized conflicts
over military and civilian jurisdiction in certain cases involving
human rights. A 2004 constitutional court decision provides that
military personnel should be tried in civilian courts for human rights
violations. During the year the armed forces organized twelve human
rights seminars in different cities and one seminar on the
implementation of a consensus document for human rights.
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 law provides for
criminal remedies for human rights violations, and at conclusion of a
criminal trial, the complainant can initiate a civil trial to seek
damages. Administratively, the ombudsman for human rights can issue
resolutions on specific human rights cases, which the Government may
enforce.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and while the
Government generally respected these prohibitions, there were credible
allegations of security forces making unauthorized entries into private
homes in the Chapare and Yungas regions. Residents in the coca growing
areas generally were reluctant to file and pursue formal complaints
against security forces. Those who were engaged in alternative
development activities were also reluctant to pursue formal complaints
against coca growers because of fear of reprisals by the coca
syndicates.
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 respected
these rights in practice, it publicly criticized the press.
The number of media outlets, including printed press, television,
and radio was extensive, and a healthy airing of various viewpoints,
many expressing opposition to the Government, continued. Journalists
were poorly trained, and it was common for them to combine news with
editorial opinion. While the level of antipress rhetoric by the
Government and expressions of concern about press freedom by the media
and others remained high, the Government did not take any legal or
administrative actions against the media sector.
Government criticism of the press increased in frequency and tone
after President Morales' January inauguration. Some media owners
opposed the Government's policies and printed biased news stories
reflecting their views. The Government singled out specific media
outlets, particularly those based in the east, and publicly stated its
opposition to them. On May 8, the President declared the owner of
Unitel, a large media network based in Santa Cruz, an enemy of the
Government. Then on June 1, President Morales asked Unitel journalists
to identify themselves before a large audience of MAS party members
before he verbally attacked Unitel. On June 5, Presidential security
guards assaulted nearly a dozen journalists during a ceremony in
Caracallo, Oruro.
On September 20, Vice President Garcia Linera asked media
representatives to leave before he gave a private talk to union members
from the eastern region. As the journalists attempted to leave, union
members beat them with plastic rods. On September 29, the Inter-
American Press Association charged that the Government was responsible
for increased tensions with the press and expressed concern over the
President's comments that the majority of media outlets were the
primary enemy.
On October 1, the weekly Jueguete Rabioso, founded by one of
President Morales' principal consultants, Walter Chavez, published
extensive reports questioning the impartiality of media outlets and
accusing them of being part of a conspiracy against the President.
On October 12, the Organization of American States special
rapporteur for freedom of expression released its quarterly report
citing concerns related to attacks on journalists in the country. On
the other hand, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), in its Index of Press
Freedom, lauded the country for the level of freedom enjoyed by its
journalists. RSF did say, however, that ``the growing polarization
between state-run and privately owned media and between supporters and
opponents of President Morales could complicate the situation.'' The
RSF report covered the 12-month period before September 1. On December
14, RSF issued a release stating its ``deep concern'' that the media
were becoming the leading target for violence between pro- and
antigovernment supporters. In addition to citing cases of attacks by
progovernment groups, RSF cited the September 8 incendiary bomb attack
on the state-run television station in Santa Cruz by several
unidentified members of Union Juvenil Crucenista as an example of
attacks by antigovernment groups.
In late November the newspaper El Nuevo Dia, with the support of
the national press association and human rights groups, filed a
complaint against Interior Vice Minister Ruben Gamarra after its
journalist Jose Antonio Quisbert was arrested while investigating
allegations of corruption in the immigration service.
State-owned and private radio and television stations generally
operated freely. However, there were reports that journalists
attempting to film or report on events, particularly those involving
social movements, were threatened or injured by private individuals or
nongovernmental groups critical of their reporting. On October 13,
progovernment groups attacked reporters in Cochabamba and Santa Cruz.
On November 13, 10 police officers assaulted EFE reporter Martin Alipaz
while he was trying to cover a protest in Konani. The police also took
his camera's memory card.
The law provides that persons found guilty of insulting, defaming,
or slandering public officials for carrying out their duties may be
jailed from one month to two years. Insults directed against the
President, vice President, or a minister increase the sentence by one-
half. Journalists accused of violating the constitution or citizens'
rights are referred to the 40-person Press Tribunal, an independent
body authorized to evaluate journalists' practices. Although cases
rarely were brought before the tribunal, it heard one case in 2005
involving a political candidate's defamation claim against a magazine.
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. Early in the year,
government discussions about standardizing the curriculum in private
and religious schools were met with extensive public criticism. The
Government prohibited the importation of pornographic books, magazines,
and artwork.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of peaceful assembly, and the
authorities generally respected this right in practice. While the law
requires a permit for most demonstrations, security forces rarely
enforced the law, and most protesters demonstrated without obtaining
permits, frequently blockading major thoroughfares and highways.
On June 9, off-duty police officer Santiago Orocando Arevillca was
killed during a confrontation with security forces when the Government
removed 7,000 squatters from private lands in Oruro. Arevillca, who was
participating in a protest with a group called the ``Roofless
Movement,'' was killed when security forces attempted to disperse the
crowd with tear gas. Twelve to 15 others were injured. Although the
circumstances of Arevillca's death were unclear, the case remained
under investigation (see section 1.a.).
On December 5, MAS followers unsuccessfully attempted to break into
a La Paz church where activists were conducting a hunger strike in
support of the opposition's calls for a two-thirds vote for all
Constituent Assembly decisions. After the Government announced it was
withdrawing police protection from the church, MAS protesters returned
on December 6, broke in, and chased out the hunger strikers. Also on
December 6, MAS supporters in the Yungas who opposed the two-thirds
requirement kidnapped La Paz prefect Jose Luis Paredes and held him for
10 hours in an unsuccessful effort to force him to support a simple
majority vote. Security forces did not intervene.
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 Government generally respected this right in practice. Roman
Catholicism was predominant, and the constitution recognizes it as the
official religion. The Roman Catholic Church received support from the
Government (approximately 300 priests received small stipends) and
exercised a limited degree of political influence. Government officials
on occasion criticized the Catholic Church. In response to the church's
concerns over proposed education reforms, in July Education Minister
Felix Patzi called the church an ally of the oligarchy that had
dominated the country for 500 years.
Non-Catholic religious organizations, including missionary groups,
must register with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship and
receive authorization for legal religious representation. There were
622 recognized religious groups on the registry. The ministry is not
allowed to deny registration based on an organization's articles of
faith, but the process can be time-consuming and expensive, leading
some groups to forgo registration and operate informally without
certain tax and customs benefits. Most registered religious groups were
identified as Protestant or evangelical.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal violence, harassment, or discrimination against members of
religious groups during the year. There were no reports of anti-Semitic
acts. There was a small 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. However,
protesters blocked major highways at various times at different
locations throughout the country. Blockades in La Paz, Chuquisaca, and
Cochabamba by coca growers, the MAS party, miners, and social groups
caused economic losses.
Although the Government did not revoke citizenship for political or
other reasons, an estimated 792,700 citizens lacked basic identity
documents, which prevented them from obtaining international travel
documents and other government services.
The law prohibits the forced exile of citizens, 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 United Nations
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, on December 24, the Government detained and
expressed its intent to deport Cuban dissident Amauri Sanmartino to
Cuba for his statements and participation in a violent protest against
the Government. Although Sanmartino was a Bolivian resident and not a
refugee, previous governments had agreed to protect him and not return
him to Cuba because of his fear of persecution in that country. By
year's end the Government agreed to deport Sanmartino to another
country.
The Government has a system to determine those in need of refugee
protection 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; however, the Government had
not yet adjudicated the cases of any of the 22 persons who applied for
refugee status in 2004, in part because of bureaucratic delays. During
the year 59 persons applied for refugee status, and the Government
provided refugee protection in 34 of those cases.
There were concerns that the refugee system had become politicized.
In May police arrested Angel Acosta and Blas Franco, two Paraguayan
fugitives with Interpol arrest warrants for their involvement in the
kidnapping and murder of Cecilia Cubas, but shortly thereafter released
them. The two had sought and received protected status, despite the
Government's knowledge of the Paraguayan arrest warrant. In July after
much media attention, the Government reversed its position and
cancelled their protected status.
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. However, approximately 400,000 citizens of voting age lacked
the identity documents necessary to vote. As of midyear, the Morales
government was pursuing an identification card effort, with Venezuelan
assistance, with the stated goal of improving people's access to
identification documents. Political parties and citizens groups ranging
from far left to moderate right functioned openly. Elections for
national offices and municipal governments are scheduled to be held
every five years.
Elections and Political Participation.--On July 2, the country held
national elections, which were generally considered free and fair, for
the Constituent Assembly. Voter turnout was 83.65 percent.
In national elections held in December 2005, citizens elected Evo
Morales Ayma as President in a process generally considered free and
fair, despite allegations of minor irregularities in the master voting
list. Voter turnout reached a record-breaking 84.5 percent. A 2004 law
permitting small citizen and indigenous groups to participate in
elections as political parties significantly raised voter participation
in the 2005 elections.
Although the law requires that every third candidate appearing on a
political party's slate be female, women held only 24 percent of public
offices. Female politicians reported that political parties frequently
adhered to the quota in submitting their candidate lists but
subsequently pressured female candidates to resign their candidacy
prior to the election.
Likewise, every other candidate on municipal election ballots must
be a woman, a requirement that increased female representation to
approximately 30 percent of municipal council positions. There were 23
women among congress' 157 deputies and senators and four women in
President Morales' 18-member cabinet. An indigenous woman presided over
the Constituent Assembly. Approximately one-half of the cabinet members
considered themselves indigenous, and the number of indigenous members
of the congress was estimated at 17 percent, a figure difficult to
confirm because designation as indigenous is self-declared.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--According to the NGO
Transparency International, there was a public perception of rampant
corruption in the country. The government-prepared National Corruption
Index reported that 13 of every 100 public service transactions
involved the payment of a bribe costing the country approximately $115
million (905 million bolivianos) annually. According to this index,
corruption disproportionately affected lower-income persons, and the
national police, customs, and justice system were rated the most
corrupt.
In cases involving allegations of corruption against public
officials, congress must give its approval before prosecutors can
institute legal proceedings. Authorities alleged that up to 16 former
and current congressmen used their influence in the sale of 322 visas
to Chinese nationals. On November 1, authorities placed Oscar de la
Quintana, the consul in Beijing during the time the visa scandal took
place, in preventive detention and charged him with five crimes,
including trafficking in persons, improper hiring practices (for hiring
three Chinese nationals illegally), and not fulfilling his duties. On
November 6, they charged 12 ex-congressmen (all from opposition
parties) with influence peddling, while a MAS congressman who was among
those requesting the maximum number of suspicious visas was not
charged.
On August 28, Jorge Alvarado, director of the state-run oil and
natural gas company, resigned in the face of corruption allegations
regarding his approval of a contract with Iberoamerica Trading SRL that
would have illegally exported petroleum to Brazil. Despite findings of
administrative irregularities, the charges against Alvarado were
dropped.
In September the press reported that Education Minister Felix Patzi
had authorized the purchase of computers in violation of government
purchasing rules, but there was no evidence that the case was being
prosecuted at year's end.
There was no specific information available on laws providing
access to government information or whether 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
generally were cooperative and responsive to their views; however, NGOs
and the ombudsman complained that government security forces and
ministries occasionally refused to cooperate with their investigations.
Security forces continued to provide credible evidence that radical
groups used some NGOs as a cover for subversive activities.
The human rights ombudsman is a position with a five-year term
established in the constitution. Congress chooses the ombudsman, who is
charged with providing oversight for the defense and promotion of human
rights, specifically to defend citizens against government abuses. The
ombudsman operated without party influence and with adequate resources
from the Government and foreign NGOs. Indigenous persons filed most of
the complaints received by the ombudsman. The ombudsman issues annual
reports, and the Government usually accepts his recommendations.
On December 7, members of the Union Juvenil Crucenista, an
antigovernment group, attacked the President of the Santa Cruz Human
Rights Assembly, a local NGO.
The CCJHR continued to be active in the Chapare region and moved to
expand its role as an ``Integrated Justice Center'' to include conflict
resolution. New offices were opened in El Alto and the Yungas. These
offices reported their findings to the Vice Ministry of Justice in the
Ministry of the Presidency, disseminated human rights information,
accepted complaints of abuse, kept records, and referred complaints to
the public ministry. The CCJHR also housed a medical forensic expert
and an investigative staff to review complaints. The majority of cases
received during the year related to interfamilial violence against
women and children.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Although the law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender,
language, or social status, there was significant discrimination
against women, indigenous people, and the small black minority.
Women.--Violence against women was a pervasive and underreported
problem. According to the Center for the Information and Development of
Women (CIDEM), 70 percent of women suffered some form of abuse. CIDEM
noted that the statistics ``did not reflect the full magnitude of the
problem of violence against women'' and that ``a great number of
women'' did not report the aggression they faced on a daily basis. The
most exhaustive national survey on domestic violence conducted by the
National Statistical Institute in 2003 showed 64 percent of women were
the target of some form of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse from
their partner.
Family laws prohibiting mental, physical, and sexual violence
provide for fines or up to four days in jail, unless the case becomes a
public crime subject to the Penal Code; however, these laws were
enforced irregularly. The Government took few meaningful or concrete
steps to combat domestic violence. As of November 26, the police Family
Protection Brigade had attended to 8,954 cases, as compared to
approximately 5,200 in 2005, and 3,640 were cases of repeat offenders.
However, most cases of domestic violence went unreported.
Rape also was a serious but underreported problem. The law defines
two types of criminal cases. In private criminal matters, the victim
brings the case against the defendant; in public criminal matters, a
state prosecutor files criminal charges. The CCP makes rape a public
crime. The law, as modified during the year, criminalizes statutory
rape, with penalties of 10 to 20 years for the rape of a child under
the age of 14. In cases involving consensual sex with an adolescent of
14 to 18 years of age, the penalty is two to six years' imprisonment.
Forcible rape of an adult is punished by sentences ranging from four to
10 years' imprisonment. Sexual crimes against minors automatically are
considered public crimes in which the state presses charges. Spousal
rape is not a crime.
Prostitution is legal for adults age 18 and older, and there were
reports of trafficking in women for the purposes of prostitution and
forced labor (see section 5, Trafficking).
The CCP considers sexual harassment a civil crime. There were no
statistics on the incidence of sexual harassment, but it generally was
acknowledged to be widespread.
Legal services offices devoted to family and women's rights
operated throughout the country. The Maternal and Infant Health
Insurance Program provided health services to women of reproductive age
and to children under the age of five.
Women were entitled to the same legal rights as men; however, many
women were unaware of their legal rights, although the Government
sponsored seminars to educate them. The Vice Ministry of Women in the
Ministry of Sustainable Development protects women's legal rights.
Women generally did not enjoy a social status equal to that of men.
Traditional prejudices and social conditions remained obstacles to
advancement. In rural areas, traditional practices restricting land
inheritance for women remained a problem. The minimum wage law treats
men and women equally; however, women generally earned less than men
for equal work. Women sometimes complained that employers were
reluctant to hire them because of the additional costs (mainly
maternal) in a woman's benefits package. Working women face
discrimination with regard to some benefits: they are not legally
entitled to seek insurance coverage for their nonworking husbands,
although a married man may obtain insurance coverage for his nonworking
spouse. The gender gap in hiring appeared widest in the higher
education brackets. Most women in urban areas worked in the informal
economy and the services and trade sectors, including domestic service
and micro-business, whereas in rural areas the majority of economically
active women worked in agriculture. Young girls often left school early
to work at home or in the informal economy.
Leading women's rights groups included the Campesinas de Bolivia
Bartolina Sisa, which focused on rural indigenous women, and CIDEM.
Children.--The Government's commitment to children's rights and
welfare was insufficient to improve conditions appreciably. There were
seven Defender of Children and Adolescents offices to protect
children's rights and interests.
Public schooling was provided up to age 17 or eighth grade. The law
requires all children to complete at least five years of primary
school, and primary education was free and universal. Enforcement of
the education law was lax, particularly in rural areas, where more than
half of primary schools offered only three of eight grades. An
estimated 50 percent of children completed primary school, and an
estimated 26 percent graduated from high school. In October the
Government announced that it would provide a $25 (200 bolivianos)
subsidy to all primary school students to assist with school-related
expenses. There were no significant gender differences in access to
basic education, although girls continued to drop out at a higher rate
than boys, particularly in rural areas.
Medical care is free up to age five, and there was no apparent
difference in access based on gender. Pilot centers offered subsidized
health care to children over the age of five, although clinics often
were not available in rural areas. Many children, particularly from
rural areas, lacked birth certificates and the identity documents
necessary to secure social benefits and protection. The Government,
with help from foreign governments and NGOs, made some progress
providing these documents free of charge.
Corporal punishment and verbal abuse were common in schools.
Children from 11 to 16 years of age may be detained indefinitely in
children's centers for suspected offenses or for their own protection
on the orders of a social worker. In 2005 the UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF) estimated that approximately 13,000 children lived in
institutions where their basic rights were not respected. There also
were many children living on the streets of major cities.
Child prostitution was a problem, particularly in urban areas and
in the Chapare region. There were reports of children trafficked for
forced labor to neighboring countries (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a serious problem (see section 6.d.).
Several NGOs had active programs to combat child prostitution. The
Government's plan to combat child labor included a public information
campaign against child prostitution and raids on brothels.
Trafficking in Persons.--On January 10, President Rodriguez signed
a new law prohibiting trafficking in persons, which specifically
criminalizes trafficking in persons for the purpose of prostitution and
provides for prison terms of four to 12 years when the victim is less
than 14 years of age. However, there were credible reports that persons
were trafficked to, from, or within the country. The Government
investigated 44 cases of trafficking in persons; while there were some
arrests, there were no convictions.
The country is a source for men, women, and children trafficked for
forced labor and sexual exploitation to Argentina, Chile, Brazil,
Spain, and the United States; however, there were no reliable estimates
on the extent of trafficking. Faced with extreme poverty, many citizens
became economic migrants, and some were victimized by traffickers as
they moved from rural areas to cities and then abroad. Women and
children, particularly from indigenous ethnic groups in the Altiplano
region, were at greater risk of being trafficked. Children were
trafficked within the country to work in prostitution, mines, domestic
servitude, and agriculture, particularly on sugarcane and Brazil nut
plantations. Weak controls along its extensive borders made the country
an easy transit point for illegal migrants, some of whom may have been
trafficked. Commercial sexual exploitation of children also remained a
problem.
While there were reports that some adolescents were sold into
forced labor, it appeared that most victims initially were willing
economic migrants who were duped or later coerced into accepting jobs
that turned out to be forced labor.
The Ministry of the Presidency, via an inter-institutional
committee, has responsibility for trafficking matters. The Ministry of
government, including the National Police and the Immigration Service,
the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Labor, and Sustainable Development,
as well as prefectures and municipalities, have secondary
responsibility.
Some government officials reportedly took bribes to facilitate
smuggling and the illegal movement of people; however, the Government
did not condone or facilitate trafficking and in 2005 removed at least
two high-level immigration officials on suspicion of corruption. It was
not known whether any of those dismissed were accused of involvement in
trafficking. The Government also took measures, such as instituting a
system of checks and balances at official border crossings and
airports, to reduce corruption among judicial officials responsible for
authorizing unaccompanied travel abroad of those under 18 years of age.
In June the prefect of La Paz opened a shelter for abused and
exploited children that also provided services for trafficking victims.
In November police attended a seminar on trafficking of children and
adolescents.
The Defenders of Children offices in municipalities, sometimes in
cooperation with NGOs, managed scattered assistance programs for
victims.
The NGOs Terre des Hommes, International Organization of Migration,
and Save the Children conducted public awareness campaigns on
trafficking of children.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities and identifies the rights and
benefits afforded them. A 1997 decree clarifies these rights and
establishes how public and private institutions should integrate
persons with disabilities. There was no official discrimination against
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health
care, or in the provision of other state services. However, societal
discrimination kept many persons with disabilities at home from an
early age, limiting their integration into society. The Law on
Disabilities requires wheelchair access to all public and private
buildings, duty-free import of orthopedic devices, a 50 percent
reduction in public transportation fares, and expanded teaching of sign
language and Braille.
The electoral law requires accommodation for blind voters; however,
in general, there were no special services or infrastructure to
accommodate persons with disabilities. A 2003 Presidential decree
requiring that 4 percent of the Government's new hires be persons with
disabilities had not been strictly enforced by year's end.
During the year the human rights ombudsman developed a plan to
promote integration of persons with disabilities into society, which
the Government adopted via supreme decree.
The National Committee for Incapacitated Persons was responsible
for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There was societal and systemic
discrimination against the small black minority, which generally
remained at the low end of the socioeconomic scale and faced severe
disadvantages in health, life expectancy, education, income, literacy,
and employment. The majority of the estimated 35,000 blacks lived in
the Yungas region of the Department of La Paz.
Indigenous People.--In the 2001 census, approximately 62 percent of
the population over 15 years of age identified themselves as
indigenous, primarily from the Quechua and Aymara groups. The IACHR
reported that approximately 70 percent of these indigenous persons
lived in poverty or extreme poverty, with little access to education or
to minimal services to support human health, such as clean drinking
water and sanitation systems.
Indigenous protesters were major protagonists in the events leading
up to the election of the country's first indigenous President, Evo
Morales. The Agrarian Reform Law provides for indigenous communities to
have legal title to their communal lands and for individual farmers to
have title to the land they work. Indigenous people protested the
Government's failure to provide them with title to all of their claimed
territories; they also objected to outside exploitation of their
resources. Indigenous peasants illegally occupied several private
properties belonging mostly to former government officials, often with
the backing of the Landless Movement.
Indigenous groups used the Popular Participation Law to form
municipalities that offered them greater opportunities for self-
determination. Several political parties, citizens' groups, and a
number of NGOs were active in promoting the rights of indigenous
people, although progress was minimal. The CCP recognized the conflict
resolution traditions of indigenous communities (see section 1.e.).
Indigenous people continued to be underrepresented in government
and politics, and indigenous groups bore a disproportionate share of
poverty and unemployment. In addition, government educational and
health services were not available to many indigenous groups living in
remote areas (see sections 2.d., 3, and 4).
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--While the law allows workers to form
and join trade unions, in practice this right was limited due to
inefficient labor courts and inadequate government regulation.
Approximately 25 percent of workers in the formal economy, which
employed approximately 30 percent of all workers, belonged to unions.
Workers may form a union in any private company of 20 or more
employees; however, an estimated 70 percent of workers were employed in
small enterprises with fewer than 20 employees. Public sector workers
also have the right to form unions. The law requires prior government
authorization to establish a union and confirm its elected leadership,
permits only one union per enterprise, and allows the Government to
dissolve unions by administrative fiat.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination and requires
reinstatement of employees illegally fired for engaging in union
activity. The National Labor Court handles complaints of antiunion
discrimination, but it can take a year or more to rule due to a
significant backlog of cases. The court ruled in favor of discharged
workers in some cases and successfully required their reinstatement.
However, union leaders stated that problems often were moot by the time
the court ruled.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides workers the right to organize and bargain collectively;
however, collective bargaining, or voluntary direct negotiations
between employers and workers without the participation of the
Government, was limited. Most collective bargaining agreements were
restricted to wages.
The law provides most workers with the right to strike but first
requires unions to revert to government mediation; the law requires the
same of employers before they initiate a lockout.
Public service employees, including banks and public markets, are
prohibited from striking; despite this, workers in the public sector
(including teachers, transportation workers, and health care workers)
frequently went on strike. Public sector employees had not been
penalized for strike activities in recent years. However, in August the
Government docked teachers' salaries after they went on strike
protesting the Government's proposed education reform law. Solidarity
strikes are illegal, but the Government neither prosecuted nor imposed
penalties in such cases.
There were numerous strikes organized by a variety of different
sectors during the year. Massive strikes and blockades, which included
labor movement participation, frequently prevented travel along major
routes that connected the largest cities.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the seven special duty-free zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, the
practices of child apprenticeship and agricultural servitude by
indigenous workers continued, as did some alleged individual cases of
household workers effectively held captive by their employers (see
sections 5 and 6.d.).
The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that more than
7,000 Guaranis lived in a type of indentured servitude in extremely
remote parts of Chuquisaca. The families worked land owned by landlords
in exchange for housing and food but were not paid the minimum wage. As
a result, they incurred large debts to their landlords and were not
permitted to leave the property without satisfying their debt. These
families lived in very poor conditions, without water, electricity,
medical care, or schools. The human rights ombudsman conducted an
investigation into this situation and in November 2005 released a
formal proclamation urging regional and national governments to address
the problem. During the year the Ministry of Justice began negotiations
with ranch owners to normalize working conditions and obtain unpaid
wages. On November 6, eight Guarani families received the first
settlement of $2,875 (23,000 bolivianos) and divided it among
themselves.
In 2005 the ILO reported that between 26,000 and 30,000 persons,
mostly of indigenous origin, were victims of forced labor, harvesting
Brazil nuts in Beni Department. The work was seasonal, lasting
approximately three months per year. During that time landlords sold
basic foodstuffs to workers at inflated prices; workers subsequently
incurred large debts and were not permitted to leave the property until
the debts were satisfied. Similar conditions existed in the sugar
industry in Santa Cruz Department.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child labor was a serious problem. The law prohibits all work for
payment by children under the age of 14; however, in practice, the
Ministry of Labor generally did not enforce child labor laws, including
those pertaining to the minimum age and maximum hours for child
workers, school completion requirements, and health and safety
conditions for children in the workplace. The law prohibits a range of
dangerous, immoral, and unhealthy work for minors under the age of 18.
Labor law permits apprenticeship for 12- to 14-year-olds under various
formal but poorly enforced restrictions, which have been criticized by
the ILO and were considered by some to be tantamount to bondage (see
section 6.c.).
The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing child labor
provisions but did not enforce them throughout the country.
According to government and UNICEF statistics, approximately
800,000 children and adolescents between the ages of seven and 19 were
engaged in some type of work, which represented an estimated 32 percent
of this age group. Although the law prohibits persons under 18 years of
age from work in the sugarcane fields, approximately 10,000 rural
migrant children (7,000 of whom were under the age of 14) worked in
this activity. Urban children sold goods, shined shoes, and assisted
transport operators. Rural children often worked with parents from an
early age, generally in subsistence agriculture. Children generally
were not employed in factories or formal businesses but, when employed,
often worked the same hours as adults. Children also worked in mines
and other dangerous occupations in the informal sector. Narcotics
traffickers used children to transport drugs. Child prostitution
remained a problem (see section 5).
The traditional practice of criadito service persisted in some
parts of the country. Criaditos are indigenous children of both sexes,
usually 10- to 12-year-olds, whom their parents indenture to middle-
and upper-class families to perform household work in exchange for
education, clothing, room, and board. Such work is illegal, and there
were no controls over the benefits to, or treatment of, such children.
The Government devoted minimal resources to investigating child
labor cases, but NGOs and international organizations such as UNICEF
supplemented the Government's efforts.
The Government continued its efforts to eliminate child labor in
its worst forms, working with NGOs to discourage the use of child labor
in the mining and sugar sectors by participating in internationally
funded programs to provide educational alternatives to children who
otherwise would work in mines or sugarcane fields.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government established the
minimum wage for the public and private sectors by supreme decree
following traditional negotiation with the Central Bolivian Workers
Union. The national minimum wage was $55 (436 bolivianos) per month and
did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
Most formal sector workers earned more, although many informal sector
workers earned less. While the minimum wage fell below prevailing wages
in most jobs, certain benefit calculations were pegged to it. The
minimum wage did not cover the large number of workers in the informal
sector.
Labor laws establish a maximum workweek of 48 hours, limit women to
a workday one hour shorter than that of men, prohibit women from
working at night, mandate rest periods, and require premium pay for
work above a standard workweek. In practice the Government did not
effectively enforce these laws.
The Ministry of Labor's Bureau of Occupational Safety has
responsibility for protection of workers' health and safety, but
relevant standards were enforced poorly. There were fewer than 30
inspectors throughout the entire country. While the Government did not
maintain official statistics, there were reports that workers died due
to unsafe conditions, particularly in the mining and construction
sectors. A national tripartite committee of business, labor, and
government representatives was responsible for monitoring and improving
occupational safety and health standards. The Ministry of Labor
maintained a hot line for worker inquiries, complaints, and reports of
unfair labor practices and unsafe working conditions.
Working conditions in cooperative-operated mines remained poor.
Miners continued to work long days in dangerous, unhealthy conditions
and earned relatively little for their efforts; some earned less than
$2.75 (21 bolivianos) per 12-hour day. Conditions changed little in the
past decades, as independent miners' cooperatives lacked the financial
and technical resources needed to improve mines' infrastructure. Miners
in such cooperatives worked in dangerous, unhealthy conditions with no
scheduled rest for long periods. The law provides workers the right to
remove themselves from dangerous situations without fear of losing
their jobs.
__________
BRAZIL
Brazil is a constitutional federal republic with a population of
approximately 188 million. In October voters re-elected President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva (``Lula'') of the Workers' Party (PT) to a second
four-year term in a free and fair election. While civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces, members
of the security forces committed numerous, serious human rights abuses,
primarily at the state level.
The federal government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there continued to be numerous serious abuses, and
the record of several state governments was poor. The following human
rights problems were reported: beatings, abuse, and torture of
detainees and inmates by police and prison security forces; inability
to protect witnesses involved in criminal cases; poor prison
conditions; prolonged pretrial detention and inordinate delays of
trials; attacks on the media by local authorities and organized crime;
violence and discrimination against women; violence against children,
including sexual abuse; trafficking in persons; discrimination against
indigenous people and minorities; significant obstacles to persons with
disabilities; failure to either apply or enforce labor laws; and child
labor in the informal sector. In most cases human rights violators
enjoyed impunity for crimes committed.
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, but unlawful
killings by state police (military and civil) were widespread.
There continued to be a high rate of police killings. Police
retaliation for Sao Paulo prison riots exemplified the continued
pattern of impunity. Government officials (including the President)
acknowledged the continued severity of the problem of unlawful killings
by law enforcement officials.
Reports from the Center for Studies of Security and Censorship
(CSSC) at Candido Mendes University estimated that approximately 3,000
persons were killed by police in Rio de Janeiro State during the year.
The Sao Paulo State Secretariat for Public Security (SPS)reported
that Sao Paulo police (civil and military) killed 328 civilians in the
first six months of the year, compared with 178 during the same period
of 2005; off-duty policemen were responsible for 31 of the killings.
Incidents of police shootings in Sao Paulo that resulted in deaths
were concentrated in poor neighborhoods at the periphery of the greater
metropolitan area. The sharp increase in police attacks occurred
between May and August in response to gang violence and prison riots
that overtook the city.
The prison-based organized crime group, the First Capital Command
or Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), organized a series of armed
attacks against law enforcement officials, police stations, buses, and
bank agencies and organized riots that broke out simultaneously in 71
state prisons. The police launched offensive sweeps in response to the
PCC attacks. From May to August the PCC and the state's security forces
engaged in a series of attacks, arrests and reprisals, including the
assassination-styled killing of six off-duty prison guards at their
homes, and the killing of 13 PCC suspects in a pre-emptive police
operation. Elements of the PCC or prisoners killed 41 police officers
and eight prison guards. Nine inmates were killed in the prison melees.
Military and civil police engaged in several armed conflicts with
alleged PCC gang members and killed more than 100 alleged PCC suspects.
Human rights organizations claimed that police used excessive force
and may have executed innocent victims. Several state agencies launched
investigations into the killings, but the state police ombudsman's
investigation was inconclusive. Early reports from the medical
examiner's office indicated that a significant number of those killed
by police appeared to have been shot while on their knees, suggesting
street executions.
In a preliminary report dated September 18, the Independent Special
Commission for the Public Security Crisis of Sao Paulo State,
consisting of various government human rights councils, the state
public prosecutor's office, the police ombudsman, and civil society
groups, determined that 493 persons were killed by gunfire in Sao Paulo
State in May, during the 10-day PCC crime wave--nearly twice the
average rate. The commission also cited a private analysis of 124
autopsy reports, approximately the same number of suspects reportedly
killed by police as cited widely in the press at the time-that
concluded that 60 to 70 percent of the cases presented characteristics
consistent with execution.
According to the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Global Justice
(GJ), the main human rights' problem in Rio de Janeiro State was police
violence and impunity. In many cases police officers employed
indiscriminate lethal force during apprehensions. In some cases a
person's death followed harassment and torture by law enforcement
officials (see section 1.c.).
Credible statistics from the Institute of Public Security (ISP)
concluded that from January to June, police killed 520 persons in Rio
de Janeiro City and 290 in Sao Paulo.
Numerous credible reports indicated the continuing involvement of
state police officials in revenge killings and the intimidation and
killing of witnesses involved in testifying against police officials
(see section 1.e.). There were also numerous killings of indigenous
people, mostly related to land disputes (see section 5) and of rural
activists and labor union organizers (see section 6.a.). Amnesty
International (AI) and other credible sources indicated that these
killings often occurred with the participation, knowledge, or
acquiescence of state law enforcement officials.
There were reliable reports of killings of government officials by
those who had vested interests in the officials' professional
activities. Six of the 10 suspects in the 2004 killing of four Labor
Ministry inspectors in Unai, Minas Gerais State, remained in jail
pending trial. The officials had been investigating slave labor
practices at local farms. In July one of the two men suspected of
ordering the killing, Anterio Manica, was arrested. The other suspect,
Norberto Manica, the elected Mayor of Unai, was placed in protective
custody in July and released on November 28. Prosecution remained
pending at the end of the year.
In Rio de Janeiro, NGOs including AI and GJ called for the Military
Police's Special Operations Battalion or BOPE to stop using caveiroes
(special armored vehicles). AI received reports of caveiroes driving
into communities and firing at random. According to AI, residents
reported that from May to September 2005, 11 deaths in Rio de Janeiro's
favelas (shantytowns) were linked to the caveiroes in Manguinhos,
Jacarezinho, and Acari--five on a single day. However, due to the
anonymity that the vehicle gives, no police officers were tried for an
incident involving a caveirao.
On March 2, authorities in Pernambuco State removed from duty 13
military police officers on charges that they tortured 14 adolescents,
two of whom died. According to the survivors, military police stopped
them, beat them with night sticks, forced them into a police vehicle
and transported them to the Coelho neighborhood where they were
tortured under a viaduct and thrown into the river. Twelve swam to the
river's edge and two drowned: Diogo Rosendo Ferreira and Zinael Jose
Souza Silva.
On July 17, men near a caveirao shot and killed Sergio Bezerra do
Nascimento, as he was walking to work in Favela Acari. The head of the
homicide division confirmed that two armored vehicles were operating in
the area at the time of the killing but did not confirm any connection
to the shooting.
According to the Communications Section of the Military Police
Department, only eight officers in the case of 11 military police
arrested on suspicion of involvement in at least 26 killings over three
years as part of a death squad in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte State,
remained in jail at the end of the year. The investigation was ongoing
and all involved were still awaiting trial.
Death squads with links to law enforcement officials carried out
many killings, in some cases with police participation. The National
Human Rights Secretariat reported that death squads operated in 13
states. Credible, locally based human rights groups reported the
existence of organized death squads linked to police forces that
targeted suspected criminals and persons considered problematic by land
owners or ``undesirable'' in almost all states.
On November 21, the Supreme Court released 17 persons (mostly
police) accused of being members of a death squad in Curitiba, Parana.
The group spent almost five years in jail and was released because the
prosecutors had not formalized the accusations. While the group was
accused of a number of killings, robberies, arms trafficking, and drug
trafficking, the court ruled that holding them in prison without
charges was a human rights violation.
In August a court convicted and sentenced to 543 years'
imprisonment a policeman accused for participating in the March 2005
military police death squad operation in the Baixada Fluminense
neighborhood near Rio de Janeiro City that killed 29 persons in drive-
by shootings. Ten other police officers were arrested in April 2005,
but only four remained in jail awaiting trial. In October a military
policeman cooperating with the investigation was shot to death, a
killing that police interpreted as an effort to intimidate those
investigating the case. On November 28, the leader of the military
police group, Marcos Siqueira da Costa, was stabbed eight times inside
his cell.
On their ``Map of Violence 2006'' the Organization for Ibero-
American States (OEI) listed Brazil as number one out of 65 countries
in killings by firearms, and number three out of 84 countries for
killings by homicide.
AI reported that criminal gangs and drug factions controlled some
favelas, particularly in the city of Rio de Janeiro, through
intimidation and violence. Lynching was common, especially against
those accused of rape or other crimes that went unpunished in these
communities due to the absence of state security agents. There were
killings by vigilante groups who invaded prisons.
Organized crime attacks against police and civilian targets in Rio
de Janeiro City in the four days before New Year's Eve left at least 18
dead and 32 injured, including police, bystanders, and suspects. In one
attack, gunmen surrounded and torched an interstate bus with 28
persons, killing seven. Official reports differed on the cause. The
newspaper O Globo reported that various criminal factions coordinated
the attacks in reaction to clandestine militias formed by police agents
to expel them. O Globo claimed state penitentiary officials had
evidence the attacks were in preparation for more than two months.
The State Ombudsman of the Police report indicated that ``unknown
authorities perpetrated'' 82 execution-style killings in Sao Paulo
State.
There were no new developments in the case of former military
police lieutenant colonel Waldir Coppetti Neves and five other military
police officers, arrested in April 2005, for creating a paramilitary
group to target landless rural workers in Parana State. They were
released a few days later but were no longer working for the police.
The trial was pending at the end of the year.
In February the Sao Paulo State Appellate Court absolved retired
Military Police Colonel Ubiratan Guimaraes in the 1992 Carandiru Prison
massacre; in 2001 he had been found responsible for 102 inmate deaths
and was sentenced to 632 years in prison. He was freed pending the
appeal but was killed in October.
There were developments in the July 2005 killings of four youths in
separate municipalities of the greater Rio de Janeiro City of Baixada
Fluminense. Leonardo Andre de Tulio and Claudio Andre de Tulio were
found dead in Duque de Caxias, and the burned bodies of two other
adolescents, Carlos Alberto Ferreira de Paula and Davi dos Santos
Matias, were later discovered in Xerem. Investigators were
investigating a possible link between these killings and the killing of
Matias' sister, allegedly by local drug traffickers, two weeks earlier.
The chief of police in charge of the investigation stated that two of
the victims had nothing to do with drug trafficking and indicated that
evidence showed that a businessman ordered the killings, which military
policemen carried out. The case remained under investigation.
There was no additional information on the civil and military
police internal affairs investigations initiated in 2004 into cases of
death squad activity in Guarulhos and Ribeirao Preto, both large cities
in Sao Paulo State.
According to the local Operational Support and Protection of Human
Rights Center, only two of 23 officers determined to be involved in
forming a death squad in Curitiba, Parana State, remained in jail.
Civil, military, and former policemen were among those accused and
charged with several crimes, including murder and gang formation. The
two that remained in prison were Valmor Ferreira Portal and Nizion
Ribeiro da Fonseca; the trial was pending.
During the year the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) reported that
from 31 rural workers were killed. From January to August 743 rural
workers were imprisoned. The number imprisoned jumped from the previous
year largely due to the radical Landless Freedom Movement's (MLST)
invasion of the Chamber of Deputies.
The Ombudsman's Office of the Ministry of Agrarian Development
reported 78 rural killings during the year: seven as a direct result of
land conflict, 25 determined to be unrelated to land conflicts, and 46
under investigation. In 2005, 66 rural killings were reported, 14 of
which were directly caused by land conflicts; 34 were determined
unrelated to land conflicts, and 18 remained under investigation.
In December 2005 a court convicted and sentenced two people in the
February 2005 killings of Catholic nun Dorothy Mae Stang in Para State,
who worked as an advocate for landless persons. On April 24, Amair
``Tato'' Feijoli da Cunha, the middleman involved in the killing, was
convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison. During the trial, Cunha
implicated Vitalmiro ``Bida'' Moura and Regivaldo Galvao in ordering
the crime and providing the weapon. The Para State Justice Tribunal
announced that Galvao would be tried by a Para State Tribunal jury and
placed him in custody in April 2005, although he was released on June
29; a date for his trial had not yet been announced.
In February 2005 61-year-old environmentalist Dionisio Julio
Ribeiro Junior was killed at his place of work, the Rio de Janeiro
State ``Tingua'' biological reserve, near Rio de Janeiro City. Leonardo
de Carvalho Marques, who confessed to the crime, later claimed that he
was tortured by police and retracted his confession. In August a court
acquitted him. The case remained open, and some allegedly corrupt
employees were also under investigation in the case.
In September 2005 state courts received testimony in the 2003
killings of four Landless Movement (MST) members in Foz do Iguacu,
Parana State. The accused were awaiting trial at year's end.
There were no developments in the July 2005 killing of Catholic
priest Paulo Henrique Keler Machado. On June 5, military police entered
Favela Fazenda das Palmeiras and opened fire on suspected drug dealers.
Gunshots exchanged between the drug dealers and the military police
killed 17 children in a school caught in the crossfire.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances at the hands of government officials. However, in Sao
Paulo the PCC (see section 1.a.) kidnapped a television journalist and
a cameraman in August. Both were released unharmed within three days,
but only after a major television outlet that employed the hostages
aired a video-taped manifesto produced by the PCC. Uniformed and civil
police involvement in extortion was widespread, throughout the country.
Reports of police kidnapping for ransom was not a significant problem
during the year.
In August 2005 Rio de Janeiro State authorities arrested civil
policeman Adamo Ricardo Fernandes for kidnapping a doctor from Resende,
Rio de Janeiro. Investigations into four other alleged kidnappings
involving Fernandes are ongoing. According to the chief of police of
Resende. Fernandes was discharged from the civil police and was in jail
pending trial.
In December 2005 drug traffickers from the Favela Parada de Lucas,
dressed in police uniforms, invaded Favela Vigario Geral and kidnapped,
tortured, and killed eight young persons (15 to 24 years of age). One
resident reported that police provided support for the drug
traffickers. According to Rio de Janeiro's Security Secretariat, two
drug traffickers were accused of committing the crime and were
arrested. They were later released due to lack of evidence. The
witnesses and victims did not appear during the first hearing with the
judge.
No further information was available regarding the 2004 case in
which police arrested military policeman Anderson Goncalves Viana and
his brother-in-law as suspects in the robbery of a building during
which the occupants were held hostage.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the law prohibits torture and provides severe
legal penalties for its use, torture by police and prison guards
remained a serious and widespread problem. Federal, state, and military
police often enjoyed impunity in cases of torture, as in other cases of
abuse (see section 1.e.).
During 2005 the National Movement for Human Rights (MNDH), together
with the Chamber of Deputies' Human Rights Commission, reported that
police and prison guards were responsible for nearly 80 percent of the
reported cases of torture and that most victims were young, poor, Afro-
Brazilian men from less-developed regions; it reported an average of
150 cases per month.
During the first half of the year, the Sao Paulo State Ombudsman's
Office received 10 complaints of torture at the hands of police. The
NGO Christian Association for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT) received
80 individual complaints of torture at the hands of police or prison
officials between January and October. ACAT, and other government
organizations generally defined torture narrowly according to the 1997
Law Against Torture. ACAT's directors noted that reported incidents of
``police aggression'' were far more numerous than those defined as
torture. For example, ACAT investigated several complaints that police
inflicted extreme physical harm on individuals in their homes during
the course of criminal investigations and determined that these cases
did not meet the legal definition of torture.
ACAT also investigated several collective cases of torture in the
Sao Paulo state prison system. In these collective cases, ACAT
interviewed inmates complaining of similar abusive treatment at the
hands of prison officials and then reported its findings to state
authorities when there appeared to be a practice of abuse within that
facility. In a report on the Nestor Camora Prison in Mirandopolis, ACAT
interviewed 120 inmates with similar claims. ACAT issued a similar
report based on 49 interviews at the Osiris Souza e Silva Prison at
Getulina. ACAT's directors reported that complaints of torture in Sao
Paulo's prisons spiked during periods of PCC-related conflicts and the
related prison riots (see sec. 1.a).
In January 2005 employees of Sao Paulo State's juvenile
rehabilitations and detention system (FEBEM) reportedly beat and
tortured inmates at the Vila Maria unit. Sixteen FEBEM employees were
arrested and provisionally imprisoned, while seven evaded arrest; 55
were indicted on charges of torture, failure to prevent torture, and
related charges. Sao Paulo State authorities continued their
investigation at year's end.
In March the Parana State Secretary for Public Security opened an
investigation into allegations that officials in the port city of
Paranagua rounded up homeless persons from the streets, ostensibly to
move them to a shelter, but instead tortured them and abandoned them on
the streets. In October the Municipal Secretary for Public Security in
Paranagua was arrested along with four municipal police officers for
suspected torture of homeless persons.
NGOs confirmed that police committed abuse and extortion directed
against transvestite prostitutes in the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Belo
Horizonte, and Salvador.
On June 26, President Lula created the Brazilian National Committee
for the Prevention and Control of Torture, which is headed by the
Minister of Human Rights, Paulo Vannuchi, a former political prisoner
during the military dictatorship. The same day the Government launched
a campaign against torture. The new committee is connected with the
Special Secretariat on Human Rights in the Presidency and was to act in
cooperation with international organizations and provide incentives for
the implementation of its programs. The Committee was also to include
academics, NGO representatives, and representatives of the Ministries
of Justice and Foreign Relations.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
throughout the country often ranged from poor to extremely harsh and
life threatening. During the year conditions in Sao Paulo's FEBEM
prison and juvenile detention system reached critical stages, as the
criminal justice system continued to sentence far more defendants to
prison or detention each month than were released. Many inmates were
kept beyond their sentences. At the outset of the year prisons in the
state of Sao Paulo held nearly 127,000 adult inmates, which was 20
percent above the design capacity of its prisons.
Prison riots were frequent and violent and often occurred
simultaneously, throughout the city. Half of the 141 prisons in Sao
Paulo State erupted in simultaneous riots during the May PCC-led crime
wave, and several other prison riots occurred in the state throughout
the year that left inmates dead and large portions of the facilities
destroyed. By mid-year Sao Paulo's governor declared 19 prison units
uninhabitable following the worst of the riots, and in a July press
interview he noted that approximately 12,000 inmates were living in
``precarious'' conditions.
In mid-June there were three simultaneous riots in Espiritu Santo
State where the state government requested the assistance of federal
troops. In one of the Espiritu Santo riots two persons were killed, one
by decapitation, and 265 persons were taken hostage. At the same time
in a riot in Rondonia state, 173 persons were held hostage.
Prison officials often resorted to brutal treatment, including
torture. Harsh or dangerous working conditions, official negligence,
poor sanitary conditions, abuse and mistreatment by guards, and a lack
of medical care led to a number of deaths in prisons (see section
1.a.). Poor working conditions and low pay for prison guards encouraged
widespread corruption.
Severe overcrowding in prisons and police detention centers was
prevalent and was worst in states with the largest prison populations,
such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. According to the Ministry of
Justice, there were 371,482 prisoners in a system designed to hold
215,003, an overcrowding rate of more than 70 percent. Construction of
new penitentiaries continued but was inadequate to alleviate
overcrowding.
Prisoners were subjected to unhealthy medical and sanitary
conditions. Scabies and tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and hepatitis were
widespread in Sao Paulo State prisons. According to local NGOs,
infectious diseases reached endemic levels. The HIV/AIDS infection rate
among prisoners was between 20 and 30 percent. The Ministry of Health
reported frequent incidence of skin infections, respiratory problems,
HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and tuberculosis among the
general prison population of Sao Paulo State. The Catholic Church's
Ministry for the Incarcerated in Sao Paulo reported that in several of
the city's police jails, most detainees suffered from skin or
respiratory illnesses, and prison administration officials reported
that many prisoners who transferred into the Sao Paulo penitentiary
system became infected in police jails. Denial of first aid and other
medical care sometimes was used as a form of punishment.
In Sao Paulo's Araraquara prison, several sections of the facility
were destroyed during a series of riots in May and June. In July prison
officials squeezed 1,450 inmates into a 90-foot-square open-air yard
with surrounding cells designed to hold 150 prisoners. Prison guards
welded shut the doors to the yard, food was thrown over the wall, and
medical supplies ran short. The conditions at Araraquara were raised in
a September 30 resolution of the Inter-American Court on Human Rights
(IACHR) of the Organization of American States (OAS). The IACHR
determined that the conditions at Araraquara posed a risk to the
health, integrity, and lives of inmates and those conditions could
provoke violence. In August the SAP began moving inmates to other
facilities under court order.
Overcrowding, poor conditions, prisoner riots, drug abuse, and
accusations of sexual abuse and torture, continued to pervade Sao
Paulo's FEBEM system. In April a riot at a facility in the Tatuape
FEBEM complex resulted in injuries to 44 employees and 18 juvenile
detainees. Sao Paulo's government dismantled the facility transferred
most of the juveniles to modern facilities reducing the population from
1,200 to 250. A prosecutor opened investigations into three cases and
reported that the youths suffered bruising over their entire bodies
consistent with physical abuse by officials or police. The State
Assembly's Commission on Human Rights and MNDH lodged with the
prosecutor additional complaints of abuses that occurred during the
same riot; investigations were ongoing at the end of the year.
On September 13, 14 current and former employees of FEBEM were
sentenced to prison for the torture of 35 juvenile detainees in 2000 at
the Raposo Tavares and Franco da Rocha facilities in Sao Paulo. The
prosecutor stated that the defendants promoted the use of violence
against detainees. The 35 victims were beaten with boards and metal
bars. Two of the defendants were senior officials in the FEBEM system,
and each was sentenced to 84 years in prison. Ten additional juvenile
monitors were sentenced to 74 years and eight months each, and two
facility directors were given sentences of two years and two months for
the crime of omission.
In March FEBEM began to close the complex at Tatuape, the site of
abuses and conditions so serious that the OAS issued several statements
and resolutions urging the state government to adopt reforms or risk
sanctions. The detainee population at Tatuape was reduced from 1,200 to
500.
In October a Sao Paulo judge estimated that between 1 and 3 percent
of juveniles detained in the FEBEM system, or approximately 500
persons, had some form of mental illness but were not treated
separately from the main populations. Riots and escapes continued to
occur at FEBEM facilities, particularly during the first half of the
year, and usually resulted in the deployment of Prison Authority and
Military Police tactical shock units to quell the unrest and restore
order.
FEBEM officials stated that the state would build 45 new units
designed to house 40 detainees each in 2007.
After the IACHR denounced the prison conditions at the Polinter
jail in November 2005, the jail was deactivated on January 30.
In June Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report regarding the
abuses and poor health and sanitary conditions in juvenile detention
centers in Rio de Janeiro State. HRW found that in most cases the
abusers were juvenile detention center guards, who were rarely
punished. No juvenile detention center guard in Rio de Janeiro State
has ever faced criminal charges for abusive conduct. Although Socio-
Educational Action (DEGASE) Director for Rio de Janeiro State Sergio
Novo disputed the report's findings since some facilities had been
repaired since HRW earlier investigations, HRW found that physical and
mental abuse continued and that living conditions in some of the
centers had worsened. During the year the Father Severino Institute
(IPS) for incarcerated youth in the Ilha do Governador neighborhood in
Rio de Janeiro City holds 368 minors in a facility designed to hold
160.
The Center for Specialized Treatment of Juveniles (CAJE) in
Brasilia, Federal District, held 294 youths in a facility designed to
hold 196. The staff included 17 guards, two doctors, a nurse, a
psychiatrist, 13 psychologists, 46 social assistants, and some
teachers. Of the total number of detainees, 11 females were held in
separate living quarters. Local critics reported understaffing,
violence, and unsatisfactory treatment of those with mental
disabilities at CAJE. In February the IACHR published a report that
criticized CAJE for its management of the facility, the illegal
transfer of detainees, and poor hygiene and sanitary conditions. The
IACHR advised CAJE to hire more security guards, improve health
conditions, discontinue housing more than 40 detainees per unit, and
separate detainees based upon the seriousness of their crimes.
Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo states provided separate prison
facilities for women; elsewhere, women were held with men in some
facilities. Male officers, who served in women's prisons, often abused
and extorted the prisoners for sexual favors. The administrative
director for the Secretariat for Sao Paulo City Administration reported
that approximately 5 percent of prison guards in women's prisons were
men. In only two Rio de Janeiro State police districts were women held
in gender-segregated, short-term jail facilities.
Sao Paulo State made improvements to its women's prisons during the
year. Reconstruction of parts of the Women's Prison at Sant'Ana, within
metropolitan Sao Paulo, included a state-of-the-art kitchen facility
and new privacy rooms and equipment for visitor searches. Several
businesses established enterprises within the prison where inmates
earned money and credit against their sentence for each day worked, and
the women were able to acquire machinery, piecework, and assembly
skills. A school within the prison also provided rudimentary education,
and the prison at Sant'Ana was generally maintained at or below its
designed population capacity.
On occasion juveniles were held together with adults. In March 2005
authorities temporarily transferred 400 FEBEM detainees to the adult
prison facility at Tupi Paulista in Sao Paulo State.
While authorities attempted to hold pretrial detainees separately
from convicted prisoners, overcrowding often required holding convicted
criminals in pretrial detention facilities.
On October 18, the IACHR sent a letter to the Government asking it
to protect ``the life and health of those deprived of liberty'' due to
the jail conditions in Niteroi. The IACHR criticized the federal as
well as the state governments for the deplorable conditions and urged
the Government to reduce the population and provide medical attention,
water, and light to the inmates. The case was brought against the
Government by the Association for Prison Reform (ARP), GJ, Torture
Never Again Group (Grupo Tortura Nunca Mais), Association of Public
Defenders for Rio de Janeiro State, and Violence Analysis Laboratory of
the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). The commission
ordered the Government to take measures to protect life, health, and
physical integrity in the prison. It also ordered prisoner transfers,
substantially reducing the overpopulation, providing proportional
medical care particularly to those with serious health issues,
exhaustively investigating the claims of human rights abuses including
identifying those responsible and coordinating compliance of these
actions with the organizations that reported the situation.
It is government policy to permit prison visits by independent
human rights observers, and state prison authorities generally followed
this policy in practice. Ministry of Justice officials offered full
cooperation to AI, which reported no significant problems in gaining
access to state-run prison facilities. GJ reported that the level of
access to prison facilities varied from state to state. In Sao Paulo
and Rio de Janeiro states, GJ found it difficult to gain access,
especially in the Ary Franco and Agua Santa prisons. Sao Paulo State
also employed committees of community leaders to monitor prison
conditions. The Catholic Church's ministry for the incarcerated in Sao
Paulo reported occasional difficulties in entering prisons. Sao Paulo
State, like Parana and Rio Grande do Sul states, also had a prison
ombudsman program. According to a former state ombudsman, the prison
system was understaffed, and the investigators of complaints were often
the accused perpetrators.
In October human rights advocates in Sao Paulo State, including
those who sit on a state governmental council, complained that the
state government would no longer permit them entrance to FEBEM
facilities for inspections or to meet with detainees. This followed
remarks made by the governor in April in which he accused ``external
groups,'' who ostensibly work to promote human rights, of agitating
juvenile detainees and inciting them to riot. Further, in May human
rights groups alleged that the investigation by Sao Paulo State Civil
Police (the primary investigative police force for the state) of
Conceicao Paganele, the President of the Association of Mothers of
FEBEM Detainees (AMAR), amounted to persecution. The groups alleged
that Paganele was being harassed because of her involvement in the OAS
investigations. Press reports quoted the civil police as suggesting she
was suspected of forming a gang, facilitating the escape of detainees,
and inciting crimes.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, police continued at times to arrest and
detain persons arbitrarily. The law limits arrests to those caught in
the act of committing a crime or those arrested by order of a judicial
authority.
During the year cases of arbitrary arrest or detention across Sao
Paulo State focused on the waves of violence orchestrated by the
prison-based criminal organization PCC (see section 1.a.). During the
10-day period, May 12-22, which represented the most intense period of
violence, the state Secretariat of Public Security reported arresting
125 persons suspected of involvement in the hundreds of firearm and
homemade bomb attacks across the state, but details were not
forthcoming about their subsequent incarceration or about what charges
if any were filed and what prosecutions were pursued.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The federal police
force, operating under Ministry of Justice oversight, is small,
primarily investigative, and plays a minor role in routine law
enforcement. Most police forces fall under the control of the states,
where they are divided into two distinct units: the civil police are
plainclothes officers with an investigative role, while the military
police are the uniformed officers charged with maintaining order.
Although the individual state governments control their respective
military police forces, the constitution provides that they can be
called into active military service in the event of an emergency, and
they maintained some military characteristics and privileges, including
a separate judicial system (see section 1.e.).
On February 2, the Rio de Janeiro State Ombudsman's Office released
a report that showed that of 8,330 military and civilian police accused
of being involved in some type of crime, only 16 were fired. Of the
8,330 police accused, none were exonerated. The ombudsman's office also
reported that 15 to 20 percent of all police officers had formal
complaints filed against them. Among the complaints were excessive
violence, extortion, abuse of power, and not doing police work.
On December 15, in Muquico, a favela in Rio de Janeiro's Northern
Zone, federal police arrested 75 military police suspected of being
involving in drug trafficking, 40 of which belonged to a single crime
organization. The federal police indicated that at least 450 military
police were suspected of being in collusion with traffickers.
On February 7, the Organized Crime Repression Unit indicted 24
persons, including 17 law enforcement officers, for their involvement
in the ``Slot Machine Mafia'' in the West Zone of Sao Paulo city.
On March 6, the army occupied nine Rio de Janeiro favelas with more
than 1,500 armed soldiers in search of stolen arms; a 16-year-old boy
was killed in the crossfire. By March 12, citizens organized protests
claiming excessive use of force.
In August the first of 11 military policeman accused of
participating in the March 2005 massacre of 29 persons was convicted
and sentenced to 543 years in prison (see section 1.a). The massacre
was seen as a response to a government initiative ``Dagger in the
Flesh'' to address police corruption and killings. In October a
military policeman cooperating with the investigation was shot to
death; police suspected that other officers killed him in an attempt to
intimidate public attorneys investigating this case.
Arrest and Detention.--With the exception of arrests of suspects
caught in the act, arrests must be made with a warrant. The use of
force during an arrest is prohibited unless the suspect attempts to
escape or resists arrest. Suspects must be advised of their rights at
the time of the arrest or before being taken into custody for
interrogation.
Although warrants generally were based on sufficient evidence and
issued by a judge, the NGOs MNDH and GJ reported that, at times,
warrants were issued arbitrarily, depending on the judge and the region
of the country. GJ also reported that, in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo
states, public and NGOs pressure caused many judges to stop issuing
``collective'' search and arrest warrants that permitted the police to
search entire neighborhoods in poor areas.
The authorities generally respected the constitutional right to a
prompt judicial determination of the legality of detention. Detainees
generally were informed promptly of the charges against them. The law
permits provisional detention for up to five days under specified
conditions during a police investigation, but a judge may extend this
period. A judge may also order temporary detention for an additional
five days for paperwork processing. Preventive detention for an initial
period of 15 days is permitted if the police have indications that a
suspect may leave the area. This can be renewed under specific
circumstances. Occasionally detainees--typically poor and uneducated--
were held longer than the provisional period.
In criminal cases defendants arrested in the act of committing a
crime must be charged within 30 days of their arrest. Other defendants
must be charged within 45 days, although this period could be extended.
In practice the backlog in the courts almost always resulted in
extending the period for charging defendants.
Bail was available for most crimes, and defendants facing charges
on all but the most serious crimes had the right to a bail hearing.
In general prison authorities allowed detainees prompt access to a
lawyer, and if indigent, to one provided by the state. Detainees were
also allowed prompt access to family members.
Human rights observers stated that civil and uniformed police
regularly detained persons illegally to extort money or favors. Between
January and June the Sao Paulo State Ombudsman's Office received 17
complaints of extortion, compared with 23 complaints during the same
period in 2005.
As of June the Ministry of Justice reported that nationwide 102,958
of 371,482 detainees in prisons and jails awaited sentencing. An
additional 60,792 were detained in jails. The law provides for a
maximum number of days for pretrial detention, but the period was
usually extended because of individual circumstances.
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 underfunded,
inefficient, and often subject to intimidation and political and
economic influences, particularly at the state level, a situation that
occasioned vigilante action (see section 1.a.). A number of senior
judges remained under investigation nationwide on a variety of charges.
Although the law requires that trials be held within a set period
of time from the date of the crime, the nationwide backlog in state and
federal cases frequently led courts to dismiss old cases unheard.
The judicial system ranges from courts of first instance and
appeals to the Federal Supreme Court. States organize their own
judicial systems within the federal system and must adhere to the basic
principles of the constitution. There are specialized courts for
police, military, labor, election, juvenile, and family matters.
Trial Procedures.--The right to a fair public trial as provided by
law generally was respected in practice, although in some regions--
particularly in rural areas--the judiciary was less professionally
capable and more subject to external influences. Similarly, when cases
involved gunmen hired by landowners to kill land activists or rural
union activists, local police often were less diligent in
investigating, prosecutors were reluctant to initiate proceedings, and
judges found reasons to delay (see section 1.a.).
After an arrest, the chief judicial officer reviews the case,
determines whether it should proceed, and, if so, assigns it to a state
prosecutor who decides whether to issue an indictment. The law
recognizes the competence of a jury to hear cases involving capital
crimes. Judges try those accused of lesser crimes.
Defendants have the right to confront and question witnesses, enjoy
a presumption of innocence, and have a right to appeal. At the
appellate level, a large case backlog hindered the courts' ability to
ensure fair and expeditious trials. Any defendant sentenced to 20 or
more years in prison has the right to an automatic retrial.
While the law provides for the right to counsel, the Ministry of
Justice estimated that 85 percent of prisoners could not afford an
attorney. In such cases the court had to provide a public defender or
private attorney at public expense. In February the National Council of
Justice (CNJ) requested that the President restructure the public
defender system, which had only 111 positions when its workload
required 1,200.
A report by the CNJ in February showed that the average number of
cases per state judge nationwide was more than 3,000, but in Sao Paulo
State the number was more than 9,000.
There continued to be numerous credible reports of state police
officials' involvement in intimidation and killing of witnesses
involved in testifying against police officials (see section 1.a.).
The law mandates that special police courts exercise jurisdiction
over state uniformed (military) police except those charged with
``willful crimes against life,'' primarily homicide. In all but the
most egregious cases, police tribunals decided whether or not the
killing was willful. As a result the civilian courts received very few
case referrals involving police killings. The special police courts are
separate from the courts-martial of the armed forces, except for the
final appeals court. There were few convictions in these courts. Police
were reluctant to investigate fellow officers (see section 1.d.).
Police officers accused of crimes less serious than willful murder
are prosecuted in special military tribunals. Civilian courts have
jurisdiction over police murder, but the requirement that the initial
investigation be carried out by police internal affairs officers
increased the potential for long-languishing investigations (see
section 1.e.). The police themselves were often responsible for
investigating charges of torture carried out by fellow police officers.
The problem remained most pervasive at the state level. Long delays in
the special military police courts allowed many cases of torture and
lesser charges to expire due to statutes of limitations (see section
1.e.).
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners, although the Landless Movement (MST) claimed that
its members jailed in connection with land disputes were political
prisoners.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--While the justice system
provides for an independent civil judiciary, courts were overburdened
with significant backlogs, and sometimes could be subject to
corruption, political influence, and intimidation. Citizens have access
to bring lawsuits before the courts for human rights violations.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, but there were reports
that the police conducted searches without a warrant. NGOS and human
rights groups, such as AI, reported frequent incidents of violent
police invasions in favelas and poor neighborhoods. During these
operations the police stopped and questioned persons and searched cars,
residences, and business establishments without a warrant. Victims
reported searches without warrants and abusive and violent searches of
women. Wiretaps authorized by judicial authority were permitted. The
inviolability of private correspondence generally was respected.
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.
Privately owned newspapers, magazines, and a growing number of
online electronic publications vigorously reported and commented on
government performance. Both the print and broadcast media routinely
discussed controversial social and political issues and engaged in
investigative reporting.
Criminal as well as other elements, such as political party
activists, subjected journalists to violence, sometimes specifically
because of their professional activities.
On October 31, Veja magazine accused the federal police of
intimidating three of its journalists during testimony regarding leaks
of restricted information regarding federal investigations. Federal
police officials denied any intimidation or coercion against the
journalists. An editorial in the newspaper Folha, titled ``Truculence
Is Back,'' criticized the ``campaign to intimidate the free press and
hamper the right of information".
On November 8, journalist and newspaper editor Fausto Brites was
sentenced by the state court in Mato Grosso do Sul to 10 years in
prison for defamation. The charges were brought against him by
Governor-elect Andre Puccinelli for accusations of corruption as mayor
of Campo Grande. Brites appealed to a federal court, and the appeal was
pending at year's end.
Internet Freedom.--There were generally 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 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 nonindigenous persons, including missionaries, to
seek permission from the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) for entry
into indigenous lands.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--According to the country's
Israeli Confederation, there were approximately 160,000 members of the
Jewish community: 35,000 in Rio de Janeiro City, 29,000 in Sao Paulo
City, and smaller communities in Porto Alegre, Bahia, Belem, and
Manaus. During the year there were signs of increasing violence against
Jews. Leaders in the Jewish community expressed concern over the
continued appearance of anti-Semitic graffiti, harassment, vandalism,
and threats via telephone and e-mail.
In May 2005 four skinheads were arrested and charged with attempted
murder, gang formation, and racism for attacking three Jewish students
in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul State. During the investigations,
the police identified a second group, with fascist orientation that
participated in the attacks. Eventually, an additional 10 persons were
arrested and charged with three crimes: attempted homicide, gang
formation, and racism; one person under the age of 17 also was
arrested. Testimony on their case began in May, but at year's end no
trial had been scheduled.
In March an anti-Semitic Web site, which had been closed by the
Federal Public Ministry in April 2005, reopened. The site recorded more
than 100,000 hits per month in the country and remained open for the
duration of the year.
On August 5, approximately six persons threw stones and two home-
made bombs at the synagogue of the Sociedade Israelita Brasileira Beth
Jacob in Campinas (60 miles north of Sao Paulo), damaging the main
entrance. Neighbors responded and extinguished the resulting fire. The
attackers also painted ``Lebanon, the true Holocaust'' on the sidewalk
outside. The case remained open at the end of the year with no
suspects.
Media reported that a Sao Paulo Jewish community leader received
death threats in late July; police provided him personal protection. As
was the case in the August 5 synagogue attack, both incidents appeared
to be in reaction to the July-August conflict involving Israel and
Lebanon.
Thirteen neo-Nazi group members, arrested in October 2005 on
charges of attempted murder and racism offenses, remained under
preventive detention in Curitiba.
The investigation in the 2004 defacing of the Congregation Beth
Jacob synagogue in Campinas, Sao Paulo State, was closed during the
year due to insufficient evidence.
On April 24, Amair ``Tato'' Feijoli da Cunha, the middleman
involved in the killing of Catholic nun Dorothy Mae Stang, who worked
as an advocate for landless persons in Para State, was convicted and
sentenced to 18 years in prison (see section 1.a.).
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
were restrictions on entry into protected indigenous areas.
On September 29, authorities confiscated the passports of two U.S.
citizens, airplane pilots Joe Lepore and Jan Paladino, following a
plane crash. This sparked international condemnation by pilot
associations. Neither pilot had been charged with a crime or permitted
to leave the country for 71 days. Later a federal appellate court
overturned a lower court decision and ordered the passports returned.
The pilots returned to the United States on December 9.
The law prohibits forced exile, and it was not practiced.
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
resettled 3,271 refugees during the year. However, according to the
National Committee for Refugees (CONARE), approximately 200,000
immigrants lived clandestinely in the country, mostly in the Amazon.
Although these 200,000 were considered illegal immigrants, a
significant number of them had been displaced by conflicts, such as the
FARC in Columbia or difficulties in their countries of origin.
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol.
The Government cooperated with the Office of 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, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage. Military conscripts may not vote.
Elections and Political Participation.--In the October 29 national
elections, PT candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a second four-
year term with almost 61 percent of the vote in the second-round
runoff. The elections were considered generally free and fair. Election
observers from nine countries and two international organizations
observed first-round voting on October 1. Election observers from six
countries and one international organization observed second-round
voting on October 29.
Women have full political rights. There were 10 women in the 81-
member Senate and 45 women in the 513-seat Chamber of Deputies. There
were four women in the cabinet and one on the Supreme Court.
There were 25 Afro-Brazilians among the 594 members of Congress.
There were three members of minorities in the cabinet and one on the
Federal Supreme Court.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Ethical behavior of public
figures continued to be a major issue during the year. The NGO
Transparency International's index indicated a serious and
deteriorating perceived corruption problem.
Corruption scandals involving alleged kickbacks and abuse of power
at the Ministry of Health, Senate, and Chamber of Deputies affected the
Government during the year. A congressional inquiry of taking kickbacks
accused 69 federal deputies and three senators. On September 25,
federal police indicted a former health minister on corruption charges.
Senior members of the President's re-election campaign with close ties
to the President resigned or were fired in mid-September over their
involvement in an attempt to purchase and disseminate a dossier of
ostensibly damaging information about a political opponent, and a
congressional committee and the Superior Electoral Tribunal opened
investigations that continued until year's end. President Lula spoke
publicly against corruption in government.
In February in Para State, former state judge Ana Tereza Sereni
Murrieta was sentenced to 12 years in prison, pending appeal, for
diverting judicial account money from 157 accounts in the amount of
$1.4 million (three million reais).
The law provides for public access to unclassified government
information upon application to the Commission for Public Ethics;
however, the bureaucratic process often slowed release of such
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. Federal officials
often were cooperative and responsive to their views. Although federal
and state officials in many cases sought the aid and cooperation of
domestic and international NGOs in addressing human rights problems,
human rights monitors occasionally were threatened and harassed for
their efforts to identify and take action against human rights abusers,
particularly by members of the state police forces.
While most states had police ombudsmen (see section 1.c.), some
NGOs and human rights observers questioned their independence and
effectiveness. The ombudsmen's accomplishments varied dramatically,
depending on such factors as funding and outside political pressure.
The Chamber of Deputies also has a human rights commission that
operated without interference and participated in several activities
nationwide in coordination with domestic and international human rights
organizations.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Although the law prohibits and penalizes discrimination on the
basis of race, gender, disability, or social status, discrimination
against women, Afro-Brazilians, homosexuals, and indigenous people
continued.
Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence, and the Government
took steps that specifically addressed violence against women and
spousal abuse. Domestic violence remained both widespread and
underreported; on August 7, President Lula signed the ``Law of Domestic
and Family Violence.'' The law triples previous punishments for those
convicted of such crimes and also creates special courts in all states
to preside over these cases. It is also the first official codification
of domestic violence crimes.
UN Special Rapporteur Leandro Despouy noted a tendency to blame the
victims of these offenses. According to government officials and NGO
workers, the majority of criminal complaints regarding domestic
violence were suspended inconclusively.
The Government acted to combat violence against women. Each state
secretariat for public security operated delegacias da mulher (DEAM).
These police stations are dedicated exclusively to addressing crimes
against women. The quality of services varied widely, and availability
was particularly limited in isolated areas. The stations provided
psychological counseling, temporary shelter, hospital treatment for
victims of domestic violence and rape (including treatment for HIV and
other sexually transmitted diseases). The stations also provided
assistance to prosecution of criminal cases by investigating and
forwarding evidence to the courts. According to the Ministry of
Justice, while many of the DEAMs fell far short of standards and lacked
strategies to protect victims after the reports were filed, they
nevertheless served to raise public awareness of crimes against women.
In July the first DEAM in Rio de Janeiro reported that it
registered 22 complaints daily. The DEAM noticed an increase in violent
cases reported from 5,169 in 2001 to 8,049 in 2005. In March the
Women's Station in the Federal District reported 4,561 violent cases
reported in 2005, representing a 12.5 percent increase from the year
before. During the year, the DEAMs registered a total of 16,564
complaints in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Edna Araujo, Chief and
Coordinator for Police Affairs, reported that the large increase in
comparison to 2005 was due to the increase in number of new DEAMs
opened during the year.
On January 31, hundreds of women in Recife demonstrated, protesting
against violence against women. More than 36 women were killed in the
city during January.
The city of Rio de Janeiro, through its Favela Bairro program,
offered temporary housing to women and children who were victims of
sex-related crimes.
The federal government continued to operate a toll-free hotline to
address complaints of violence against women. The law requires health
facilities to contact the police regarding cases in which a woman was
harmed physically, sexually, or psychologically.
Rape, including spousal rape, is a crime punishable by eight to 10
years' imprisonment; however, men who killed, sexually assaulted, or
committed other crimes against women were unlikely to be brought to
trial.
While adult prostitution is legal, various associated activities,
such as operating a brothel, are illegal. While no specific laws
address sex tourism, it is punishable under other criminal offenses,
such as pedophilia and corruption of minors. The Government released a
``code of conduct to combat sex tourism and sexual exploitation'' and
conducted campaigns in the most affected areas. The states of
Pernambuco, Espirito Santo, Amazonas and Parana and the Federal
District enacted laws requiring certain businesses to display signs
listing the penalties for having intercourse with a minor. Rio de
Janeiro and Bahia states had previously enacted similar legislation.
Women's groups reported that prostitutes encountered discrimination
when seeking free medical care. Trafficking of women for the purpose of
prostitution was a serious problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment is a criminal offense, punishable by up to two
years in jail. The law encompasses sexual advances in the workplace or
in educational institutions and between service providers or clients.
In the workplace it applies only in hierarchical situations, where the
harasser is of higher rank or position than the victim. Although the
legislation exists and was enforced, accusations remained rare, and the
extent of the problem was not documented.
Women enjoy the same legal rights as men. A cabinet-level office,
the Secretariat for Women's Affairs, oversees a special secretariat
that has responsibility to ensure the legal rights of women. Although
the law prohibits discrimination based on gender in employment and
wages, there were significant wage disparities between men and women.
On November 21, the World Economic Forum released a study indicating
that the country had virtually eradicated gender differences in
education and health treatment but that women still lagged behind in
salaries and political influence. According to the Labor and Employment
Ministry, women were paid 30 percent less than men. In 2005 UN Special
Rapporteur Despouy noted a strikingly low level of women's
representation in the judicial system, where women occupied ``only 5
percent of the top posts in the judiciary and the Public Prosecutor's
Office.''
The law provides 120 days of paid maternity leave to women and
seven days to men. The law also prohibits employers from requiring
applicants or employees to take pregnancy tests or present
sterilization certificates, but some employers sought sterilization
certificates from female job applicants or tried to avoid hiring women
of childbearing age. Violations of the law are punishable by jail terms
for employers of up to two years, while the company may be fined 10
times the salary of its highest-paid employee.
Children.--The Government continued its commitment to children's
rights and welfare, but millions of children suffered from the poverty
afflicting their families, worked to survive, and failed to get an
education. The law provides that children age six and under receive
free daycare and schooling, which is also free and compulsory between
the ages of seven and 14. On February 6, President Lula approved
legislation changing the duration of obligatory primary education from
eight years to nine years by 2010. Between the ages of 15 and 17
education is free but not compulsory. Schooling was available in all
parts of the country, although not every school had space for every
child who wanted to attend. Girls and boys attended school in
comparable numbers, although a UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) report
indicated that a higher percentage of boys than of girls were not in
school.
While it recorded generally high vaccination and immunization rates
for one-year-olds, UNICEF noted that the child mortality rate (at 29
per 1,000 live births) remained ``disproportional to national
production capacity and available technology.'' According to Human
Rights Watch, girls often lacked basic medical care and had fewer
opportunities than boys to receive exercise, recreation, and
participate in other activities. NGOs believed that the actual
mortality rate was much higher in poorer areas due to this registration
problem.
While the law prohibits subjecting any child or adolescent to any
form of negligence or abuse, such abuse was a major problem. According
to the Special Secretariat for Human Rights' Infancy and Adolescence
Information System, physical and psychological aggression was a major
problem, with more than 29,000 complaints recorded in this category.
Allegations of abuse of minors and prosecution of crimes against
children were not pursued adequately or aggressively. In February 2005
UN Special Rapporteur Despouy reported ``a strong sense of impunity for
crimes against children and young persons,'' mainly in the areas of
death squad killings and sexual exploitation and abuse.
The legal minimum age for marriage of men and women is 18; those 16
and 17 can marry with parental consent. Underage marriage was not a
significant problem.
Extreme poverty was the primary contributor to child prostitution.
On March 20, an investigation was released by the University of
Brasilia, the National Secretariat for Human Rights, and UNICEF found
commercial sex involving children and adolescents in 927 of 5,561
municipalities. The majority of these cases occurred in the Northeast
(31 percent of cases nationwide), but all areas of the country had
reported incidents.
In May the Human Rights Commission of the Chamber of Deputies
denounced a child prostitution network in Para State with involvement
of two aldermen of the area, Roberto Alan de Souza Costa and Adson de
Azevedo Mesquita. Also suspect was the son of the mayor of Portel,
Roberto Lobato da Cruz. The commission recommended their removal from
public office. There are accusations by the local chapter of the
national bar association that the police were complicit. A formal trial
was pending.
During the year there were 248 cases of sexual abuse cases
involving minors in Pernambuco State. According to the National
Secretariat for Human Rights, other states recorded the following
number of reports of sexual abuse during the year: Sao Paulo, 487; Rio
de Janeiro, 348; Rio Grande do Sul, 249; and Minas Gerais, 407.
On February 21, federal police participated in an international
operation involving 30 countries aimed at disrupting pedophilia on the
Internet.
At year's end Anderson Luis Juliano Borges Costa, who was arrested
in July 2005 in Volta Redonda, Rio de Janeiro State, on charges of
sexually abusing more than 20 children, remained in jail pending trial.
On October 26, Franciso Chagas, thought to be the country's worst
serial killer, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing one of
42 boys. Police arrested Chagas in 2003 on charges of molesting,
murdering, and mutilating the boys in the northwestern states of
Maranhao and Para.
Trafficking in children for the purpose of prostitution was a
serious problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor remained a problem (see section 6.d.).
A July 2005 study by the Institute of Applied Economic Policy
reported that more than 100,000 children and adolescents were living in
public shelters. The leading causes for displaced children were
poverty, abandonment, domestic violence, and drug abuse by parents or
guardians. The IPEA report also revealed that in more than half of the
cases, children were living in shelters due to the parent's belief that
the child would receive better care there than at home.
The city of Rio de Janeiro operated 38 shelters and group homes for
street children. The Sao Paulo City government runs several programs
for street children, including a number of shelters for minors and the
Sentinel Program, which identifies at-risk youth and provides social
services, counseling, and shelter. The primary program to assist child
victims of commercial sexual exploitation is the Sentinel Program,
which establishes local reference centers to provide victims with
psychological, social, and legal services, and raises awareness through
informational campaigns, workshops, and partnerships
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law criminalizes all forms of
trafficking, persons were trafficked from, within, and, to a lesser
extent, to the country.
In June the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that
Brazilian women were among the primary victims of international
trafficking entering the sex industry in Europe. Women were trafficked
from all parts of the country. The Government reported that trafficking
routes existed in all states and the Federal District. Predominantly
young women and girls were trafficked overseas for prostitution,
although in October federal police disrupted an international
transvestite trafficking ring recruiting out of three states. Young men
and boys were primarily trafficked internally as slave laborers.
Although comprehensive government statistics on the problem were
unavailable, authorities estimated that thousands of women and
adolescents were trafficked, both domestically and internationally, for
commercial sexual exploitation. NGOs estimated that 75,000 women and
girls, many of them trafficked, were engaged in prostitution in
neighboring South American countries, the United States, and Western
Europe.
Internal trafficking of rural workers into forced labor schemes was
a serious problem, while trafficking from rural to urban areas occurred
to a lesser extent. According to the International Labor Organization
(ILO), an estimated 25,000 victims, mostly men, were trafficked within
the country or forced into agricultural labor. Union leaders claimed
that nearly all persons working as forced laborers had been trafficked
by labor recruiters (see section 6.c.). Labor inspectors found a small
number of persons from other countries trafficked to work in urban
sweatshops. Labor recruiters generally recruited laborers from small
municipalities in the North and Northeast and transported the recruits
long distances to ranches and plantations in remote areas in the
central part of the country. Most internally trafficked slave laborers
originated from Maranhao and Piaui states, while Para and Mato Grosso
states received the highest number of internally trafficked slave
laborers.
Internal trafficking supplied forced labor, primarily from urban to
rural areas, for agricultural work and commercial sexual exploitation.
This typically occurred when employers recruited laborers from poor,
rural towns and transported them to remote areas where escape was
difficult. Workers then were obliged to toil in brutal conditions until
they were able to repay inflated debts. Sex tourism existed throughout
the country but was most apparent in coastal resort towns in the
Northeast, South, and Southeast, and such major tourist destinations as
Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza, Ceara, as well as in the popular fishing
areas of the Patanal and Amazon.
According to the Reference Center on Children and Adolescents
(CECRIA), patterns of sexual exploitation of children corresponded to
the distinct economic and social profiles of the country's regions. In
the Amazon region, sexual exploitation of children took place in
brothels that catered to mining settlements. In large urban centers,
girls who left home to escape abuse or sexual exploitation often
prostituted themselves on the streets to survive. In the cities along
the northeast coast, sexual tourism exploiting children was prevalent
and involved networks of travel agents, hotel workers, taxi drivers,
and others who actively recruited children and trafficked them outside
the country. A study by the University of Brasilia found that 398 of
the 1,514 tourist destinations frequented by citizens had an active
sexual commercial market for children and adolescents.
Child prostitution also developed in the areas served by the
country's navigable rivers, particularly in ports and at international
borders. NGOs estimated that approximately 500,000 children were
involved in prostitution.
CECRIA found that the typical sex trafficking victims were darker-
skinned women between 15 and 27 years of age, but researchers also
noted the presence of adolescent boys as victims, some of whom worked
as transvestites. Persons exploited in trafficking schemes typically
came from low-income families and usually had not finished high school.
Traffickers often lured victims with promises of lucrative work as
dancers or models in Europe; beauty contest winners were cited as
common targets. Girls were recruited at clubs and modeling agencies or
through the Internet, want ads, mail-order bride schemes, and maid and
au pair services. Most women who were trafficked internationally were
older than 18, but younger victims were also trafficked with falsified
documents.
Police officials believed that some women who were recruited by
trafficking organizations understood that they were to work as
prostitutes, but they did not know about working conditions and their
prospective earnings. In other cases women were told that they would
work as nannies or domestics. Upon arrival, the victims' passports
often were confiscated, and they were forced to prostitute themselves
and live in virtual confinement. In addition to threatening physical
violence, traffickers often used debt and isolation to control the
victims. Trafficking in persons was linked to international networks of
crime, including drugs and arms trafficking and money laundering.
The law establishes a penalty of up to eight years' imprisonment
for internal or external trafficking in persons for the purposes of
prostitution; sentences may be increased up to 12 years when violence,
threats, or deception are involved. The law requires the permission or
presence of both parents for children to leave the country; it also
prohibits children from leaving the country with a foreigner unless the
authorities grant prior approval. Laws on trafficking for sexual
exploitation were difficult to enforce, particularly in relation to
domestic trafficking.
Violators of antitrafficking laws rarely received criminal
penalties because of the limitations of the statutes. According to the
National Secretariat of Justice, seven individuals were sentenced for
trafficking in persons during the year; however, through one single
process in Rio Grande do Norte a trafficking gang of 14 persons were
convicted as follows: two persons for international and internal
trafficking in persons, five for internal trafficking in persons, and
the other seven for related crimes such as money laundering and
criminal association.
Federal police launched six operations to curb international
trafficking, which resulted in the arrest of 38 individuals for
international trafficking in persons. In June the Civil Police launched
``Operation Navalha na Carne'' in the state of Paran , which resulted
in the arrest of 20 persons for sexual exploitation of children and
adolescents, 12 of these being officers of the civil police.
In March federal police worked with Swiss authorities in Operation
``Taro'' breaking a route that had trafficked approximately 300 women
from Minas Gerais to work as sex slaves in Switzerland. The federal
police stated that the women had been given false promises and had been
forced to prostitute themselves for 16 to 18 hours per day. Many were
violently abused, and some were sold to other Swiss brothels.
Police officers reported difficulty in arresting traffickers
because of the need to apprehend them in the act of traveling with the
victims. According to police, some women who left the country with
traffickers did so willingly. Fear of reprisals also kept victims from
seeking police intervention or from testifying against traffickers. In
addition, ``trafficking in persons'' is a new legal concept, and courts
often misclassified such cases. As a result of these factors, numbers
of convictions were low.
In October an appeals court reduced the fine imposed in February
2005 on Federal Senator Joao Ribero for forcing 38 workers to live in
slave-like conditions; the fine was reduced from $341,000 (730,000
reais) to $35,500 (76,000 reais).
While trafficking victims were not treated as criminals, access to
support services was limited due to a lack of government support. No
statistics were available concerning the number of victims in shelters.
Police usually referred victims to centers for treatment and
counseling.
Several government programs assisted victims of trafficking,
although efforts often were inconsistent and underfunded. The
Government cooperated with a number of shelters or health care
facilities specifically dedicated to trafficking victims, and workers
at more than 600 victim assistance centers were trained to assist
trafficking victims. The Ministry of Social Assistance operated more
than 400 centers to assist victims of sexual abuse and exploitation and
domestic violence. NGOs provided victim assistance in job training,
counseling, and other community reintegration assistance. Locally based
NGOs assisted trafficking victims with retraining and counseling
activities.
The Government maintained a witness protection program overseen by
the Office of Legal Assistance for Grassroots Organizations, an NGO
working in coordination with government authorities. Although the
program operated in all states, lack of resources limited its
effectiveness.
The National Human Rights Secretariat conducted antitrafficking
information campaigns. The National Secretary for Justice continued to
lead a government public awareness campaign to deter international
traffickers and sensitize their potential victims to the dangers.
Labor organizations and NGOs continued to conduct prevention
campaigns. One organization distributed pamphlets to rural workers in
areas that historically served as targets for traffickers. The
pamphlets warned rural workers about the methods of traffickers and
offered practical advice to avoid this situation. A number of local
unions instructed laborers to register with them and the police before
leaving with a labor recruiter.
There was no new information regarding the case of 12 persons
charged in 2004 with participating in a sex trafficking ring in
Fortaleza, Ceara State.
The 2004 Federal District court case against the former speaker of
the Federal District's legislative chamber, Benicio Tavares, on charges
of forced prostitution and sexual exploitation of minors was reviewed
by the Ethics Commission of the Brazilian House of Representatives on
March 23. The commission decided not to take action. The trial remained
pending at the end of the year.
Government authorities responsible for combating trafficking
included various agencies of the Ministry of Justice (including the
federal police), the Special Human Rights Secretariat, the Ministry of
Labor and Employment, the Ministry of Tourism, and the Ministry of
Social Assistance. The federal highway police were responsible for
checking documents and monitoring movement along highways and roads;
occasionally they were involved in apprehending suspected traffickers.
Federal and state police monitored the Internet to detect on-line
recruitment by sex traffickers. Operating under the National Justice
Secretariat trafficking offices in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Ceara,
and Goias states monitored domestic and international trafficking.
During the year the Ministry for Agrarian Development reported that
from 1995-2006 the Government had rescued almost 21,000 slave laborers.
More than 15,000 were rescued between 2003 and the end of the year. The
report also indicated that through 2005, these workers received $10.2
million (21.9 million reais ) in indemnities from their former captors,
$8.6 million (18.5 million reais) of which was paid from 2003-05.
During the year, however, only 3,252 were rescued and $2.8 million (six
million reais) was paid as indemnities, according to the Ministry of
Labor and Employment (MTE).
On February 7, the Regional Tribunal of Labor of Maranhao charged
Federal Deputy Inocencio Oliveira with a second count of keeping slave
laborers. He was sentenced to pay $61 (130 reais) per day per exploited
worker from when the workers were found in 2002.
On August 2, the Labor Ministry released its ``dirty list''
containing 178 names of persons that exploited labor, including Federal
Senator Joao Ribeiro, convicted of maintaining forced labor, and
landowner Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, accused of ordering the killing of
American nun Dorothy Stang (see section 1.a.).
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical and mental disabilities in employment,
education, and access to health care, and the federal government
effectively enforced these provisions. However, state governments
failed to meet legally mandated targets for educational opportunities
and work placement. While the law has provisions to ensure access to
buildings for persons with disabilities, states do not have programs to
enforce these provisions effectively. During the year, however, the
pharmaceutical industry in Sao Paulo State identified positions that
could be filled by persons with disabilities and partnered with
individuals who could be trained to fill these positions by 2008.
The National Council for the Rights of Handicapped Persons and the
National Council for the Rights of the Elderly, both within the Special
Secretariat for Human Rights, had primary responsibility for promoting
the rights of persons with disabilities.
While the Sao Paulo State labor code requires that meeting places
for more than 100 persons or other facilities for 600 persons or more
provide modified entrances and other accommodations for persons with
disabilities, such persons had difficulty in securing necessary
accommodations.
There were 237 psychiatric hospitals with more than 48,000 patients
in the country. In 2005 the Municipality of Rio had 39,321 patients in
psychiatric facilities, but most facilities lacked beds, medicines, and
staff. In one facility two psychiatrists were responsible for 83
patients.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Although the law prohibits
racial discrimination, darker-skinned citizens, particularly Afro-
Brazilians, frequently encountered discrimination.
The law specifically prohibits, among other practices, denial of
public or private facilities, employment, or housing to anyone based on
race. The law also prohibits and provides jail terms for the incitement
of racial discrimination or prejudice and the dissemination of racially
offensive symbols and epithets.
Afro-Brazilians, representing 45 percent of the population, were
significantly and pervasively underrepresented in professional
positions and in the middle and upper classes; they experienced a
higher rate of unemployment and earned average wages approximately half
those of a white person. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Judiciary
noted in 2005 that persons of African descent occupied less than 1
percent of the senior posts in the judiciary and the Public
Prosecutor's Office.
There was also a sizeable racial education gap. According to the
Education Ministry, Afro-Brazilians received an average of 5.3 years of
schooling compared with 7.1 years for whites. Afro-Brazilians
constituted 16 percent of the university population. Major public
universities in the states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Parana, Mato
Grosso, Bahia, and the Federal District of Brasilia maintained
affirmative action programs; for instance, the University of Brasilia
set aside 25 percent of its first-year vacancies for self-declared
students of color. During the year the Palmares Foundation noted that
more than 30 universities had voluntarily implemented a quota system.
In October the Health Minister Agenor Avares acknowledged clear
signs of discriminatory practices within the national health system.
During the year Afro-Brazilians made up 56 percent of the prison
population.
On November 18, the OAS Human Rights Committee criticized the
failure to prosecute a woman who advertised a domestic work position
with an ad clearly stating that ``white'' candidates would be given
preference. Domestic worker Simone Andre Diniz reportedly applied for
the job and was turned down for not being white, and when she brought
the case before the police in 1997, it was filed away without being
prosecuted.
Indigenous People.--The law grants the indigenous population broad
rights, including the protection of their cultural patrimony and the
exclusive use of their traditional lands. Although many problems still
existed, the Government made limited progress in securing these rights.
The country has an indigenous population close to 460,000 persons
belonging to 225 ``nations.'' The Government estimated that more than
half of indigenous people lived in poverty in communities whose
traditional ways of life were threatened on a variety of fronts,
including land development, agricultural expansion, and mining. The
National Foundation of the Indigenous (FUNAI) reported that indigenous
people faced many problems, including disease and poor health care,
loss of native culture, and recurring incursions as well as illegal
mining and extraction activities on indigenous lands. In addition
threats also came from road construction and deforestation.
In April FUNAI hosted in Brasilia the first National Conference on
Indigenous Peoples. More than 800 indigenous persons representing more
than 220 indigenous groups attended with proposals from delegates to
create a new indigenous policy in a democratic forum. The conference
participants offered 1,300 proposals; primary among these was the
proposal for the Government to create a ministry of indigenous peoples
headed by an indigenous person that could centralize actions on
education, health, agricultural questions, culture, and sustainable
development. The Missionary Indigenous Council (CIMI) criticized the
event claiming that several participants were connected with government
organizations and that professional organizations dealing with
indigenous issues were not invited.
Indigenous leaders and activists complained that indigenous persons
had only limited participation in decisions taken by the Government
affecting their land, cultures, traditions, and allocation of national
resources. They also criticized the Government for devoting
insufficient resources to health care, other basic services, and
protection of indigenous reserves from outsiders. This sometimes
culminated in clashes between indigenous persons and nonindigenous
persons.
CIMI reported that there were 40 indigenous persons killed during
the year, 20 of whom were killed in Mato Grosso do Sul State, where
there indigenous lands are not fully demarcated and there are frequent
conflicts between cattle ranchers/farmers and indigenous peoples.
However, approximately half of these killings were internal (an
indigenous person killing another indigenous person) versus external
disputes. CIMI believed that the living conditions and government-
imposed proximity play a role in the internal killings.
The Marcal de Souza Center of Human Rights (MSCDH) said the health
services provided by the National Foundation of Health (FUNASA) and
FUNAI were effective and significantly improved the situation among
indigenous children in Mato Grosso do Sul State, where FUNASA
accredited three nearby hospitals to treat indigenous patients, and the
Government provided additional funds to local hospitals serving the
local indigenous population. In May 2005, after an on-site
investigation at the indigenous reserve of Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul
State, a government commission issued a report with 52 health-related
recommendations to various government entities.
In response to a 2005 government study reporting unacceptably high
infant mortality indices among the indigenous population, on February
15, FUNASA provided $24.2 million (52 million reais) for health
services to indigenous persons. Also in March FUNASA held a major
conference to discuss indigenous health issues.
The 1988 constitution charged the federal government with
demarcating indigenous areas within five years. The complete process
includes four phases: identification, declaration, approval, and
registration. According to FUNAI, by year's end 398 of the 611
recognized indigenous areas had reached the final registration stage,
90 were in one of the four phases of the registration process, and 123
had yet to be processed. Identified indigenous territory constituted
12.5 percent of the national territory. However, CIMI stated that
FUNAI's data failed to recognize other legitimate indigenous groups;
CIMI claimed that the Government denied status to 200 such indigenous
groups.
The law provides indigenous people with the exclusive beneficial
use of the soil, waters, and minerals on indigenous lands, but only if
the Congress approves each case. The Government administered the lands
but was obliged to consider the views of the affected communities
regarding their development or use, and communities have the right to
``participate'' in the benefits gained from such use.
Nonindigenous persons who illegally exploited indigenous lands for
mining, logging, and agriculture often destroyed the environment and
wildlife, spread disease, and provoked violent confrontations. FUNAI
acknowledged a lack of resources to protect indigenous lands from
encroachment, and it depended on the understaffed and poorly equipped
federal police for law enforcement on indigenous lands. However, on
July 7, in response to previous complaints, the federal police
cooperated with FUNAI and IBAMA to remove illegal workers from Kayapo
lands in Para State.
Disputes between indigenous and nonindigenous persons occasionally
erupted into violence. Most conflicts concerned land ownership or
resource exploitation rights in which indigenous persons resorted to
forceful occupation, hostage taking, and killing.
Two years after the 2004 killings of 32 prospectors by Cinta-Larga
Indians for illegal trespass on the Roosevelt Reserve, the Ministry of
Justice admitted that there were 300 engaged in illegal mining during
the year.
On October 17, Xikrin Indians occupied the Valley of Rio Doce
Company (CVRD) Carajas iron mine in Para State for four days,
preventing the production of 500,000 tons of iron ore. Armed with
clubs, bows, and arrows, the Xikrin demanded money and improvements to
local infrastructure from the company, including housing for tribal
members. FUNAI said CVRD had not fulfilled a renegotiation agreement
with the indigenous group, a claim that CVRD denied. On October 31,
CVRD stated that it would not pay its annual contribution towards
social welfare benefits for the indigenous community. They rescinded
payment, citing the $4.2 million (9.2 million reais) as compensation e
for lost revenues caused by recent invasions. CVRD declared that the
state, not the private sector, was responsible for the welfare of
indigenous groups. In early November CVRD denounced the Government at
the OAS for lacking public policies to protect indigenous populations,
attributing recent invasions in Para, Maranhao, and Minas Gerais to
government inaction. The President of FUNAI, however, reported that
CRVD realized they had no case and decided to continue its payments and
subsequently dropped the action at the end of the year.
Land invasions by indigenous groups continued and sometimes
resulted in violence and killings. On July 1, Guarani-Kaiowa tribal
members attempted to invade the Cristal farm near Dourados, Mato Grosso
do Sul State, and briefly held two FUNAI mediators hostage.
In late 2005 federal police forcibly moved 400 members of the
1,115-member Guarani-Kaiowa tribe to a smaller area of the Nade Ru
Marangatu reserve after a Supreme Court injunction prevented the land
from becoming federally protected. Many tribal members were forced to
build shelters on the side of roadways since the relocation area was
too small to accommodate the group. Before the eviction, the tribe had
complained of constant threats from local cattle ranchers. The
situation continued at the end of the year.
In December 2005 private security guard Joao Carlos Gimenes was
indicted for the December 2005 killing of Dorvalino Rocha, a member of
the Guarani-Kaiowa tribe, on a ranch near Antonio Joao, Mato Grosso do
Sul State. In January the federal police concluded their investigation,
but at year's end Carlos Gimenes was free on bail pending trial.
In March Mayor Joao Rodrigues of Chapeco, Santa Catarina, was
charged with racism against indigenous people on the grounds that his
municipal program used defamatory language and that he abused his
authority by improperly using the police against indigenous persons. He
was sentenced to pay a fine and offer community services to the
indigenous community.
According to FUNAI, only 2,500 of the approximately 400,000
indigenous persons attended college. FUNAI also reported that 60
percent of all indigenous students were obliged to abandon studies due
to lack of financial resources. Some universities, such as the
University of Brasilia, increased reserved spots in their universities
as part of their affirmative action programs for indigenous people.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--State and federal laws
prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, and the federal
and state governments generally enforced these laws, as there was a
history of societal violence against homosexuals.
The Secretariat of State Security in Rio de Janeiro State in
partnership with NGOs operated a hot line and offered professional
counseling services to victims of antihomosexual crimes.
According to the NGO Bahian Gay Group, 81 homicides of homosexuals
were reported between January and July, compared with 63 killed during
the same period in 2005.
There were incidents of violent attacks against homosexuals carried
out by neo-Nazi groups in the southern part of the country. In March
and April a group or groups of neo-Nazi skinheads attacked several
homosexuals in the Jardim Paulista neighborhood of metropolitan Sao
Paulo.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for union
representation of all workers (except members of the military, the
uniformed police, and firefighters) but imposes a hierarchical, unitary
system funded by a mandatory union tax on workers and employers. New
unions must register with the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE),
which accepts the registration unless objections are filed by other
unions. Unions that represent workers in the same geographical area and
professional category may contest registration, in which case the MTE's
Secretariat for Labor Relations has 15 days to consider the validity of
the objection. If the objection is found to be valid, the MTE does not
register the union. Union organizers may challenge this decision in the
labor courts.
The law stipulates certain restrictions, such as unicidade (one per
city), which limits freedom of association by prohibiting multiple,
competing unions of the same professional category in a given
geographical area. Most elements of the labor movement and the
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions criticized unicidade.
While a number of competing unions existed, the MTE and the courts
enforced unicidade in decisions regarding the registration of new
unions.
The Single Worker's Central (CUT) estimated that between 20 to 25
percent of workers were unionized. Most informal sector workers,
including self-employed workers and those not formally registered with
the MTE, fell outside the official union structure; they therefore did
not enjoy union representation and usually were unable to exercise
fully their labor rights. The informal sector accounted for
approximately one-half of the labor force. In the agricultural sector,
70 percent of workers were unregistered.
Intimidation and killings of rural labor union organizers and their
agents continued to be a problem. The CPT reported that violence in
rural areas victimized labor leaders, with the perpetrators enjoying
relative impunity (see section 1.a.). The CPT reported that 10 rural
labor leaders were killed during the year and 266 received death
threats in 2005.
Although the law prohibits the dismissal of employees who are
candidates for or holders of union leadership positions and requires
employers to reinstate workers fired for union activity, authorities at
times did not effectively enforce laws protecting union members from
discrimination. Labor courts charged with resolving these and other
disputes involving unfair dismissal, working conditions, salary
disputes, and other grievances were slow and cumbersome, averaging six
years for resolution. Parties generally agreed that, when ultimately
resolved, cases were decided fairly and on their merits, although there
was been a trend for courts to rule against employees claiming that
union membership was not a factor. Although most complaints were
resolved in the first hearing, the appeals process introduced many
delays, and some cases remained unresolved for five to 10 years.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Collective
bargaining was widespread in the formal sector. The law obliges unions
to negotiate on behalf of all registered workers in the professional
category and geographical area they represent, regardless of whether an
employee pays voluntary membership dues to the union.
The law provides workers (except for the military, military police,
and firefighters) with the right to strike, and workers exercised this
right in practice. While the civil police were allowed to form unions
and conduct strikes, the military police were prohibited from
organizing.
The law stipulates that a strike may be ruled ``abusive'' by labor
courts and be punishable if a number of conditions are not met, such as
maintaining essential services during a strike, notifying employers at
least 48 hours before the beginning of a walkout, and ending a strike
after a labor court decision. Employers may not hire substitute workers
during a legal strike or fire workers for strike-related activity,
provided that the strike is not ruled abusive. In practice employers
fired strike organizers for reasons ostensibly unrelated to strikes,
and legal recourse related to retaliatory discharge was often a
protracted process (see section 6.a.).
The MST, which had approximately 100,000 members of unemployed farm
workers, was extremely active in invading farms across the country as
well as organizing protests, many of which resulted in major property
damage. In March the MST destroyed a laboratory in Para State and
confiscated goods from trucks after blocking highways. Most of their
activities were in Pernambuco State, where by March there had been 36
land occupations on farms and on highways usually involving hundreds to
thousands of persons, effectively shutting down operations.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the country's four free trade zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Although the law
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, forced
labor and trafficking of workers occurred in many states (see section
5), most commonly in activities such as forest clearing, logging,
charcoal production, raising livestock, and agriculture, particularly
harvesting sugarcane, coffee, and cotton. Forced labor typically
involved young men drawn from the impoverished northeast to work in the
north and central west of the country, but women and children,
typically working with their parents, also were engaged in activities
such as charcoal production.
The law provides that violators of forced or compulsory labor may
be sentenced up to eight years in prison. The law also provides
penalties for various crimes related to forced labor, such as
recruiting or transporting workers or obliging them to incur debt as
part of a forced labor scheme. The abolition of forced labor was
hindered by failure to impose effective penalties, the impunity of
those responsible, delays in judicial procedure, and the absence of
coordination between the various government bodies. On November 30, the
Supreme Court decided that all slave/forced labor cases fall under the
jurisdiction of federal courts. This decision required that all slave/
forced labor cases pending in state or local courts were to be
transferred to federal courts immediately.
There were few criminal prosecutions relating to forced labor
because of the lack of a clear legal definition; local political
pressure; weak coordination among the police, the judiciary, and
prosecutors; the remoteness of areas in which forced labor was
practiced; witnesses' fear of retaliation; and police failure to
conduct criminal investigations when accompanying labor inspectors on
raids. Since violators of forced labor laws enjoyed virtual impunity
from criminal prosecution, the Government used fines and other
disincentives to penalize violators. The Government withholds credit to
landowners using forced labor.
The law also allows the Government, after compensating the
landowner, to seize lands on which forced labor has been found and to
distribute the property in the Government's land reform program.
Labor intermediaries (gatos) trafficked most forced laborers to the
remote estates where they worked. At the worksite, laborers were forced
to work in harsh conditions until they repaid inflated debts related to
the costs of travel, tools, clothing, or food. Armed guards sometimes
were used to retain laborers, but the remoteness of the location,
confiscation of documents, and threats of legal action or physical harm
usually were sufficient to prevent laborers from fleeing.
On February 8, the hydroelectric company Sao Francisco in Ceara
State paid $16,300 (35,000 reais) to 24 persons discovered working in
slave-like conditions by the Public Labor Ministry.
In December the Labor Ministry released a list of 170 employers
accused of keeping their workforce in conditions analogous to slave
labor. Para State led with 35.5 percent of these employers, 42 of whom
were formally charged. The Para Federal Public Ministry adjudicated 26
criminal actions during the year.
In August 800 persons were found working for evangelical pastors in
slave-like conditions in Minas Gerais State. Pastors Cicero Vicente
Araujo and Edmilson Pereira da Silva, who formed the Jesus Church in
1998, convinced these ``followers'' to relinquish their worldly
possessions, work for free, and offer all proceeds to the two leaders.
These ``followers'' were told that they would receive free food and
clothing in exchange for field labor.
In April near Rio de Janeiro City, Labor Ministry inspectors found
approximately 20 unregistered employees living and working in degrading
conditions. They were working 12-hour days, seven days per week, for
the Telecom Network, contracted by Telsul, a subsidiary of Telemar.
According to the workers, they had not been paid since December 2005.
The Labor Ministry investigation was ongoing at year's end. Workers
explained that expenses to pay for necessities such as food and
medicine made it impossible for them to return to their homes in other
cities and forced them into wage slavery.
In August 431 cane workers, working for less than minimum wage and
living in slave-like conditions, were returned to their countries of
origin by the Labor Ministry. The workers had been housed in animal
stalls, without proper toilet and sanitary facilities, and not provided
with sufficient food. They were forced to work hours that significantly
exceeded the standard work-day and not provided with the necessary
protective equipment
In February a federal judge ordered an indemnity payment of $1.3
million (2.8 million reais) to 54 forced labor workers rescued in 2003
in Rondonia State.
In February 2005 the Attorney General's labor office uncovered
slave labor conditions pertaining to 70 workers employed in the
construction of a government building north of Rio de Janeiro City.
Judicial proceedings against the two construction companies remained
pending at the end of the year.
In August the labor ministry returned to their countries of origin
431 cane workers in Bauru, Sao Paulo State, who were working for less
than minimum wage and living in degrading conditions. The ministry
characterized the work as slave labor because several workers were
housed in unsanitary animal stalls, without proper toilet/sanitary
facilities, and without personal protective equipment and without
sufficient food. In addition daily working hours significantly exceeded
standard working hours. These workers lacked money to return to their
homes and were trapped in this work environment.
The National Commission to Eradicate Slave Labor (CONATRAE)
coordinated the Government's efforts to eliminate forced labor. The
group's enforcement arm, the Special Group for Mobile Inspection, had
responsibility for locating and freeing victims of forced labor. The
mobile unit worked in conjunction with federal police officers, who
always accompanied labor inspectors on raids to provide protection.
Mobile teams levied fines on estate owners using forced labor and
required employers to provide back pay and benefits to workers before
returning the workers to their municipalities of origin. Although
mobile units enjoyed some success in freeing those working in slave-
like conditions, inspectors sometimes faced resistance (see section
1.a.).
A series of three articles by the Bloomberg News Service in
November and December reported on the use of slave/forced labor to
produce charcoal used in the pig iron production process. Although this
generated media attention, the Ministry of Labor pointed out that only
16 percent of slave labor occurred in this sector, compared with 64
percent in cattle raising and 20 percent in agriculture.
On December 7, federal police raided a poor settlement in Goias
State and arrested landowners suspected of environmental crimes and
labor abuse in making charcoal from illegally felled timber from
protected areas. There was no official report available on the number
arrested.
The ILO Project to Combat Forced Labor, in the country assisted in
the development of the National Plan to Combat Forced Labor;
established a data base to consolidate and analyze trafficking in
persons and forced labor information, and provided technical assistance
to government agencies, including to the Ministry of Labor's Special
Group for Mobile Inspection teams.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although the law restricts work that may be performed by children,
child labor continued to be a widespread problem.
The minimum working age is 16 years, and apprenticeships may begin
at age 14. The law bars all minors under age 18 from work that
constitutes a physical strain or from employment in nocturnal,
unhealthy, dangerous, or morally harmful conditions; however, the
authorities rarely enforced additional legal restrictions intended to
protect working minors under age 18. The law requires parental
permission for minors to work as apprentices, and apprentices must
attend school through the primary grades. Nonetheless, the ILO office
in Brazil estimated that there were five million child laborers between
the ages of five and 17. Approximately half of child laborers received
no income, and 90 percent worked in the unregistered informal sector.
Slightly more than half of child laborers worked in rural areas, and
two-thirds were boys.
A report of the Institute for Work and Society Studies identified
69 main rural and urban activities in which children worked. Common
rural activities included: harvesting corn, manioc, and other crops;
fishing; mining; raising livestock; and producing charcoal. In urban
areas children worked in shoe shining, domestic services,
transportation, construction, restaurants, street peddling, begging,
drug trafficking, and prostitution (see section 5). The ILO estimated
that approximately 20 percent of 10- to 14-year-old girls worked as
household domestics. Most of these workers received less than half the
minimum wage and worked in excess of 40 hours a week.
The hidden and informal nature of child labor made children
especially vulnerable to workplace accidents. For instance, children
who produced charcoal, sisal, sugarcane, and footwear suffered from
dismemberment, gastrointestinal disease, lacerations, blindness, and
burns caused by applying chemical products with inadequate protection.
The MTE was responsible for inspecting worksites to enforce child
labor laws; its regional offices had special groups to enforce child
labor laws, principally by gathering data and developing plans for
child labor inspection. Nonetheless, most inspections of children in
the workplace were driven by complaints brought by workers, teachers,
unions, NGOs, and the media. Labor inspectors continued to prioritize
inspections in the informal sector, but they remained unable to enter
private homes and farms, where much of the nation's child labor was
found. In most cases inspectors attempted to reach agreements and to
have employers desist from labor law violations before levying fines of
$188 (402 reais) per violation up to a maximum of fine of $944 (2,013
reais); for a second or third violation the fine doubles or triples
respectively. As a result, few employers were fined for employing
children.
The Labor Inspection Secretariat reported that between January and
August 2006, a total of 8,326 children and adolescents were removed
from exploitive labor situations. MTE inspectors often worked closely
with labor prosecutors from the Public Ministry of Labor (MPT)--an
independent agency responsible for prosecuting labor infractions--which
had broader powers and was able to impose larger fines. The MPT has a
national commission to fight child labor. The commission included 50
prosecutors and focused on strategic areas including sexual
exploitation, trash collecting, apprenticeships, and work in a family
setting. The commission included 50 prosecutors and focused on
strategic areas including sexual exploitation, trash collecting,
apprenticeships, domestic labor, drug trafficking. Brazil's National
Commission to Eradicate Child Labor (CONAETI) developed the 2004-2007
National Plan to Eradicate Child Labor and proposed a series of legal
reforms to help bring national laws into full compliance with the
conventions.
The Ministry of Social Development coordinated the National Forum
for the Eradication of Child Labor (FNPETI), which provided cash
stipends to low-income families who kept their children in school and
out of work. Because the public school day lasts only four hours, the
FNPETI emphasized complementary educational activities for children
during nonschool hours as an alternative to working. According to the
Ministry and data from the UN Development Program (UNDP), one million
children benefited from this program in 2005, and UNDP projections for
the year estimated that 2.2 million children benefited. Approximately
569,000 children benefited from this program. This contributed to a 51
percent decline in child labor from 1995 to 2005.
To prevent child labor and promote education, the Government
continued to promote its family stipend program, Bolsa Familia, which
provides approximately seven dollars to $44 (15 to 95 reais) monthly to
low-income families for each child (up to a total of three children per
family) between the ages of six and 15 whose school attendance rate was
85 percent or above. Municipal governments had primary responsibility
for day-to-day management of the program. The Institute of Geography
and Statistics (IBGE) demonstrated that the program provided stipends
to more than eight million families (15.6 percent of all families) or
almost 39 million persons. In addition to the federal program, an
estimated 100 municipal governments operated stipend programs. However,
in May IBGE released data showing that 72 million persons had a low to
moderate level of food security.
NGOs supported the Government's child labor elimination programs.
For example, the National Forum for the Prevention and Eradication of
Child Labor, with chapters in every state and more than 40
institutional members from the Government and private sector, promoted
debate and broad analysis of national child labor prevention efforts.
In addition the Centers for the Defense of Children and Adolescents
were active in many parts of the country and reported violations of
children's rights. The Pro-Child Institute in Sao Paulo State
coordinated a labeling program to reduce instances of child labor in
the footwear industry.
The private sector also played a role in fighting child labor. The
toy industry's Foundation for Children's Rights operated a labeling
program that identified companies with child-friendly policies and a
commitment to eliminate child labor. The foundation also fostered
initiatives through its awards programs for organizations, journalists,
and mayors. All major labor centrals implemented programs to educate
union members about the hazards of child labor and encouraged members
to report instances of child labor to authorities.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage did
not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The
Government adjusts the minimum wage annually and in April raised it
from approximately to $140 to $163 (300 to 350 reais) per month, an
increase of more than 13 percent in real terms. Over the last four
years, the Government has increased the real value of the minimum wage
by 25 percent. The Intersindical Statistic and Socio-economic Studies
Department estimated that approximately one in three workers earned the
minimum wage or less.
The law limits the workweek to 44 hours and specifies a weekly rest
period of 24 consecutive hours, preferably on Sundays. The law also
prohibits excessive compulsory overtime and stipulates that hours
worked above the weekly limit must be compensated at time-and-a-half
pay; these provisions generally were enforced in the formal sector.
Although the Ministry of Labor sets occupational, health, and
safety standards that are consistent with internationally recognized
norms, the Government devoted insufficient resources for adequate
inspection and enforcement of these standards. Unsafe working
conditions were prevalent throughout the country. There were no figures
available on workplace accidents during the year. Employees or their
unions may file claims related to worker safety with regional labor
courts, although this was frequently a protracted process.
According to the Ministry of Social Security, during 2005 there
were 491,711 workplace accidents, a 5.5 percent increase from the
previous year, although the number of deaths from accidents decreased
by 4.8 percent to 2,708 from the previous year.
The law requires employers to establish internal committees for
accident prevention in workplaces. It also protects employee members of
these committees from being fired for their committee activities. Such
firings occurred, however, and legal recourse usually required years
for a resolution. The MPT reported that numerous firms used
computerized records to compile ``black lists'' identifying workers who
had filed claims in labor courts. Individual workers did not have the
legal right to remove themselves from the workplace when faced with
hazardous working conditions, but workers could express such concerns
to a company committee for an immediate investigation.
On January 17, a 17-year-old male was found suffocated on a farm
belonging to Celso Manica, the brother of two men accused of ordering
the killing of a labor inspector in (see section 1.a.). The young man
was allegedly suffocated in a grain transfer process in a soy silo near
Unai. An inspection by the local labor ministry resulted in 32 safety
violations.
__________
CANADA
Canada, with a population of 32.8 million, is a constitutional
monarchy with a federal parliamentary form of government. In free and
fair federal elections held on January 23, the Conservative Party, led
by Stephen Harper, won a plurality of seats and formed a minority
government. 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. Human rights problems
included harassment of religious minorities, violence against women,
and trafficking of persons to, from, and within 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.
There were no known developments in an investigation opened by the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in September 2005 concerning
allegations of brutality in the arrest and imprisonment of an
indigenous man in the Natuashish community of northern Labrador.
The Winnipeg police and the Law Enforcement Review Agency
investigations of allegations of physical abuse of a person arrested in
2004 remained pending at year's end.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards. The Government permitted visits
by independent human rights observers, 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.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The RCMP is an
effective national, federal, provincial, and municipal policing body
that reports to the Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency
Preparedness. It provides federal police service throughout the country
and also provides police services under contract to the three
territories, eight provinces (Quebec and Ontario have their own
provincial police), approximately 198 municipalities, and 192
indigenous communities. The RCMP, provincial, and local police forces
have internal review mechanisms; corruption and impunity were not
problems.
Arrest and Detention.--Authorities generally apprehended persons
openly with warrants. A judge may issue a warrant after being satisfied
that a criminal offense may have been committed. A person arrested for
a criminal offense has the right to a prompt judicial determination of
the legality of the detention; to timely information as to the reason
for the arrest; to a lawyer of his or her choice and, if indigent, to
one provided by the state; and to prompt access to family members. Bail
generally was available.
In June the Supreme Court heard arguments on an appeal of a 2004
Federal Court of Appeal ruling that it was constitutional for the
Government to arrest and detain indefinitely noncitizens who pose a
threat to national security; the court's decision was pending at year's
end. Such cases are presented in secret to two cabinet ministers by
intelligence or police agencies and then reviewed by a federal judge.
The evidence generally is not shown to the detained individual. If the
judge approves the ministers' recommendation, the individual may be
imprisoned indefinitely, pending deportation proceedings. In November a
suspected Russian intelligence officer was detained pursuant to this
procedure and deported the following month. At year's end, three
individuals were incarcerated awaiting deportation, and three other
detainees had been conditionally released, subject to the
administrative deportation process.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice. The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
The court system is divided into federal and provincial courts,
which handle both civil and criminal matters. The highest federal court
is the Supreme Court, which exercises general appellate jurisdiction
and advises on federal constitutional matters.
Trial Procedures.--The judicial system is based on English common
law at the federal level as well as in most provinces. In Quebec
Province civil law is derived from the Napoleonic Code; however,
criminal law is the same nationwide. The Government appoints the
judges. Trials are public and defendants have a right to have their
case heard before a judge alone or, for more serious cases, before a
judge and jury. 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 needed when defendants face serious criminal charges, and
defendants can confront or 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 also enjoy a presumption of innocence and have a right of
appeal.
With passage of the Ontario Family Statute Law Amendment Act on
February 23, all family law arbitration became subject to civil law,
ending civil enforcement of religious arbitration decisions, which had
been permitted in Ontario under the 1991 Ontario Arbitration Act.
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. Human rights violations may
be heard by the provincial or federal human rights commissions.
Remedies can be monetary, declaratory, or injunctive. In general 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 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 Supreme Court has ruled that the Government may limit free
speech in the name of goals such as ending discrimination, ensuring
social harmony, or promoting gender equality. It also has ruled that
the benefits of limiting hate speech and promoting equality are
sufficient to outweigh the freedom of speech clause in the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms, which is the country's bill of rights incorporated
in the country's constitution.
In October an Ontario Superior Court justice struck down three
measures of the Security of Information Act (SOIA) and admonished the
RCMP for abusing its power in a case that arose in 2004 when the police
raided the home and office of an Ottawa Citizen journalist in what they
stated was an effort to determine the source of sensitive and
classified information involving a story the journalist wrote about
terrorism-related activities. Lawyers for the reporter and newspaper
brought a motion to court to seal the confiscated items and quash the
search warrants, stating that they were unconstitutional. The lawyers
argued the SOIA does not define the term ``secret'' and that SOIA
provisions criminalizing possession of ``secret'' government
information without authorization were too broad-thus permitting the
Government to intimidate and arrest any reporter found possessing
leaked government documents. The judge agreed and struck down the
provisions. In her ruling, the judge also stated the RCMP abused the
process by threatening to charge the journalist if she did not reveal
her source, ordered the RCMP to return the material seized, and ordered
the Government to pay the newspaper's legal costs.
Inciting hatred (in certain cases) or genocide is a criminal
offense, but the Supreme Court has set a high threshold for such cases,
specifying that these acts must be proven to be willful and public. The
Broadcasting Act prohibits programming containing any abusive comment
that would expose individuals or groups to hatred or contempt.
Provincial-level film censorship, broadcast licensing procedures,
broadcasters' voluntary codes curbing graphic violence, and laws
against hate literature and pornography also impose some restrictions
on the media.
On June 8, a Saskatchewan court set aside a July 2005 decision of a
Saskatoon court that found the former leader of the Assembly of First
Nations guilty of willfully promoting hatred against Jews under the
hate propaganda provisions of the criminal code. The charges stemmed
from remarks made in a 2002 public address to the Federation of
Saskatchewan Indian Nations. On June 19, the Saskatchewan Justice
Department announced its plans to appeal the decision to the
Saskatchewan Court of Appeal.
There were no developments concerning a Quebec City radio station's
appeal to the Supreme Court of a September 2005 Federal Court of Appeal
decision that upheld denial of the station's broadcasting license. The
general public had filed numerous complaints alleging that announcers
on the station used offensive comments, personal attacks, and
harassment as part of its programming. The station remained on the air
pending a Supreme Court ruling on whether to hear the case.
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.
The Canadian Human Rights Commission investigates complaints about
hate messages on Web sites and may forward cases to the Canadian Human
Rights Tribunal for action. In March the tribunal issued a ruling
finding that messages posted through a Web hosting service constituted
hate under the Human Rights Act. The tribunal ordered the respondents
to stop posting hate messages on the Internet and to pay a $7,135 (Cdn
$8,000) penalty.
In July a federal court jailed a white supremacist for nine months
for contempt of court for continuing to post hate messages on the
Internet. In late 2005 the federal court ordered him to stop his
Internet postings pending resolution of a complaint against him by the
Human Rights Commission. In April the tribunal ruled against the
individual and fined him $5,384 (Cdn $6,000).
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.
In March the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Sikh elementary
school student who had been prohibited from wearing his kirpan
(ceremonial dagger) to school. The rationale for the prohibition
involved security concerns rather than religious discrimination. The
Supreme Court, however, upheld a lower court ruling that required the
kirpan to be worn under the clothes and sewn into a sheath.
In September and October 2005, a Sikh law student was twice
prohibited from riding on national rail carrier trains because he was
wearing a kirpan. The carrier's baggage policy bans weapons and makes
no exceptions for religious symbols. There were no developments in the
student's pending appeal to the Ontario Human Rights Commission for
redress.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were a number of reports
of harassment of religious minorities, which the Government
investigated and punished. The Criminal Code and related statutes, the
Anti-Terrorism Act, the Canadian Human Rights Act, provincial human
rights codes, broadcasting regulations, and other acts seek to counter
hate and bias activity, and the Government enforced its laws to protect
religious freedom and combat discrimination.
Approximately 1.1 percent of the population was Jewish. The B'nai
Brith Canada League for Human Rights received 829 reports of anti-
Semitic incidents in 2005, a 3.3 percent decrease from 2004. The
highest number of reports came from Ontario Province (544 incidents,
418 of which took place in the greater Toronto area), followed by
Quebec Province (133 incidents, 127 of which took place in Montreal);
approximately 80 percent of the Jewish population resided in these two
provinces. B'nai Brith reported significant regional increases in
reports received in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the
maritime provinces, whereas both Montreal and Winnipeg showed
significant decreases. The 829 reports included 531 cases of
harassment, 273 cases of vandalism, and 25 cases of violence; 167 cases
of these cases involved attacks on synagogues, Jewish homes, or
communal buildings. Jewish students reported 48 cases of anti-Semitic
incidents that occurred on campus, and another 48 involved school
settings. The B'nai Brith League also noted a marked increase in Web-
based hate, with 161 reports, including 34 cases of targeted hate by e-
mail. There were no known developments in the provincial police
investigation of a December 2005 incident in which the Beth Shalom
Synagogue in Edmonton was spray-painted with a swastika and the acronym
ZOG (Zionist Occupied government).
On June 8, a Saskatchewan court set aside a July 2005 Saskatoon
court decision that found the former leader of the Assembly of First
Nations guilty of willfully promoting hatred against Jews under the
hate propaganda provisions of the criminal code (see section 2.a.).
On June 27, a Manitoba court sentenced three individuals to prison
terms ranging from two years minus one day to three years for the arson
destruction of a 105-year-old church; the court also levied one million
dollars (C$1.2 million) against the three as restitution. The
individuals, followers of a Norwegian musician jailed for a 1993 murder
and for the destruction of several churches in Europe, set the church
ablaze on February 12, the Norwegian convict's birthday.
In September a masked perpetrator threw a Molotov cocktail at an
Orthodox Jewish boys' school in Montreal. The school sustained limited
fire damage and some water damage from the automatic sprinkler system.
Since the perpetrator did not leave behind any message or graffiti, the
police undertook an arson probe rather than a hate crime investigation;
the Canadian Jewish Congress urged the police to treat it as a hate
crime.
In September at the start of Ramadan, an arsonist set fire to an
Islamic school in Ottawa. No injuries were reported, but the school
sustained damaged to its exterior and roof. Since the perpetrator(s)
did not leave behind any message or graffiti, the police undertook an
arson probe rather than a hate crime investigation; the Council on
American-Islamic Relations Canada urged the police to treat it is a
hate crime.
Following the June 2 arrests of 17 individuals with Middle Eastern
and South Asian surnames in the Toronto area on alleged terrorism
charges, several anti-Muslim incidents occurred in various locations,
including Montreal and Toronto. On June 9, an individual with a knife
threatened an imam outside his mosque in Montreal, leading to the
arrest of the alleged attacker. Police charged the individual with
armed assault, uttering threats, and possession of a dangerous weapon;
the suspect was released on bail while the investigation continued. On
June 3, vandals broke windows and damaged cars parked at the Rexdale
mosque in northwest Toronto. Police classified the attack as a hate
crime and continued their search for the perpetrators while increasing
patrols at all mosques in the city to prevent further vandalism. Muslim
and non-Muslim community leaders and government officials were among
those who urged calm and referred to the acts as ``motivated by
politics and hatred, not by any religion or faith.''
The Government urged the population to refrain from prejudice
against Jews, Muslims, or other persons on the basis of their religious
beliefs, ethnic heritage, or cultural differences. The Government's
Human Rights Commission is responsible for developing and conducting
information programs to foster public understanding of the Canadian
Human Rights Act. Provincial human rights commissions perform similar
functions for those activities that are not federally regulated. Four
provinces (Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New
Brunswick) officially recognize Holocaust Remembrance Day, while every
province conducts a remembrance ceremony attended by national,
provincial, and local leaders.
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. The
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees, granted refugee status or asylum, and cooperated with the
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
In practice the Government provided protection against refoulement,
the return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. The
Government offered alternatives to refugee claimants whose cases were
refused by the Immigration and Refugee Board. The option for judicial
review through the federal court exists. Two other remedies of last
resort are available through Citizenship and Immigration-Canada. They
include the initiation of a ``pre-removal risk assessment'' process as
well as an appeal to the minister for citizenship and immigration
services for a waiver based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
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.--In the free and fair
multiparty federal general election on January 23, the Conservative
Party took control of Parliament, ending 13 years of Liberal Party
rule. The Conservative Party, which did not win a majority of the 308
seats, formed a minority government.
Following the January election, there were 64 women and five
indigenous persons in the 308-member House of Commons. There were 34
women and seven indigenous members in the 105-seat Senate (whose
members are appointed by the Government). Women held six seats in the
27-person cabinet. The governor general and four of the nine members of
the Supreme Court, including the chief justice, were women.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The nongovernmental
organization (NGO) Transparency International reported that corruption
was not considered a problem.
There were isolated reports of government corruption during the
year, and there was concern about the lack of enforcement of
whistleblower legislation. The authorities removed from office and
prosecuted career civil servants found to be engaged in malfeasance of
any kind.
In November 2005 an independent commission appointed by the Prime
Minister, the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and
Advertising Activities (known as the Gomery Commission), released the
first part of its two-part report. The report established that
advertising agencies, many allied with the Quebec branch of the federal
Liberal Party, received in commissions and fees nearly half of the
federal funds authorized to promote federal Canada in Quebec from 1996
to 2001, and that up to $87 million (Cdn $100 million) was
inappropriately channeled to the Liberal Party.
On February 1, the Gomery Commission released the second part of
its report, which focused on recommendations to restore accountability
in government. The commission noted that there was a general lack of
transparency concerning government spending at all levels, and its
recommendations focused on restoring the balance of power between
Parliament and the executive branch to attain better accountability
within government. The Gomery Commission findings prompted extensive
media coverage, tarnished the reputation of the Government, especially
in Quebec, and led to the conviction of three persons for defrauding
the Government.
The law permits public access to government information by citizens
and noncitizens, including foreign media. The Government released
quarterly information on the public expenditures of senior government
officials and also published expense information on individual
ministerial Web sites and on a centralized Web site.
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.
On September 18, a government commission of inquiry released a
report on government actions relating to a dual Canadian-Syrian
citizen, Maher Arar, who claimed he was tortured while in Syrian
custody after he was deported there by the United States in 2002. While
the commission of inquiry found no evidence of government participation
in the decision to detain or deport Arar, it concluded that the RCMP
provided inaccurate information that very likely may have contributed
to those decisions. The commission also recognized that it did not have
access to all the information available to the United States. The
commission's report included recommendations to prevent a similar
occurrence and a review of RCMP practices.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides for equal benefits and protection of the law
regardless of race, gender, national or ethnic origin, age, language,
social status, or disability; the Government effectively enforced these
rights.
A July 2005 law extended equal access to civil marriage to same-sex
couples.
Women.--Although prohibited by law, violence against women,
including spousal abuse, remained a problem. The Government's
statistical office reported that there were 73.7 sexual assaults per
100,000 persons in 2004, down from 74.1 in 2003, while the 2004
homicide rate related to domestic violence was 0.71 per 100,000
couples.
The law prohibits domestic violence: although the Criminal Code
does not define specific domestic violence offenses, an abuser can be
charged with an applicable offense, such as assault, intimidation,
mischief, or sexual assault. Persons convicted of assault may be
penalized with up to five years in prison. Assaults involving weapons,
threats, injuries, or endangerment of life carry sentences up to 14
years in prison. Sexual abuse may be penalized with up to 10 years in
prison. Sexual assaults involving weapons, threats, injuries, or
endangerment of life carry sentences up to life imprisonment.
The 2004 General Social Survey estimated that 7 percent of citizens
15 years of age or over in a current, previous, or common-law union
experienced spousal violence in the previous five years. Approximately
4 percent of men and women in current marital or common-law
relationships experienced physical or sexual violence committed by
their partner. Indigenous (aboriginal) people were three times more
likely to be victims of spousal violence than nonindigenous people. The
rate of spousal violence among those who were gay or lesbian was twice
that of the reported violence experienced by heterosexuals. Women were
more likely than men to report that they were injured as a result of
the violence (44 percent compared with 18 percent).
There were more than 500 shelters for abused women, which provided
both emergency care and long-term assistance. The Government's family
violence initiative involving 12 departments and a cabinet ministry,
Status of Women Canada, was charged with eliminating systemic violence
against women and advancing women's human rights.
The Amnesty International 2006 Report noted that there were
continuing high levels of discrimination and violence against
indigenous women and criticized officials for failing to advance a
national strategy. The report specifically pointed out that police
responses to threats against indigenous women's lives were inconsistent
and inadequate.
Prostitution is legal, but the law prohibits pimping (benefiting
from the earnings of prostitution of another) and operating, being
found in, or working in a brothel.
Women were trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation (see
section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits criminal harassment (stalking) and makes it
punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment. The law does not contain a
specific offense of ``sexual harassment'' but contains criminal
prohibitions that may be applicable in addressing this conduct, such as
criminal harassment and sexual assault. Penalties for sexual assault
vary, depending on the offense, and range from 10 years' imprisonment
for nonaggravated sexual assault to life imprisonment for aggravated
sexual assault. The Government generally enforced these prohibitions.
Most harassment cases were settled out of court.
Women were well represented in the labor force, including business
and the professions. According to Statistics Canada, 67 percent of
women were employed in the workforce in April. Employment equity laws
and regulations cover federal employees in all but the security and
defense services. Women have marriage and property rights equal to
those of men.
Children.--The Government demonstrated its commitment to children's
rights and welfare through well-funded systems of public education and
medical care. Education is free through grade 13 and is compulsory
nationwide through age 15 or 16, depending on the province. The UN
Children's Fund reported that 100 percent of elementary-age children
attended school; high school was the highest level completed by most
children. Federal and provincial regulations protect children from
abuse, overwork, and discrimination and penalize perpetrators of such
offenses.
According to the 2004 General Social Survey, children and youth
under the age of 18 accounted for 21 percent of victims of physical
assault and 61 percent of victims of sexual assault, while representing
21 percent of the population. In 40 percent of the cases, parents were
the ones accused of sexual assault against children and youth.
Children were trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation (see
section 5, Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits trafficking in
persons, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, and
within the country.
The criminal code makes trafficking in persons a specific criminal
offense and prohibits global trafficking in persons, benefiting
economically from trafficking in persons, and withholding or destroying
documents to facilitate trafficking in persons. The Immigration and
Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) establishes criminal penalties of up to
life in prison and fines of up to $870,000 (one million Canadian
dollars) for convicted cross-border traffickers. The Government
prosecutes all forms of trafficking, including kidnapping, forcible
confinement, uttering threats, sexual assault, prostitution-related
offenses, and extortion.
In April 2005 Vancouver police brought the first case under IRPA
against the owner of a massage parlor whom they charged with two counts
of human trafficking for bringing women into the country under false
pretenses and coercing them into prostitution. There were no new
developments in this case, which remained pending at year's end.
The Government has an interdepartmental working group, consisting
of 17 departments and agencies and co-chaired by senior officials from
the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs, to combat trafficking in
persons.
Through agencies such as Interpol, the Government created
mechanisms to assist other countries with criminal investigations of
trafficking cases and cooperated with law enforcement authorities in
neighboring and source countries.
The country is a source, transit point, and destination for men,
women, and children trafficked for the purposes of labor and sexual
exploitation. In 2004 the RCMP estimated that 600 to 800 persons were
trafficked into the country annually and that an additional 1,500 to
2,200 persons were trafficked through the country into the United
States. Women and children were trafficked from Africa, Central and
South America, Eastern Europe, and Asia for sexual exploitation. Most
trafficking victims come from source countries in Asia, including South
Korea, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. On a lesser scale,
men, women, and children were trafficked for forced labor. Some
Canadian girls and women were trafficked internally for commercial
sexual exploitation.
Vancouver and Toronto served as hubs for organized crime groups
that trafficked in persons, including for prostitution. East Asian
crime groups targeted the country, Vancouver in particular, exploiting
immigration laws, benefits available to immigrants, and the proximity
to the U.S. border.
In May the Government issued guidelines that defined the status of
trafficking victims and offered avenues for victims assistance. Under
these guidelines officials may grant a temporary residence permit of
120 days (or longer, in special meritorious cases) to provide a
reflection period for the victim and an investigative window for law
enforcement to determine whether there is enough evidence to pursue a
trafficking case. During this 120-day period, immigration officials
determine whether a longer residency period of up to three years may be
warranted. Nonetheless, NGOs reported anecdotal evidence that some
victims of trafficking were arrested and deported. The RCMP implemented
a law enforcement training program to sensitize officers about
trafficking realities, to help identify potential trafficking victims,
and to provide information about implementing the new guidelines.
In addition to legal status under a temporary residence permit,
trafficking victims have access to federally funded emergency medical
services, including psychological and social counseling. In addition,
they are able to access a number of other programs and services such as
legal assistance. Finally, victims of trafficking are eligible to apply
for assistance from victims' assistance funds maintained by the
provincial governments.
The Government's Interdepartmental Working Group on Trafficking in
Persons, the policy development body for the federal government,
trained officials to increase awareness about trafficking. The group
also produced, translated into 14 languages, and distributed an
antitrafficking pamphlet to the country's diplomatic missions and to
NGOs with access to potential victims in source countries. In addition,
the Government supported efforts by NGOs and community organizations to
raise awareness of trafficking and funded academic studies of the
problem.
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 prohibitions.
Sexual exploitation of persons with disabilities in situations of
dependency is a criminal offense. The Government effectively
implemented laws mandating access to buildings for persons with
disabilities.
The federal, provincial, and territorial governments share
responsibility for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
The Office for Disability Issues is the federal government's focal
point for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Charter of Rights and
Freedoms protects the linguistic and cultural rights of minorities and
establishes English and French as the country's two official languages.
Despite the federal policy of bilingualism, English speakers in Quebec
(9 percent of the province's population) and French speakers in other
parts of the country generally lived and worked in the language of the
majority. The provinces may grant French or English the status of an
official language. Only New Brunswick has granted the two languages
equal status. The Charter of the French Language in Quebec makes French
the official language of the province and requires the use of French in
commerce, the workplace, education, and government. Minority language
rights are secured by law in Quebec's Charter of the French Language.
The Charter of the French Language restricts access to publicly
funded English education to those students who did most of their
elementary or secondary studies in English in the country or whose
immediate relative did. Francophones in Quebec have no constitutional
right to publicly funded English language education, but immigrants and
families from other provinces who have moved to Quebec may access
English language schools by obtaining a waiver.
In June the Prime Minister offered a full apology for the head tax
imposed on Chinese immigrants who entered the country between 1885 and
1923, and Newfoundland until 1949. In addition, the estimated 20
Chinese-Canadians from this group or their spouses still living were
promised a $17,853 (Cdn $20,000) ex gratia payment. The Government
undertook to establish two other funds worth approximately $30.3
million (Cdn $34 million) for community projects and education
programs.
Indigenous People.--The law recognizes three different groups of
indigenous people: Indians (generally called First Nations), Inuit
(formerly called Eskimos), and Metis (persons of mixed Indian-European
ancestry). According to the 2001 census, indigenous people constituted
approximately 3.3 percent of the national population and higher
percentages in the country's three territories: Yukon, 22.9 percent;
Northwest Territories, 50.5 percent; and Nunavut, 85 percent. Disputes
over land claims, self-government, treaty rights, taxation, duty-free
imports, fishing and hunting rights, and alleged harassment by police
continued to be sources of tension on some reserves. Indigenous people
remained underrepresented in the work force, overrepresented on welfare
rolls and in prison populations, and more susceptible to suicide and
poverty than other population groups.
The law recognizes and specifically protects indigenous rights,
including those established by historical land claims settlements.
Historical treaties with indigenous groups in the eastern part of the
country form the basis for the Government's policies there, but there
were legal challenges to the Government's interpretation of treaty
rights. Indigenous groups in the west that never signed historical
treaties continued to claim land and resources, and many continued to
seek legal resolution of outstanding issues. As a result, the evolution
of the Government's policy toward indigenous rights, particularly land
claims, was linked closely to legal challenges, including 45 Supreme
Court decisions.
In February aboriginal protesters took over a construction site in
southern Ontario on disputed land claimed by the Six Nations of the
Grand River reserve. The dispute originated from an agreement in the
1840s in which the Six Nations claims that it leased the land to the
provincial government. The provincial government, however, claimed the
land was purchased and eventually resold. Protesters ignored a court
injunction ordering them to vacate the site, and Ontario authorities
did not enforce it. In June the Ontario government announced it had
purchased the disputed land from the developer but its fate remained
uncertain. The dispute and occupation continued at year's end; on
several occasions protesters and local residents resorted to violence,
although no one was killed or seriously injured.
In April the Government reached an agreement to compensate 80,000
aboriginals who attended government-financed residential schools where
many suffered physical and sexual abuse. Negotiators representing the
Government, aboriginal peoples, and several churches that ran the
schools agreed that nearly $1.8 billion (Cdn $2 billion) would be paid
out in damages. Payments were scheduled to begin in 2007 but may be
accelerated for the elderly and the sick. The agreement allotted
payments of about $17,853 (Cdn $20,000) to each of the 80,000 former
students. An additional $107 million (Cdn $120 million) will be
allotted to a foundation to promote traditional native healing
therapies and to establish a truth and reconciliation commission to
hear testimony from victims and possibly perpetrators.
The annual report of the Government's corrections ombudsman,
released in October, charged that the federal government discriminated
against aboriginal prisoners by putting a disproportionate number in
maximum-security penitentiaries and segregation, keeping them jailed
longer, and failing to provide proper programs to help them readjust to
society after release. The report noted that aboriginal people make up
only 2.7 percent of the country's population but accounted for 18.5
percent of the federal prison population. The ombudsman attributed the
higher rate of recidivism in part to the Correctional Service's failure
to manage aboriginal inmates in a culturally responsive and non-
discriminatory manner.
In 2005 the Government agreed with five national indigenous
organizations to commit $4.96 billion ($Cdn 5.7 billion) over five
years to support programs in such areas as education, housing, and
health care; however, in May the new government budgeted only a portion
of the amount pledged for 2007-08.
In August a court in Ontario ordered a mining exploration company
to suspend its exploration activities after an aboriginal group claimed
the exploration area lay on disputed land and that the community was
never adequately consulted on the project. The judge stressed that
indigenous people must be consulted and their views accommodated in any
plans that could affect their land claims.
The Government continued the process of claim settlements and self-
government negotiations with more than 350 First Nations communities.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers in both the
public (except armed forces and police) and the private sectors to form
and join unions of their choice without previous authorization, and
workers did so in practice.
Trade unions are independent of the Government. Approximately 30
percent of the civilian labor force held union membership.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
protects collective bargaining, and collective agreements covered
approximately 32 percent of the civilian labor force. All workers,
except for those in the public sector who provide essential services,
have the right to strike, and workers exercised this right in practice.
The law prohibits employer retribution against strikers and union
leaders, and the Government generally enforced this provision 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.--
Child labor legislation varies from province to province. The federal
government does not employ youths under age 17 while school is in
session. Most provinces prohibited children under age 15 or 16 from
working without parental consent, at night, or in any hazardous
employment. The province of Alberta allows children age 12 to 14 to
work in certain sectors for limited periods of time without a permit
from the director of employment standards. British Columbia permits
employment of children between age 12 and 14, with the written consent
of the child's parent or guardian, and also permits employment of
children under age 12, with the permission of the director of
employment standards and only in ``exceptional circumstances,'' for
instance, in the entertainment industry.
Federal and provincial labor ministries' inspections effectively
enforced child labor laws and policies.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Each province and territory sets
minimum wage rates, which ranged from $5.88 to $7.46 (Cdn $6.50 to Cdn
$8.25) per hour. Ontario and Alberta have a minimum wage rate for
youths lower than their respective minimums for adult workers. The
minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker
and family. In 2005 a family of four with a before-tax income of
$28,749 (C$32,345) would have been living below the poverty line.
Standard work hours vary from province to province, but in all
provinces the limit is 40 or 48 hours per week, with at least 24 hours
of rest. The law requires payment of a premium for work above the
standard workweek. There is no specific prohibition on excessive
compulsory overtime, which is regulated by means of the required rest
periods in the labor code that differ from industry to industry.
Federal law provides safety and health standards for employees
under federal jurisdiction, while provincial and territorial
legislation provides for all other employees. Federal and provincial
labor departments monitored and enforced these standards. Federal,
provincial, and territorial laws protect the right of workers with
``reasonable cause'' to refuse dangerous work and remove themselves
from hazardous work conditions, and authorities effectively enforced
this right.
__________
CHILE
Chile is a multiparty democracy with a population of approximately
16 million. In January voters elected Michelle Bachelet of the
Socialist Party as President in a free and fair runoff election. In
December 2005 voters also elected 20 of the 38 senators and all 120
members of the Chamber of Deputies; these elections were also
considered generally free and fair. Civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens. There were isolated reports of excessive use of force and
mistreatment by police forces, of physical abuse in jails and prisons,
and of generally substandard prison conditions. Authorities failed to
advise detainees promptly of charges against them and to grant them a
timely hearing. Domestic violence against women and children was
widespread. There were isolated incidents of trafficking in persons to,
from, and within the country. Some indigenous people were marginalized,
particularly in rural areas, and suffered some forms of discrimination.
Many children were employed in the informal economy.
The judiciary convicted and sentenced several former officials for
human rights abuses committed during the 1973-90 military regime.
Before his death on December 10, former military dictator Augusto
Pinochet faced charges for human rights violations from 1973 to 1990
and for allegedly illegal financial dealings during and following that
period.
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 March 2005 the Chamber of Deputies approved a $1.5 million (780
million pesos) payment to the family of dual Chilean-Spanish citizen
Carmelo Soria, who was executed by National Intelligence Directorate
(DINA) agents in 1976. Senate action was pending at year's end.
At the time of his death on December 10, former military dictator
Augusto Pinochet was under investigation or indictment in at least six
cases involving extrajudicial executions, kidnapping, and torture
dating from the military government of 1973-89. However, Pinochet was
never brought to trial or convicted on human rights charges.
In November the Rancagua Appeals Court ordered Judge Raul Mera to
continue investigations in the 1988 killings of Raul Pellegrini and
Cecilia Magni. Pellegrini and Magni were Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic
Front activists killed in apparent reprisal for an attack on a local
police barracks. The court upheld Judge Mera's decision to delay filing
charges against two suspects, and the case remained pending at year's
end.
Judge Alejandro Solis concluded an investigation of the 1974 car
bomb assassination in Buenos Aires of former army commander Carlos
Prats in August. Seven former DINA agents, including former DINA
director Manuel Contreras, and one civilian have been indicted in the
case. At the end of the year, all those indicted in the Prats case were
free on bail, except for Contreras, who was serving a 12-year sentence
for the death of Miguel Angel Sandoval.
Judge Jorge Zepeda's investigation of retired security officer
Rafael Gonzales, charged in connection with the 1973 killing of U.S.
citizen Charles Horman, remained pending at year's end.
In March Judge Victor Montiglio filed murder charges against 13
former army officers and amended charges against six others from
aggravated kidnapping to murder in the 1973 ``Caravan of Death'' case.
The defendants were temporarily taken into custody, then released on
bail. In November Judge Montiglio charged five other former officers,
including former dictator Augusto Pinochet, with two additional
killings in this case. The case remained pending at year's end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
Courts prosecuted a number of historical cases based on plaintiffs'
arguments that the abduction of political prisoners constituted an
ongoing crime, not covered by amnesty, unless the subsequent execution
of the subject could be established concretely by identification of
remains. The Supreme Court upheld a number of convictions based on
indefinite or permanent kidnapping.
The judiciary continued to investigate human rights abuses
committed by the former military government and, in several cases,
passed sentence on those found guilty. According to the Interior
Ministry, as of October there were 361 active court cases involving 485
former officials (mostly military officials but including some
civilians). By year's end 126 individuals had been convicted and
sentenced for human rights violations during the Pinochet regime.
Judge Jorge Zepeda continued investigations of military-era
detentions and disappearances of persons at Colonia Dignidad, now
called Villa Baviera, a German-speaking settlement 240 miles south of
Santiago. Settlement founder Paul Schaefer, indicted in 2005 for his
involvement in four kidnappings under the former military regime, was
sentenced to seven years in prison on weapons charges in August and
faced multiple counts of child molestation. Several of Schaefer's
associates, including Gerard Muecke, were jailed and remained under
investigation for possible human rights violations at Colonia Dignidad.
The investigation into the 1985 disappearance of U.S. citizen Boris
Weisfeiler near Colonia Dignidad remained open at year's end.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the law prohibits such practices, nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) received isolated reports of abuse and
mistreatment by the Carabineros, the Investigations Police (PICH), and
prison guards.
Few reports of abuse or mistreatment led to convictions. Military
rather than civilian courts typically processed cases of military and
police abuse (see section 1.e.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally were poor. Prisons often were overcrowded and antiquated,
with substandard sanitary conditions. In November there were
approximately 43,500 prisoners in prisons designed to hold 28,700
inmates. Prisons in the Santiago Metropolitan Region were at nearly
double capacity. The 2006 Diego Portales University School of Law study
on prison conditions reiterated that prison services such as health
care remained substandard. Prison food met minimal nutritional needs,
and prisoners were able to supplement their diets by buying food. Those
with sufficient funds often could ``rent'' space in a better wing of
the prison.
In isolated instances prisoners died due to lack of clear prison
procedures and insufficient medical resources in the prisons. In
December prison officials reported that deaths by preventable causes
increased to 46 in 2005 (compared with 24 in 2004) and continued to
increase during the year. As of October 13, 38 inmates had been killed
by other prisoners, and 16 inmates had committed suicide.
A study by the public defender's office in seven of 13 regions
reported that during 2005, 59 percent of prisoners claimed to have been
victims of abuse or attacks. In 34 percent of reported abuse cases, the
alleged offenders were prison officials. Seventeen percent of prisoners
reported receiving physical punishment, and 6 percent of prisoners
described their physical punishment as ``torture.''
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, and such visits took place. These included regular visits by
Catholic and Protestant clerics and the NGO Paternitas. Amnesty
International and the International Committee of the Red Cross were
also granted access to facilities and prisoners. Prisoner rights groups
continued to investigate alleged use of excessive force against
detainees and particularly were concerned with the treatment of
prisoners in maximum security prisons. Prisoners with HIV/AIDS and
mental disabilities allegedly failed to receive adequate medical
attention.
During the year one court case alleging physical abuse or
negligence was filed against prison officials. Of the eight court cases
filed in 2005, two officials had been absolved; charges were dropped in
another case; and one official convicted for abuse received a suspended
sentence, a two-month suspension, and was fined $700 (364,000 pesos)
plus court costs. Judicial action in the remaining cases continued at
year's end. As of August, courts had not substantiated any of the 29
complaints alleging abuse or negligence that were filed during the
year. The Gendarmeria also conducted administrative investigations into
all allegations of abuse.
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 27,000-member
Carabinero force, under operational control of the Ministries of
Defense and Interior, has primary responsibility for public order,
safety, traffic control, and border security. The PICH, comprising
approximately 3,500 detectives, is responsible for criminal
investigations and immigration control. While under the operational
jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interior, the PICH also receives
guidance from the prosecutor or judge in a criminal investigation. The
Gendarmeria, with approximately 620 officials and 8,520 corrections
officers, operated the national prison system under jurisdiction of the
Ministry of Justice. The police force experienced a low incidence of
corruption. Police, prison guards, and officials took courses in human
rights, which are part of the core curriculum in the police and
military academies.
Arrest and Detention.--Only public officials expressly authorized
by law can arrest or detain citizens. The authorities must advise the
courts within 48 hours of the arrest and place the detainee at a
judge's disposition. No one can be held or detained except in their
home or a jail, prison, or other public facility designed for that
purpose.
While the authorities generally respected constitutional provisions
for arrest and detention, detainees often were not advised promptly of
charges against them nor granted a timely hearing before a judge.
However, judicial reforms that took effect in June 2005 improved
performance, and during the year more than 80 percent of cases were
resolved within the designated period. The law allows civilian and
military courts to order detention for up to five days without
arraignment and to extend the detention of alleged terrorists for up to
10 days. The law allows judges to set bail. Provisional liberty must be
granted unless a judge decides that detention is necessary to the
investigation or for the protection of the prisoner or the public.
The law affords detainees 30 minutes of immediate and subsequent
daily access to a lawyer (in the presence of a prison guard) and to a
doctor to verify their physical condition. Regular visits by family
members are allowed.
The law requires that police inform detainees of their rights and
expedite notification of the detention to family members. The law also
prohibits police from demanding identification from or stopping persons
based solely on suspicion, and it prohibits physical abuse by police
against detained persons (see section 1.c.).
The President is authorized to grant amnesty to prisoners and
typically grants amnesty to a limited number of prisoners each year on
humanitarian grounds.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The judiciary has civil, criminal, juvenile, family, and labor
courts of first instance throughout the country. There are 16 courts of
appeal. The 21-member Supreme Court is the court of final appeal. A
constitutional tribunal decides whether laws or treaties present
conflicts with the constitution. There are also military courts-
martial.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. National
and regional prosecutors investigate crimes, formulate charges, and
prosecute cases. Three-judge panels form the court of first instance;
the process is oral and adversarial, trials are public, and judges rule
on guilt and dictate sentences. Court records, rulings, and findings
were generally accessible to the public.
The law provides for the right to legal counsel, and public
defender's offices in all 12 regions and the Santiago Metropolitan
Region provide professional legal counsel to anyone seeking such
assistance. When requested by other human rights organizations or
family members, the NGO Corporation for the Promotion and Defense of
the Rights of the People and other lawyers working pro bono assisted
detainees during interrogations and represented some persons charged
with terrorist acts in court. Defendants enjoy a presumption of
innocence and have a right of appeal.
If formal charges are filed in civilian courts against a member of
the military (including the Carabineros), the military prosecutor can
ask for jurisdiction, which the Supreme Court occasionally granted.
This was particularly significant in human rights cases from the period
covered by the Amnesty Law, since military courts were more likely to
grant amnesty without a full investigation. Military courts have the
authority to charge and try civilians for terrorist acts, defamation of
military personnel, and sedition. Persons arrested during
demonstrations for assaulting a police officer also are brought before
military tribunals.
Civilians prosecuted in military courts have the same legal
protections as those prosecuted in civilian courts. They are entitled
to counsel, the charges are public, the sentencing guidelines are the
same (with the exception that the death penalty can be imposed in a
military court but not in a civilian court), and the Supreme Court
ultimately may hear appeals. A military prosecutor formulates charges
and conducts the investigation, and the first instance of appeal is in
a court-martial, composed of two civilian and three military judges.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees, although a number of inmates in
Santiago's maximum security prison charged with terrorist acts
following the return to democracy in 1989 claimed to be political
prisoners. In July 2005 the Senate approved a law allowing prisoners
convicted on terrorism charges to apply for parole; 32 prisoners were
eligible to apply under the provisions, but there was no report on how
many were released on parole.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--While there is an
independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters, which permits
access for lawsuits regarding human rights violations, modernization of
the judiciary has yet to affect the civil justice system, which was
characterized by antiquated and inefficient procedures. Courts were
overwhelmed by more than 800,000 new cases each year. The average civil
trial lasts more than five years, and civil suits could continue for
decades. Additionally, only 8 percent of lawsuits result in a
definitive sentence or court-imposed settlement. Of the rest, 90
percent are eventually resolved through mediation outside the courts or
settlement between the parties.
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, subject to significant legal restrictions.
Human rights groups and press associations criticized the existence
and application of laws that prohibit insulting state institutions,
including the presidency, the legislature, and judicial bodies, and
those that allow government officials to bring charges against
journalists who insult or criticize them. Military courts may charge
and try civilians for defamation of military personnel and for
sedition, but their rulings may be appealed to the Supreme Court (see
section 1.e.). Media organizations and individuals can also be sued for
libel.
The law prohibits the surreptitious recording of private
conversations.
Two major media groups, which were largely independent of the
Government, controlled most of the print media. The Government was the
majority owner of La Nacion newspaper but did not directly control its
editorial content.
The broadcast media generally were independent of direct government
influence. The Television Nacional network was state-owned but not
under direct government control. It was self-financed through
commercial advertising, editorially independent, and governed by a
board of directors appointed by the President and approved by the
Senate.
The government-funded National Television Council (CNT) was
responsible for ensuring that television programming ``respects the
moral and cultural values of the nation.'' The CNT's principal role was
to regulate violence and sexual explicitness in both broadcast and
cable television programming content. Films and other programs judged
by the CNT to be excessively violent, have obscene language, or depict
sexually explicit scenes may be shown only after 10 p.m., when ``family
viewing hours'' end. The CNT occasionally levied fines.
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.
While the PICH maintained a sexual crimes unit that monitored Web sites
for child pornography and prosecuted several individuals for selling,
storing, or trading child pornography on the Internet, there were no
reports that the Government monitored e-mail or Internet chatrooms for
other purposes.
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.
Religious organizations were required to register with the Ministry
of Interior in order to enjoy religious nonprofit status and provide
certain religious services, such as marriage ceremonies.
Although the law grants non-Catholic religions the right to have
chaplains in public hospitals, prisons, and military units, some
leaders of the country's Protestant churches (accounting for more than
15 percent of the population) noted a reluctance to name Protestant
chaplains in the armed forces and obstacles to pastoral visits at
military hospitals. Hospitals and prisons outside the military system,
however, provided good access to evangelicals as well as other minority
religious denominations.
While schools were required to offer religious education twice a
week through middle school, enrollment in such classes was optional.
The law mandates teaching the creed requested by parents, but
enforcement was sometimes lax. Instruction was almost exclusively Roman
Catholic.
In September 2005 the Supreme Court sustained a government
challenge to the registration of the Unification Church as a religious
nonprofit organization. Since then, the Unification Church continued to
operate under a more limited private nonprofit status.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were isolated reports of
anti-Semitic incidents, including spray-painted graffiti of swastikas
and derogatory comments directed at Jewish individuals. The Jewish
community was estimated at approximately 21,000 persons.
Neo-Nazi and skinhead groups engaged in gang-type criminal
activities and violence against immigrants, homosexuals, punk rockers,
and anarchists. While these groups share the anti-Semitic rhetoric of
neo-Nazi groups, there were no reports of neo-Nazi attacks targeting
the Jewish community. Identified neo-Nazis have been dismissed from the
armed forces and Carabineros, and the Government closed a neo-Nazi
newspaper in 2005.
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 it was not used.
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 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. During the year, 850
persons residing in the country had recognized refugee status. The
Government also provided temporary protection to approximately 450
individuals applying for status as refugees under the 1951 Convention
and the 1967 Protocol. These individuals were eligible for government-
funded health care and education while awaiting adjudication of their
cases and were financially supported by the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and other organizations. 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 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 January voters elected
Michelle Bachelet of the Socialist Party as President in a free and
fair runoff election. Bachelet is a member of the center-left
Concertacion coalition, which includes the Socialist Party, the
Christian Democratic Party, the Party for Democracy, and the Radical
Social Democrat Party. In December 2005 voters elected 20 of the 38
senators and all 120 members of the Chamber of Deputies in elections
generally considered free and fair. President Bachelet and the new
congress assumed office on March 11.
There were 15 women in the 120-seat Chamber of Deputies, two women
in the 48-seat Senate, and 10 women in the 18-member cabinet.
Indigenous people have the legal right to participate freely in the
political process, but relatively few were active. No members of the
legislature acknowledged indigenous descent.
Women became more visible in political life after Michelle Bachelet
assumed the presidency in March. As a result of her policy of ``gender
parity,'' women filled nearly 50 percent of governmental appointments.
However, women continued to be vastly underrepresented among elected
officials, constituting, for instance, only 12 percent of municipal
mayors.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated
reports of government corruption during the year. Transparency
International's annual corruption index recorded that the public
perceived the country as relatively free of corruption.
In December 2005 the mayor of Quillota, Luis Mella (Christian
Democrat), alleged the Government's Employment Generation Program (PGE)
paid political allies for work that was not performed. The Public
Ministry and the comptroller then initiated parallel investigations
into the potential illicit use of public funds. Although earmarked for
employment programs, these resources were possibly diverted to the
political campaigns of Socialist Party and Party for Democracy
candidates in the Fifth Region during the 2005 congressional elections.
The PGE investigations revealed that individuals paid to do public
works actually spent their time campaigning for political parties.
Further investigations revealed that funds were also misused in
other Fifth Region counties. Many midlevel public officials in the
regional government, such as the former regional ministerial secretary
of labor, were formally investigated, and several local officials were
removed.
The Government took remedial steps to control public employment
programs, dismantling the PGE and designating three government agencies
to manage recruitment of public works employers and workers and payment
of wages.
In October a government audit revealed financial irregularities in
Chiledeportes, a national program to promote amateur and professional
sport activities. Opposition political figures charged that the funds
had been diverted into the national political campaigns of ruling party
figures, while the organization's director characterized the issue as
``common crime.'' The Government removed all 13 Chiledeportes regional
directors and initiated a broad-based investigation to determine the
extent and nature of potential fraud or mismanagement. Congress created
an investigative committee in February, and prosecutors brought charges
of tax evasion and falsification of documents against some individuals.
Executive, congressional, and judicial investigations were ongoing at
year's end.
The Freedom of Information Act requires the Government and its
agencies to make all unclassified information about their activities
available to the public. All government ministries and most public
agencies have Web pages. In 2005 the NGO Participa released the results
of a far-ranging survey, which found that national and local government
agencies failed to respond to 69 percent of requests for information
and provided incomplete or otherwise deficient responses to 14 percent
of 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 cooperative and responsive to their views.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued two rulings against
the Government in September. In one case, the court ruled the
application of the country's 1978 Amnesty Law in the 1973 killing of
Luis Almonacid Arellano constituted denial of justice. The court
further ruled that the Amnesty Law could not be applied in the
Almonacid case or other cases comprising crimes against humanity for
purposes of closing investigations or suspending sentence against
persons convicted of those crimes. The court ordered that the
Government pay Almonacid's family $10,000 for legal fees. The
Government accepted the court's ruling, and at year's end Congress was
considering legislation to restrict the scope of the Amnesty Law.
In the case of Claude Reyes, the court issued a ruling regarding
the Government's refusal to release certain financial information about
a forestry contract negotiated with a foreign investor in 1998. The
contract was never finalized, and the environmentally sensitive project
was terminated. However, the court ruled that the Government had
violated the plaintiff's right to free speech by denying access to
public information without a valid justification. The ruling called on
the Government to provide all the requested information and guarantee
effective access to public information in the future. The court also
ordered the Government to pay the plaintiffs $10,000 in compensation
for legal fees and other expenses.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, color, gender, age,
nationality, national origin, or social status, and the Government
enforced this prohibition; however, such discrimination continued to
occur.
Women.--Domestic violence against women remained a serious problem.
A 2004 National Women's Service (SERNAM) study reported that 50 percent
of married women had suffered spousal abuse, 34 percent reported having
suffered physical violence, and 16 percent reported psychological
abuse. From January to November 2005, 76,000 cases of family violence
were reported to the Carabineros; 67,913 were reported by women, 6,404
by men, and approximately 1,000 by children.
The courts frequently order counseling for those involved in
intrafamily violence. At year's end there were 29 government and
private centers to attend to victims of intrafamily violence. During
the year the SERNAM partnered with NGOs to conduct courses on the
legal, medical, and psychological aspects of domestic violence for
police officers and judicial and municipal authorities.
Rape, including spousal rape, is a criminal offense. Penalties for
rape range from five to 15 years' imprisonment, and the Government
generally enforced the law. The age for statutory rape is 14. The law
protects the privacy and safety of the person making the charge. From
January to November, police received reports of 1,926 cases of rape,
compared with 2,451 cases in all of 2005. Experts believed that most
rape cases went unreported.
The Ministry of Justice and the PICH had several offices
specifically to provide counseling and assistance in rape cases. A
number of NGOs, such as La Morada Corporation for Women, provided
counseling for rape victims.
Although adult prostitution is legal, bordellos are not. Several
hundred women were registered as prostitutes with the National Health
Service. Police often detained prostitutes (usually as a result of
complaints by neighborhood residents) on charges of ``offenses against
morality,'' which could lead to a $96 (50,000 pesos) fine or five days
in prison. Procurement or pandering is illegal and punishable under
law. Inducing a minor (below age 18) to have sex in exchange for money
or other favors is illegal. Punishment ranges from three to 20 years in
prison and a $1,000 (520,000 pesos) fine depending on the age of the
minor. A police sexual crimes brigade was specifically charged with
investigating and prosecuting pedophilia and child pornography cases.
Sexual harassment generally was recognized as a problem. A 2005 law
against sexual harassment provides protection and financial
compensation to victims and penalizes harassment by employers or co-
workers. From January through September, the Labor Directorate had
received 244 complaints of sexual harassment; 205 of these cases
involved harassment by a supervisor or employer. During 2005 there were
264 such complaints--254 made by women and 10 by men; 238 of these
cases involved a supervisor or employer. Most of the complaints were
resolved quickly, resulting in action against the harasser in 33
percent of cases.
Women enjoy the same legal rights as men, including rights under
family law and property law. The quadrennial 2004 National Socio-
Economic Survey suggested that the overall gender income gap remained
at 33 percent, which widened to 38 percent in managerial and
professional positions. Women's workforce participation rose to 42
percent. The minimum wage for domestic workers, probably the largest
single category of working women, was 75 percent of the standard
minimum wage (see section 6.e.). The labor code provides specific
benefits for pregnant workers and recent mothers, including a
prohibition against dismissal; these benefits also apply to domestic
workers. Employers may not ask women to take pregnancy tests prior to
hiring them, although the NGO La Morada received reports that the
practice continued in some companies. The SERNAM is charged with
protecting women's legal rights.
A 2005 study by Corporacion Humana and the University of Chile's
Institute of Public Affairs revealed that 87 percent of women surveyed
felt that women suffered discrimination. According to the survey, 95
percent believed women faced discrimination in the labor market, 67
percent believed they faced discrimination in politics, 61 percent felt
that women were discriminated against by the media, and 54 percent
within the family.
Children.--The Government is committed to children's rights and
welfare.
Education is universal, compulsory, and free from first through
12th grade. The latest government figures showed that in 2002 the
median level of education was 10 years but varied regionally and across
age groups. The World Bank reported that in 2004 more than 90 percent
of school-age children attended school. Three-quarters of the
population had completed primary education (eight years), and 61
percent had secondary education (12 years).
The Government provided basic health care through a public system,
which included regular checkups, vaccinations, and emergency health
care. Boys and girls had equal access to health care.
Violence against children was a problem. A 2003 study by the
Citizens' Peace Foundation indicated that 60 percent of children
surveyed between the ages of seven and 10 had suffered some type of
aggression against them or their belongings either inside or outside
their homes. A 2006 UNICEF study reported that 75 percent of 13- and
14-year-olds reported they were subject to some type of physical or
psychological violence from one or both parents, including 26 percent
who reported having suffered serious physical violence (e.g., beatings,
cuts, and burns).
From January to November, the Public Ministry reported 197 cases of
commercial juvenile sexual exploitation, compared with 195 cases in all
of 2005. Since June 2003 the Government's National Children's Service
(SENAME) assisted more than 2,100 victims of commercial juvenile sexual
exploitation. SENAME, the Carabineros, and PICH worked together, along
with schools and NGOs, to identify children in abusive situations,
provide abused children with counseling and other social services, and
keep families intact.
Child prostitution was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor in the informal economy was a problem (see section
6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons, and there were isolated reports that persons
were trafficked to, from, and within the country for the purposes of
sexual exploitation and involuntary domestic servitude.
The law criminalizes promoting the entry into or exit from the
country of persons for the purpose of facilitating prostitution, with
penalties of up to three years in prison and a fine of $827 (430,000
pesos). Sanctions are increased in a number of circumstances, including
cases in which the victim is a minor, violence or intimidation is used,
deception or abuse of authority is involved, the victim is related or
under the tutelage of the perpetrator, or advantage is taken of a
victim's circumstances or handicap. The law criminalizes the
prostitution of children and corruption of minors, and the age of
consent for sexual relations is 14. The law criminalizes obtaining
sexual services from a minor in exchange for money or other
considerations.
Most trafficking victims were minors trafficked internally for
sexual exploitation. Within the country, victims reportedly were
trafficked from rural areas to urban areas such as Santiago, Iquique,
and Valparaiso. Law enforcement authorities stated that small numbers
of victims were trafficked to the neighboring countries of Argentina,
Peru, and Bolivia, as well as to the United States, Europe, and Asia.
Victims reportedly entered the country from Peru, Argentina, Colombia,
and Bolivia, although it was difficult to distinguish trafficking
victims from economic migrants.
Anecdotal reports suggested that young women were the primary
targets for trafficking to other countries. Traffickers reportedly used
newspaper advertisements for models and product promoters to lure
girls, ages 11 to 17, into prostitution. Law enforcement agencies
indicated that traffickers looking for children also targeted
economically disadvantaged families, convincing the parents that they
were giving the child the opportunity for a better life.
An antitrafficking coordinator in the Interior Ministry worked with
the Public Ministry to gather information on new cases investigated and
prosecuted. From May 2005 through March, 83 new cases were opened, with
50 pending active investigations and 14 prosecutions initiated by the
year's end. Most trafficking-related cases dealt with commercial sexual
exploitation of minors. The Public Ministry investigated 11 cases of
cross-border trafficking in persons from January to November, compared
with seven cases in all of 2005. Additionally, the PICH sex crimes and
cybercrime units worked with the Ministries of Justice and Interior to
address trafficking. The Government cooperated with Interpol on law
enforcement activities.
The Ministry of Labor performed regular worksite inspections,
responded to specific complaints, and maintained offices in each region
and throughout the Santiago Metropolitan Region to identify potentially
abusive situations and inform workers of their legal rights. The Public
Ministry trained hundreds of law enforcement agents to recognize and
investigate potential trafficking and trained prosecutors to prosecute
cases more effectively. SERNAM raised trafficking awareness and
provided information on victim's rights and the prosecution of
traffickers to 100 officials and 160 civic activists in the border
cities of Iquique and Arica.
The Government made substantial efforts to assist trafficking
victims during the year. Child victims trafficked into sexual
exploitation received counseling, psychological and health care, and
educational courses in NGO-operated centers for abused and exploited
children. The Government gave two million dollars (1.04 billion pesos)
to 16 NGOs that implement victim-assistance programs in 12 different
districts. Police officials who identified child trafficking victims
referred them to family courts for placement in protective custody with
foster families, relatives, or shelters and put victims in contact with
NGOs.
SENAME worked with 75 local offices, with international
organizations, including the International Organization for Migration,
and with NGOs to ensure that minors involved in possible trafficking
situations were not returned to abusive or high-risk situations. The
Government also worked with Bolivian and Argentine authorities to
coordinate the safe repatriation of foreign victims. Trafficking
victims may remain in the country during legal proceedings against
their traffickers. Victims may also bring legal action against
traffickers and seek restitution. The Government had no residence visa
program for foreign trafficking victims; however, at least one victim
was granted temporary residence to avoid returning her to potential re-
victimization in her home country.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical and mental disabilities, but such persons
suffered forms of de facto discrimination. The law mandates access to
buildings for persons with disabilities, but a Ministry of Housing and
Urban Planning study based on a 2002-03 census showed that 70 percent
of the buildings in the country designated as public or multiuse failed
to meet that standard. An improved public transportation system in
Santiago provided wheelchair access on major ``trunk'' routes. Some
local ``feeder'' routes also provided low-rise buses with access ramps.
Subway lines in the Santiago metropolitan area provided limited access
for persons with disabilities. Public transport outside of Santiago was
problematic.
In April 2005 the Government released its First National Study of
Disability, which revealed that twice as many persons with disabilities
were in the lower socioeconomic brackets as in the middle and upper
brackets. Approximately 100,000 persons with disabilities under the age
of 27 did not receive any special care or education.
Indigenous People.--The 2002 census recorded approximately 692,000
self-identified persons of indigenous origin (5 percent of the total
population). The Mapuches, from the south, accounted for approximately
85 percent of this number. There were also small populations of Aymara,
Atacameno, Rapa Nui, and Kawaskhar in other parts of the country.
The law gives indigenous people a voice in decisions affecting
their lands, cultures, and traditions and provides for bilingual
education in schools with indigenous populations. Approximately one-
half the self-identified indigenous population remained separated from
the rest of society, largely due to historical, cultural, educational,
and geographical factors. Both internal factors and governmental
policies limited the ability of indigenous people to participate in
governmental decisions affecting their lands, cultures, traditions, and
the allocation of natural resources. Indigenous people also experienced
some societal discrimination and reported incidents in which they were
attacked and harassed. A 2003 Ministry of Planning survey reported that
indigenous people earned 26 percent less than nonindigenous citizens
for similar work.
The National Corporation for Indigenous Development (CONADI), which
included directly elected indigenous representatives, advised and
directed government programs to assist the economic development of
indigenous people.
In 2005 CONADI regularized the property titles to approximately
173,000 acres of land that were restored to 300 Aymara families in the
north. However, some observers criticized a lack of transparency in
CONADI's land restoration processes and favoritism of the Mapuche over
other indigenous groups.
There were isolated instances of violent confrontations between
indigenous Mapuche groups and landowners, logging companies, and local
government authorities in the southern part of the country. The actions
took the form of protests and, occasionally, instances of rock
throwing, land occupations, and burning of crops or buildings. Many of
these actions were initiated by the Coordinadora Arauco Malleco (CAM),
an indigenous group that has been accused of terrorist acts.
Three CAM-related Mapuches and a non-indigenous sympathizer
remained imprisoned in a 2001 arson case in which antiterrorism
penalties were applied. The four initiated a hunger strike in March,
demanding the terrorism convictions be voided to allow their release on
parole. In April the court acquitted two other individuals of all
charges, criminal and terrorist, in the same case. In September the
Senate rejected a proposed law to allow the release of the four
imprisoned on terrorist charges. Government-sponsored legislation which
would clarify the application of the antiterrorism law remained pending
at year's end.
The Government did not act on a UN special rapporteur's 2003
recommendation that there be a judicial review of cases affecting
Mapuche leaders. The Government has not applied the antiterrorism law
in Mapuche-related prosecutions since 2002.
The Ministry of Education provided a package of financial aid
consisting of 1,200 scholarships for indigenous elementary and high
school students in the Araucania Region during 2005. The Government
also implemented the Indigenous Scholarship Program that benefited
36,000 low-income indigenous elementary, high school, and college
students with good academic performances.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers have the right to form and
join unions without prior authorization, and approximately 10 percent
of the total work force (estimated at 5.9 million) was unionized in
more than 16,000 unions. Police and military personnel may not organize
collectively. Members of unions were free to withdraw from union
membership. The law prohibits closed union shops.
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. Temporary workers--those
in agriculture and construction as well as port workers and
entertainers--may form unions, but their right to collective bargaining
is limited. Intercompany unions were permitted to bargain collectively
only if the individual employers agreed to negotiate under such terms.
Collective bargaining in the agricultural sector remained dependent on
employers agreeing to negotiate.
While employees in the private sector have the right to strike, the
Government regulated this right, and there were some restrictions. The
law permits replacement of striking workers, subject to the payment of
a cash penalty that is distributed among the strikers.
Public employees do not enjoy the right to strike, although
government teachers, municipal and health workers, and other government
employees have gone on strike in the past. The law proscribes employees
of 30 companies--largely providers of such essential services as water
and electricity--from striking. It stipulates compulsory arbitration to
resolve disputes in these companies. There was no provision for
compulsory arbitration in the private sector. Strikes by agricultural
workers during the harvest season were prohibited. Employers must show
cause and pay severance benefits if they dismiss striking workers.
Labor laws applied in the duty-free zones; there are no export
processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, and there were no reports that such
practices occurred. The Labor Code does not specifically prohibit
forced or compulsory labor by children, and child prostitution remained
a problem (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law restricts child labor, but it was a problem in the informal
economy. The law provides that children between the ages of 15 and 18
may work with the express permission of their parents or guardians, but
they must attend school; 15-year-old children may perform only light
work that does not require hard physical labor or constitute a threat
to health and childhood development. Additional provisions in the law
protect workers under age 18 by restricting the types of work open to
them (for example, they may not work in nightclubs) and by establishing
special conditions of work (they may not work more than eight hours in
a day). The minimum age to work in an underground mine is 21; special
regulations govern the ability of 18- to 21-year-olds to work at other
types of mining sites.
Ministry of Labor inspectors enforced these regulations, and while
compliance was good in the formal economy, many children were employed
in the informal economy. From January through November, the Ministry of
Labor imposed some form of sanctions in 93 cases involving violations
of child labor laws. There were reports that children were trafficked
(see section 5). A 2004 survey by the Ministry of Labor and the
International Labor Organization reported that in 2003 approximately
200,000 children between the ages of five and 17 worked, and 3 percent
of all children and adolescents worked under unacceptable conditions.
Among working children, those between the ages of five and 14 worked an
average of 18.5 hours a week, and adolescents worked an average of 39.5
hours.
In August 2005 SENAME released a report indicating that, as of
September 2004, there were 1,123 cases of children and adolescents
involved in the worst forms of child labor. Of this number,
approximately 68 percent were boys; 75 percent were 15 years or older;
and 66 percent did not attend school. Fifty-eight percent of the
individuals were involved in hazardous activities such as mining or
working with chemicals or toxins, 24 percent in commercial sexual
exploitation, and 14 percent in illegal activities.
The Government devoted adequate resources and oversight to child
labor policies. SENAME, in coordination with labor inspectors, has a
system for identifying and assisting children in abusive or dangerous
situations. The Ministry of Labor convened regular meetings of a
tripartite group (business-labor-government) to monitor progress in
eradicating child labor. SENAME operated rehabilitation and reinsertion
programs in 75 municipalities for exploited child workers. SENAME also
implemented public educational programs to create awareness about child
labor and its worst forms.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage is set by law
and is subject to adjustment annually. A tripartite committee
comprising government, employer, and labor representatives normally
suggests a minimum wage based on projected inflation and increases in
productivity. On July 1, the minimum wage increased 6 percent to
approximately $255 a month (135,000 pesos). This wage was designed to
serve as the starting wage for an unskilled single adult worker
entering the labor force and did not provide a worker and family with a
decent standard of living. The minimum wage for domestic servants was
75 percent of that for other occupations (see section 5). The Labor
Directorate, under the Ministry of Labor, was responsible for
effectively enforcing minimum wage and other labor laws and
regulations.
The law sets the legal workweek at six days or 45 hours. The
maximum workday length is 10 hours (including two hours of overtime
pay), but positions such as caretakers and domestic servants are
exempt. All workers enjoy at least one 24-hour rest period during the
workweek, except for workers at high altitudes who may exchange a work-
free day each week for several consecutive work-free days every two
weeks. The law establishes fines for employers who compel workers to
work in excess of 10 hours a day or do not provide adequate rest days.
The Government effectively enforced these standards.
The law establishes occupational safety and health standards, which
were administered by the Ministries of Health and Labor and effectively
enforced. Insurance mutual funds provide workers' compensation and
occupational safety training for the private and public sectors. The
law protects employment of workers who remove themselves from dangerous
situations if labor inspectors from the Labor Directorate and
occupational safety and health inspectors from the Chilean Safety
Association determine conditions that endanger their health or safety
exist. Authorities effectively enforced the standards and frequently
imposed fines for workplace violations.
__________
COLOMBIA
Colombia is a constitutional, multiparty democracy with a
population of approximately 42 million. On May 28, independent
Presidential candidate Alvaro Uribe was reelected in elections that
were considered generally free and fair. The 42-year internal armed
conflict continued between the Government and terrorist organizations,
particularly the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the
National Liberation Army (ELN). [.] The United Self Defense Forces of
Colombia (AUC) was demobilized by August, but renegade AUC members who
did not demobilize, or who demobilized but later abandoned the peace
process, remained the object of military action. While civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces, there were instances in which elements of the security forces
acted in violation of state policy.
Although serious problems remained, the Government's respect for
human rights continued to improve, which was particularly evident in
actions undertaken by the Government's security forces and in
demobilization negotiations with the AUC. The following societal
problems and governmental human rights abuses were reported during the
year: unlawful and extrajudicial killings; forced disappearances;
insubordinate military collaboration with criminal groups; torture and
mistreatment of detainees; overcrowded and insecure prisons; arbitrary
arrest; high number of pretrial detainees some of whom were held with
convicted prisoners; impunity; an inefficient judiciary subject to
intimidation; harassment and intimidation of journalists; unhygienic
conditions at settlements for displaced persons, with limited access to
health care, education, or employment; corruption; harassment of human
rights groups; violence against women, including rape; child abuse and
child prostitution; trafficking in women and children for the purpose
of sexual exploitation; societal discrimination against women,
indigenous persons, and minorities; and illegal child labor.
Illegal armed groups committed the majority of human rights
violations. Despite a unilateral cease-fire declared by the AUC in 2002
and a nationwide demobilization, renegade paramilitary members
committed the following criminal acts and human rights abuses:
political killings and kidnappings; forced disappearances; torture;
interference with personal privacy and with the political system;
forced displacement; suborning and intimidation of judges, prosecutors,
and witnesses; infringement on citizens' privacy rights; restrictions
on freedom of movement; recruitment and employment of child soldiers;
and harassment, intimidation, and killings of human rights workers,
journalists, teachers, and trade unionists.
The FARC and ELN committed the following human rights violations:
political killings; killings of off-duty members of the public security
forces and local officials; kidnappings and forced disappearances;
massive forced displacements; suborning and intimidation of judges,
prosecutors, and witnesses; infringement on citizens' privacy rights;
restrictions on freedom of movement; widespread recruitment of child
soldiers; attacks against human rights activists; harassment,
intimidation, and killings of teachers and trade unionists.
During the year the Government demobilized 17,560 paramilitary
members, which brought the total number demobilized since 2003 to more
than 32,000 and concluded the demobilization process. Former
paramilitaries who refused to demobilize were treated as common
criminals. Representatives of the Government, the ELN, civil society,
and international observers continued meeting to explore a possible
peace process and demobilization of the ELN.
Government steps to improve the human rights and security situation
showed demonstrable results. Government statistics indicated that
during the year there were decreases in the homicide rate (5 percent),
massacres (23 percent), kidnappings (14 percent), and forced
displacement (20 percent).
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Political and
unlawful killings remained an extremely serious problem, and there were
periodic reports that members of the security forces committed
extrajudicial killings.
The Jesuit-founded Center for Popular Research and Education
(CINEP), a local human rights nongovernmental organization (NGO),
claimed there were at least 161 political and unlawful killings,
committed by all actors, during the first six months of the year. Some
NGOs, such as CINEP, attributed reports of paramilitary human rights
violations directly to the Government and included paramilitary
killings in their definition of ``unlawful killings.'' The Government's
Presidential Program for Human Rights reported that during the year 193
persons died in 37 massacres (defined by the Government as killings of
four or more persons) committed by illegal armed groups, a 23 percent
decrease from 2005.
Security forces were responsible for multiple unlawful killings.
CINEP reported that there were 92 such killings during the first
six months of the year.
In conformity with the law, the military or civilian authorities
investigated killings allegedly committed by security forces. Civilian
courts tried a number of military personnel accused of human rights
violations (see section 1.e.). Investigations of past killings
proceeded, albeit slowly.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR)
expressed concern over the January 4 killings of Edimer Witer Hernandez
Giraldo, Ricardo Arley Jaramillo, and John Jairo Guzman in Montebello,
Antioquia. According to the allegations, members of the Fourth
Brigade's Pedro Nel Ospina Battalion summarily executed the victims and
subsequently presented them as enemy combatants.
According to CINEP, on March 4, soldiers from the Fourth or 17th
Brigade killed Nelly Johana Durango in San Jose de Apartado. CINEP
alleged that the soldiers subsequently presented her as an enemy
combatant.
The UNHCHR expressed concern over the March 9 killing of John Jairo
Gomez Garces in Bello, Antioquia. According to the allegations,
soldiers from the Fourth Brigade's Pedro Nel Ospina Battalion summarily
executed the victim and later claimed he was killed in cross-fire with
the AUC.
In May the UNHCHR requested the Government provide an explanation
for 15 reports of alleged unlawful killings. Of the 15 reports, 11
involved the Fourth Brigade, one involved the 17th Brigade, one
involved the Sixth Brigade, and two were unidentified. In June the
UNHCHR requested the Office of the Inspector General (Procurador
General) to investigate 37 cases of alleged killings of persons who had
been presented as enemies killed in combat. In response to these
requests, the Government subsequently identified 29 cases. Of these,
the military justice system was investigating one case, the Supreme
Council of the Judiciary was reviewing another for jurisdiction, and
the remaining 27 were being investigated by the Prosecutor General's
Office (Fiscal General). As of September, the Prosecutor General's
Office had issued seven preventive detention orders in two of its
cases.
In September the Prosecutor General's Office detained Army Major
Jorge Alberto Mora Pineda, commander of the antikidnapping unit in
Barranquilla, for his role in an alleged false kidnapping operation on
August 14 in which members of the unit killed six persons. The
Prosecutor General's Office investigated six members of the
Governmental GAULA (Unified Action Groups for Personal Liberty, an
entity formed to combat kidnapping and extortion) and one agent from
the Department of Administrative Security (DAS).
In the February 2005 case of eight civilians killed in San Jose de
Apartado, the Human Rights Unit of the Prosecutor General's Office
continued collecting evidence against members of the army's 17th
Brigade for their alleged involvement. However, the Prosecutor
General's Office reported difficulty in collecting testimony from the
members of the peace community in San Jose de Apartado, which impeded
the investigation.
On February 20, the Prosecutor General's Office indicted seven
members (including the commander) of the ``Pantero Uno'' Squad from the
army's 12th Infantry Battalion (``Alfonso Manosalva Florez'') for
homicide and criminal conspiracy in the killings of Wilman Guillermo,
Arriaga Arboleda, and Jefferson Moreno Lopez in July 2005 in Condoto,
Choco.
The Prosecutor General's Office detained army soldier Miguel Angel
Molina Delgado on charges of homicide and trafficking firearms owned by
the armed forces, for launching a grenade into a house, which caused
the death of a minor and injuries to three persons in September 2005.
In February the Prosecutor General's Human Rights Unit in Cali took
over the case of the September 2005 killing of Jhonny Silva Aranguren
during a protest at Valle University. The investigation remained in the
preliminary stage at year's end.
In September the Prosecutor General's Office detained one officer,
one noncommissioned officer, and four soldiers in the October 2005
killing of Luis Orozco and Mario Pineda in Tierralta, Cordoba.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, the soldiers originally
presented the victims as insurgents killed in combat, but a subsequent
investigation revealed the soldiers had summarily executed the victims.
The case was pending at year's end.
In December 2005 a military penal court ruled there was no evidence
of criminal wrongdoing in a 2004 ``friendly fire'' incident, in which
two policemen killed GAULA members in Floridablanca, Santander
Department.
In September the Prosecutor General's Office ordered the detention
of eight soldiers for killing Juan Daza in 2004 in Atanquez, Cesar. The
army had presented the victim as an insurgent killed in combat, but the
prosecutor general's investigation determined the suspects summarily
executed the victim.
In August the Prosecutor General's Office detained a
noncommissioned officer and three soldiers for the 2003 killing of
Jesus Montero in Rioseco, Cesar. The army had presented the victim as
an insurgent killed in combat, but a subsequent investigation
determined the soldiers summarily executed the victim.
There were also reports of security forces killing civilians during
the internal armed conflict (see section 1.g.).
There was no information available regarding developments in the
following killings that CINEP attributed to army units in 2005: in
February, two peasants by Battalion 21 Vargas in Meta Department and
two civilians by the Santander Battalion in Cesar Department and in
March, three persons in Arauca Department by Second Division troops.
Both governmental and nongovernmental actors used landmines (see
section 1.g.). The Government expressed its commitment to removing the
remaining 31 government-controlled minefields, as the security
situation permits.
There continued to be credible reports that some members of the
security forces cooperated with illegal paramilitaries in violation of
orders from the President and the military high command (see section
1.g.). Such collaboration often facilitated unlawful killings and
sometimes may have involved direct participation in paramilitary
atrocities.
Impunity for military personnel who collaborated with members of
renegade paramilitary groups remained a problem (see section 1.g.).
Renegade paramilitary members committed numerous political and
unlawful killings, primarily in areas under dispute with guerrillas or
lacking a strong government presence (see section 1.g.).
Guerrillas, particularly the FARC, committed unlawful killings.
Guerrillas killed teachers, journalists, religious leaders, union
members, human rights activists, candidates for public office, elected
officials and other politicians, alleged paramilitary collaborators,
and members of the Government security forces (see section 1.g.).
Other terrorist groups also carried out attacks (see section 1.g.).
b. Disappearance.--Forced disappearances, many of them politically
motivated, continued to occur. CINEP reported 73 victims of forced
disappearance during the first six months of the year, an increase of
23 percent compared with the same period in 2005.
Although continuing to decline in frequency, kidnapping, both for
ransom and for political reasons, remained a serious problem. According
to the Presidential Program for Human Rights, there were 687
kidnappings during the year, compared with 800 in 2005. The
Government's National Fund for the Defense of Personal Liberty
(Fondolibertad) reported 282 kidnappings for extortion (defined as
kidnapping to obtain a benefit, utility, act, or omission) during the
year, compared with 377 in 2005.
GAULA and other elements of the security forces freed 138 hostages
during the year. However, Fondolibertad reported that at least 20
kidnap victims died in captivity during the year, compared with 17 in
2005.
Renegade paramilitaries, the FARC, and the ELN continued the
practice of kidnapping. There were numerous reports that guerrillas
killed kidnapping victims (see section 1.g.).
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the law prohibits such practices, there were
reports that the police, military, and prison guards sometimes
mistreated and tortured detainees. Members of the military and police
accused of torture were tried in civilian rather than military courts
(see section 1.e.). CINEP asserted that, as of June, government
security forces were involved in 40 incidents of torture, a 50 percent
increase compared with the first six months of 2005. CINEP also
reported that during the first six months of the year there were 32
victims of torture by the armed forces. On January 25, a group of
soldiers allegedly tortured army conscripts at a training center in
Tolima. The Prosecutor General's Office investigated five officers,
nine noncommissioned officers, and one soldier in the case and placed
six of them in preventive detention. They were all under indictment.
CINEP reported that on February 1, soldiers assigned to the 40th
Battalion Heroes de Santuario tortured Mario Varela in Puerto Rico,
Meta Department.
In February CINEP alleged that army soldiers tortured William
Alberto Idagarra Agueirre in Arauquita, Arauca Department.
A judgment was pending in the civilian judicial system against
three police officers for the 2002 torture and killing of Edison
Watsein in Medellin, Antioquia Department.
CINEP reported that demobilized paramilitaries were responsible for
at least 20 cases of torture as of June. For example, CINEP stated that
paramilitaries tortured and killed Carlos Arciniegas of the Colombian
Communist Party, who disappeared in December 2005.
The Human Rights Unit of the Prosecutor General's Office reported
it was investigating one case of torture that was attributed to an ex-
paramilitary.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--With the exception of new
facilities, prison conditions were poor, particularly for prisoners
without significant outside support. The National Prison Institute
(INPEC) runs the country's 139 national prisons and is responsible for
inspecting municipal jails. Although part of the Ministry of Interior
and Justice, INPEC has an independent budget and administrative
decentralization.
Many of INPEC's 14,000 prison guards and administrative staff were
poorly trained, and overcrowding, lack of security, corruption, and an
insufficient budget continued to be serious problems. As of July more
than 62,000 prisoners were held in space designed to accommodate fewer
than 52,000, an overcrowding rate of nearly 18 percent, an improvement
compared with nearly 40 percent overcrowding in 2005. In five
institutions the number of prisoners was more than twice the design
capacity, and in Itagui's penitentiary, more than 5,000 prisoners lived
in a space designed for 2,000. The Committee in Solidarity with
Political Prisoners (CSPP) noted a continued decrease in corruption
resulting from improved training, increased supervision, and more
accountability for prison guards.
Budget problems affected prisons in many ways. At Combita Prison
lack of money to pay sanitation fees led to water rationing. An October
report by the Inspector General's Office on Combita Prison found
violations of health standards, such as lack of potable water and a
proliferation of insects and rodents. During the year INPEC spent
approximately two dollars (4,990 pesos) per day on each inmate for
food. Private sources continued to supplement many prisoners' food.
CSPP reported that there were up to 1,200 patients per doctor in some
institutions.
INPEC reported that from January 1 to August 31, there were nine
violent deaths among inmates that were related to fighting and riots.
From January to August, there were 11 riots at various institutions,
which were sparked principally by inmates' internal fights; demands
regarding working rights, food, and health care; and rebellion against
prison discipline. The Prosecutor General's Office continued to
investigate allegations that some prison guards routinely used
excessive force and treated inmates brutally. There was no information
available on prosecutions.
Pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners.
The Government permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions by local and international human rights groups, and such
monitoring occurred during the year. The FARC and ELN continued to deny
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) access to police
and military hostages (see section 1.g.).
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Although the law prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, there were allegations that authorities
detained citizens arbitrarily.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police are
responsible for internal law enforcement and are under the jurisdiction
of the Ministry of Defense. Law enforcement duties are shared with the
DAS and the prosecutor general's Corps of Technical Investigators. The
army also shared limited responsibility for law enforcement and
maintenance of order within the country. For example, military units
sometimes provided logistical support and security for criminal
investigators to collect evidence in high-conflict or hard-to-reach
areas. The army also supported the National Police in providing
security, especially by establishing perimeters around rural
municipalities. On limited occasions the army also provided support in
guarding prisons. During the year the Human Rights Unit of the
Prosecutor General's Office issued preventive detention orders for 66
members of the armed forces for human rights violations or paramilitary
collaboration. However, impunity continued to be widespread due to a
lack of resources for investigations, protection for witnesses and
investigators, coordination between government entities, and in some
cases obstruction of justice. Between January and October, the Ministry
of Defense relieved 147 members of the armed forces from duty for
inefficiency, unethical conduct, corruption, and reasonable doubt
regarding possible violations of human rights.
Arrest and Detention.--Police apprehended suspects with warrants
issued by prosecutors based on probable cause. However, a warrant is
not required to arrest criminals caught in the act or fleeing the scene
of a crime. Members of the armed forces detained members of illegal
armed groups captured in combat but were not authorized to execute
arrest warrants; however, a member of the Technical Investigative Unit
who accompanies military units may issue such warrants.
Law enforcement authorities must promptly inform suspects of the
reasons for the arrest and bring suspects before a senior prosecutor
within 36 hours of detention. Prosecutors must rule on the legality of
detentions within 72 hours. These requirements were enforced in
practice. In the case of most felonies, detention prior to the filing
of formal charges cannot exceed 180 days, after which a suspect must be
released. In cases of crimes deemed particularly serious, such as
homicide, terrorism, or rebellion, authorities are allowed up to 360
days to file formal charges before a suspect must be released. Habeas
corpus is available to address cases of alleged arbitrary detention.
While individuals accused of lesser offenses have access to bail,
it generally is not available for serious crimes such as murder,
rebellion, or narcotics trafficking. Suspects have the right to prompt
access to counsel of their choice, and public defenders from the Office
of the Human Rights Ombudsman assist indigent defendants.
Prominent human rights NGOs complained that the Government
arbitrarily detained hundreds of persons, particularly social leaders,
labor activists, and human rights defenders. For its part, CINEP
reported that security forces arbitrarily detained 223 persons during
the first six months of the year, compared with 321 in the comparable
period of 2005. Many of these detentions took place in high conflict
areas (notably in the departments of Arauca, Cesar, Meta, and Putumayo)
where the military was involved in active hostilities against terrorist
insurgents. For example, CINEP reported the following incidents:
On February 6, soldiers from the army's 53rd Counterinsurgency
Battalion detained former city councilman from the Union Patriota
political party in Vista Hermosa, Meta Department.
On February 13, army soldiers arbitrarily detained 12 peasants in
Puerto Asis, Putumayo Department. Reportedly two of those detained had
previously criticized military misconduct in the area.
In June the army's 39th Sumapaz Battalion arbitrarily detained
Edilberto Proveda, the President of the SINTRAPAZ trade union outside
Bogota.
The Government and prominent local NGOs frequently disagreed on
what constitutes ``arbitrary'' detention. While the Government
characterized detentions based on compliance with legal formalities,
NGOs typically applied other criteria, such as arrests based on tips
from informants about people allegedly linked to guerrilla activities;
detentions by members of the security forces without a judicial order;
detentions allegedly based on administrative authority; detentions
during military operations; large-scale detentions; and detentions of
people while they were ``exercising their fundamental rights.''
Due to overcrowding, convicted individuals in some cases remained
at police stations for up to seven months before being transferred to a
prison. Under the new accusatory justice system, individuals were
detained at police stations for a maximum of 36 hours before either
being released or moved to a permanent detention facility.
According to INPEC, as of July there were 21,333 pretrial detainees
held in police jails, which were often overcrowded. Failure on the part
of many local military commanders and jail supervisors to keep
mandatory detention records or follow notification procedures made
accounting for all detainees difficult. Trial delays were caused by
large numbers of detainees, financial constraints, and staff shortages.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--While the law provides for an
independent judiciary, the judicial system was overburdened,
inefficient, and hindered by the suborning and intimidation of judges,
prosecutors, and witnesses. In these circumstances, impunity remained a
serious problem. The Supreme Council of the Judiciary (CSJ) reported
that the civilian judicial system suffered from a significant backlog
of cases, which led to large numbers of pretrial detainees (see section
1.d.).
Judicial authorities frequently were subjected to threats and acts
of violence. According to the National Association of Judicial Branch
Employees and the Corporate Fund of Solidarity with Colombian Judges,
eight judicial branch employees were killed and 31 received threats
against their lives. One employee was kidnapped, one ``disappeared,''
and five left the country in self-imposed exile because of death
threats. Some judges and prosecutors assigned to small towns worked out
of departmental capitals because of security concerns. Witnesses were
even more vulnerable to intimidation, and many refused to testify.
January press reports indicated that Alvaro Lopez Giraldo, the
prosecutor for the Fourth Specialized Court of Huila, Tolima, and
Caqueta departments, fled the country after receiving death threats
from the FARC. Lopez Giraldo was in charge of investigations that led
to the capture of 1,050 FARC members associated with the Teofilo Forero
Mobile Column.
In May the media reported that the ELN kidnapped prosecutor Javier
Enrique Gaviria in Narino Department while he was traveling on a boat
near Tumaco. Military forces rescued Gaviria in June.
The civilian justice system is composed of four functional
jurisdictions: civil, administrative, constitutional, and special. The
civil jurisdiction is the largest and handles all criminal, civil,
labor, agrarian, and domestic cases involving nonmilitary personnel.
The Supreme Court of Justice is the highest court within the civil
jurisdiction and serves as its final court of appeal.
The administrative jurisdiction handles administrative actions such
as decrees and resolutions, which may be challenged on constitutional
or other grounds. The Council of State is the highest court in the
administrative jurisdiction and serves as the final court of appeal for
complaints arising from administrative acts.
The Constitutional Court is the sole judicial authority on the
constitutionality of laws, Presidential decrees, and constitutional
reforms. The Constitutional Court also may issue advisory opinions on
the constitutionality of bills not yet signed into law and acts within
its discretion to review the decisions of lower courts on tutelas, or
writs of protection of fundamental rights, which can be filed before
any judge of any court at any stage of the judicial process by any
citizen.
The special jurisdiction of the civilian justice system consists of
the justices of the peace program and the indigenous jurisdiction. The
CSJ is responsible for the administration and discipline of the
civilian justice system.
The Supreme Court, the Council of State, the Constitutional Court,
and the CSJ are coequal supreme judicial bodies that sometimes issued
conflicting rulings and frequently disagreed about jurisdictional
responsibilities.
The military justice system consists of 44 military courts and the
Supreme Military Tribunal, which serves as the court of appeal for all
cases tried in military courts. The Supreme Court of Justice serves as
a second court of appeal for cases in which sentences of six or more
years in prison are imposed. In September the minister of defense
appointed the first civilian to head the military justice system.
The military justice system may investigate and prosecute active
duty military and police personnel for crimes ``related to acts of
military service.'' The military penal code specifically defines
torture, genocide, massacre, and forced disappearance as crimes
unrelated to military service. All serious human rights violations are
considered unrelated to military service and are handled by the
civilian justice system. The military penal code specifically excludes
civilians from military jurisdiction, and civilian courts must try
retired military and police personnel, even for service-related acts
committed before their retirement. The military penal code denies
commanders the power to impose military justice discipline on their
subordinates and extends legal protection to service members who refuse
to obey orders to commit human rights abuses.
The Office of the Prosecutor General is responsible for
investigations and prosecutions of criminal offenses. Its Human Rights
Unit, which included 15 satellite offices in seven regional capitals,
specialized in investigating human rights crimes. The unit's 47
prosecutors were handling 3,789 cases at year's end.
The Office of the Inspector General, also known as the Public
Ministry, investigates allegations of misconduct by public employees,
including members of the state security forces. The Inspector General's
Office referred all cases of human rights violations it received to the
prosecutor general's human rights unit.
During the year the Office of the Inspector General opened
disciplinary processes against 54 members of the armed forces for human
rights offenses; the cases were referred to the prosecutor general for
criminal investigation. In addition the Prosecutor General's Office
brought charges against 56 members of the armed forces and found 12
other armed forces members guilty of murders or kidnappings and
sentenced them to prison terms ranging between 20 and 38 years.
Trial Procedures.--The country continued implementing a new
accusatorial-style criminal procedure code. The code replaced the
Napoleonic system whereby a person was detained pending an
investigation that involved the formal acceptance of evidence, without
an actual trial. The percentage of convictions under the old system was
extremely low, and criminal cases typically lasted three to five years.
Under the new criminal code, which judicial authorities were
implementing over a four-year period to conclude in 2007, the
prosecutor files a formal charge with a judge, and the accused is
notified of the charge. Trials are public and juries are used.
Defendants have the right to be present and consult with an attorney,
the right to confront witnesses, and the right to present evidence. The
accused is presumed innocent and has a right of appeal.
In the military justice system, military judges preside over
courts-martial without juries. Counsel may represent the accused and
call witnesses, but the majority of fact-finding takes place during the
investigative stage. Military trial judges issue rulings within eight
days of a court-martial hearing. Representatives of the civilian
Inspector General's Office are required to be present at courts-
martial.
Criminal procedure within the military justice system includes
elements of the inquisitorial and accusatorial systems. Defendants are
considered innocent until proven guilty and have the right to timely
consultation with counsel. A Constitutional Court ruling forbids
military attorneys from undertaking defense counsel duties. Defendants
must retain counsel at their own expense or rely on defenders paid by a
special military officers' fund.
Military justice system reforms begun in 2005 aimed to establish a
forensic investigative corps, transition to an accusatorial system, and
establish a military defense corps. In October Luz Marina Gil became
the first civilian to head the military justice system.
In June President Uribe recommended that the Prosecutor General's
Office investigate and prosecute through the ordinary justice system
military killings of 10 antinarcotics police officers. After a judge
returned jurisdiction to the military justice system, the Ministry of
Defense voluntarily ceded jurisdiction back to the Prosecutor General's
Office. Fifteen soldiers, including the commanding officer, were
arrested in connection with the case, and the trial began on December
18.
In November the Prosecutor General's Office sentenced two army
officers to 38 years and 15 years, respectively, for aggravated
homicide in the 1998 La Cabuya massacre.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The Government stated that it
did not hold political prisoners or detainees, although there were
2,466 prisoners accused of rebellion or aiding and abetting insurgency.
The Government provided the ICRC access to these prisoners. Some human
rights advocacy groups characterized as political detainees some
detainees held on charges of rebellion or terrorism (see section 1.d.).
Renegade paramilitaries and guerrillas, particularly the FARC and
the ELN, continued to take hostages for ransom. The FARC and ELN also
kidnapped politicians, prominent citizens, and members of the security
forces to use as pawns in a prisoner exchange (see section 1.g.).
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Citizens can sue for
damages for a human rights violation against a state agent or body in
the Administrative Court of Litigation. Although critics complained of
delays in the process, the court was generally considered to be
impartial and effective.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions; while the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice, there were
exceptions. The law requires government authorities to obtain a warrant
signed by a senior prosecutor to enter a private home without the
owner's consent unless the suspect has been caught in hot pursuit, and
government authorities generally adhered to these regulations.
Government authorities generally need a judicial order to intercept
mail or monitor telephone conversations, even in prisons. However,
government intelligence agencies investigating terrorist organizations
sometimes monitored telephone conversations without judicial
authorization; such evidence could not be used in court.
The Government continued to use a network of civilian informants to
identify terrorist activists and sympathizers. Some national and
international human rights groups criticized the network as subject to
abuse and a threat to privacy and other civil liberties. The Government
maintained that the network was voluntary and established to facilitate
citizens' right to self-defense.
Renegade paramilitaries and guerrillas routinely interfered
arbitrarily with the right to privacy. Both groups forcibly entered
private homes, monitored private communications, engaged in forced
displacement (see section 1.g.) and conscription, and abused family
members. The FARC, which employed large numbers of female combatants,
prohibited pregnancies among its troops.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
The country's 42-year-long internal armed conflict, involving
government forces, a right-wing paramilitary movement, and two leftist
insurgent groups, continued although the paramilitary demobilization
was concluded during the year. The conflict and the narcotics
trafficking that both fueled and prospered from it were the central
causes of multiple violations of human rights.
The Government concluded demobilization negotiations with most
major blocs of the AUC but continued to confront militarily any
paramilitary group not involved in negotiations. According to its
statistics, the Government demobilized 17,560 paramilitaries during the
year, bringing the total number demobilized to approximately 32,000
paramilitaries since the process began in 2003. The Organization of
American States (OAS) continued to verify all stages of demobilization
and reincorporation of former combatants into society. On September 29,
the Government published a decree implementing the Justice and Peace
Law, which authorizes the Prosecutor General's Office to start the
legal process of hearing confessions and further prosecuting
demobilized paramilitary combatants. Critics, including domestic and
international human rights groups, expressed concerns that the law did
not sufficiently take into account international standards on the
principles of truth, justice, and reparations. In August the OAS
verification mission noted ``emerging situations of possible rearmament
and the appearance of armed groups claiming to be the 'new generation
of paramilitaries,''' who in some cases ``are recruiting former
paramilitary combatants.''
In many areas of the country, the 12,000-member FARC and the 2,000-
member ELN worked together to attack government forces or demobilized
paramilitary members; in other areas, especially in Arauca Department,
they fought each other. There were an estimated 1,990 guerrilla
desertions during the year.
Members of security forces committed human rights abuses related to
the internal armed conflict.
The Association of Indigenous Councils of Choco and Orewa reported
a massive displacement on March 15 of members of the indigenous
community of Conondo due to fighting between the army and the FARC.
Amnesty International (AI) reported alleged homicides of 10 people
on April 10, committed by members of the 12th Brigade in the hamlet of
Sanza, San Juan de Arama, Meta Department. According to AI, witnesses
alleged that the soldiers targeted unarmed civilians who sought refuge
in a school-house during combat in the area. The case remained under
Military Justice System investigation at year's end.
On September 15, soldiers from the Pichinicha Battalion fired a
mortar grenade that fell short of its intended target, killing an
eight-year-old boy from an indigenous community near Popoyan, Cauca
Department.
There were no known developments in the November 2005 case in which
a grenade allegedly from the army's 17th Brigade killed San Jose de
Apartado community leader Arlen Salas David.
On May 9, the Prosecutor General's Office issued preventive
detention measures against Captain Juan Carlos Rodriguez Agudelo,
Corporal Francisco Blanco Esteban, and Albeiro Perez Duque in the case
of aggravated homicide, aggravated forced disappearance, and aggravated
torture for involvement with paramilitary forces in the murders of Jhon
Jairo Iglesias Salazar, Araceli Londono Varona, Ananias Mojica, and
Jesus Antonio Cespedes Salgado (alias Jose Cespedes) in November 2003
in Cajamarca, Tolima Department. On August 15, the Prosecutor General's
office issued arrest warrants for three more soldiers in this case,
which remained under investigation at year's end.
On July 31, public hearings began in the trial against seven
soldiers from the Pijaos Antiterrorist Battalion for their alleged
involvement in the April 10, 2004, killing in Cajamarca of Norberto
Mendoza Reyes, Albeiro Mendoza Reyes, Julio Santana Reyes, Yamile
Uruena Arango, and Cristian Albeiro Mendoza Uruena along the Potosi
hamlet in Cajamarca, Tolima Department. The trial was ongoing at year's
end.
The trial of four officers and one civilian for their alleged role
in the 2004 killing of three trade union members near Saravena, Arauca
Department, continued at year's end.
On May 2, authorities indicted one officer, 10 soldiers, and two
civilians for their role in the 2004 killing of Kankauamo indigenous
leader Victor Hugo Maestre Rodriguez. The case remained under
investigation at year's end.
The trial for the 1998 Air Force bombing of the village of Santo
Domingo, Arauca Department, remained suspended. The Prosecutor
General's Human Rights Unit suspended the trial in November 2005 to
allow for additional evidence to be collected and to allow time to hear
all of the scheduled testimony. According to Amnesty International, on
March 22, FARC members killed Wilson Garcia Reatiga, President of the
Collective Action Committee of Tame, Arauca, who was a key witness in
the case.
Some members of the Government security forces, including enlisted
personnel, noncommissioned officers, and senior officials, collaborated
with or tolerated the activities of renegade paramilitaries. Reports
suggested that tacit nonaggression pacts between local military
officers and renegade paramilitary groups existed in certain regions,
such as eastern Antioquia, Choco, Meta, and Narino departments, and
indicated that members of the security forces assisted, or sought the
assistance of, paramilitary groups. Impunity for these military
personnel remained a problem.
In April former AUC member Victor Manuel Mejia Munera was indicted
for his role in the 2004 paramilitary massacre of 11 peasant farmers in
Tame, Arauca. In October authorities captured three other ex-
paramilitaries. The trial had not yet begun at year's end.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued rulings in two
cases related to military collusion with paramilitaries. The Government
agreed to comply with the rulings in both cases:
In January the court ordered the Government to pay $5.6 million to
the families of individuals killed or missing from a 1990 massacre in
Pueblo Bello, Antioquia Department.
In July the court ruled that the Government was responsible by
omission for two 1997 massacres committed by the AUC in La Granja and
El Aro communities in Ituango, Antioquia Department. The decision
established that the Government was responsible for the 19 killings,
forced displacement, and abuses suffered by local residents because the
security forces and authorities failed to take the necessary measures
to prevent the killings or stop the AUC. The court ordered the
Government to pay $2.25 million to relatives of the victims, establish
a housing plan for inhabitants of both communities, issue a public
apology, and reopen a judicial investigation into the case.
In July 2005 the Prosecutor General's Office issued an arrest
warrant for Sergeant Sergio Salazar Soto for conspiracy in helping
paramilitary members massacre 40 persons in Cienaga, Magdalena
Department, in 2000. On April 18, the Prosecutor General's Office
indicted nine additional suspects, including five members of the armed
forces, for their role, and the case continued at year's end.
Although the defense concluded its case against retired brigadier
general Jaime Uscategui and former army colonel Hernan Orozco in August
2005 for the 1997 massacre in Mapiripan of at least 27 civilians, the
judge had not made a ruling at year's end.
CINEP alleged that on March 21 renegade paramilitaries, acting with
the acquiescence of the military, tortured, raped, and murdered Yamile
Agudelo Penaloza, leader of the Popular Women's Organization in
Barrancabermeja, Santander Department.
Demobilized paramilitaries committed crimes, which primarily
affected civilians. The NGO Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ)
claimed that paramilitaries, demobilized or active, had killed more
than 3,000 civilians from December 1, 2002, through July 2006.
According to CINEP, demobilized paramilitary members were
responsible for the deaths of 58 civilians from January through June, a
75 percent decrease from 234 deaths reported during the same period in
2005. Demobilized and renegade paramilitary members killed journalists,
local politicians, human rights activists, indigenous leaders, labor
leaders, and others who threatened to interfere with their criminal
activities or showed leftist sympathies. Renegade paramilitary members
also killed persons to protect criminal activities. Amnesty
International alleged that renegade paramilitary members killed Jairo
Romero, a mayoral candidate in Yumbo, Valle de Cauca Department, on
January 17, as well as Eduardo Hernandez, a mayoral candidate in
Buenaventura, Valle de Cauca Department, on January 18. In September a
court convicted three men for killing Romero, but it was unclear
whether they were paramilitary members.
There were no new developments and none were expected in the
investigations into the 2005 killings of the following individuals,
reportedly by paramilitary members: Jaime Orlando Reuto Monsalve, the
former mayor of Tame, Arauca Department; eight indigenous people in La
Guajira Department; 12 youths in Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca
Department; and labor union President Factor Antonio Durango in Bello,
Antioquia Department.
On March 22, the Prosecutor General's Office arrested a suspected
AUC member, Alvaro Padilla Medina (``El Boxeador''), on murder charges
related to the killing of Afro-Colombian leader Orlando Valencia in
October 2005. In May a specialized court in Antioquia sentenced Padilla
to 24 years' and 5 months' imprisonment. On October 13, Hermen Jose
Munoz Gonzalez (``Diomedes''), a suspected ex-paramilitary member, was
indicted on murder charges. He remained detained. Authorities also
arrested AUC member Julio Cesar Silva Borja (``El Indio'') on September
6 and Pablo Jose Montalvo Cuitiva (``Alfa 11''), the suspected material
author of the crime, on November 6. Their trials had not started by
year's end. On October 9, the Prosecutor General's Office also opened
an investigation into the alleged involvement of two police officers in
the killing.
Renegade paramilitary members or criminal groups not participating
in the peace process killed journalists, local politicians, human
rights activists, indigenous leaders, labor leaders, and others who
threatened to interfere with their criminal activities, showed leftist
sympathies, or were suspected of collaboration with the FARC. On March
17, authorities indicted nine alleged paramilitaries for aggravated
homicide and other charges for their role in the April 2005 torture and
killing of 12 minors in Buenaventura, Valle de Cauca Department. The
accused were on trial at year's end.
The Presidential Program for Human Rights reported that
paramilitary members, who killed eight persons in massacres in 2005,
committed no massacres before demobilization was completed in August.
There were reports that renegade paramilitary members committed
massacres, ``social cleansing'' killings of prostitutes, drug users,
vagrants, and gang members in city neighborhoods they controlled. For
example, the press reported that on February 11 renegade paramilitaries
killed six persons in Sabanalarga, Antioquia Department.
In November the Prosecutor General's Office indicted Ernesto Baez
and Rodrigo Perez, both former commanders of the AUC's Central Bolivar
Bloc, for ordering the 2001 killing of lawyer and human rights activist
Alma Rosa Jaramillo Lafourie in Bolivar Department.
The prosecutor general's investigation into the December 2005
massacre by the AUC's Northern Bloc in Curumani, Cesar Department, led
to the arrest of one suspect in June.
The Prosecutor General's Office arrested four suspected
paramilitaries for their alleged role in a 2004 massacre in Curumani,
in which eight to 22 people were reportedly killed.
In compliance with the Justice and Peace Law, demobilized
paramilitary members began revealing the existence of mass graves, and
the Prosecutor General's Office uncovered graves across the country. On
February 14, authorities uncovered the remains of 21 individuals in a
mass grave in Magdalena Department. On April 11, the Prosecutor
General's Office exhumed the remains of 20 individuals in La Gabarra,
Norte de Santander. On April 27, authorities discovered five bodies in
a grave in a former AUC camp in Santo Domingo, Antioquia Department. By
the end of the year, the Prosecutor General's Office had discovered
approximately 390 bodies in mass graves, one-third of which had been
identified. The Prosecutor General's Office estimated that mass graves
still held remains of more than 3,000 victims.
On March 15, the Prosecutor General's Office detained the former
governor of Meta Department, Edilberto Castro, for his alleged role in
the killings of former governor Carlos Javier Sabogal, former mayor of
El Dorado Euser Rondon, and former member of Congress Nubia Sanchez,
whose bodies were found in 2004. Authorities indicted Castro on seven
charges, including aggravated homicide. The trial continued at year's
end.
According to CINEP, renegade paramilitary members abducted at least
34 persons during the first six months of the year, compared with 30 in
the same period of 2005. Renegade paramilitary members often abducted
persons suspected of collaboration with guerrillas, almost all of whom
were presumed dead.
The National Foundation for the Defense of Personal Liberty
(Fondelibertad) reported that renegade paramilitary members were
responsible for 34 kidnappings during the year, compared with 43 in
2005.
The actions of renegade paramilitary members continued to result in
forcible displacement of civilians residing along key drug and weapons
transit corridors or suspected of collaborating with guerrillas (see
section 2.d.).
Paramilitary members also prevented or limited the delivery of food
and medicines to towns and regions considered sympathetic to
guerrillas, straining local economies and increasing forced
displacement (see section 2.d.). For example, according to CINEP, on
January 20, paramilitary members from the Bloque Miguel Arroyave
blocked the UN's World Food Program (WFP) from entering Puerto Toledo,
Meta Department, to deliver food intended for internally displaced
communities.
FARC and ELN guerrillas committed numerous unlawful killings,
kidnapped civilians and military personnel, displaced citizens, and
recruited child soldiers. They killed journalists, religious leaders,
candidates for public office, local elected officials and politicians,
alleged paramilitary collaborators, and members of government security
forces. The Presidential Program for Human Rights reported that during
the year the FARC killed at least 40 persons in seven massacres,
although another 143 persons were killed in massacres in which the
perpetrators remained unidentified. Examples of representative
incidents included the following:
In early February press reports indicated FARC members killed a
family of six in Llanos del Encuentro, Antioquia Department, when they
fired on the family's home.
On February 26, FARC members from the 10th Front killed Juan
Ramirez Villamizar, governor of the indigenous group Guahibos Makaguan.
On February 28, FARC members from the 10th Front killed teacher Luz
Myriam Farias in Tame, Arauca Department, as she returned from
recovering the body of her husband, Juan Ramirez Villamizar, who was
killed by FARC members two days earlier.
On March 31, FARC members killed indigenous leader John Jairo
Osorio Piraza, while he was on the way to the funeral of indigenous
teacher Arcelio Pena Guatico, whom the FARC had killed the previous
day.
On July 24, a specialized judge in Pereira, Risaralda Department,
sentenced Norbey Garcia Orozco and Javier Augusto Rendon of the FARC's
Teofilo Forero Mobile Column to 36 years for their role in the April
killing of Liliana Gaviria Trujillo, the sister of former President
Cesar Gaviria.
On May 13, in Sabana de Torres, Santander Department, the ELN
killed six civilians, according to press accounts. Authorities asserted
that the massacre was directed against individuals who had failed to
alert ELN forces of army presence in the area.
On January 24, authorities sentenced Lizardo Valderrama Rojas to 11
years in prison for his role in a terrorist attack against CATAM Air
Force Base in 2003.
On March 23, a judge in Antioquia Department sentenced 16 FARC
members to 40 years' imprisonment for their role in the 2003 kidnapping
and murder of then governor Guillermo Gaviria Correa and his assistant
Gilberto Echeverri Mejia.
On March 7, the Prosecutor General's Office detained a member of
the FARC's Teofilo Forero column for his role in a 2005 massacre of
city council members and their family members in Campoalegre, Huila
Department.
On April 6, the Prosecutor General's Office detained Manuel Enrique
Mendoza Rodriguez (``Guzman''), for his role in the 2001 kidnapping and
killing of Consuelo Araujo Noguera, former minister of culture.
Various courts indicted members of the FARC secretariat in absentia
on charges ranging from kidnapping and terrorism to aggravated
homicide.
There were several FARC massacres of public security forces. The
Presidential Program for Human Rights reported that between January and
October, the FARC had killed 391 members of the public security forces
and the ELN had killed 24.
On February 6, FARC members killed six members of a police unit
guarding manual eradicators of coca in Sierra Nevada de la Macarena
National Park.
On April 20, suspected FARC members ambushed and killed 17 DAS
agents and members of an army unit that were pursuing Victor Navarro
(``Megateo''), a leader of the People's Liberation Army in Astilleros,
Norte de Santander Department.
On July 4, FARC members in Arenillo, Valle de Cauca, attacked and
set fire to a police station, killing six police officers and injuring
10 others.
On November 1, approximately 450 FARC members from the Fifth, 18th,
and 58th fronts attacked a police station in Tierradentro, Cordoba
Department, killing 17 police officers and three civilians. The FARC
members allegedly launched their attack from civilian homes.
The FARC also killed persons it suspected of collaborating with
government authorities or paramilitary groups. For example, in July the
press reported that FARC members killed 10 agricultural workers whom
they suspected of working for paramilitaries in Arquia Limon, Choco.
According to the Government's Tracking, Monitoring, and Evaluation
System, 368 demobilized paramilitaries were killed during the year.
Unknown gunmen killed the following former AUC members:
On December 27, former paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso's
deputy in the Sinu and San Jorge Blocs, Jairo Angarita, killed in
Medellin;
On November 25, former paramilitary leader Don Berna's close
associate, Daniel Mejia (``Daniel''), disappeared and presumed killed
in Medellin;
On November 19, former paramilitary leader Jorge 40's lieutenant,
Jefferson Martinez (``Omega''), killed in the outskirts of Medellin
In October the Fourth Criminal Court of the Villavicencio
Specialized Circuit sentenced three former AUC leaders to 40 years in
prison for the kidnapping and summary execution of a fellow
paramilitary known as ``Alicate'' in 2003.
According to the Presidential Program for Human Rights, guerrillas
committed 646 terrorist acts during the year, compared with 611 in
2005. For example, in February suspected FARC members detonated
explosives on a horse-drawn cart outside a police station in Cali,
Valle de Cauca Department, killing two civilians and injuring five
pedestrians. In April suspected FARC members planted explosives on two
public buses in Bogota; the explosions killed three children and
injured 17 others. The FARC and ELN continued to commit numerous
kidnappings. Fondelibertad reported that during the year guerrillas
were responsible for 119 kidnappings (48 percent of those in which a
perpetrator was identified); the FARC kidnapped 75 persons; and the ELN
44 persons.
In May four suspected FARC members kidnapped Claudia Teresa
Buenaventura Paredes, daughter of the former secretary general of the
Tolima departmental government.
Kidnapping for ransom remained a major source of revenue for both
the FARC and ELN.
The FARC continued to hold political and foreign-born hostages
taken in previous years.
Taken in 2003: Foreign citizens Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and
Keith Stansell; in the same incident, foreign citizen Tom Janis and
Colombian Luis Alcides Cruz were killed by the FARC. The FARC did not
provide proof-of-life-for these hostages during the year.
Taken in 2002: former Presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt;
former senator Jorge Eduardo Gechem; former member of congress
Francisco Giraldo, and 12 former regional legislators from Valle del
Cauca Department.
Taken in 2001: former governor of Meta Department Alan Jara and
former members of congress Orlando Bernal, Luis Eladio Perez, Gloria
Polanco, and Consuelo Gonzalez and at least four foreign-born persons.
In other cases, The FARC released proof-of-life videos during the
year, which stirred debate over the possibility of an exchange of
hostages for imprisoned FARC members. The hostages' families, national
and international NGOs, foreign governments, and prominent public
figures pressured the Government to agree with the FARC for an
exchange.
According to the Antipersonnel Landmine Observatory, during the
year 1,091 landmine explosions killed 230 persons and injured 861
others; military personnel accounted for 779 of the victims, while 312
were civilians. Guerrillas were responsible for an estimated 59 percent
of landmine incidents during the year. Landmine incidents attributed to
former paramilitary groups constituted less than 1 percent of the
total; those responsible for the remaining 40 percent were not
identified.
Guerrillas failed to respect the injured and medical personnel.
Both the FARC and the ELN frequently executed injured prisoners,
threatened and harassed doctors and nurses, and killed enemy combatants
receiving medical care. In January FARC members stopped an ambulance
near Santa Elena, Putumayo Department, stole medicine and equipment,
and set the vehicle ablaze.
In October the FARC attacked an ambulance near Florencia, Cauca
Department, and killed the driver. The ambulance was transporting two
officials from the San Pablo Hospital in Narino Department.
Guerrillas forcibly displaced peasants to clear key drug and
weapons transit routes and remove potential government or paramilitary
collaborators from strategic zones. Guerrillas also imposed de facto
blockades of communities in regions where they had significant
influence. For example, in May an indigenous community in the rural
district of Bagado, Choco Department, reported that the FARC had
imposed a curfew barring community members from traveling to their
farms after noon. The community complained of crop and animal losses
due to the curfew. In January FARC members illegally detained a WFP
truck and stole humanitarian relief food bound for displaced families
in Antioquia Department.
The National Indigenous Organization (ONIC) reported many incidents
in which illegal armed groups forcibly recruited indigenous people or
obligated them to collaborate, restricted their freedom of movement,
and blockaded their communities.
In October the IACHR Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women
reported that ``violence against women is employed as a strategy of war
by the actors of the armed conflict'' and that they employ different
forms of psychological, and sexual violence to 'wound the enemy' by
dehumanizing the victim, injuring her family circle and/or spreading
terror in her community.''
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.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. A number of independent newspapers and
magazines published freely, and all print media were owned privately.
Privately owned radio and television stations broadcast freely.
Government security forces and corrupt officials occasionally
subjected journalists to harassment, intimidation, or violence. In May
President Alvaro Uribe criticized press allegations of paramilitary
infiltration of the DAS as ``frivolous and irresponsible.'' Human
Rights Watch subsequently denounced the criticism as ``aggressive and
degrading.''
National and international NGOs reported that local media
representatives regularly practiced self-censorship because of threats
of violence from illegal armed groups, corrupt officials, and common
criminals. At least four journalists went into voluntary exile during
the first six months of the year.
In June the NGO Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) stated that
Barranquilla El Heraldo newspaper director Gustavo Bell Lemus and
reporters Ernesto McCausland Sojo and Armando Benedetti Jimeno received
fake letter bombs. The packages included a timer with cables and a
condolence note that read, ``Don't get involved with things that don't
concern you. Next time, this will explode.'' The newspaper's editorials
had criticized corruption in Barranquilla, Atlantico Department.
In July FLIP reported that a police officer assaulted the director
of El Kanal News, Javier Urrego Gutierrez, while he was covering a
police action in Ibague, Tolima Department.
In September FLIP reported that police had arbitrarily detained
Rubiel Lis Velasco and Griseldino Yafue Guetoto, two employees of the
indigenous radio station Radio Uxwal in Caldona, Cauca Department.
In the case of threats against Daniel Coronell, a well-known
director of a television news show, a Bogota court found Luis Fernandez
Uribe Botero guilty of making the threats and sentenced him to 16
months in prison and a fine of $3,520 (8.16 million pesos).
During the year members of illegal armed groups intimidated,
threatened, kidnapped, and killed journalists. According to FLIP, there
were 27 death threats against journalists in the first six months of
the year, compared with 19 for the same period in 2005 (see section
1.g.).
In January press reports indicated that the editor of La Tarde
magazine, Diro Cesar Gonzalez, fled Barrancabermeja, Santander
Department, after receiving repeated threats from alleged paramilitary
groups.
In February gunmen in Monteria, Cordoba Department, attacked
journalist Gustavo Rojas, who died of his injuries a month later. In
April the Office of the Prosecutor General captured three of the
alleged killers, who were identified as demobilized AUC members. The
status of the case at year's end was unknown.
In October unknown gunmen pressured vendors of the newspaper El
Meridiano de Sucre to surrender all issues of that day's editions,
which revealed evidence of ties between local politicians and former
paramilitary leader ``Jorge 40.'' The UNHCHR denounced the act, and the
vice President ordered government authorities to protect the vendors.
The Ministry of Interior and Justice operated a program to protect
journalists that covered 94 media representatives during the year,
compared with 46 in 2005. The ministry also supported an alerts network
organized for journalists by providing a small number of radios and an
emergency telephone hot line.
In February Vice President Francisco Santos, a former journalist
and kidnapping victim, announced the formation of a special committee
of police and prosecutor general investigators to work with the
Colombia Foundation for Press Freedom, with the goal of combating
violence and threats against 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 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. However,
guerrillas maintained a presence on many university campuses to
generate political support for their respective causes and undermine
support for their adversaries through both violent and nonviolent
means. Paramilitary groups and guerrillas threatened, displaced, and
killed academics and their families for political and financial
reasons. According to the vice President's office, various assailants
killed 34 teachers during the first eight months of the year. Threats
and harassment caused many professors and students to adopt lower
profiles and avoid discussing controversial topics.
The Ministry of Education, in conjunction with the Colombian
Federation of Educators and the Presidential Program for Human Rights,
operated a program for at-risk teachers with 78 regional committees to
investigate specific threats against teachers and, in some cases,
facilitate relocation with continued employment as educators.
Approximately 168 threatened educators were successfully relocated
since 2004, raising to 1,500 the number relocated since 2002.
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. Freedom of association was limited
in practice by threats and acts of violence committed by illegal armed
groups against NGOs, indigenous groups, and labor unions (see section
1.g.).
Although the Government does not prohibit membership in most
political organizations, membership in private organizations that
espoused or carried out acts of violence, such as the AUC, FARC, and
ELN, was illegal.
Between May 14 and 16, the police Mobile Antidisturbance Squadron
and army units confronted an estimated 15,000 demonstrators in Cauca
Department. In the confrontations, which involved violent exchanges
from both sides, one protester was killed, and several police and
demonstrators were injured. The Prosecutor General's Human Rights Unit
is investigating the incident.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
The Roman Catholic Church retained a de facto privileged status.
Accession to a 1997 public law agreement with the state is required for
non-Catholic religions to minister to their adherents in public
institutions and to perform marriages recognized by the state. When
deciding whether to grant accession, the Government considers a
religion's total membership, its degree of popular acceptance within
society, and other relevant factors.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Renegade paramilitary groups,
new criminal groups, and guerrillas harassed, threatened, and sometimes
killed religious leaders and activists, although often for political
rather than religious reasons (see section 1.g.). The Presidential
Program for Human Rights reported that illegal armed groups, especially
the FARC, made numerous threats against priests and other religious
workers. Five pastors, a priest, and two religious workers were
reported killed during the year.
In January a court sentenced FARC commander John Fredy Jimenez and
hired gunman Alexander de Jesus Zapata to 35 years' and 36 years'
imprisonment, respectively, for their role in the 2002 killing of
Isaias Duarte, the Catholic archbishop of Cali.
In March gunmen killed evangelical pastor Oscar Munoz Perea in
Buenaventura, Valle de Cauca Department. Witnesses identified the
killers as belonging to the AUC.
The Jewish community had an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 members.
There were increased reports of anti-Semitism, including graffiti
painted on the exterior walls of synagogues and anti-Semitic statements
in pamphlets published by small xenophobic organizations. On August 6,
anti-Semitic graffiti was found in Bogota near the Israeli embassy; it
included a spray-painted Star of David intertwined with a swastika and
virulent anti-Semitic slogans. There were reports that university
students, feminist groups, and trade unionists shouted anti-Semitic
slogans at an opposition party protest march during the July-August
Israel-Lebanon conflict. However, the Jewish Community Center
exonerated the party, whose Presidential candidate strongly supported
the community and denounced 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
while the Government generally respected them in practice, there were
exceptions. NGOs criticized military operations and occupation of
certain rural areas as restricting freedom of movement.
Paramilitary groups and guerrillas continued to establish illegal
checkpoints on rural highways, although a larger and more visible
government security presence along major highways reduced the number of
kidnappings at illegal checkpoints.
In February FARC members set ablaze eight buses in Hormiga,
Putumayo Department, after blocking the road to Orito, and also set
ablaze three vehicles in Tibu, Norte de Santander, after blocking a
rural access road.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it. However, many persons went into self-imposed exile because of
threats from paramilitaries, guerrillas, or common criminals.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--The internal armed conflict
was the major cause of internal displacement. Estimates of the numbers
of IDPs varied. In the first nine months of the year, the Social
Solidarity Network (RSS), the Government's displaced persons service
agency, registered 110,302 newly displaced persons, compared with
131,716 during 2005. The NGO Consultancy for Human Rights and
Displacement (CODHES) estimated that 175,216 persons were displaced
during the first nine months of the year, a 30 percent decrease
compared with CODHES' estimate for the same period in 2005. The
difference was because the Government registered new IDPs whose
applications for benefits had been accepted, while CODHES estimated new
displacements based on information from the media, civil society, and
some field work. CODHES estimates have been higher than government
estimates in recent years. CODHES also included as displaced persons
coca and opium poppy producers who migrated in response to government
drug eradication efforts but did not quantify the scope of this
problem. However, the ICRC indicated that the number of IDPs it had
assisted in the first nine months of the year increased by
approximately 20 percent, primarily due to a rise in the number of
individual displacements, which were more difficult to detect than mass
displacements.
While precise numbers were difficult to obtain, by year's end the
RSS had registered more than 1.8 million displaced persons since 1995;
the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated
that more than 2.5 million persons in the country had been displaced at
some point during the past 15 years. The FARC and ELN continued to
discourage IDPs from registering with the Government through force,
intimidation, and disinformation; guerrilla agents sometimes
masqueraded as IDPs to sow doubt and discontent among IDPs. Most IDPs
were rural peasants displaced to large cities such as Bogota.
The UNHCR reported that exact numbers of indigenous or Afro-
Colombian IDPs were difficult to obtain because of geographic
isolation, displacement within traditional territories, and a tendency
to seek assistance from other communities rather than the Government.
The ONIC reported that 8,170 indigenous persons were displaced through
November. The Government registered 4,492 new indigenous IDPs in the
first nine months of the year. The UNHCR estimated that during the year
11 percent of the displaced population was Afro-Colombian.
Paramilitaries and guerrillas continued to use forced displacement to
gain control over strategic or economically valuable territory, weaken
their opponents' base of support, and undermine government control and
authority.
International humanitarian assistance organizations and NGOs
observed that the rate of mass displacements (a displacement of 50
persons or more at one time) had not increased. These organizations
pointed out that, while the emergency response to such mass
displacements was often rapid and adequate, assistance to those
displaced individually or in smaller groups was frequently delayed for
several days or weeks. In addition, due to the intensity of the
fighting in conflict zones, including areas in Narino, Choco, and Norte
de Santander departments, national and international aid organizations
often could not gain humanitarian access to reach newly displaced
populations.
Mass displacements occurred in various departments throughout the
year. In February the UN Office of the Commissioner for Humanitarian
Affairs reported that incursions by unidentified armed groups displaced
approximately 600 persons from the rural village Pueblito Mejia in
Bolivar Department. In April threats by illegal armed groups, including
the FARC, in rural, drug-producing zones in Narino Department resulted
in the displacement of more than 1,500 persons to the municipalities of
Policarpa and Cumbitara, according to CODHES.
In April a series of FARC threats led to the displacement of
approximately 700 members of the Wanaan indigenous group in Istimina,
Choco Department. Also in April the RSS reported that guerrillas
attacked and threatened several villages in rural zones of Valle de
Guamuez, Putumayo Department, displacing 850 residents to the town of
La Hormiga. UNHCR reported this same month that unknown actors
displaced 77 members of the nomadic Nukak Maku in Guaviare from their
jungle tribal lands to the city of San Jose de Guaviare, making them
vulnerable to disease and hardship and further threatening the 200-
member tribe with extinction.
In June and July, FARC attacks in Barbacoas and Recaurate, Narino
Department, led to the displacement of 1,400 Awa indigenous people.
Also during the summer, a series of FARC killings of community members
drove 745 persons from their rural homes to the towns of Unguia and
Riosucio in Choco Department.
In September FARC attacks and threats by renegade paramilitaries
displaced an estimated 500 Afro-Colombians from rural areas in Narino
Department. In November UNHCR denounced fighting between the army and
the FARC in Choco Department. According to UNHCR, the clashes affected
2,500 civilians, primarily Afro-Colombians, forcing approximately 40
persons to flee to Panama. UNHCHR expressed concern over the
displacement of the Embera indigenous community due to the fighting.
Although it increased during the year, government assistance to
IDPs remained insufficient. IDPs continued to live in unhygienic
conditions with little access to health care, education, or employment.
IDP advocacy groups held protests to call for an improved government
response, most notably during a 45-day protest in July and August,
which was held in a south Bogota park with participation of
approximately 1,500 long-term IDPs. The Government provided $410
million (878.4 billion pesos) in assistance for the displaced
principally through the RSS, the Colombian Family Welfare Institute
(ICBF), and the Ministry of Social Protection. While the ICRC provided
the greatest amount of emergency (first 90 days) humanitarian
assistance to the displaced, the Colombian Red Cross and several other
international and domestic NGOs also provided assistance to IDPs.
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 assistance to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
The Government reserved the right to determine eligibility for asylum,
based upon its own assessment of the nature of an applicant's claim.
According to the Government, as of September, 144 recognized refugees
resided in the country, and four refugee cases were approved 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, generally free and fair elections held on the basis of nearly
universal suffrage. Active duty members of the armed forces and police
may not vote or participate in the political process. Civilian public
employees, although eligible to vote, may participate in partisan
politics only during the four months immediately preceding a national
election.
Elections and Political Participation.--On May 28, independent
candidate Alvaro Uribe won a second term as President in elections that
were considered generally free and fair, despite a concerted campaign
by the FARC and AUC to disrupt or manipulate the outcome. The OAS
electoral observation mission stated that the elections took place ``in
an atmosphere of freedom, transparency and normalcy.''
Political reforms enacted for the March parliamentary elections
raised the vote threshold for parties to retain formal status and gain
access to government funds. The threshold rose from 50,000 votes to 2
percent of votes cast for either the Senate or the House of
Representatives; 24 of the 60 parties maintained their official status
following the March elections.
The Liberal and Conservative parties have long dominated politics,
but the reelection of President Uribe as an independent, the second
place showing of the Polo Democratico Alternativo's (POLO) Presidential
candidate Carlos Gaviria, and the success of third party candidates in
the March parliamentary elections reflected a widening of the political
arena.
Both renegade paramilitary groups and the FARC threatened and
killed government officials (see section 1.g.). According to the
National Federation of Councils (FENACON), 23 council members were
killed during the year, compared with 26 during 2005. FENACON
attributed 60 percent of attacks on council members to the FARC.
Scores of local officials throughout the country resigned because
of threats from the FARC. In October the press reported that 60 public
officials, including seven mayors, tendered their resignations in Norte
de Santander Department after receiving death threats from FARC. Also
in October senators from POLO denounced an ``extermination and
intimidation'' plan by paramilitary groups against the party in Valle
de Cauca Department. A Ministry of Interior and Justice program
provided protection to 155 mayors, two former mayors, and 1,914 council
members during the year.
The law requires that women be placed in at least 30 percent of
appointed government posts and that the Government report to Congress
each year the percentage of women in high-level government positions.
There were 11 women in the 102-member Senate, including its President,
and 16 women in the 166-member House of Representatives. There were
five women in the 13-member cabinet and three on the 23-member Supreme
Court.
There were four indigenous senators, two of whom occupied seats
reserved for indigenous persons, and one indigenous member of the House
of Representatives. There were no indigenous cabinet members and no
indigenous persons on any of the nation's high courts.
There were two Afro-Colombian senators and three Afro-Colombian
members of the House of Representatives. There were no Afro-Colombian
cabinet ministers and no Afro-Colombians on any of the nation's high
courts.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The country suffered from
endemic corruption and graft in both the public and private sectors.
Drug-trafficking revenues exacerbated corruption by enabling
trafficking organizations to suborn government officials.
The Government actively prosecuted cases of governmental
corruption. For instance, in October authorities sentenced Rafael
Enrique Garcia, former director of the DAS computer department, to 18
years' imprisonment for tampering with a database and erasing criminal
records pertaining to drug traffickers wanted for extradition.
The Justice and Peace Law process exposed corruption and
paramilitary ties within the Government and security forces. President
Uribe publicly urged the Supreme Court to pursue all leads and punish
public officials found guilty. The President increased funding for the
Supreme Court, which investigates members of Congress and senior
government officials, to allow it to have its own investigative unit.
President Uribe stated that the accusations related to the conduct of
individuals, not institutions, and Congress continued to function
normally.
On November 9, the Supreme Court ordered the arrest of three
congressmen--senators Alvaro Garcia and Jairo Merlano and
representative Erik Morris--charged with aggravated conspiracy to
commit criminal activity based on allegations of ties with paramilitary
groups. In early December the Supreme Court questioned eight senators,
three representatives, and the governor of Magdalena on similar
allegations. Since the Supreme Court only has power to investigate
acting government officials, in mid-November the Prosecutor General's
Office opened investigations into former office holders and businessmen
and ordered them to appear for questioning. Among those summoned were
former DAS director Jorge Noguera, former Sucre governor Salvador
Arana, former Sucre assembly deputy Angel Daniel Villarreal,
businessman Jose Joaquin Garcia, cattle rancher Miguel Nule, and
engineering contractor Octavio Otero. In addition, in September the
Prosecutor General's Office arrested four deputies in Sucre Department
for ties with paramilitary groups.
In January the Inspector General's Office opened an investigation
into Edilberto Castro Rincon, governor of Meta Department, for spending
public funds for personal electoral benefit. According to
investigators, Rincon signed contracts amounting to 28 percent of the
department's budget in less than one month's time leading up to
elections.
On December 4, the Inspector General's Office ordered Cali mayor
Apolinar Salcedo removed from office and prohibited him from holding
public office for 16 years. The Inspector General's Office accused
Salcedo of mismanagement of the tender and award of a public contract
for collecting city taxes. Salcedo's appeal of the decision remained
pending at year's end.
On December 2, an appellate court placed Barranquilla Mayor
Guillermo Hoenigsberg under house arrest as part of a criminal
proceeding for cost overruns on the renovation of Barranquilla's City
Hall. Hoenisgsberg was under investigation for embezzlement and public
contract fraud.
The Inspector General's Office barred a number of former officials
from public office for up to 13 years for engaging in corrupt
practices. Those barred included the former governor of Atlantico, Luis
Daniel Vargas Sanchez; the former governor of Boyaca, Miguel Angel
Bermudez Escobar; and the former President of the Social Security
Institute, Guillermo Fino Serrano.
The law provides for public access to government information, and
the Government generally provided such access in practice. While there
are no prohibitive fees to access government information, there were
reports that a few low-level officials insisted on bribes to expedite
access to 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 groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Although government
officials generally were cooperative and responsive to their views,
NGOs claimed that criticism from high-level officials, including
President Uribe, put them at risk for retaliation by illegal armed
groups. Many domestic NGOs also contended that the Government
arbitrarily arrested and detained human rights activists, particularly
in high conflict areas (see sections 1.d. and 6.a.).
While the Uribe administration maintained an open dialogue with
NGOs and met with them several times during the year, NGOs complained
that they had difficulty getting meetings with government officials or
getting prompt replies to their correspondence.
Several thousand human rights and civil society NGOs were
registered in the country, although most existed only on paper. Local
human rights NGOs had far-reaching influence. By sharing information
among themselves and disseminating it to international human rights
organizations and the media, they raised the country's human rights
profile and contributed to significant levels of international
attention.
The Government and prominent local NGOs differed in their
evaluations and analyses of the human rights situation, which led to
profound mutual suspicions.
The Government asserted that some human rights activists engaged in
activities that supported terrorism (see section 1.e.). The cases
included the January 4 incarceration in Bucaramanga of Principe Gabriel
Gonzalez Arango, Santander coordinator of the Committee for Solidarity
with Political Prisoners, who remained in prison at year's end; and
Jose Vicente Murillo Tobo, President of the Joel Sierra Regional Human
Rights Committee in Arauca, arrested in 2003 and held for more than
three years in pretrial detention, who alleged he was denied legal due
process. Jose Murillo Tobo was released in September and convicted of
rebellion after his release (see section 1.d.).
In October the Government of Denmark announced charges against the
spokesman for the Danish NGO Association Rebellion for providing
financial support to terrorism.
According to the CCJ, four human rights activists were killed
during the year. The CCJ attributed the killings to renegade and
demobilized paramilitaries (see section 1.g.).
In May, August, October, and November, several NGOs reported
receiving e-mail threats, allegedly from newly formed paramilitary
groups. The UNHCHR expressed concern over the threats. The Government
condemned these threats and the Prosecutor General's Office opened an
investigation.
There were several reports of thefts of computers and electronic
data from human rights groups. In April CODHES reported a robbery of
information from its headquarters in Bogota. Another break-in occurred
in August, involving the theft of data on IDPs. In April two computers
were stolen from the home of a lawyer from the Jose Alvear Restrepo
Lawyers' Collective.
The Ministry of Interior and Justice and the DAS allocated
approximately $21 million (45 billion pesos) to the Government's
program to protect human rights activists and other vulnerable groups,
approximately 20 percent of which funded protection measures for human
rights groups and civil society leaders. The Government provided
protection to more than 509 human rights activists during the year and
bulletproofed 90 NGO offices since 2000.
The Government cooperated with international organizations. The
UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the
International Labor Organization (ILO), the UNHCHR, and the ICRC had an
active presence in the country and carried out their work without
government interference.
In its 2005 report, the UNHCHR issued 27 recommendations to improve
the human rights situation in the country, 24 of which were directed at
the Government and the independent Prosecutor General's Office (see
section 1.e.). Some of the recommendations had been broadened from
previous years. Throughout the year the Government met with the UNHCHR,
local NGOs, and members of the diplomatic corps to discuss its action
plan and the steps it had taken to comply with the recommendations.
While acknowledging progress on several recommendations, the UNHCHR and
local NGOs reported that the Government had not fully complied with
most of them by year's end. In September the Government renewed the
UNHCHR's mandate for one year.
The national human rights ombudsman is independent, reports to the
inspector general (see section 1.e.), and has responsibility for
ensuring the promotion and exercise of human rights. The Government
generally cooperated with the ombudsman. The ombudsman's Bogota office
was the headquarters of a national early warning system, which was
designed to alert public security forces of impending human rights
violations, particularly large-scale massacres. The office generally
was underfunded and understaffed, limiting its ability to effectively
monitor human rights violations or prevent their occurrence. Regional
human rights ombudsmen were under constant threat from illegal armed
groups.
The Presidential Program for Human Rights, which operated under the
authority of the vice President, coordinates national human rights
policy and actions taken by government entities to promote or protect
human rights. It is the Government's primary interlocutor with domestic
and international NGOs and with foreign governments on human rights
issues. The program publishes the Human Rights Observer magazine that
provides analyses of major human rights issues and the human rights
situation in various regions of the country.
Both the Senate and House of Representatives have human rights
committees. The committees serve as forums for discussion of human
rights issues but have no authority to draft legislation.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Although the law specifically prohibits discrimination based on
race, gender, disability, language, or social status, many of these
prohibitions were not enforced in practice.
Women.--Although prohibited by law, domestic violence, including
spousal abuse, remained a serious problem. Judicial authorities may
remove an abuser from the household and require therapy or re-
education. The law provides prison time if the abuser causes grave harm
or the abuse is recurrent; however, provisions for fines were not
applied. The Institute for Legal Medicine and Forensic Science reported
approximately 33,000 cases of domestic violence against women during
the year but noted that only a small percentage of cases were brought
to its attention. The law stipulates that the Government must provide
victims of domestic violence with immediate protection from physical or
psychological abuse. The ICBF provided safe houses and counseling for
victims, but its services were dwarfed by the magnitude of the problem.
In addition to fulfilling traditional family counseling functions, ICBF
family ombudsmen handled domestic violence cases. The Human Rights
Ombudsman's Office conducted regional training workshops to promote the
application of domestic violence statutes.
Although prohibited by law, rape, including spousal rape, remained
a serious problem. The law provides for sentences ranging from eight
years' to 15 years' imprisonment for violent sexual assault. For acts
of spousal sexual violence, the law mandates sentences of six months to
two years and denies probation or bail to offenders who disobey
restraining orders. The Institute for Legal Medicine and Forensic
Science, which reported 14,246 cases of suspected sex crimes, including
rape, indicated that many cases went unreported. Renegade paramilitary
members and guerrillas raped, sexually abused, and in some cases,
sexually mutilated women and children for allegedly fraternizing with
the enemy, working as prostitutes, having sexual relations outside of
marriage, or violating imposed codes of conduct or restrictions on
dress. The ICBF provided psychosocial, medical, and legal support to
victims of sexual violence.
Adult prostitution is legal in designated ``tolerance zones,'' but
enforcement of, and restriction to, the zones remained difficult.
Prostitution was widespread and exacerbated by poverty and internal
displacement. Sex tourism existed to a limited extent, particularly in
coastal cities such as Cartagena and Barranquilla, where marriage and
dating services were often fronts for sexual tourism. The law prohibits
organizing or facilitating sexual tourism and provides penalties of
three to eight years' imprisonment. Trafficking in women for sexual
exploitation continued to be a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
In January the congress passed a law applicable to both the private
and public sectors that provided measures to discourage and punish
harassment at the workplace, such as sexual harassment, verbal abuse or
derision, aggression, and discrimination. Nonetheless, sexual
harassment remained a pervasive problem.
Although women enjoy the same legal rights as men, discrimination
against women remained a persistent problem. Women faced hiring
discrimination, were disproportionately affected by unemployment, and
had salaries that generally were incompatible with their education and
experience. Female workers in rural areas were affected most by wage
discrimination and unemployment.
The President's advisor for equality of women has primary
responsibility for combating discrimination against women. The advisor
ran a program to help women who were microbusiness entrepreneurs and
heads of families to get favorable lines of credit for their companies.
During the year the Government provided 5,973 microcredit loans to
women, in the amount of five million dollars (12 billion pesos). NGOs
such as the Popular Women's Organization in Barrancabermeja, Santander
Department, and the Women's Path to Peace in Medellin, Antioquia
Department, worked on women's issues, particularly peace initiatives.
On January 23, congress created an Observatory for Gender Affairs
to monitor and improve gender equality and enacted a law to combat
workplace harassment, including sexual harassment. No information was
available on its effectiveness during the year.
In August the Government published its National Plan for the
Defense of Woman's Rights, which outlined 116 measures to combat
domestic violence, enhance women's rights after the dissolution of a
marriage, and protect women in the workplace.
Children.--The Government generally was committed to children's
rights and welfare. The ICBF oversees all government child protection
and welfare programs and also funds nongovernmental programs that
benefit children.
Public schooling is provided up to age 18 and is universal,
compulsory, and free up to age 15. The National Department of
Statistics (DANE) estimated that more than eight million children
between ages six and 15 attended school. The Government covered most
basic costs of primary education. However, families were obliged to pay
for such additional matriculation fees after age 15, books and school
supplies, and transportation; these costs often were prohibitive,
particularly for the rural poor.
While the Government provided equal medical care to boys and girls,
medical facilities were not widely available, especially in rural
areas.
Child abuse was a serious problem. The National Institute for Legal
Medicine and Forensic Sciences reported approximately 18,000 cases of
child abuse during the year. The institute also estimated that
approximately 85 percent of the 17,000 reported sex crimes involved
sexual abuse of children, most of whom were under the age of 14.
According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), approximately 35,000
children were sexually exploited each year.
According to a report by the Inspector General's Office, 25,000
minors were sexual workers. Children were trafficked for sexual
exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits service in the public security forces before age
18, and government practice conformed with the law. Guerrillas forcibly
recruited and used children as soldiers. The Ministry of Defense
estimated that 20 percent of FARC members were minors and that most
guerrilla fighters had joined the FARC ranks as children. Human Rights
Watch stated there were approximately 11,000 child soldiers, 80 percent
of whom belonged to the FARC and the ELN.
A 2002 UNICEF study estimated that 83 percent of child soldiers
volunteered and did so because of limited educational and economic
opportunities and a desire for acceptance and camaraderie.
Nevertheless, many children found membership in guerrilla and
paramilitary organizations difficult, and the Ministry of Defense
reported an increase in the number of minors deserting illegal armed
groups. At least 396 children (225 of them former members of the FARC)
surrendered to state security forces during the year and were
transferred to the ICBF, which operated a reintegration program for
former child soldiers. While child labor remained a problem, in October
President Uribe signed the Law of Children and Adolescents, which
raised the minimum age for work from 14 to 15 years of age (see section
6.d.).
The UNHCR reported that 74 percent of IDPs were women and children
(see section 2.d.). Displaced children particularly were vulnerable to
physical abuse, sexual exploitation, and recruitment by criminals.
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits trafficking in
persons, there were reports that persons were trafficked from, through,
and within the country.
The country was a major source for trafficking in persons,
primarily for both sexual and labor purposes. As of September the IOM
received 244 hot-line calls related to trafficking. The vast majority
of trafficking victims were young women, although children and young
men were also at risk. Destination countries included Venezuela,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Aruba, Panama, The Netherlands, Chile, Costa
Rica, Curacao, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, Spain, Japan, Hong Kong, and the
United States. Internal trafficking of women and children from rural to
urban areas for sexual exploitation and forced labor remained a serious
problem. Victims also transited the country from other South American
countries on their way to Europe and the United States.
Many traffickers disclosed the sexual nature of the work they
offered but concealed information about working conditions, clientele,
freedom of movement, and compensation. Others disguised their intent by
portraying themselves as modeling agents, offering marriage brokerage
services, providing study programs, or operating lottery or bingo scams
with free trips as prizes. Recruiters reportedly loitered outside high
schools, shopping malls, and parks to lure adolescents into accepting
nonexistent jobs abroad. The IOM and domestic NGOs estimated that
international organized crime networks were responsible for most
transnational trafficking. Domestically, organized crime networks, some
related to illegal armed groups, were also responsible for trafficking
for sexual exploitation or organized begging, and the armed conflict
created situations of vulnerability for a large number of internal
trafficking victims.
The law provides for prison sentences of between 13 and 23 years
and fines of up to 1,000 times the monthly minimum wage for trafficking
offenses. These penalties may be increased by up to one-third if there
are aggravating circumstances, such as trafficking of children under
the age of 14. Additional charges of illegal detention, violation of
the right to work in dignified conditions, and violation of personal
freedom also may be brought against traffickers. While limited
resources hindered prosecutions, during the year the Prosecutor
General's Office handled 208 trafficking investigation cases, 15 of
which resulted in indictments. Trials were pending at year's end.
With the support of the IOM, the National Committee against
Trafficking (composed of 14 agencies) prepared information campaigns,
promoted information exchange between government agencies, and planned
the implementation of a database to monitor trafficking cases. The
prosecutor general's Anti-Trafficking Unit has the lead on combating
trafficking. The Government cooperated with foreign counterparts on
investigations.
The country's diplomatic missions provided legal and social welfare
assistance to victims abroad and worked with the IOM to repatriate
victims. The IOM strengthened government institutions involved in
antitrafficking efforts and assisted trafficking victims. From
September 2004 to August, the IOM trained 382 officials on specific
trafficking issues and provided awareness-raising training to 2,084
officials and NGO workers. The IOM also provided victims with job
training and employment opportunities, temporary emergency shelter,
necessary medical and psychological care, and opportunities for social
reintegration. The Hope Foundation, an antitrafficking NGO, provided
educational information, social support, and counseling to trafficking
victims. The Rebirth Foundation also provided housing, psychosocial
therapy, medical care, and legal assistance to child victims of sexual
exploitation through trafficking.
The IOM started a campaign to advertise an IOM national hot line to
prevent trafficking and report violators. The IOM also continued its
antitrafficking public awareness campaign that included placing large
posters in airports, bus stations, foreign consulates, and travel
agencies and running professionally produced public service
announcements on radio and television.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical and mental disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, or in the provision of other state
services, and the Government effectively enforced these prohibitions.
There is no law mandating access to public buildings for persons with
disabilities. The law provides persons with physical disabilities
access to voting stations. The Presidential Program for Human Rights is
responsible for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
The Colombian Association for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
reported that only approximately 15 percent of the disabled population
received medical attention adequate to prevent complications arising
from disabilities. According to press reports, only 7,000 of Bogota's
100,000 persons with disabilities had access to public education.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to the national
census, approximately 11 percent of the population was of African
origin. While Afro-Colombians are entitled to all constitutional rights
and protections, they faced significant economic and social
discrimination. An estimated 74 percent of Afro-Colombians earned less
than minimum wage. Choco, the department with the highest percentage of
Afro-Colombian residents, had the lowest per capita level of social
investment and ranked last in terms of education, health, and
infrastructure. It also continued to experience some of the country's
worst political violence, as paramilitaries and guerrillas struggled
for control of the department's key drug- and weapons-smuggling
corridors.
On May 25, a court in Antioquia sentenced Alvaro Padilla Medina to
24 year's and five months' imprisonment for the October 2005 killing of
Afro-Colombian community leader Orlando Valencia in Belen de Bajira,
Choco Department (see section 1.g.).
Indigenous People.--The constitution gives special recognition to
the fundamental rights of indigenous people, who comprised
approximately 2 percent of the population.
By law indigenous groups have perpetual rights to their ancestral
lands. Traditional Indian authority boards operated approximately 866
reservations as municipal entities, with officials selected according
to indigenous traditions. However, many indigenous communities had no
legal title to lands they claimed, and illegal armed groups often
violently contested indigenous land ownership. The National Agrarian
Reform Institute administered a program to buy lands declared to belong
to indigenous communities and return those lands to them.
The law provides for special criminal and civil jurisdictions
within indigenous territories based on traditional community laws (see
section 1.e.). Proceedings in these jurisdictions were subject to
manipulation and often rendered punishments that were more lenient than
those imposed by regular civilian courts. The law permits indigenous
communities to educate their children in traditional dialects and in
the observance of cultural and religious customs. Indigenous men are
not subject to the national military draft.
Indigenous leaders complained about the occasional presence of
government security forces on indigenous reservations and asked that
the Government consult with indigenous authorities prior to taking
military action against paramilitaries and guerrillas in such areas.
The Government stated that for security reasons it could not provide
advance notice of most military operations and that it consulted with
indigenous leaders when possible before accessing land held by the
communities. For national security reasons, the law permits the
presence of government security forces on lands of indigenous
communities.
The Ministry of Interior and Justice, through its Office of
Indigenous Affairs, is responsible for protecting the territorial,
cultural, and traditional rights of indigenous people. Ministry
representatives resided in all regions of the country and worked with
other governmental human rights organizations and NGOs to promote
indigenous interests and investigate violations of indigenous rights.
Despite special legal protections and government assistance
programs, indigenous people continued to suffer discrimination and
often lived on the margins of society.
Parties in the internal armed conflict continued to victimize
members of indigenous communities (see section 1.g.). ONIC reported
that through July, violence killed 32 indigenous persons and displaced
5,731 others. ONIC stated that the FARC alone kidnapped 12 indigenous
persons during this period. In January clashes between the FARC's
Jacobo Arenas Mobile Column and eight battalions of the army trapped a
Paez indigenous community in a cross fire for several days. The
fighting killed one community member and injured two others, forcing
more than 3,000 Paez from their homes.
On August 9, the International Day of World Indigenous People,
hooded gunmen in Ricaurte, Narino Department, killed five members of
the Awa indigenous community, including a former governor of the
Chinbuza indigenous reserve. The Prosecutor General's Office was
investigating the killings.
The UNHCHR continued to criticize threats and violence against
indigenous communities, characterized government investigations of
human rights violations against indigenous groups as inadequate, and
appealed to the Government to do more to protect indigenous people.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right to
organize unions, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. The law does not cover members of the armed forces or police.
Violence against union members and antiunion discrimination discouraged
workers from joining unions and engaging in trade union activities, and
the number of unions and union members continued to decline.
Approximately 830,000 workers (or less than 5 percent of the 18-
million-member workforce) were union members.
The labor code provides for automatic recognition of unions that
obtain 25 signatures from potential members and comply with a
registration process. Unions claimed that this process was slow and was
used to block union registration, specifically in the cut flower
sector.
In June the Government, trade confederations, and business
representatives signed an accord to have a resident ILO representative
sent to the country; he was scheduled to arrive in January 2007. The
agreement also committed the Government to finance the ILO Special
Technical Cooperation program and allocated $1.5 million to the
Prosecutor General's Office to combat impunity for violence against
trade unionists. By the end of the year, the Government had assigned
nearly 100 prosecutorial and investigative personnel to 128 cases of
violence against trade unionists. In addition, the agreement reconvened
the National Settlement Commission for Labor and Salary, which had been
boycotted by labor representatives prior to the May Presidential
election, and removed the country from discussion in the ILO's
Committee for the Application of Standards for the first time in 21
years.
Labor leaders continued to be targets of attacks by both guerrillas
and renegade paramilitary for political reasons (see section 1.g.).
According to the Ministry of Social Protection (MSP) 25 trade
unionists, nine of whom were union leaders, were killed during the
year, compared with 13 in 2005. According to the National Labor College
(ENS), a labor rights NGO, 37 trade unionists were killed during the
year. ENS and government figures differed because the ENS counted non-
affiliated advisers to unions, retired and nonactive union members, and
rural community organization members as trade unionists, which the MSP
did not.
Illegal armed groups disproportionately targeted educators. Labor
groups counted teachers affiliated with trade unions among the total
number of trade unionists killed, whereas the MSP counted them
separately. The MSP reported that 34 teachers affiliated with unions,
two of whom were leaders, were killed during the year. The ENS reported
35 teachers affiliated with unions were killed. There had been no
convictions in any of these cases by year's end. Threats, intimidation,
or coercion against prosecutors, judicial investigators, and witnesses
contributed to impunity in these cases.
The Government continued its protection program for threatened
labor leaders, providing protection measures for more than 1,200 trade
unionists during the year.
Illegal armed groups killed, kidnapped, and threatened trade union
members for political and financial reasons (see section 1.g.). On
March 2, unknown gunmen in a Barrancabermeja neighborhood reportedly
under paramilitary control killed Hector Diaz Serrano, a member of the
National Workers' Union (USO). Also on April 2, unknown gunmen killed
Daniel Cortez, a member of an electricity worker's union, SINTRAELECOL;
the union attributed the killing to paramilitaries. On September 13,
unknown gunmen killed Gregorio Izquierdo, a member of the union
SINTRAEMSERPA, in Arauca City, Arauca Department; the union considered
paramilitaries responsible.
Union leaders contended that perpetrators of violence against
workers operated with virtual impunity. In cases of killings of trade
unionists and teachers affiliated with unions, authorities identified
guerrillas as the perpetrators of seven acts, renegade paramilitaries
for four, and common criminals for two. The ENS attributed nine
killings to renegade paramilitaries, seven to guerrillas, and 1 to
common criminals.
On October 3, a judge in a foreign court dismissed a 2001 union
lawsuit against Coca-Cola bottling plants in the country. The suit
alleged collusion with paramilitaries to kill and intimidate trade
unionists. The union stated it would appeal the decision.
While the law prohibits antiunion discrimination, some long-
standing ILO criticisms of the labor code remained, including the
legality of firing union organizers from their jobs within six months
following a strike or dispute, the legality of firing union organizers
from their jobs within six months following a strike or dispute, the
prohibition of strikes in a wide range of public services that are not
necessarily essential, the Government's power to intervene in disputes
through compulsory arbitration when a strike is declared illegal, and
the power to dismiss trade union officers involved in an unlawful
strike. The Government countered that ILO technical assistance helped
to draft the labor code and that it does not impede labor rights. The
Government did not declare illegal any of the eight strikes that
occurred during the year.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides workers the right to organize and bargain collectively, and
the Government respected this right in the private sector; however,
collective bargaining was not implemented fully in the public sector.
Unions claimed that fewer than 150,000 of their members had collective
bargaining contracts. High unemployment, a large informal economic
sector, traditional antiunion attitudes, and violence against trade
union leaders made organizing difficult. Weak union organization
limited workers' bargaining power in all sectors.
Collective pacts between individual workers and their employers
were not subject to collective bargaining. Collective pacts give
employers the right to negotiate accords on pay and labor conditions at
any time with extemporaneous groups of workers when no union is present
or when a union represents less then half of the employees. Labor
groups complained that employers used collective pacts, permitted by
law, to discourage labor organization. In practice, when a union
presented a collective bargaining proposal, employers offered some
workers better conditions and pay in exchange for their leaving the
union and temporarily joining the pact, which undermined organized
labor's ability to bargain collectively.
The continued growth and prevalence of workers' cooperatives
further diminished collective bargaining. Workers' cooperatives are
required to register with the superintendent of economic cooperatives,
which estimated the number of such cooperatives at 3,000 and the number
of associated workers at approximately 379,000. Workers' cooperatives
were obligated to provide compensation at least equivalent to the
minimum wage and the same health and retirement benefits as other
workers receive.
Government investigators discovered that most cooperatives engaged
in subcontracting and, in some cases, that private sector employers had
forced workers to form cooperatives and were themselves managing the
cooperatives' daily operations. The Government has the authority to
fine violators but has no recourse to shut down repeat offenders. In
practice nominal fines assessed by the Government did little to
dissuade violators. In December the Government issued a decree to
combat the misuse of workers' cooperatives by explicitly prohibiting
their use as labor subcontractors, limiting their status to that of
nonprofit, and raising the maximum fine for illegal cooperatives.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice; however, members of the armed forces, police,
and persons performing ``essential public services'' as defined by law
were not permitted to strike.
Before staging a legal strike, public sector unions must negotiate
directly with management and accept mediation if they cannot reach an
agreement. The law prohibits the use of strikebreakers. The law that
prohibits public employees from striking was often ignored. By law
public employees must accept binding arbitration if mediation fails.
In May the U.S. successfully negotiated a collective bargaining
agreement with Ecopetrol, the Government petroleum company.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
export processing zones. Labor law applies in the country's 15 free
trade zones, and its standards were enforced.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but there were some
reports that such practices occurred.
Paramilitaries and guerrillas practiced forced conscription; forced
labor was also involved in prostitution (see section 5). There were
some reports that guerrillas and paramilitaries used forced labor,
including child labor, in areas outside government control (see section
6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
While there are laws to protect children from exploitation in the
workplace, child labor remained a significant problem, particularly in
the informal sector. The ICBF reported that at least 2.5 million
children worked in the country, of whom only an estimated one in five
was working legally. An estimated 25,000 minors were sexual workers
(see section 5).
In October the minimum age for employment was raised to 15 years.
Minors between 15 and 17 years of age must obtain authorization from
the local inspection units of the MSP. Such minors may work only six
hours per day and 30 hours per week, with no work hours past 6 p.m.
Minors between 17 and 18 years of age may only work eight hours per
day, 40 hours per week with no work hours past 8 p.m. There is an
exception to the minimum age: minors under age 15 may receive
authorization from the local inspection unit to engage in remunerated
activities in art, culture, recreation, or sport. However, the
authorization establishes maximum number of hours and specific labor
conditions. For example, a minor under age 15 may not engage in
remunerated activities more than 14 hours per week.
The legal minimum age for work was consistent with completing a
basic education, but only 38 percent of working children attended
school. All child workers are prohibited from working at night or
performing work where there is a risk of bodily harm or exposure to
excessive heat, cold, or noise. Although children are prohibited from
working in a number of specific occupations, including mining and
construction, in practice these prohibitions largely were ignored.
Estimates of the number of children who worked in illegal mining
operations varied widely: DANE estimated the number at 10,000 to
15,000; the state-entity MINERCOL estimated up to 200,000; the ILO's
International Program for the Eradication of Child Labor estimated the
number at approximately 100,000. According to DANE, children also
worked as coca pickers or in other aspects of the illegal drug trade.
Children were also engaged in illegal conscripted labor as child
soldiers.
Although there were no reports of forced child labor in the formal
economy, several thousand children were forced to serve as paramilitary
or guerrilla combatants (see sections 1.g. and 5), prostitutes (see
section 5), or coca pickers. The minor's code provides for fines of up
to 40 times the minimum monthly wage for violations of child labor
laws. A violation deemed to endanger a child's life or threaten moral
values may be punished by temporary or permanent closure of the
responsible establishment.
The MSP's 276 labor inspectors nationwide were responsible for
enforcing child labor laws in the formal sector (which covered
approximately 20 percent of the child labor force) through periodic
inspections. Resources were inadequate for effective enforcement. With
assistance from the ILO, the Government worked to improve cooperation
and coordination among national, regional, and municipal governments
through its ``Third National Plan for the Eradication of Child Labor
and Protection of Working Youth.''
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government establishes a
uniform minimum wage every January that serves as a benchmark for wage
bargaining. The monthly minimum wage, which is set by tripartite
negotiations among representatives of business, organized labor, and
the Government, was approximately $187 (433,700 pesos), a 6.3 percent
increase from the previous year. The national minimum wage did not
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
Approximately 59 percent of the workforce was employed in the informal
sector, which is not covered by the minimum wage.
The labor code provides for a regular workweek of 48 hours and a
minimum rest period of eight hours within the week. The code stipulates
that workers are entitled to receive premium compensation for
additional hours worked over the regular workweek of 48 hours and for
work performed on Sundays. Compulsory overtime is permitted only in
exceptional cases where the work is considered essential for the
company's functioning.
The law provides comprehensive protection for workers' occupational
safety and health, which the MSP enforced through periodic inspections.
However, a lack of government inspectors, poor public safety awareness,
and inadequate attention by unions resulted in a high level of
industrial accidents and unhealthy working conditions. Workers in the
informal sector sometimes suffered physical or sexual abuse. The law
provides workers with the right to remove themselves from a hazardous
work situation without jeopardizing continued employment, and the
Government enforced this right. Nonunion workers, particularly those in
the agricultural and in some parts of the flower sector, claimed they
often continued working in hazardous conditions because they feared
losing their jobs if they criticized abuses.
__________
COSTA RICA
Costa Rica, a constitutional democracy with a population of
approximately 4.3 million, is governed by a President and unicameral
legislative assembly directly elected in free multiparty elections
every four years. In February Oscar Arias Sanchez, of the National
Liberation Party (PLN), won elections that generally were considered
free and fair. While civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces, there were a few instances in
which elements of the security forces acted independently of government
authority.
While the Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, the following human rights problems were reported: prison
overcrowding in certain facilities; inadequate prison medical services
in general; substantial judicial process delays, particularly in
pretrial detention and civil and labor cases; antiquated libel laws and
excessive penalties for violations; domestic violence against women and
children; child prostitution; 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 during the year.
On May 27, authorities arrested a current and a former police
officer and accused them of assisting in the revenge killings of three
citizens in May 2005. According to police reports, the men lured the
victims, believed to be responsible for killing Colombian Javier
Caceido, to a park to purchase stolen tools. The men presented police
credentials, arrested the three persons, and drove them to a nearby
park where they were delivered to four associates of Caceido and
killed. At year's end one of the suspects remained in preventive
detention and the other awaited trial.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution prohibits such practices, and
the Government generally respected this prohibition, some members of
the security forces committed abuses. Any statement obtained through
violence is invalid, and the Government investigated, prosecuted, and
punished agents responsible for confirmed cases of abuse.
All four police officers found guilty in August 2005 of abuse of
authority for beating a suspect who resisted arrest appealed their
three-year suspended sentences, and the appeals were still pending as
of year's end.
In September a court found the former police officer charged with
the 2003 beating of a robbery suspect guilty and sentenced him to two
years in prison, but the sentence was commuted to parole.
The ombudsman's office lodged and recorded complaints of police
misconduct (see section 4). During the year the ombudsman's office
received 20 complaints, 19 of which remained under investigation, and
one was determined to be legitimate.
On July 18, Nicaragua denounced Costa Rica at the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), citing a November 2005 incident in
which seven public security officers witnessed but did not intervene
when two guard dogs attacked a Nicaraguan. Nicaragua claimed this
showed that its citizens face discrimination and xenophobia in Costa
Rica. On October 18, the IACHR held a public hearing on the case but
had not released any findings by year's end.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Although the Government
worked to improve prison conditions during the year, isolated cases of
overcrowding, as well as poor sanitation, lack of health services, and
violence among prisoners remained problems in some prison facilities.
The ombudsman's office investigated all complaints and referred serious
cases of abuse to the public prosecutor. Illegal narcotics were readily
available in the prisons, and drug abuse was common.
Recent expansions at several prison facilities reduced the
countrywide prison population at midyear approximately to the system's
capacity level, although overcrowding persisted at the San Sebastian
prison and the women's prison at Buen Pastor. San Carlos prison reduced
its population 7 percent, which put it at capacity in June. As of June
30, the social adaptation division of the Ministry of Justice reported
12,987 persons under its supervision, including 7,737 jailed prisoners,
660 persons required to spend nights and weekends in jail, 4,039
persons in supervised work programs requiring no jail time, and 551
juveniles.
San Sebastian, where most prisoners in pretrial detention were
held, continued to be overcrowded and unsanitary. Because of increases
in the number of persons held in preventive detention arising out of
court backlogs, the San Sebastian prison was not able to handle
adequately the growing inmate population. Medical care at most
facilities generally was adequate for routine illnesses and injuries
but was inadequate for complex medical issues, such as HIV/AIDS.
While prisoners generally were separated by sex and by level of
security (minimum, medium, and maximum), overcrowding sometimes
prevented proper separation of prisoners of different security levels.
As of June the San Jose women's prison held 5 percent more inmates than
its intended capacity.
Due to overcrowding at the San Sebastian complex, some pretrial
detainees were held with convicted prisoners in long-term detention
facilities throughout the country.
The Government permitted prison visits by international and local
independent human rights observers, including representatives from the
office of the ombudsman. Human rights observers were allowed to speak
with prisoners and to prison employees in confidence and without the
presence of prison staff or other third parties.
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 Public
Security oversees the general preventive police force, as well as the
drug control police, the border police, and coast guard. Traffic
control and law enforcement are administered by the Ministry of Public
Works and Transportation. Police forces generally were regarded as
effective. However, due to limited resources, the police forces were
routinely unable to conduct adequate patrols or take effective
preventive measures. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) did not
perceive corruption to be a serious problem. Each ministry had an
internal disciplinary unit to investigate charges of abuse and
corruption against its officers. If these units discover criminal
evidence in any case (such as abuse of authority), they hand over the
case to the Judicial Investigative Police (OIJ). Citizens can file a
complaint against police directly with the OIJ, or anonymously through
its hot line.
All new police recruits received human rights awareness training as
part of their basic training course.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires issuance of judicial
warrants before making arrests, except where probable cause is evident
to the arresting officer. The law entitles a detainee to a judicial
determination of the legality of detention during arraignment before a
judge within 24 hours of arrest. The law provides for the right to
bail, prompt access to an attorney, and prompt access to family
members, and the authorities generally observed these rights in
practice. Indigents are provided a public attorney at government
expense and access to family members; in practice even those with
sufficient personal funds were able to use the services of a public
defender. With judicial authorization, the authorities are able to hold
suspects incommunicado for 48 hours after arrest or, under special
circumstances, for up to 10 days.
A criminal court may hold suspects in pretrial detention for
periods of up to one year, and the court of appeals may extend this
period to two years in especially complex cases. The law requires that
suspects in pretrial detention have their cases reviewed every three
months by the court to determine the appropriateness of continued
detention. According to the Ministry of Justice, as of June 30, there
were 1,686 persons in pretrial detention, representing 13 percent of
the prison population.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice. The legal system faced many challenges,
including significant delays in the adjudication of civil disputes and
a still growing workload.
The judicial branch of government includes the upper and lower
courts, the OIJ, the office of the prosecutor, the office of the public
defender, forensic laboratories, and the morgue. The lower courts
include courts of first instance and circuit courts. The Supreme Court
is the highest court, with 22 justices known as magistrates. The
legislative assembly elects those magistrates for eight-year terms,
which are renewed automatically unless two-thirds of the assembly
opposes such renewal.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
All trials, except those that include juvenile defendants, are
public. A trial is presided over by a single judge or by a three-judge
panel, depending on the potential penalties arising from the charges.
Trials that involve victims or witnesses who are minors are closed
during that portion of the trial where the minor is called to testify.
There are no jury trials. Accused persons can select attorneys to
represent them, and the law provides for access to counsel at state
expense for the indigent. The law provides for detainee and attorney
access to government-held evidence, and defendants can question
witnesses against them and present witnesses on their behalf.
Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence and, if convicted, have the
right of appeal.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees, although former Presidents Rafael
Angel Calderon and Miguel Angel Rodriguez, who were released in October
2005 after nearly one year in custody, asserted that their arrests and
preventive detention on corruption charges were politically motivated.
In September 2005 Calderon asked the IACHR to review his case. In
December 2005 he told reporters that the NGO International Society for
Human Rights had filed an amicus curiae brief that asserted that his
detention was politically motivated. The review by the IACHR was still
pending at year's end.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters where lawsuits, including
human rights violations, are brought. Administrative and judicial
remedies for alleged wrongs are available.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such practices, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. The law
requires judicial warrants to search private homes. Judges may approve
the use of wiretaps in investigations of certain crimes such as
genocide, homicide, kidnapping, terrorism, narcotics trafficking,
production of pornography, trafficking in persons, and the trafficking
of persons for their organs. However, legal guidelines on the use of
wiretaps are so restrictive that the use of wiretaps was rare.
The law grants considerable rights to squatters who invade
uncultivated land, regardless of who may hold title to the property.
Irregular enforcement of property rights and duplicate registrations of
title harmed the real property interests of many who believed they held
legitimate title to land. Landowners throughout the country suffered
occasional squatter invasions; sometimes they received government
assistance to evict squatters forcibly from private land.
In July 2005 the ombudsman's office requested governmental action
to title the land where feasible or to resettle 2,000 of the 4,500
families living on lots too small to be plotted or in dangerous areas
of the squatter development of La Carpio. The office reported that the
project would take several years to complete and might require a
declaration that the housing development was in the public interest
through introduction of a bill to reform the law on the housing
financial system. At year's end the Government continued to survey and
delineate land plots and to identify the most dangerous areas.
In February 2005 a court decision overturned the usurpation
conviction of 17 squatters in the Bambuzal case, and the landowner and
the prosecutor's office subsequently appealed the acquittal to the
Supreme Court, which ordered a new trial. As of November 1, the case
remained undecided by an agrarian tribunal.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press. Journalists and media company
owners continued to criticize outdated legislation that imposed
criminal penalties, including lengthy jail sentences instead of civil
fines, for common press infractions and argued that such legislation
promoted self-censorship.
Under the law, reporters are not required to reveal the identity of
a source in any civil or criminal trial if the source has requested
confidentiality. Reporters are allowed to defend themselves against
libel charges by claiming that they were merely repeating a story
published by foreign media. Libel convictions are punishable with fines
or jail time.
The Government had not yet modified the law to comply with a 2004
Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling that the Government should
reform within a reasonable amount of time the press freedom laws on
media prosecution. The ruling arose out of a 1999 conviction of a
journalist for defamation. In May the Supreme Court rejected a claim by
a journalist that prison sentences for common press infractions are
unconstitutional. In June the World Press Freedom Committee sent a
letter to President Arias asking him to change the press laws that jail
journalists found guilty of libel or slander.
The law provides persons criticized in the media with an
opportunity to reply with equal attention and at equal length. Media
managers reported that it was difficult to comply with provisions of
this law. The provisions outline a series of ``insult laws'' that
establish criminal penalties of up to three years in prison for those
convicted of insulting the honor or decorum of a public official. The
law also identifies defamation, libel, slander, and calumny as offenses
against a person's honor that can carry criminal penalties. The Inter-
American Press Association cited as problems former President Pacheco's
informal ban on government advertising in La Nacion newspaper (which
remained in effect) and stalling of attempts to adopt legislative
reforms to press laws.
In July a trial court found journalist Ana Maria Navarro not guilty
of libel and defamation for two reports she wrote critical of a mayor's
alleged nepotism.
The trial of the six defendants accused of killing or illicit
association in relation to the 2003 killing of journalist Ivannia Mora
began in May. In November all six were acquitted because judges in the
case found that key evidence had been improperly obtained. The trial of
10 defendants arrested in 2004 for the 2001 killing of radio host
Parmenio Medina continued 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.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom.
The commission on control and rating of public performances rates
films and has the authority to restrict or prohibit their showing if it
is determined that the films are pornographic or violent in nature, or
incite crime or vice. The commission has similar powers over television
programs, radio programs, and stage plays. In addition the commission
regulates the sale and distribution of written material deemed
pornographic, enforcing specific packaging and display regulations. A
tribunal reviews appeals of the commission's actions.
In October 2005 the IACHR agreed to review allegations of
censorship brought against the rating commission by the owner of a
local tabloid magazine that the Government closed in 2004 after the
owner printed semi-nude photographs in a 2003 issue without first
submitting that issue for the rating commission's review. The case
remained undecided at year's end.
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.
Although Roman Catholic religious instruction is provided in the
public schools, it is not mandatory, and students may obtain exemptions
from the instruction with the permission of their parents. The school
director, the student's parents, and the student's teacher must agree
on an alternative course of instruction for the exempted student during
the instruction time. Religious education teachers in public schools
must be certified by the Roman Catholic Church Conference, which does
not certify teachers from other denominations or faiths. In April 2005
the public National University alleged that the church conference
certification requirement was discriminatory and requested that the
Ministry of Public Education reform the law governing public education
to allow teachers certified in religious instruction by an entity other
than the Roman Catholic Church to teach religion in the public school
system. The Ministry of Public Education had not acted on this request
as of September 15.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts, during
the year. There was a small Jewish population.
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 requires that adults carry national identification cards at all
times. Persons who fail to produce such documents at security
checkpoints may be detained until their identity and immigration status
are verified.
The constitution prohibits forced internal or external exile, and
it was not used in practice.
Protection of Refugees.--The law and a series of executive decrees
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 and
cooperated with the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and
asylum seekers.
The Refugee Department, in the General Directorate of Migration, is
in charge of refugee status determination. The law requires refugee
applications to be adjudicated within a month of receipt.
In September the security ministry announced its intention to
cooperate with the Colombian government to determine if any of the
approximately 10,000 Colombian refugees living in the country had
obtained refugee status under false pretenses. In public statements,
the UNHCR characterized this action as a collective investigation based
on nationality and therefore a violation of the confidentiality
principle refugees should enjoy. As of November 1, there were no
reports of abuse originating from this information sharing.
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 based on universal suffrage
and by secret ballot every four years. The independent Supreme
Electoral Tribunal ensured the integrity of elections, and the
authorities and citizens respected election results. Presidents may
seek reelection after sitting out two subsequent four-year terms, and
assembly members may seek reelection after at least one term out of
office.
Elections and Political Participation.--In the February national
elections, Oscar Arias of the PLN won the presidency in elections that
generally were considered free and fair.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal requires that a minimum of 40
percent of candidates for elective office be female and that women's
names be placed accordingly on the ballots by party slate. The first
vice President (who was also the minister of justice), and the
ministers of science and technology, health, culture, and public works
were women. There were 22 women in the 57-seat legislative assembly,
including seven legislative committee chairwomen and the heads of three
of the four major party caucuses.
Indigenous people did not play significant roles in politics or
government except on issues directly affecting their welfare, largely
because of their relatively small numbers and physical isolation. There
were no indigenous members in the legislative assembly.
There was one black member in the assembly. There were no minority
members in the cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The NGO Transparency
International reported a serious level of perceived domestic
corruption, a slight increase from 2005. There continued to be
allegations of corruption against the executive branch. Two former
Presidents, Rafael Angel Calderon and Miguel Angel Rodriguez, remained
under investigation for separate and unrelated cases of suspected
corruption (see section 1.e.). In December the Constitutional Chamber
ruled that authorities violated Rodriguez's rights when he was shown on
local television leaving the plane handcuffed after his arrest. Former
President Jose Maria Figueres Olsen remained in Switzerland despite a
standing request by the legislative assembly for his return to answer
questions regarding kickbacks received from his former company.
There were no new developments reported in the 2004 corruption
investigation of the former President and board of directors of the
social security fund.
The law provides for public access to government information, and
the Government generally respected this right. Government institutions
published reports that detailed the year's activities. The ombudsman's
office operated a Web page dedicated to enhancing transparency by
improving citizen's access to public 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 cooperative and responsive to their views.
There is an ombudsman's office of approximately 150 employees
dedicated to the oversight of actions or inactions by the Government
that impact the rights and interests of citizens, which includes human
rights advocacy. The ombudsman is accountable to the legislative
assembly, which appoints him or her to a four-year term and funds the
office's operations. The ombudsman plays an active role in the drafting
and approval process of legislation, promotes good administration and
transparency, and presents an annual report to the assembly with
nonbinding recommendations. While the ombudsman's recommendations and
decisions are not legally enforceable, the position carried a strong
moral and symbolic weight in the country.
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
enforced these prohibitions effectively.
Women.--The Government continued to identify domestic violence
against women and children as a serious and growing societal problem.
The law prohibits domestic violence and provides measures for the
protection of domestic violence victims. Criminal penalties range from
10 to 100 days in prison for aggravated threats and up to 35 years in
prison for aggravated homicide.
During the year the autonomous National Institute for Women (INAMU)
provided legal and psychological counseling to 5,325 women and lodging
for 245 battered women and 465 children in INAMU shelters. As of August
15, INAMU reported that 19 women and girls were killed in incidents of
domestic violence, compared with 40 victims during all of 2005. INAMU
also maintained a domestic abuse hot line.
As of December 21, the office of the special prosecutor for
domestic violence and sexual crimes for the San Jose area investigated
a total of 1,084 cases, compared with 1,243 cases in all of 2005.
The law against domestic violence established a number of victim-
assistance mechanisms including basic training for new police personnel
on handling domestic violence cases, requiring public hospitals to
report cases of domestic violence against women, and denying
perpetrators possession of the family home in favor of the victim. The
public prosecutor, police, and ombudsman had offices dedicated to this
problem.
The law defines various types of rape and provides penalties
dependent upon a victim's age and other factors such as an assailant's
use of violence or position of influence over the victim. The law
provides for penalties from 10 to 18 years in prison for rape and two
to 10 years in prison for statutory rape. The judiciary effectively
enforced the rape law and provided due process for both victim and
defendant. According to INAMU, the rape law applies in the same manner
to spousal rape, although spousal rape cases in practice were much more
difficult to prove.
Authorities acknowledged that many known rape cases were not
investigated due to reluctance by the victim or family of the victim to
press charges against perpetrators. During the first six months of the
year, 316 rape cases, 36 intent cases, and 403 cases of sexual abuse of
minors were reported to the prosecutor's office.
Prostitution is legal for persons over the age of 18 and was
practiced openly throughout the country, particularly in areas with
heavy concentrations of foreign tourists. The penal code prohibits
individuals from promoting or facilitating the prostitution of persons
of either sex, regardless of the person's age, and the penalty is
increased if the victim is under the age of 18. There are no specific
laws against sex tourism, which was growing; however, law enforcement
agencies initiated investigations under existing legislation. The
Government and several advocacy groups also initiated awareness
campaigns publicizing the dangers of sex tourism and its association
with child sexual exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace and
educational institutions, and the Ministry of Labor generally enforced
this prohibition. The law imposes penalties ranging from a letter of
reprimand to dismissal, with more serious incidents subject to criminal
prosecution. During the year the ombudsman's office received 52
complaints of sexual harassment in the workplace, compared with 56
complaints during 2005.
The law for the promotion of social equality of women prohibits
discrimination against women and obligates the Government to promote
political, economic, social, and cultural equality. The Government
maintained offices for gender issues in most ministries and parastatal
organizations. The Ministry of Labor was responsible for investigating
allegations of gender discrimination. INAMU implemented programs that
promoted gender equality and publicized the rights of women.
In July the census institute reported that women represented 35
percent of the labor force. Approximately 4.8 percent worked in
agriculture, 12.5 percent in manufacturing, and 82.4 percent in the
service sector. According to a 2005 UN Development Program report,
women occupied 45 percent of professional and technical positions and
29 percent of high-level legislative, senior official, and managerial
positions. The law requires that women and men receive equal pay for
equal work. The estimated earned income for women was approximately 78
percent of the earned income for men.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare through systems of public education and medical care. Primary
education is compulsory, free, and universal. The law requires six
years of primary and three years of secondary education for all
children, and attendance is required until age 15.
The Ministry of Education reported that the estimated primary
school dropout rate was 3.3 percent and the secondary school dropout
rate was 11.6 percent; these figures were based on actual registration
and did not reflect students who failed to register at the beginning of
the school year. The UN Children's Fund reported that approximately 30
percent of primary school students never entered secondary school and
that 47 percent of secondary school students dropped out before
graduation.
The law provides equal access to education and health care services
to all minors, regardless of gender or legal residency status.
In recent years the autonomous National Institute for Children
(PANI) increased public awareness of abuse of children, which remained
a problem. From January 1 to June 30, PANI assisted 34,006 children and
adolescents (17,117 girls and 16,889 boys), including 3,403 cases of
physical abuse, 2,647 cases of sexual abuse, and 1,164 cases of
psychological abuse. Traditional attitudes and the inclination to treat
sexual and psychological abuse as misdemeanors occasionally hampered
legal proceedings against those who committed crimes against children.
The Government, security officials, and child advocacy
organizations acknowledged that commercial sexual exploitation of
children remained a serious problem (see section 5, Trafficking). PANI
estimated that an unknown but significant number of children suffered
from commercial sexual exploitation. Street children in the urban areas
of San Jose, Limon, and Puntarenas were particularly at risk. During
the first six months of the year, PANI reported that it provided
assistance to minors in 163 separate cases of commercial sexual
exploitation.
Child labor was a problem mainly in the informal sector of the
economy (see section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits the trafficking
of women and minors for the purpose of prostitution or forced labor,
there is no legislation to address all forms of trafficking. The lack
of a comprehensive antitrafficking law inhibited the Government's
ability to prosecute and convict traffickers, and prosecutors relied on
several criminal statutes to bring traffickers to justice. Immigration
reform legislation, passed in October 2005, went into effect on August
12. The law explicitly criminalizes the ``illicit smuggling of people''
with a two- to six-year prison sentence but is designed to combat the
movement of illegal aliens, not the trafficking of persons for
prostitution or forced labor. There were reports that persons were
trafficked to, from, and within the country, most often for commercial
sexual exploitation.
Cases of trafficking involved persons from Cuba, Guatemala, Peru,
Ecuador, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Nicaragua, the
Philippines, China, Russia, and several countries of Eastern Europe.
While evidence suggested that most trafficked persons remained in the
country, some transited to Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Some
female citizens, generally from impoverished backgrounds, also were
trafficked to Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Women and children
were trafficked within the country for sexual exploitation, while men,
women, and children were also trafficked with the country for forced
labor as domestic servants, agricultural workers, and workers in the
fishing industry. Traffickers often recruited victims with a promise of
secure employment and good pay.
The law provides for sentences of between two and 10 years'
imprisonment for anyone who engages in sex with a minor and between
four and 10 years' imprisonment for managing or promoting child
prostitution. The office of the special prosecutor for domestic
violence and sexual crimes for the San Jose area raided seven sites,
resulting in the detention of four suspects, who remained in custody at
year's end.
Hundreds of investigations into the commercial sexual exploitation
of children were initiated, but few resulted in successful prosecution
as a result of governmental inefficiency and an inability to protect
witnesses. Minimal coordination among government offices responsible
for trafficking-related offenses also frustrated enforcement efforts.
Government agencies responsible for combating trafficking and child
sexual exploitation included the special prosecutor on domestic
violence and sex crimes, PANI, the foreign ministry, the labor
ministry, the public security ministry, the tourism ministry, and the
OIJ, which has an investigative unit dedicated solely to trafficking in
persons.
There were reports of corruption among immigration officials
involving trafficking in persons along the country's borders, but the
Immigration Directorate reported that no disciplinary actions were
taken.
A governmental inter-ministerial group on trafficking made efforts
to raise awareness of trafficking issues and sexual exploitation of
children and to encourage law enforcement and prevention measures,
particularly at the local level. A campaign initiated in 2005 that used
television, radio, and billboard notices to warn young women of the
dangers of commercial sexual exploitation continued. However, a lack of
resources hampered the Government's efforts.
While there were limited formal mechanisms specifically designed to
aid trafficked victims, the Government offered indirect assistance,
such as stay-in-school programs, to child victims of trafficking.
Foreign victims were not granted temporary or permanent residence
status and often were deported immediately to their country of origin.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution prohibits
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities in
employment, education, health care access, or provision of other state
services, and there were no reports of individual, intentional
discrimination against persons with disabilities in education or in the
provision of other state services. There were no reports of employment
discrimination, but the ombudsman's office reported to the legislative
assembly that, due to poor facility access and entrenched business
practices, unreported discrimination occurred.
Although a 1996 law mandates access to buildings for persons with
disabilities and established a 10-year deadline for the Government to
make necessary installations and upgrades, the Government did not
enforce this provision in practice, and many buildings remained
inaccessible to persons with disabilities. Public transportation
services improved access slightly for wheelchair-bound passengers.
However, only 6 percent of buses had complied with the accessibility
regulations as of September 15.
The Ministry of Education operated a program for persons with
disabilities, including a national resource center that provided
parents, students, and teachers with advanced counseling, training, and
information services. The ministry reported that 14,710 special
education students were registered in the school system during the
year, and there were 540 special education centers to assist special
education students and students with disabilities. In addition 1,173
primary and secondary schools had programs to provide some support to
students with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country's 100,000 blacks,
who mostly resided in the province of Limon, enjoyed full rights of
citizenship, including the protection of laws against racial
discrimination. There were no reports with the ombudsman's office of
racial discrimination against blacks. Approximately 15 percent of the
resident black population was foreign born. There were sporadic reports
of discrimination, usually directed against Nicaraguans, but there were
no government-endorsed patterns of discrimination. Undocumented illegal
immigrants were sometimes denied discretionary or long-term medical
care because they were not participants in the national health care
insurance program.
Indigenous People.--Indigenous people, comprising nearly 70,000
persons among eight ethnic groups, accounted for nearly 2 percent of
the population. While indigenous persons were not subject to official
discrimination, social and health network gaps diminished their quality
of life. Approximately 73 percent of the indigenous population lived in
traditional communities on 24 reserves, which because of their remote
locations, often lacked access to schools, health care, electricity,
and potable water. The housing ministry estimated that only 27 percent
of the indigenous population lived in homes considered to be in good
condition. Few government health care facilities had been established
in indigenous reserves. The law nominally protects reserve land as the
collective, nontransferable property of the indigenous communities.
Some indigenous landowners, however, sold their land to pay off debts,
sometimes illegally to nonindigenous people. The ombudsman had a unit
dedicated to investigating violations of the rights of indigenous
people and sought to return reserve land to indigenous groups.
At year's end nonindigenous property owners continued to hold title
to land on approximately 40 percent of the reserves legally set aside
for indigenous occupation. The law requires that the Government
purchase all pre-existing land titles within the reserves in order to
secure exclusive use and ownership rights for the indigenous
populations.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Although there are no
laws prohibiting discrimination against persons based on sexual
orientation, discrimination based on HIV/AIDS in health care,
employment, and education was prohibited by law and by Presidential
decree. The ombudsman's office received no reports of complaints of
such discrimination during the year.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law specifies the right of
workers to join unions of their choosing without prior authorization,
and workers exercised this right in practice. The law also provides for
the right not to join a union and to leave a union and accordingly
prohibits any action that might infringe that right. The Ministry of
Labor reported that approximately 9 percent of workers were unionized
as of July.
Some trade union leaders contended that the existence of worker
``solidarity associations'' in some enterprises displaced unions and
discouraged collective bargaining. The law prohibits these non-dues-
collecting associations from representing workers in collective
bargaining negotiations or in any other way that assumes the functions
of or inhibits the formation of trade unions. Solidarity associations
offered membership services, including credit union programs, matching-
fund savings accounts, and low-interest loans. As of June 30,
solidarity associations had approximately 225,000 members, 81 percent
of whom worked in the private sector.
Although the law provides protection from dismissal for union
organizers and members during union formation, including reinstating
workers fired for union activities, cases of enforcement were almost
nonexistent, and employers often failed to comply with this provision
in practice. In its 2005 annual report, the International Labor
Organization (ILO) Committee of Experts identified as a problem ``slow
and ineffectual procedures for penalties and redress in the event of
antiunion acts.'' In addition, the International Trade Union
Confederation's annual survey stated that there is no legal mechanism
to oblige an employer to comply with a court order to reinstate a fired
worker. Workers who are denied reinstatement under a court decision
must file a new action with the labor court.
The center for alternative resolution of labor disputes handled
1,255 cases during the first six months of the year, 67.8 percent of
which resulted in an agreement between the parties. Year-end statistics
indicated a relatively high settlement rate when both employer and
employee attended the hearing; with both parties present, two-thirds of
the cases reached successful resolution.
To reduce backlogs caused by the lengthy labor dispute resolution
process, the Ministry of Labor trained arbitrators and educated workers
and unions on labor rights, and in 2005 the Supreme Court ordered the
Government to develop a large-scale labor reform project. The executive
branch sent a reform bill to the legislature in 2005, which was
considering it in committee at year's end.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Workers
exercised the constitutional right to organize and the right to
voluntary collective bargaining. Foreign nationals are expressly
prohibited from exercising direction or authority in unions. There are
no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in export
processing zones.
The law requires employers to initiate the bargaining process with
a trade union if at least 34 percent of the workforce requests
collective bargaining, and the Government enforced this law in
practice.
Although private sector unions had the legal right to engage in
collective bargaining with employers, direct bargaining arrangements
between employers and unorganized workers occurred more commonly. As of
July the Ministry of Labor reported 67 collective agreements in the
public sector and 13 agreements in the private sector.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice; however, unions complained of burdensome
administrative requirements for a strike to be legal. The law requires
that at least 60 percent of the workers in an enterprise support strike
action. Restrictions on the right to strike apply only to essential
services that concern the national economy or public health.
In May the Supreme Court repealed specific sections of collective
bargaining agreements between several public employee unions and
various government agencies, stating that some fringe benefits received
by certain public employees were disproportionate and unreasonable. An
ILO commission visited in October to consider these rulings given the
country's obligations as an ILO member but had not released its report
by year's end.
After labor court judges declared a July 2005 strike by a group of
municipal trash collectors illegal, the mayor fired 67 striking
workers. The workers sought an injunction from the Constitutional
Chamber of the Supreme Court, and the court ordered the workers
temporarily reinstated pending a review of the case. Subsequently, the
workers withdrew the case because the municipality annulled its
decision to fire them.
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 provides special occupational protection for minors and establishes
a minimum working age of 15 years. Adolescents between the ages of 15
and 18 may work for a maximum of six hours daily and 36 hours weekly
with special permission from PANI. The law prohibits night work and
overtime for minors. Certain activities considered to be unhealthy or
hazardous typically require a minimum age of 18. In addition, minors
are entitled to facilities allowing them to attend educational
establishments through school arrangements and timetables adapted to
their interests and employment conditions, and to participate in
apprenticeship training programs.
The Ministry of Labor, in cooperation with PANI, generally enforced
these regulations effectively through inspections in the formal sector;
the regulations were not effectively enforced in the informal labor
sector as a result of inadequate resource allocations by the
Government.
Child labor continued to be a problem in formal and informal
agricultural operations and in informal activities such as domestic
work and family-run enterprises. Child prostitution and other types of
child sexual exploitation remained serious problems (see section 5).
The Ministry of Labor maintained an Office for the Eradication of
Child Labor (OATIA), which was responsible for coordinating government
efforts and programs targeted at child labor. In June 2005 OATIA
presented its second national plan of action for the eradication of
child labor, designed to eliminate child labor within five years and
requiring each participating government agency to include initiatives
to combat child labor among their activities. Subsequently, OATIA
implemented 101 training programs for 3,019 public and private sector
officers on child labor awareness; developed two child labor research
initiatives, one in a rural area and the other in a coastal area;
standardized guidelines for the provision of services to child labor
victims; and developed a training manual for labor inspectors financed
by the ILO.
During the year the Government continued to provide small loans and
economic aid to families with at-risk children and 556 scholarships for
poor families to cover the indirect costs of attending school. In 2005
the Ministry of Education initiated a new child labor education
campaign to remove children from work and return them to school. OATIA
reported that in 2005 it had registered 815 children working under the
legal age. Working in coordination with the ministry and other
government agencies, the Ministry of Labor removed these children from
the work environment and placed them in schools, as well as provided
counseling and orientation.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law provides for a minimum
wage, which is set by the national wage council. Monthly minimum wages
for the private sector ranged from approximately $160 (81,789 colones)
for domestic employees to approximately $630 (635,850 colones) for
university graduates. The Ministry of Labor effectively enforced
minimum wages in the San Jose area but was not generally effective in
enforcing the wage laws in rural areas, particularly those where large
numbers of migrants were employed. The national minimum wage did not
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
The constitution sets workday hours, overtime remuneration, days of
rest, and annual vacation rights. Workers generally may work a maximum
of 48 hours weekly. While there is no statutory prohibition against
compulsory overtime, the labor code stipulates that the workday may not
exceed 12 hours under any circumstances. Nonagricultural workers
receive an overtime premium of 50 percent of regular wages for work in
excess of the daily work shift. However, agricultural workers did not
receive overtime pay if they worked voluntarily beyond their normal
hours. Hourly work regulations generally were enforced in the formal
labor market in San Jose but were enforced poorly in rural areas and in
the informal sector.
While the Ministries of Labor and Health shared responsibility for
drafting and enforcing occupational health and safety standards, they
did not enforce these standards effectively as a result of inadequate
allocation of government resources. The law requires industrial,
agricultural, and commercial firms with 10 or more workers to establish
a joint management-labor committee on workplace conditions and allows
the Government to inspect workplaces and to fine employers for
violations. Most firms subject to the law established such committees,
but they either did not use the committees or did not turn them into
effective instruments for improving workplace conditions. Resource
constraints continued to hinder the labor ministry inspection
directorate's ability to carry out its inspection mandate. Workers who
consider a work condition to be unhealthy or unsafe must make a written
request for protection from the Ministry of Labor or the Ministry of
Health in order to remove themselves from the condition without
jeopardizing their continued employment.
__________
CUBA
Cuba, with a population of more than 11 million, is a totalitarian
state led by an acting President, General Raul Castro. The Government
exercises control through the Communist Party (CP) and its affiliated
mass organizations, the bureaucracy, and the state security apparatus.
General Castro was granted provisional control by his older brother,
Fidel Castro, in a proclamation issued on July 31, after the latter
underwent medical treatment. The Ministry of Interior is the principal
instrument of state security and control, and officers of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces, which are led by Raul Castro, have occupied
most key positions in the ministry during the past 15 years.
The Government's human rights record remained poor, and the
Government continued to commit numerous, serious abuses. The Government
denied citizens the right to change their government. There were at
least 283 political prisoners and detainees at year's end. Thousands of
citizens served sentences for ``dangerousness,'' in the absence of any
criminal activity. The following human rights problems were reported:
beatings and abuse of detainees and prisoners, including human rights
activists, carried out with impunity; harsh and life-threatening prison
conditions, including denial of medical care; frequent harassment,
beatings, and threats against political opponents by government-
recruited mobs, police, and state security officials; frequent
arbitrary arrest and detention of human rights advocates and members of
independent professional organizations; denial of fair trial,
particularly to political prisoners; and interference with privacy,
including pervasive monitoring of private communications. There were
also severe limitations on freedom of speech and press; denial of
peaceful assembly and association; restrictions on freedom of movement,
including selective denial of exit permits to thousands of citizens;
and refusal to recognize domestic human rights groups or permit them to
function legally. Domestic violence, underage prostitution, sex
tourism, discrimination against persons of African descent, and severe
restrictions on worker rights, including the right to form independent
unions, were also problems.
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 were not known to have committed any politically motivated
killings.
b. Disppearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits abusive treatment of detainees and
prisoners; however, members of the security forces sometimes beat and
otherwise abused human rights and prodemocracy advocates, detainees,
and prisoners, and did so with impunity.
Although physical torture was rare, authorities beat, harassed, and
made death threats against dissidents, both inside and outside of
prison. Many were interrogated and pressured to sign incriminating
statements or collaborate with authorities. Some detainees and
prisoners endured physical and sexual abuse, sometimes by other inmates
with the acquiescence of guards, or long periods in isolation or
punishment cells. Political prisoners and detainees who refused to wear
the prison uniform or take part in ``reeducation'' activities were
targeted for mistreatment.
On January 19, freed political prisoner Mario Enrique Mayo reported
that guards at Green Sea prison in Santiago Province had tortured
political prisoner Agustin Cervantes. Mayo stated that Cervantes,
serving four years for dangerousness, was taken to a punishment cell
where guards attached his handcuffed hands to a hook and left him
suspended for at least 24 hours.
On June 14, guards at Taco Taco prison in Pinar del Rio Province
punched political prisoner Orlando Zapato Tamayo repeatedly in the head
while forcibly cutting his hair and shaving him. Zapata reacted by
yelling ``Down with Fidel!'' and then spent the next 72 hours in a
punishment cell. On November 2, Zapata's mother reported that a
prosecutor had indicted her son for jailhouse disorder and disrespect
and was seeking 15 additional years' imprisonment.
The Government knowingly forced some mentally healthy prisoners to
share cells with mentally disturbed inmates.
The Government continued to subject persons who disagreed with it
to ``acts of repudiation.'' The Government targeted dissenters by
directing militants from the CP, the Union of Communist Youth (UJC),
Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs), the Federation of
Cuban Women, the Association of Veterans of the Cuban Revolution, and
other groups and individuals to stage public protests against the
dissidents, usually in front of their homes. Participants shouted
insults and obscenities, sometimes damaged the victim's home or
property, and occasionally assaulted the victim or his relatives.
Threats of beatings or killings were common. Although the Government
characterized acts of repudiation as spontaneous uprisings by patriotic
neighbors, undercover police and State Security agents were often
present and served in an organizational capacity. The Government did
not detain any participants in acts of repudiation, even those who
physically attacked the victim; the Government detained many victims
following acts of repudiation. Non-Communist militants who were called
on but refused to take part faced potential disciplinary action. In
addition to acts of repudiation, the Government organized similar
events called ``acts of revolutionary reaffirmation,'' ``acts of
warning,'' and ``acts of neutralization.'' All were aimed at
ostracizing and intimidating those who questioned the Government's
policies.
On January 22 in the Matanzas city of Pedro Betancourt, hundreds of
Communist militants surrounded a house used by the Alternative Option
Independent Movement (MIOA), associated with the Sigler Amaya family.
The crowd intimidated the occupants with shouted insults. Photographs
showed CP and government officials leading the activity.
On March 17, a crowd of 500 Communist militants surrounded the
Sancti Spiritus home of Isel Acosta Obregon, a member of the ``Ladies
in White'' protest group and the wife of political prisoner Blas
Giraldo Reyes. The participants pounded on the doors and screamed
insults for four hours. The group prevented her from traveling to
Havana to commemorate, with other members of the group, the third
anniversary of the ``Black Spring'' arrests of 75 peaceful activists,
including her husband (see section 2.d.).
On August 3, a government-organized mob of approximately 100
persons staged an act of repudiation in front of the Las Tunas home of
Yamile de los Angeles Llanes, wife of political prisoner Jose Garcia
Paneque. Llanes was at home with 11 youngsters at the time, when a
member of the mob yelled, ``Let's set the house on fire and burn the
worms!"
On August 19-20, a half-dozen Communist militants occupied the
hallway of dissident Martha Beatriz Roque's housing complex for six
hours during the night. The men behaved as though they were drunk,
hurled insults and obscenities at Roque, and hammered on her window
with the butt of a pistol, inviting her to ``step outside so we can
kill you.''
On October 10 in Santa Clara, participants in an act of repudiation
beat independent librarians Orestes Suarez Torres and his wife, Nancy
Gonzalez Garcia, after they left a dissident gathering. Twelve
assailants broke Suarez's ribs and left both victims with black eyes,
bruises, and cuts.
On December 10 in Havana, the Government deployed at least 100
state security officials and no less than 200 Communist militants to
confront and attack 12 peaceful prodemocracy activists holding a silent
march to mark Human Rights Day. Militants shoved, punched, and kicked
the activists, who were led by dissident Darsi Ferrer Ramirez. State
Security agents detained all of the participants for a number of hours.
Citizens also often attacked dissidents in individual
confrontations. For example, on January 29, a proregime militant
assaulted dissident Felix Bonne on the street following Bonne's visit
to the Havana home of a fellow activist. The militant approached Bonne
from behind and said, ``This area is off-limits to
counterrevolutionaries.'' When Bonne turned and started to reply, the
militant knocked him to the ground with punches to the head and
stomach.
State security officers, police, military officials, and officers
of the Technical Investigations Department occasionally made death
threats against human rights activists and other dissidents. In July
state security agents told Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, head of the Cuban
Youth Movement for Democracy, that he would ``not be around'' to see
his daughter grow up. On August 1, an Army colonel approached Julia
Cecilia Delgado, acting President of the Liberal Party, and threatened
to put her ``six feet under,'' saying dissidents like her were
endangering the country.
Death threats behind bars were not uncommon. For example, on August
8, two common criminals, Arnolis Torres Rueda and Joel Zayas, acting on
orders of guards at Playa Manteca prison in Holguin Province,
threatened to kill political prisoner Fidel Garcia Roldan for his
prodemocracy positions.
Dissidents also received death threats from unknown sources. On
January 2 and 4, Oswaldo Paya of the Christian Liberation Movement
(MCL) received a death threat in a phone call made to a relative. The
caller said: ``We are with a revolutionary group, and we are going to
kill Oswaldo Paya.''
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
continued to be harsh and life-threatening; conditions at detention
facilities were even worse. Prison authorities frequently beat,
neglected, isolated, and denied medical treatment to detainees and
prisoners, particularly those convicted of political crimes or those
who persisted in expressing their views. Authorities also often denied
family visitation, adequate nutrition, exposure to natural light, pay
for work, and the right to petition the prison director. The Government
sent most political convicts to prisons located far from their
families, increasing their and their families' sense of isolation.
On July 5, the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National
Reconciliation (CCDHRN) denounced the ``cruel, inhumane, and
degrading'' conditions at the country's prisons, which it said were
overcrowded, unsanitary, and offered inadequate nutrition. The
commission also complained that brutal prison staff members enjoyed
almost total impunity, and that ``rare is the day'' that the commission
failed to receive a report about a terrible beating behind bars.
Power and water cuts were frequent at prisons, and inmates often
suffered from extreme heat. Prisoners sometimes were held in punishment
cells that lacked light and fresh air, had little access to water, and
only a hole for a toilet. Reading materials were either prohibited or
heavily restricted. Prison officials regularly denied prisoners other
rights, such as the right to correspondence.
Prison food was often inedible, and food from outside was essential
to meet nutritional needs. In May an inmate at Camaguey's Kilo 8 prison
was reportedly killed in a fight in a dispute over a piece of chicken.
Rice was often either putrefied or contained worms. Drinking water,
when available, was often contaminated. Prisoners' relatives are
ostensibly allowed to bring them 40 pounds of food each visit, but in
practice prison guards often prevented the relatives of political
prisoners from bringing in provisions.
Overcrowding was common. Released political prisoner Albert
Dubouchet stated that during the first six months of the year at
Quivican prison in Havana Province, he and approximately 150 other
prisoners lived in an area roughly as long and three times as wide as a
bowling lane.
Inmates friendly with prison guards often received preferential
treatment. This led to abuse, whereby favored inmates assaulted other
prisoners with impunity. Those in the guards' good graces sometimes
extorted or stole money from fellow prisoners. Guards also mobilized
preferred inmates to punish prisoners for defiance. At the Holguin
provincial prison on July 26, guards directed a group of hardened
convicts to attack prisoners who refused to watch a reeducation
program.
Some inmates resorted to self-mutilation, often to seek a transfer
to a prison closer to family. In March political prisoner Juan Carlos
Herrera Acosta sewed his mouth shut as part of a hunger strike protest
after guards beat him at Kilo 8 prison in Camaguey. On August 8, the
independent press group Young People Without Censorship reported that
Adrian Loaiza, a prisoner at Camaguey's Kilo 8 prison, carved deep
gashes on his arms to gain a transfer to Cienfuegos, where his family
resided.
The Government stated that prison guards only use force when
strictly necessary to restore order, but during the year guards often
resorted to violence and showed little tolerance for special requests.
On February 3, guards at Kilo 5.5 prison in Pinar del Rio beat Iraudy
Casero Basilet unconscious after he demanded medical attention. Guards
at the same prison sent political prisoner Diosdado Gonzalez Marrero to
a punishment cell in November for five days after he requested greater
access to fresh air. When political prisoner Normando Hernandez failed
to stand at attention during a head count at the same prison on March
28, a guard clubbed him in the leg, threw him down a flight of stairs,
and then made him stand in the heat for seven hours. On July 22, five
guards at the Holguin provincial prison beat inmate Carlos Hernandez
Infante after he demanded medical attention.
There was anecdotal evidence of guard brutality against inmates at
100 y Aldabo and Villa Marista, two detention centers in Havana. Some
violence was inmate-on-inmate, with guard collusion. Sources who had
contact with inmates reported that at 100 y Aldabo, male inmates paid
guards for access to individual female cells, where they raped young
female inmates.
During the first seven months of the year, at least two inmates
committed suicide at Quivican prison in Havana Province, which credible
sources attributed to the harsh conditions at the prison. On January 1,
inmate Roberto Alfonso Arteaga asphyxiated himself at Villa Clara Youth
Prison. At Kilo 5.5 prison in Pinar del Rio, inmate Arami Monet Cabrera
hanged himself on January 5.
Health conditions and hygiene at prisons were very poor. Family
members reported widespread serious disease and illnesses among
political prisoners, for which the prison staff sometimes withheld
treatment. Digestive disorders were widely reported, and preventable
ailments such as beri-beri and dengue fever were common.
Poor prison conditions prompted a number of political prisoners to
wage hunger strikes. Luis Enrique Ferrer Garcia, Alexis Rodriguez
Fernandez, and Agustin Cervantes Garcia staged a hunger strike from
April 28 until May 19 at Green Sea prison in Santiago Province to
protest mistreatment and ``systematic humiliation.'' Others waged
hunger strikes to protest State Security harassment of their family
members. For this reason, political prisoner Lester Gonzalez Penton
maintained a hunger strike March 20-29 at La Pendiente prison in Santa
Clara.
Sexual assault occurred at prisons, but the Government did not
disclose such incidents. At Manto Negro prison in Havana, the country's
biggest women's prison, forced homosexual relationships were common. In
many such cases, women serving lengthy sentences targeted younger
women. Those who resisted faced potential violence including beatings,
stabbings, and chemical attacks using hair-coloring products. Guards
frequently looked the other way and failed to punish perpetrators.
The Government operated two or three detention/rehabilitation
centers for prostitutes in the Havana area. Human rights activists
claimed that these facilities held dissidents as well as prostitutes.
Although officials sought to separate the juvenile and adult
prisoners, juveniles sometimes were held in the same facilities as
adults. In February and March, the Government held 16-year-old Maddiel
Bachiller Pedrozo, the son of a dissident, at the Villa Marista
detention center, where he shared a cell with two adult males. At Manto
Negro women's prison, the staff forced girls ages 16 and 17 to share
cells with much older women.
The Government did not release information on the treatment of
minors at either youth or adult prisons or detention centers. On April
17, prisoner Miguel Angel Vidal reportedly denounced beatings by two
guards of 18 male minors at area six of La Pendiente prison in Santa
Clara.
The Government sometimes denied political detainees and prisoners
pastoral visits. In June and July, authorities at Red Ceramic prison in
Camaguey denied a written request from independent journalist Armando
Betancourt Reina to see a Catholic priest.
The Government did not permit independent monitoring of prison
conditions by international or national human rights groups. The
Government did not permit access to political detainees by
international humanitarian organizations. The Government has denied
prison visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross since
1989.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Although prohibited by law, the
Government effectively and frequently used arbitrary arrest and
detention to harass opponents.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of the
Interior exercises control over police, the internal security forces,
and the prison system. The National Revolutionary Police (PNR) is the
primary law enforcement organization and generally was effective in
investigating common crimes. Specialized units of the Ministry of the
Interior's State Security service are responsible for monitoring,
infiltrating, and suppressing opposition political groups. The PNR
played a supporting role by carrying out house searches and provided
interrogation facilities for State Security agents.
Members of the security forces acted with impunity in committing
numerous, serious human rights abuses. While the PNR ethics code and
Interior Ministry regulations ban police brutality, the Government did
not announce any investigations into police misconduct during the year.
Corruption was a problem (see section 3).
CP officials and leaders of neighborhood CDR branches lack formal
law enforcement powers but wielded considerable authority and often
used it to mobilize action against anyone expressing criticism of the
Government or its leaders.
Arrest and Detention.--The police have broad detention powers,
which they may exercise without a warrant. Under the law, police can
detain without a warrant not only persons caught in the act but also
someone merely accused of a crime against state security.
The law requires police to file formal charges and either release a
detainee or bring the case before a prosecutor within 96 hours of
arrest; it also requires authorities to provide suspects with access to
a lawyer within seven days of arrest. In practice the law was not
respected. According to the CCDHRN, the Government held at least 15
dissidents without formal charges during the year.
On September 1, approximately 50 state security officials took
dissident doctor Darsi Ferrer Ramirez into custody and held him at a
police station for 19 hours, leaving his small child home alone. The
authorities accused Ferrer of putting up stickers with the word
``CHANGE,'' an accusation Ferrer denied. The authorities confiscated
his shirt and shoes before allowing him to walk home.
Bail was available, although typically not in cases involving
antigovernment activity. Time in detention before trial counted toward
time served if convicted. The Government denied prisoners and detainees
prompt access to family members.
Conditional probation was available, but the Government was able to
revoke this status on political grounds. On April 3, the Havana
Municipal Court revoked the conditional probation of Mayda Barbara
Jordan Contreras, who was sentenced to 15 years for her part in a
spontaneous 1994 protest known as the ``Maleconazo.'' Jordan was
reincarcerated for her failure to join proregime mass social
organizations. Throughout the year, the Government threatened to return
to prison dissidents who were on conditional probation and continued,
or were accused of continuing, their opposition activities (see section
2.d.).
The law provides that all legally recognized civil liberties may be
denied to anyone who ``actively opposes the decision of the people to
build socialism.'' government officials routinely invoked this
authority to deny due process to persons detained on purported state
security grounds. The authorities routinely engaged in arbitrary arrest
and detention of human rights advocates. Police frequently lacked
warrants when carrying out arrests or issued warrants themselves at the
time of arrest. Authorities sometimes employed false charges of common
crimes to arrest political opponents and often did not inform detainees
of the charges against them. During the year, the Government greatly
increased its use of interrogations, warnings, fines, and short-term
detentions. Authorities continued to detain human rights activists and
independent journalists for short periods, including house arrest,
often to prevent them from attending or participating in events related
to human rights issues (see sections 2.a. and 2.b.).
The penal code includes the concept of ``potential dangerousness,''
defined as the ``special proclivity of a person to commit crimes,
demonstrated by his conduct in manifest contradiction of socialist
norms.'' If the police decide that a person exhibits signs of
dangerousness, they may bring the offender before a court or subject
him to therapy or political reeducation. The Government increasingly
applied this statute during the year, and the CCDHRN estimated in
November that between 2,000 and 3,000 citizens, at least 19 of them
activists, were being held for dangerousness.
According to the CCDHRN, during the year authorities detained at
least 152 citizens for peaceful democratic or political activity; most
were held for a day or two, or for a few hours. At year's end at least
18 political prisoners were still awaiting trial; of these, three were
taken into custody during the year.
Authorities sometimes detained independent journalists to question
them about contacts with foreigners or to prevent them from covering
sensitive issues or criticizing the Government (see section 2.a.). The
Government often released activists without charges after months of
detention. On January 30, State Security officials detained two Czech
women who had been taking photographs of a Havana slum. The authorities
denied them contact with their embassy for 11 hours and then expelled
them from the country.
The Government used house arrest without due process. On March 20,
State Security officials informed former political prisoner Miguel
Valdes Tamayo that he would no longer be allowed to leave his home
unless accompanied by a State Security official.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--While the constitution provides
for independent courts, it explicitly subordinates them to the National
Assembly of People's Power (ANPP) and the Council of State. The ANPP
and its lower-level counterparts choose all judges. Thus, in practice
the CP controlled the courts.
Civilian courts existed at the municipal, provincial, and appellate
levels. Panels composed of professionally certified and lay judges
presided over them. Military tribunals, which were governed by a
special law, assumed jurisdiction for certain ``counterrevolutionary''
cases. The military tribunals tried civilians if a member of the
military was involved with civilians in a crime. In these tribunals,
there was a right to appeal and access to counsel, and the charges were
made known to the defendant.
Trial Procedures.--The courts undermined the right to a fair trial
by restricting the right to a defense and often failed to observe due
process rights nominally available to defendants. While most trials
were ostensibly public, trials were closed when there were alleged
violations of state security. Almost all cases were tried in less than
one day; there were no jury trials. The law provides the accused with
the right to an attorney and, except in cases involving state security,
the right to consult an attorney in a timely manner, but many
defendants either had no defense attorney or met an attorney only
minutes before the start of their trial. Moreover, the Government's
control over members of the lawyers' collectives compromised their
ability to represent clients, especially those accused of state
security crimes.
On July 4, a court in the Holguin city of Gibara convicted
Alexander Santos Hernandez, of the Cuban Liberal Movement, of
dangerousness and sentenced him to four years in prison. Santos was
arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced in less than 24 hours.
Colleagues said Santos had angered authorities by celebrating the
movement's fourth anniversary.
Criteria for presenting evidence were arbitrary and discriminatory.
Often the sole evidence provided, particularly in political cases, was
the defendant's confession, usually obtained under duress and without
legal advice. A defendant's right to present witnesses was arbitrarily
observed. Defense attorneys were given access to the police dossier and
the prosecutor's written accusation only at, or minutes before, the
trial. Because of this constraint, and because most trials last less
than eight hours, defense attorneys did not have time to arrange for
testimony by defense experts.
Prosecutors may introduce testimony from a CDR member about the
revolutionary background of a defendant, which may contribute to a
longer or shorter sentence. The law presumes the accused are innocent
until proven guilty, but authorities often ignored this presumption in
practice. The law recognizes the right of appeal in municipal courts
but limits it in provincial courts to cases involving lengthy prison
terms or the death penalty. Appeals in capital cases are automatic. The
Council of State ultimately must affirm capital punishment.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The CCDHRN stated that the
Government held at least 283 political prisoners and detainees as of
December 31; 47 of them were convicted of terrorism and 30 of
dangerousness. At least three political prisoners spent the year on
death row, but none was executed. The authorities incarcerated persons
for such offenses as disrespect of the head of state (Angel Fernandez
Rivera, sentenced on September 7 to 15 months in prison); disrespect
and scorn of patriotic symbols (Yoandri Gutierrez Vargas, sentenced on
July 24 to one year); public disorder (Armando Betancourt Reina,
sentenced on May 22 to three years); and attempt to leave the country
illegally (Yonger Robles Miranda, sentenced in 2003 to six years'
imprisonment). Other charges included disseminating enemy propaganda,
illicit association, clandestine printing, or the broad charge of
rebellion, which sometimes was brought against advocates of peaceful
democratic change. Dissidents were among the 2,000 to 3,000 citizens
serving sentences of up to five years for the crime of potential
dangerousness, also known as social dangerousness. At year's end, 59 of
the 75 peaceful activists, journalists, union organizers, and
opposition figures arrested and convicted in 2003, mostly on charges of
violating national security and aiding a foreign power, remained in
prison.
On April 12, police detained prodemocracy activist Manuel Antonio
Batista Perez, who was subsequently convicted of dangerousness and
sentenced to two years' imprisonment. On May 20, police detained Miguel
Angel Lopez Herrera of the November 30 Democratic Party for
``disrespecting the head of state.'' He was convicted on August 30 and
sentenced to three years' imprisonment. On July 12, a court in Santiago
de las Vegas, Havana Province, convicted dissident Camilo Cairo Falcon
of public disorder and sentenced him to one year of correctional work.
Communist militants had savagely beaten Cairo in July 2005 as he and
other dissidents commemorated the 1994 sinking of the ``13 de Marzo''
tugboat.
Mistreatment of political prisoners and detainees was widespread
(see section 1.c.). Beatings were not uncommon, and many political
inmates were denied privileges given to ordinary prisoners, such as
access to an exercise yard or sunshine. In April at Guayabo prison on
the Isle of Youth, a fellow prisoner punched political prisoner Fabio
Prieto Llorente in the presence of a guard, who took no action against
the attacker. Rather, the guard took Prieto to a punishment cell.
The Government continued to deny human rights organizations and the
International Committee of the Red Cross access to political prisoners
and detainees. Authorities denied visits to families of political
prisoners and detainees. Prisoners in punishment cells had no access to
lawyers.
During the year, the Government released a number of detainees who
had been held for long periods without charge. In October and November,
the Government freed without comment Ricardo Medina Salabarria,
Francisco Moure Saladrigas, Mario Gonzalez Perez, Santiago Valdeolla
Perez, and Alberto Hernandez Suarez. All had been taken into custody in
July 2005 in connection with a protest.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is a judiciary for
civil matters. The law provides citizens alleging human rights
violations the right to lodge a formal complaint with prosecutors, but
the CCDHRN noted that CP control of the courts discouraged citizens
from seeking recourse to the civil judiciary. The CCDHRN was not aware
of any successful rights-related lawsuit during the year or of any
damages ordered by any court in connection with a human rights case.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--While the constitution provides for the inviolability
of a citizen's home and correspondence, official surveillance of
private and family affairs by government-controlled organizations, such
as the CDRs, remained pervasive. The Government employed physical and
electronic surveillance against nonviolent political opponents. The
state interfered in the lives of citizens, even those who did not
actively oppose the Government and its practices. The authorities
employed a wide range of social controls to discover and discourage
nonconformity.
The Ministry of Interior employed a system of informants and CDR
block committees to monitor and control public opinion. CDRs continued
to report on suspicious activity, including conspicuous consumption;
unauthorized meetings, including those with foreigners; and what it
considered defiant attitudes toward the Government and the revolution.
In January a government fraud inspector visited the housing complex
of dissident Osmany Rodriguez Sanchez of the Jose Luis Boitel
Association of Political Prisoners and found a rigged electric meter.
Although the meter served the entire complex, the inspector fined only
Rodriguez, after consulting with the local CDR chief and a CP official.
State Security read international correspondence and monitored
overseas telephone calls and conversations with foreigners. The
Government also monitored domestic phone calls and correspondence and
sometimes denied telephone service to dissidents. During the year,
State Security agents subjected journalists and foreign diplomats to
harassment and surveillance, including electronic surveillance and
surreptitious entry into their homes (see section 2.a.).
In mid-February state telecommunications company ETECSA terminated
telephone service to Waldimar Ibarra Santana, President of the Cuban
League of Independent Farmers, in Santiago. ETECSA explained that the
Government had ordered the service to be shut off. On February 9, a CDR
official approached Ibarra's mother and played a tape recording in
which Ibarra could be heard speaking with a Radio Marti reporter. The
official accused Ibarra of using the telephone to undermine the
revolution.
There were numerous credible reports of forced evictions of
squatters and residents who lacked official permission to reside in
Havana and other major cities. The husband of a dissident painter was
not permitted to reside legally with his wife under the same roof in
Havana. Twice during the year he was expelled to the city where the
Government had ordered him to live.
The Government sometimes used the children of dissidents as a means
of punishing the parents. For example, authorities occasionally
threatened parents with the loss of custody of their children for
taking part in counterrevolutionary activities. On April 27, a State
Security officer in Santa Clara encouraged the former husband of
dissident Noelia Pedraza Jimenez to seek custody of their five-year-old
son, who lived with Pedraza. The officer hinted that courts would
support the custody claim. On October 17, dissident Niurka Brito Rivas
was jailed for three days after failing to fill out a ``survey'' given
to her by her daughter's elementary school. The survey, which was not
given to other parents, asked Brito to identify her political
affiliation and economic situation. Children of dissidents were exposed
to frequent intimidation and occasional violence, including sexual
harassment. On February 19, dissident Maria de los Angeles Cabello
reported that a teacher had sexually harassed her 12-year-old child.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press insofar as they ``conform to the
aims of socialist society,'' a clause effectively barring free speech,
and in practice the Government did not allow criticism of the
revolution or its leaders. Laws against antigovernment propaganda,
graffiti, and disrespect of officials impose penalties of between three
months and one year in prison; criticism of the President or members of
the ANPP or Council of State is punishable by three years'
imprisonment. Disseminating ``enemy propaganda,'' which included
expressing opinions at odds with those of the Government, is punishable
by up to 14 years' imprisonment. The Government considered the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international reports of human
rights violations, and mainstream foreign newspapers and magazines to
be enemy propaganda. Local CDRs inhibited freedom of speech by
monitoring and reporting dissent or criticism.
The Government considered print and electronic media to be state
property. All media must operate under CP guidelines and reflect
government views. The Government owned and the CP controlled all media
except for a few small, unauthorized church-run publications. The law
bars ``clandestine printing.'' The Government was the sole book
publisher in the country, and state censors required prepublication
approval.
Catholic church-run publications were subject to governmental
pressure; however, Vitral magazine, a publication of the diocese of
Pinar del Rio, continued to publish during the year, as did others.
Catholic church officials were allowed to broadcast programming on
September 8 to mark the celebration of the country's patron saint.
The Government subjected independent journalists to travel bans,
detentions, harassment of family and friends, equipment seizures,
imprisonment, and threats of imprisonment. State Security agents posed
as independent journalists in order to gather information on activists,
spread misinformation, and spread mistrust within independent
journalist circles. During the year, the Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ) condemned the Government's ``constant harassment of
independent journalists.'' It said 24 journalists were in prison merely
for exercising their right to free expression. The CPJ complained that
the Government continued to harass some journalists even after freeing
them from prison. Citing the case of Jorge Olivera Castillo, the CPJ
noted that the Havana Municipal Court had forbidden him from leaving
the capital or taking part in any public meetings.
Occasional physical attacks on independent journalists, mainly by
plain-clothes assailants, occurred during the year. In April an
unidentified man punched independent journalist Jose Manual Caraballo
on a street in Ciego de Avila, smashed his camera, and warned that he
would be destroyed, just like his camera. The same month in Havana,
State Security officials detained, interrogated, and threatened
independent journalist Luis Cino.
On May 14 and 15, President Castro threatened to expel accredited
international journalists based in Havana for coverage that displeased
the regime. Some reporters admitted to engaging in self-censorship to
keep their Havana bureaus open. Reporters privately accused the
Government of listening in on their calls and monitoring their
activities.
The Government frequently banned foreign reporters from entering
the country to cover politically sensitive developments. At least four
European journalists who had complied with the country's visa
requirements had their permission to enter the country revoked. A Swiss
journalist was denied permission to report on the country because he
had referred to the Government as ``the regime.'' In the days following
the July 31 proclamation that granted power to Raul Castro, the
Government barred entry to at least 11 foreign journalists and ordered
a number of others to leave within 24 hours.
On August 5, the Government released Albert Santiago Dubouchet,
director of the independent Havana Press agency, from prison after he
completed a one-year sentence for resisting arrest and disrespecting
authorities. Dubouchet continued to maintain his innocence. He had been
arrested in July 2005, after confirming for a foreign media
organization a report that a home-made bomb had exploded at a
government office in Artemisa, Havana Province.
On November 15, police detained independent journalist Luis Garcia
Vega for four hours after he visited a diplomatic mission's Internet
center. Authorities warned him that if he continued to write articles
critical of the Government, he could be held indefinitely, without
charge.
On December 4, State Security officials searched the home of
independent journalist Ahmed Rodriguez Albacia, confiscated his
computer, books, and papers, and drove him to a detention center, where
he was imprisoned. Authorities told his mother that he would be held
between one week and one year. The detention followed a November 24
opposition youth forum in which Rodriguez played a key role. Rodriguez
was released on December 12. On December 19, three police officers
detained journalist Carlos Serpa Maceira and took him to a police
station, where they fined him $250 (6,000 pesos) and informed him that
if he did not halt his ``illegal activities''--an apparent reference to
his journalism--the Government would charge him with disobedience,
under Article 147 of the penal code.
Citizens who spoke with independent journalists risked government
retaliation. On August 10, authorities reportedly threatened Lazaro
Alvarez, a baker in Batabano, Havana Province, with the loss of his job
for speaking with an independent journalist about his brother,
Francisco, a farmer jailed for attempting to leave the country
illegally.
The Government operated four national television stations, six
national radio stations, one international radio station, one national
magazine, and three national newspapers. Additionally, it operated many
local radio stations, television stations, magazines, and newspapers.
All were official organs of the CP. Content was nearly uniform across
all of these media; none enjoyed editorial independence. With the
exception of a few Catholic publications, the regime vigorously
prosecuted anyone attempting to distribute written, filmed, or
photographed material.
Citizens did not have the right to receive or possess publications
from abroad, although newsstands at some hotels for foreigners and
certain hard-currency stores sold limited numbers of foreign newspapers
and magazines. The Government continued to jam the transmissions of
Radio Marti and Television Marti.
Law 88, Protection of the National Independence and Economy of
Cuba, prohibits a broad range of activities, including distribution of
printed material from foreign sources, that purportedly undermine state
security. Many of the country's political prisoners were convicted of
violating this statute.
The Government tightly controlled the distribution of information;
it frequently barred independent libraries from receiving materials
from abroad and seized materials donated by foreign diplomats. The
Government prohibited diplomatic missions from printing or distributing
publications, including newspapers and newspaper clippings, unless such
publications exclusively addressed conditions in a mission's home
country and prior government approval was received.
Internet Freedom.--The Government controlled nearly all Internet
access. Authorities reviewed and censored e-mail and forbade any
attachments. Authorities also blocked access to Web sites they
considered objectionable. Citizens could access the Internet only
through government-approved institutions, except at Internet facilities
provided by a few diplomatic offices. The only citizens granted direct
Internet access were some government officials and certain government-
approved doctors, professors, and journalists. Foreigners, but not
citizens, were allowed to buy Internet access cards from the national
telecommunications provider.
From January 31 to August 31, independent journalist Guillermo
Farinas waged a hunger strike at a Santa Clara hospital in an effort to
obtain uncensored Internet access for all citizens.
On February 17, university officials held a meeting at the
University of Information Sciences (UCI) to castigate six students
caught running chat rooms and using school servers to sell Internet
access to others. UCI suspended the six students for between four and
five years.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted
academic freedom and continued to emphasize the importance of
reinforcing revolutionary ideology and discipline. Academics were
prohibited from meeting with some diplomats without prior government
approval. Academics whom the Government allowed to travel abroad were
aware that their actions, if deemed politically unfavorable, could
negatively impact their relatives back home.
Independent academic Roberto de Miranda, head of the Cuban
Independent Educators' College, estimated that at least 300 educators
were struggling financially during the year, having lost their jobs on
political grounds because they were deemed ``untrustworthy.'' Some had
been dismissed from the education system for having tried to flee the
country illegally. State Security intervened in academic matters.
Hunger-striking dissident Guillermo Farinas alleged in May that State
Security agents had visited Havana's Superior Institute of Health
Sciences, which Farinas attended, and altered his academic file,
lowering his grade-point average from 4.51 (on a five-point scale) to
4.0.
State Security blocked or interrupted occasional conferences
organized by the Cuban Independent Educators' College, including one on
May 20 in Havana.
Government-controlled public libraries denied access to books or
information unless the requester produced a government letter of
permission.
The Government frequently harassed and sometimes detained
independent librarians. On April 10, police detained Aini Martin Valero
three days after she opened an independent library in Havana. Martin,
who belongs to the Trade Union of Independent Cuban Workers, regained
her freedom after several hours.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Although the
constitution grants limited rights of assembly and association, these
rights are subject to the requirement that they may not be ``exercised
against the existence and objectives of the Socialist State.''
Freedom of Assembly.--The law punishes any unauthorized assembly of
more than three persons, including those for private religious services
in private homes, by up to three months in prison and a fine. The
authorities selectively enforced this prohibition and often used it as
a pretext to harass and imprison human rights advocates.
The authorities never have approved a public meeting by a human
rights group and often detained activists to prevent them from
attending meetings, demonstrations, or ceremonies. Unapproved meetings
and demonstrations took place, which the Government frequently
disrupted, infiltrated, or attempted to prevent. Authorities sometimes
used or incited violence against peaceful demonstrators.
Freedom of Association.--The law specifically prohibits
unrecognized groups, and the Government denied citizens freedom of
association. Authorities have never approved the existence of a human
rights group; however, a number of professional associations operated
as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) without legal recognition,
including the Association of Independent Teachers, the Association of
Independent Lawyers, the Association of Independent Architects and
Engineers, and several independent journalist organizations. The
constitution proscribes any political organization other than the CP
(see section 3).
Recognized churches (see section 2.c.), the Roman Catholic
humanitarian organization Caritas, the Freemason movement, and a number
of fraternal or professional organizations were the only associations
permitted to function outside the formal structure, but not the
influence, of the state, the CP, and their mass organizations. The
authorities continued to ignore applications from new groups for legal
recognition, thereby subjecting members to potential charges of illegal
association.
The Government punished other citizens for associating with
dissidents. On May 13, police in Havana fined Carlos Prieto Fresco and
threatened him with arrest for ``meeting with counterrevolutionary
elements.'' Hours earlier, Prieto and others in the neighborhood of
Arroyo Naranjo had protested the arrest of their neighbor, dissident
Odelin Alfonso.
The Government confiscated funds sent from overseas to banned human
rights organizations, NGOs, and independent labor unions. In May
officers from State Security's economic crimes bureau reportedly raided
the home of Maybel Padilla Perez, head of the illegal Unitary Council
of Cuban Workers. The Government reportedly seized a sizeable donation
from a European NGO. On some occasions, government officials stole
money from prodemocracy activists during searches. On September 28,
State Security officials visited the home of Jose Luis Pitaluga and
took $325 (7,800 pesos).
c. Freedom of Religion.--Although the constitution recognizes the
right of citizens to practice any religious belief within the framework
of respect for the law, the Government continued to restrict freedom of
religion. The Government requires churches and other religious groups
to enroll with the provincial registry of associations within the
Ministry of the Interior to obtain official recognition. In practice
the Government appeared to halt registration of new denominations,
although no groups were known to have applied for registration during
the year.
The Government continued to allow foreign priests and religious
workers into the country to replace foreign priests and nuns who had
died or whose residence permits had expired. In June 2005 the
Government eased its restrictive policies and granted work permits to
at least eight foreign priests and 14 foreign nuns who entered the
country as nonreplacements. The applications of 104 priests and nuns
remained pending. For the first time in many years the Government
allowed into the country three new Catholic congregations, or orders,
including Franciscan nuns from Colombia.
The Ministry of Interior sought to control and monitor religious
institutions, particularly through surveillance, infiltration, and
harassment of religious professionals and practitioners. State Security
officials visited priests and pastors prior to significant religious
events to warn that dissidents were trying to ``use the church.''
Although it did not favor any one particular religion or church,
the Government appeared to be most tolerant of those churches that
maintained close relations to the state through the Cuban Council of
Churches (CCC), which existed to ensure that members did not oppose
government policies.
On December 4, authorities placed a Protestant pastor, Carlos
Lamelas, on trial in Havana on charges of ``human trafficking.''
However, a new prosecutor absolved him, declaring that there was no
evidence for the charges. Observers believed Lamelas was targeted for
his outspoken calls for increased religious liberty; Lamelas was
imprisoned without charge for four months earlier in the year. He was
the former President of the Church of God denomination, a member of the
CCC.
There continued to be reports of discrimination in schools;
Jehovah's Witness children were denied participation in school field
trips because of their religion.
Officials of various groups reported cases of persons engaged in
religious practices experiencing harassment because of ignorance or
personal prejudice by a local official. In February at Havana's
Combinado del Este prison, prison authorities broke up a prayer group
of more than 15 inmates, without explanation.
The Government, with rare exceptions, prohibited the construction
of new churches, forcing many growing congregations to seek permits to
meet in private homes. Most registered religious groups were able to
hold services in private homes. House churches have grown in number in
recent years; Christian Solidarity Worldwide estimated that there were
at least 10,000 house churches nationwide. Many religious leaders
attributed this growth to the Government's refusal to authorize the
construction of new churches.
However, in 2005 the Government implemented a directive that
restricted the operation of house churches. Directive 43 and Resolution
46 require house-church operators to register their house churches with
the Government, thus ``legalizing'' their existence. The vast majority
of house churches were unregistered and thus technically illegal.
A leading Baptist church official estimated no more than 20 of the
1,500 Baptist house churches in the western region had been legalized
by the time the directive was issued in April 2005. To register one's
house church, an operator must meet a number of requirements: the house
church must host no more than three meetings per week, it must not be
located within 1.2 miles of another house church, and it may be open
only between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. on workdays, and between 9 a.m. and 10
p.m. on other days.
Church officials from a number of denominations said that the
Government had made the 2005 regulations against house churches widely
known but had not undertaken sweeping action to implement the new
rules. Some Pentecostal church officials considered themselves singled
out by the directive, and a Baptist church leader also judged it a
threat. At least one Baptist church leader criticized the requirement
that a house church not be located within 1.2 miles of another house
church, arguing that the directive would be difficult to obey in a
congested city.
Education was secular, and no religious educational institutions
were allowed; however, the Catholic Church, Protestant churches, and
Jewish synagogues were permitted to offer religious education classes
to their members.
Religious literature and materials must be imported through a
registered religious group and may be distributed only to officially
recognized religious groups.
The CCC continued to broadcast a monthly 15-minute radio program on
condition that it not include material of a political nature.
Religious groups were required to submit a request to local CP
officials before being allowed to hold processions or events outside of
religious buildings. The Catholic Church decided to stop requesting
permits for processions in areas where they historically have not been
permitted.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal violence, harassment, or discrimination against members of
religious groups. There were between 1,000 and 1,500 members of 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 law qualifies these rights, and the
Government severely restricted foreign travel and emigration. The
Government tightly restricted foreign and domestic travel by dissidents
and limited internal migration to Havana. Dissident blacklists were
maintained at bus stations, railway terminals, and airports, and those
appearing on the list were unable to purchase tickets.
Although the law allows all citizens to travel anywhere within the
country, residence is heavily restricted, thus impeding the right to
move. The local housing commission and provincial government
authorities consider requests for change of residence largely on the
basis of housing space. During the wait for permission, which routinely
lasts six months or more, the applicant cannot obtain food rations or a
local identification card. Anyone from another province living in
Havana illegally may be fined and sent home. While the regulation was
in effect nationwide, it was applied most frequently in Havana.
Residency law was enforced selectively against dissidents. On
August 7, a court in Havana informed independent journalist Carlos
Serpa Maceira that he was living in the capital illegally and could be
fined $125 (3,000 pesos).
Between February 14 and 19, Communist militants blocked the Havana
home of dissident Martha Beatriz Roque, barring entry by saying that
Roque was no longer entitled to receive visitors. The militants
physically threatened visitors, deployed at least one attack dog,
booby-trapped the street so visitors to Roque would have their tires
punctured, and stationed State Security officials at both ends of
Roque's block.
The Government routinely detained activists or thwarted their
travel plans. State Security officials across the island took steps to
prevent Ladies in White from traveling to Havana to take part in a
march that marked the third anniversary of the Black Spring crackdown
in which 75 peaceful activists were jailed. Members of the group were
blocked in Ciego de Avila, Puerto Padre, Sancti Spiritus and other
cities (see section 1.c.).
On November 24, authorities in the eastern provinces blocked at
least 11 youth activists from attending an opposition youth forum in
Havana. In most cases, police or political police confiscated their
identification cards, forcing the activists to return home.
On April 26, dissident Elsa Morejon of the Lawton Human Rights
Foundation was heading to an opposition event when she hailed a taxi.
Two State Security officials forced their way into the cab and
instructed the driver to head to Morejon's house, where she was dropped
off.
Throughout the year, authorities in the Villa Clara city of
Manicaragua denied dissidents access to bus stations, restaurants,
recreational facilities, and sports fields and prevented them from
receiving visitors at home.
Citizens who visited certain foreign diplomatic missions faced
retaliation ranging from detention and physical assault to loss of
employment. On May 22, food service worker Juan Alberto de la Nuez lost
his job in Aguada Municipality, Cienfuegos Province, three days after
visiting a foreign diplomatic mission in Havana. The company's director
made clear that he viewed any such visit as an attempt to conspire
against the Government.
The Government imposed restrictions on both emigration and
temporary foreign travel, mainly by requiring an exit permit. Although
the Government allowed the majority of persons who qualified for
immigrant or refugee status in other countries to depart, at least
1,000 citizens who received foreign travel documents, or their
dependents, were denied exit permits during the year. Most were
doctors, nurses, and other health professionals. Others denied exit
permits included young men of military age, dissidents, and citizens
with certain political or religious beliefs.
An unpublished government policy denies exit permits to medical
professionals until they have performed three to five years of service
in their profession after requesting permission to travel abroad. As of
September 28, no fewer than 91 doctors, 73 nurses, and dozens of other
medical professionals were in this category. Adrian Elias Rodriguez
Noa, a doctor in Santiago, said on October 5 that he, his wife, and
their two children had been waiting five and a half years for the
Government to authorize his exit.
The Government banned some medical and other professionals who were
denied exit permits from working in their occupational fields or
subjected them to arbitrary punishment. Others were allowed to continue
to work but were transferred for political reasons to inferior clinics,
often in areas far from their homes.
The Government also systematically denied exit permits to some men
of military age, usually those ages 18 to 27 facing obligatory military
service. However, in most cases involving migration under the 1994 U.S.
Cuba Migration Accords, the applicants eventually received exemption
and were granted exit permits.
The Government denied exit permits for several years to relatives
of individuals who migrated illegally (for example, merchant seamen and
sports figures who defected while out of the country). The Government
frequently withheld exit visas to control dissidents. Dissident doctor
Hilda Molina continued to wait for exit permission, as she had for more
than 11 years. In addition, Molina's elderly mother was not allowed to
apply for exit permission; her application in May for a passport was
not acted upon by year's end.
The Government denied exit permission to human rights activists who
held valid foreign travel documents and hoped to claim awards or other
honors overseas. In May the Government denied Oswaldo Paya permission
to travel abroad to receive an honorary degree. On October 16, the NGO
Human Rights First awarded its annual human rights prize to the Ladies
in White (and another co-winner), but the Government denied them exit
permission, and they were unable to attend the ceremony.
The Government used both internal and external exile to control
internal opposition. The law permits authorities to bar an individual
from a certain area, or to restrict an individual to a certain area,
for a period of one to 10 years. Under this provision, authorities may
exile any person whose presence in a given location is considered
``socially dangerous.'' On February 21, the Old Havana Municipal Court
informed independent journalist Jorge Olivera Castillo, a conditional
parolee, that he was no longer allowed to leave the city of Havana
without explicit government permission. The Government also informed
Oscar Espinosa Chepe, Margarito Broche, and Roberto de Miranda, all of
whom had been imprisoned with Olivera in the aftermath of the March
2003 crackdown on dissidents, that they were prohibited from travel
outside their cities of residence without specific approval.
The Government routinely warned emigrating dissidents or their
family members that if they were to speak out against the Government
overseas, their relatives on the island would suffer retaliation. Such
retaliation typically included the threatened loss of jobs or loss of
permission to leave the island.
Those seeking to emigrate legally also faced reprisals, harassment,
and intimidation by the Government, including expulsion from school,
involuntary job transfers, threatened arrest, and dismissal from
employment. In August refugee applicants reported a general increase in
harassment, citations, and detentions. Some reported being placed in
house arrest for six to 12 months. On August 31, a Santa Clara-based
dissident reported that one week before he was scheduled to leave the
country with government permission as a refugee, the Government
informed him that it had revoked his exit permit and that although his
family was free to leave, he would have to wait another year or two.
The dissident had already turned over possession of his house,
belongings, and ration card and would be homeless.
Migrants must pay processing fees of approximately $180 (4,500
pesos) for exit permission, $66 (1,650 pesos) for a passport, and $30
(750 pesos) for an airport tax, which amount to approximately 23
months' salary for the average citizen. Migrants to the United States
faced an additional charge of approximately $720 (18,000 pesos, or five
years' salary) for adults and $480 (12,000 pesos) for children. These
fees represented a significant hardship, particularly for migrants who
had been fired from their jobs for being ``politically unreliable'' and
had no income. At year's end some migrants were unable to leave the
country because of inability to pay exit fees. Authorities routinely
dispossessed migrants and their families of their homes and most of
their belongings before permitting them to leave the country.
The law provides for imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of
$12 to $40 (300 to 1,000 pesos) for unauthorized departures by boat or
raft. The Government also sometimes applied a law on trafficking in
persons to would-be migrants escaping the country. The CCDHRN estimated
that at year's end, between 300 and 500 citizens were serving sentences
or awaiting trial on this charge, which ordinarily carries a term of 15
to 20 years' imprisonment. Under the terms of the 1994 U.S. Cuba
Migration Accord, the Government agreed not to prosecute or retaliate
against migrants returned from international or U.S. waters, or from
the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo, after attempting to emigrate
illegally if they had not committed a separate criminal offense.
However, in practice some would-be migrants experienced harassment and
discrimination. On March 18, maritime border authorities intercepted a
makeshift vessel in which several dissidents, including Iovany Aguilar
Camejo and Luis Angel Medina, were attempting to flee the country. They
were fined $208 (5,000 pesos), approximately 22 months' wages for the
average worker.
Protection of Refugees.--Although the country is not a party to the
1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967
Protocol, the constitution provides for the granting of asylum to
individuals persecuted for their ideals or actions involving a number
of specified political grounds. Although the Government has no formal
mechanism to process asylum for foreign nationals, in practice it
provided protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a
country where they feared persecution, including to some fugitives from
justice, whom it defines as refugees for political reasons.
The Government had an established system to provide assistance to
refugees. During the year, 22 persons applied for refugee status; 19
were approved. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), there were 83 refugees in the country. The Government
cooperated with the UNHCR and provided temporary protection to a small
number of persons.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
On July 31, the President's chief of staff announced that President
Castro had been incapacitated by surgery, leaving Raul Castro in charge
of the country. The Government's succession announcement allowed no
participation for citizens in the decision-making process. Instead,
existing undemocratic institutions, such as the Armed Forces, Communist
Party, and ANPP, were called upon to rubber-stamp the succession.
Elections and Political Participation.--While the constitution
provides for direct election of provincial, municipal, and ANPP
members, citizens do not have the right to change their government, and
the Government retaliated against those who sought peaceful political
change. The constitution defines socialism as its ``irrevocable'' basis
and proscribes any political organization other than the CP. Candidates
for provincial and national office must be approved in advance by mass
organizations controlled by the Government. In practice a small group
of leaders, under the direction of the President, selected the members
of the highest policy-making bodies of the CP, the Politburo, and the
Central Committee.
Although not a formal requirement, in practice CP membership was a
prerequisite for high-level official positions and professional
advancement. The Government continued to reject the petition for a
national referendum on political and economic reforms known as the
Varela Project, which contained more than 40,000 signatures. On May 10,
exactly four years after he personally delivered the Varela Project
petition to the National Assembly, Oswaldo Paya of the MCL unveiled his
proposal for a modified, democratic constitution. In a document titled
``Program for All Cubans,'' Paya, with input from at least 12,000
participants, called for a legal framework that would embrace multiple
political parties, private enterprise, and ``social justice.''
Varela Project organizers continued to collect signatures in
support of their proposal; however, activists reported increased
harassment by State Security agents. Authorities arrested and detained
Varela activists, confiscated signatures, fined and threatened
activists and signers, and forced signers to rescind signatures. State
Security agents impersonated canvassing volunteers and increasingly
infiltrated the ranks of activists. On February 6, police in the Pinar
del Rio community of San Cristobal threatened to charge Varela Project
signature collector Humberto Vigoe Chirino with dangerousness.
The Government not only refused dissidents political participation
but linked them to crimes that there was no evidence they had
committed. On July 11, authorities at a bus terminal in Santiago
allegedly found an abandoned packet containing an explosive device
rigged to a watch. Hours later, CP and UJC officials held a mass
meeting at a city plaza and reportedly said they would not permit
dissidents to carry out terrorist acts. Dissidents said the move was
aimed at discrediting the peaceful opposition.
There were two women in the 22-member Politburo and 17 in the 126-
member Central Committee. Women held five seats in the 29-member
Council of State and 219 seats in the 608-seat National Assembly.
Persons of African descent held six seats in the 24-member
Politburo. Following the selection of the new ANPP in 2003, the
Government reported its composition as 67 percent white, 22 percent
black, and 11 percent mixed race.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Independent and official
press reported incidents of government corruption. During the year, the
most prominent case involved Juan Carlos Robinson Agramonte, a
Politburo member who was removed from his position on April 28 for
``improper conduct and attitude.'' On June 16, a Havana court convicted
him of influence peddling and sentenced him to 12 years in prison.
Separately, the head of the Customs service told state media that
during the first six months of the year, it had fired 18 persons and
prosecuted nine of them for ``inappropriate conduct.'' State media also
reported that during this time frame, 66 persons were reprimanded or
otherwise punished for offering bribes to Customs officials, mainly to
avoid baggage checks or to be allowed to bring certain items into the
country. The Customs officials were also either fired or prosecuted.
During the first few months of the year, the Government relied on
young adults, pressed into service as ``social workers,'' to fight
graft at gas stations and other sites. In March the Government started
deploying ``all-around'' inspectors, many of them older
revolutionaries, to fight corruption and other economic crimes at
agricultural markets, stores, tourist centers, and elsewhere.
According to the CCDHRN, prison guard corruption was common
throughout the country, but the Government sometimes applied bribery
charges selectively to dissidents instead. In June authorities at Manto
Negro women's prison in Havana threatened to prosecute dissident Maria
de los Angeles Borrego Mir for attempted bribery, a charge that could
carry a four- to eight-year sentence. Borrego, serving four years for
dangerousness, allegedly asked a guard to buy her a pack of cigarettes.
The CCDHRN stated in October that it had received many reports of
prostitutes providing sexual favors to police, to avoid arrest. Corrupt
police sometimes detained women on false charges of prostitution,
either to extract bribes or obtain sexual favors. On January 22, Havana
resident Elia Vidal Perez was walking down the street with a female
friend when two police officers approached, asked to see their
identification cards, and took them to a police station. That night, an
Interior Ministry official allegedly informed Vidal that she would be
free to leave if she had sex with him.
Government officials occasionally engaged in shakedowns involving
citizens legally residing overseas who were returning home to the
country to meet with relatives. Customs officials illegally confiscated
the belongings of some such visitors or requested unauthorized fees to
pass through the customs process.
The law provides for public access to government information, but
in practice requests for information routinely were rejected, often on
the grounds that access was not a right. Many convicts and their
defense attorneys never received a copy of the sentence certification
to which they were legally entitled.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
In violation of its own statutes, the Government did not recognize
any domestic human rights groups or permit them to function legally.
Several human rights organizations continued to function outside the
law, including the CCDHRN, the MCL, the Assembly to Promote Civil
Society, and the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights. The Government
subjected domestic human rights advocates to violence, intense
intimidation, and harassment, including threats of death and
disappearance.
State security officials often infiltrated human rights
organizations and subjected them to constant surveillance. Public
identification of state security officials posing as activists was a
crime punishable by eight to 15 years' imprisonment. State Security
also tried, where possible, to turn human rights activists into
informants, often through blackmail. On August 25, a State Security
officer in Havana invited independent labor activist Aurelio Bachiller
Alvarez to work with State Security, hinting that the officer could use
his influence with the courts to get Bachiller's 17-year-old son
released from prison.
The Government took various steps to restrict the operation of
domestic NGOs that criticized the Government's human rights policies.
The Government convicted some members of human rights NGOs and
sentenced them to lengthy sentences.
The Government also staged many acts of repudiation (see section
1.c.), in which it mobilized Communist militants and others to hold a
public rally aimed at intimidating and ostracizing a member of a human
rights NGO. Most such events were held in front of the activist's home.
On some occasions, the Government seized the property of NGO
members. In May the Government informed Felix Bonne Carcasses of the
Assembly to Promote Civil Society that it was taking legal possession
of his Havana home's backyard, which in May 2005 was the site of the
country's largest dissident gathering in years. Authorities turned the
yard into a park, where militants staged frequent political rallies,
many targeting Bonne. On May 31, police and State Security officers in
the Holguin city of Moa raided the Pedro Luis Boitel No. 3 independent
library and confiscated books and other written materials, a portable
shortwave radio, and 11 compact disks. The authorities also arrested
the librarian, Felipe Disnayd Ramos Leiva, but released him after a
relatively brief incarceration.
The Government also prosecuted, or threatened to prosecute, members
of human rights groups for dangerousness. On March 8, State Security
officials in the Holguin city of Banes issued official warnings to at
least four human rights activists, including Guillermo Llanos Ricardo,
threatening to incarcerate them for dangerousness.
The Government also took steps to prevent the movement of
activists; on many occasions, State Security, police, and mobs
prevented Ladies in White members from traveling to Havana to take part
in marches (see section 2.d.).
The Government rejected international human rights monitoring, did
not recognize the mandate of the UNCHR, and refused to acknowledge
requests by the Personal Representative of the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights to visit the country. On September 26, the personal
representative, Christine Chanet, told the UNCHR that the country had
not cooperated with her on the investigation of its human rights
situation. She said the country had failed to improve its human rights
record and criticized the Government's censorship and its detention of
dissidents.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, gender,
disability, or social status; however, racial discrimination occurred
frequently.
Women.--The law prohibits threats and inflicting injuries,
including those associated with domestic violence. Human rights
advocates reported that violence against women was a problem, and
police often did not act on cases of domestic violence. Violent crime
rarely was reported in the press, and the Government did not release
data on the extent of domestic violence. However, on August 4, the
press reported that domestic violence rates were increasing.
To raise awareness about the problem, the Government carried out a
campaign on television and in the press during the year, reminding the
public that domestic violence is illegal. However, judges remained
extremely reluctant to issue a restraining order in the event of a
domestic dispute. On November 27, the CCDHRN said that domestic
violence occurred within a culture of impunity in which it is
considered ``normal'' for a man to beat his wife, and that pervasive
male chauvinism impacted negatively on domestic violence victims. Many
women did not report acts of domestic violence because they feared
doing so could trigger another attack.
The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and a victim has
the right to report the matter to the police. Police rarely forwarded
cases to a court if the victim did not suffer visible physical
injuries.
Although the Government did not release statistics during the year
on arrests, prosecutions or convictions for rape, the law stipulates
penalties ranging from four to 10 years' imprisonment. If two or more
rapists are involved, or if the rapist had been convicted previously of
the same offense, sentences could reach 15 years. If the victim is
under 12, or if the act results in injuries or grave illness, capital
punishment is possible. The Government enforced the law.
Prostitution is legal for persons over age 17, but pandering and
economic activities facilitating prostitution, including room rentals,
are illegal. Large numbers of foreign tourists visited the country
specifically to patronize prostitutes, and sex tourism was a problem.
Some street police officers were suspected of providing protection to
individuals engaged in prostitution, who were numerous and visible in
Havana and other major cities.
The law provides penalties for sexual harassment, with potential
sentences of three months' to five years' imprisonment. The Government
did not release any statistics during the year on arrests,
prosecutions, or convictions for offenses related to sexual harassment.
The law was applied most frequently to male supervisors ``abusing their
power'' over female subordinates, according to the CCDHRN.
Sexual harassment was one of many means the Government used to
inflict suffering on dissidents or their family members. A favorite
tactic involved strip-searching dissidents' wives. On January 5 at
Canaleta prison in Ciego de Avila, guards ordered the wife and daughter
of Adolfo Fernandez Sainz to submit to a strip search. On May 18 at
Kilo 5.5 prison in Pinar del Rio, guards ordered the wife of political
prisoner Normando Hernandez to completely disrobe and perform deep knee
bends before visiting her husband. On June 15 at the same prison,
guards forced the elderly mother, wife, and 15-year-old daughter of
political prisoner Horacio Pina to be strip-searched.
The law provides that women and men have equal rights and
responsibilities regarding marriage, divorce, raising children,
maintaining the home, and pursuing a career. The law grants working
mothers preferential access to goods and services. The law provides for
equal pay for equal work, and women generally received pay comparable
to men for similar work.
Children.--The law provides that all children have equal rights and
that parents have a duty to ensure their protection. Public education
was free through the university level, but advancement in the school
system depended on participation in political activities. The law
requires school attendance until the ninth grade, which was the highest
level achieved by most children. The Government reported that 98
percent of primary-school-age children were enrolled in school during
the 2005-06 school year and that attendance by secondary-school-age
children was 91 percent. All elementary and secondary school students
received obligatory ideological indoctrination.
The Government maintained a dossier on every child from
kindergarten through high school, which included a record of the
child's participation in political activities, such as mandatory
marches. Full participation in political activities, such as membership
in the Union of Pioneers of Cuba, a regimented youth organization used
by the Government for political indoctrination, was essential to
advance in the school system.
Boys and girls had equal access to a national health care system
that claimed to cover all citizens, although there were notable
weaknesses in this system. The UN Children's Fund reported high
vaccination rates for childhood diseases. Children up to age seven
received additional food rations through the ration card system.
There was no societal pattern of child abuse.
Child prostitution was a problem, with young girls engaging in
prostitution to help support themselves and their families (see section
5, Trafficking). While underage prostitution was widely apparent, there
were no reliable statistics available regarding its extent. Children
may marry with the consent of their parents at age 14, but the law
provides for two to five years' imprisonment for anyone who ``induces
minors under 16 years of age to practice homosexuality or
prostitution.'' Minors played a key role in the country's thriving sex
trade, which was fueled by visits by thousands of foreign tourists.
There was anecdotal evidence that state-run hotel workers, travel
company employees, taxi drivers, bar and restaurant workers, and law
enforcement personnel were complicit in the commercial sexual
exploitation of children.
Although the police sometimes enforced laws on underage
prostitution, cabarets and discos catered to sex tourists. Sex-tourism
revenues provided an important, direct source of hard currency to the
Government. The Government prosecuted some persons involved in child
prostitution and forced some foreign suspects to leave the country. The
Government prosecuted some persons involved in child pornography and
assisted other countries in international investigations of child
sexual abuse.
Child endangerment received little coverage in state media. On
April 17, state media announced that the Government would prosecute
seven women for endangering their children, aged one to 14, during a
bungled attempt to leave the country illegally. Between April 3 and 5,
the children had gone without food or water and trekked through a
mosquito-filled swamp in Pinar del Rio Province.
There were no reports of abuse involving institutionalized children
during the year, and the Government did not release information on any
steps taken to prevent or punish such abuse.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits all forms of trafficking
in persons. However, there were reports that women were being
trafficked from the country. Trafficking for underage prostitution and
forced labor occurred within the country.
The nature and extent of trafficking in the country were difficult
to gauge due to the closed nature of the Government and the lack of NGO
reporting. However, there were reports that some women married Mexican
nationals in order to migrate but were held against their will at
Mexican brothels or strip clubs. In addition, some citizens who had
successfully emigrated on ``go-fast'' vessels were forced to work as
deckhands on subsequent smuggling trips, to pay off smuggling debts.
Trafficking victims came from all over the country, and most worked
in the major cities and tourist resort areas. Anecdotal information
indicated that victims generally came from poor families, but other
sources reported the phenomenon at all levels of society, including
families of senior CP and government officials. In some cases, families
encouraged victims to enter into prostitution for the additional income
that such activities could provide. In many cases, traffickers lured
victims from rural areas with bus tickets and promises of well-paid
jobs in urban areas.
The law criminalizes promoting or organizing the entrance of
persons into, or the exit of persons from, the country for the purpose
of prostitution; violators were subject to 20 to 30 years'
imprisonment. The Penal Code provides penalties from 10 years to life
in prison for trafficking for purposes other than prostitution. Civil
penalties are referred to as ``responsibilities'' and, for an offense
such as damaging a government-owned boat, can include indemnifications,
pensions, or other reparations. The CCHRN stated that in cases of
internal trafficking, rather than bring a trafficking charge against an
individual, the Government might charge him or her with ``pimping.''
The Ministries of Justice and Education, the PNR, and local
governments were tasked with different facets of combating trafficking
in persons and the problem of underage prostitution; no entity had
complete autonomy dealing with these problems. The police were
responsible for investigating and arresting traffickers, the Ministry
of Justice with prosecuting and incarcerating traffickers, and the
Ministry of Education with rehabilitating prostitutes, including
underage prostitutes.
There were no reliable statistics on the number of traffickers
prosecuted or convicted during the year. However, the CCDHRN stated
that in the past three to four years, the Government prosecuted or
convicted between 40 and 60 people for ``illegal traffic in persons.''
All those prosecuted or convicted had come to the country from the
United States, Mexico, or other countries such as the Bahamas,
apparently to traffic people out of Cuba. No information was available
concerning government assistance with international investigations of
trafficking or the extradition of traffickers.
There was anecdotal evidence that state-run hotel workers, law
enforcement personnel, and others involved in the tourist industry were
complicit in the commercial sexual exploitation of children involved in
the sex trade targeting tourists. There were no known investigations or
prosecution of public officials for complicity in trafficking during
the year.
Although prostitution is not a crime per se, individuals who
engaged in prostitution, including possible trafficking victims and
children, often were treated as criminals, detained, and taken to
rehabilitation centers that were not staffed with personnel who were
trained or equipped to adequately care for trafficking victims.
No civil society groups in the country assisted trafficking victims
in an official capacity, although a Havana-based NGO that focused on
women's rights publicized the plight of poor prostitutes. The
Government did not coordinate on trafficking-related matters with
international organizations or NGOs operating in the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no known law prohibiting
official discrimination against persons with disabilities in
employment, education, access to health care, or in the provision of
other state services. However, a Labor Ministry resolution gives
persons with disabilities the right to equal employment opportunities
and to equal pay for equal work. There was no official discrimination
against persons with disabilities. There are no laws mandating
accessibility to buildings for persons with disabilities, and in
practice, buildings and transportation rarely were accessible to
persons with disabilities.
The Special Education Division of the Ministry of Education was
responsible for the education and training of children with
disabilities. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security was in charge
of the Job Program for the Handicapped.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Although there were many black
police officers and army enlisted personnel, Afro-Cubans often suffered
racial discrimination. Afro-Cubans complained of frequent and
disproportionate stops for identity checks. Non-whites, who comprised
an estimated 50 percent or more of the population, constituted an
estimated three-quarters of the country's prison population.
An Afro-Cuban human rights activist, Andres Sabon Lituane, reported
in April that his daughter studied gastronomy and found work at a
Chinese restaurant. However, her employment was short-lived; the
manager told her black people had no business working at a Chinese
restaurant.
Race sometimes surfaced as an element in mob actions against human
rights activists. On July 18 in Santa Clara, Communist militants
chanted insults at Afro-Cuban Noelia Pedraza Jimenez.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal discrimination
against homosexuals persisted, as police occasionally conducted sweeps
in areas where homosexuals congregated, particularly along sections of
Havana's waterfront. However, in mid-year television aired a soap opera
with a homosexual subplot, which had the effect of partially
destigmatizing homosexual behavior.
The Government continued to restrict some persons found to be HIV-
positive to sanatoriums for treatment and therapy before conditionally
releasing them into the community. Even after their release, some
persons with HIV/AIDS said the Government monitored their movements
with a chaperone to prevent the spread of the illness. In November the
Cuban Commission for Human Rights of People with HIV/AIDS (CCDHPHS)
said state medical professionals frequently failed to respect
confidentiality, with the result that sufferers' condition was known
widely throughout their neighborhoods. At hospitals, rooms holding HIV-
positive patients were clearly marked as such, as were the patients'
smocks. Some persons with HIV/AIDS suffered job discrimination, or were
rejected by their families. The CCDHPHS stated that doctors often
offered shoddy treatment or none at all to patients with HIV/AIDS and
that the Government offered ``cocktail'' medications only to sufferers
whose condition was advanced. The group also complained that at many
hospitals, HIV/AIDS sufferers were turned away in favor of foreign
medical tourists.
The Government operated four prisons exclusively for HIV/AIDS
sufferers; some inmates were serving sentences for ``propagating an
epidemic.'' Activists said the prisons, while well-intentioned, failed
to deliver on necessary services and became dysfunctional institutions.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law does not allow workers to
form and join unions of their choice. Rather, the state established
official unions and did not permit competing independent unions.
Official labor unions had a mobilization function and did not act as
trade unions, promote worker rights, or protect the right to strike.
Such organizations were under the control of the state and the CP,
which also managed the enterprises for which the laborers worked.
Because all legal unions were government entities, antiunion
discrimination by definition did not exist.
The only legal labor confederation was the Confederation of Cuban
Workers (CTC), whose leaders were chosen by the CP. The CTC's principal
responsibility was to ensure that government production goals were met.
Virtually all workers were required to belong to the CTC, and
promotions were frequently limited to CP members who took part in
mandatory marches, public humiliations of dissidents, and other state-
organized activities.
Workers often lost their jobs because of their political beliefs,
including their refusal to join the official union.
On March 14, MIOA member Juan Francisco Sigler Amaya lost his job
at the Free Cuba sugar refinery in the Matanzas city of Pedro
Betancourt. A government official subsequently told Sigler that he was
fired because he had met at his home with people opposed to the
ideological principles of the revolution. On May 31, CP officials in
the Holguin town of Moa reportedly organized a meeting at the Nickel
Union Services Enterprise to seek the expulsion of employee Omar Perez
Torres, a prodemocracy activist. After independent journalists
publicized his case, Perez was able to retain his job as a driver, and
at year's end continued to work under ``strict vigilance.''
Several small independent labor organizations operated without
legal recognition. These organizations also were subject to
infiltration by government agents and were unable to represent workers
effectively or work on their behalf.
The Government harassed labor leaders. On August 10, State Security
officials searched the Havana home of Aurelio Bachiller Alvarez,
secretary general of the National Confederation of Independent Workers
of Cuba. The officials, who did not produce a search warrant, accused
Bachiller of planning to hold a dissident event. On May 24,
approximately two dozen independent labor leaders met in Havana to
launch a training program designed to teach workers about their rights
according to international labor standards. Among the organizers of the
event was Carmelo Diaz Fernandez; police detained Diaz briefly on
September 15 and searched his home without a warrant on September 28.
The Government continued to incarcerate independent labor
activists, including Pedro Pablo Alvarez Pedroso, President of the
Unitary Workers Council, serving a 25-year sentence.
Six of the seven independent labor leaders jailed in 2003 remained
in prison, serving sentences of between 12 and 25 years.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Although
provided for in the law, collective bargaining did not exist in
practice. The State Committee for Work and Social Security set wages
and salaries for the state sector, which was virtually the only
employer in the country. The law does not provide for strikes, and none
were known to have occurred during the year.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the three export processing zones.
The law denies all workers, except those with special government
permission, the right to contract directly with foreign companies
investing in the country. Although a few firms negotiated exceptions,
the Government required foreign investors and diplomatic missions to
contract workers through state employment agencies, which were paid
well in foreign currency, but which in turn paid workers very low wages
in pesos (see section 6.e.). Human Rights Watch stated that the
required reliance on state-controlled employment agencies left workers
without any ability to directly negotiate wages, benefits, the basis of
promotions, or the length of the workers' trial period at the job with
the employer. Workers subcontracted by state employment agencies must
meet certain political qualifications. The state employment agencies
consulted with the CP, the CTC, and the UJC to ensure that the workers
chosen ``deserved'' to work in a joint enterprise.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law does not
prohibit forced or compulsory labor by adults. The Government
maintained correctional centers for persons convicted of such crimes as
dangerousness (see section 1.c.). Prisoners held in such centers were
forced to work on farms or at sites performing construction,
agricultural, or metal work. The authorities also often imprisoned
persons sent to work sites who refused to work.
The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor by children, but there
were reports that such practices occurred (see section 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits forced and compulsory labor by children, and the Ministry
of Labor and Social Security was responsible for enforcement.
Nonetheless, the Government required children to work in various
situations.
Students at rural boarding schools were expected to participate in
several hours of manual labor per day. Secondary school students were
expected to devote up to 15 days of their summer vacation completing a
variety of tasks ranging from farm labor to urban cleanup projects and
were paid a small wage for this labor. Students in postsecondary
institutions (technical schools, university preparatory schools, and
agricultural institutes) were expected to devote 30 to 45 days per year
to primarily agricultural work. Refusal to do agricultural work could
result in expulsion from school.
The legal minimum working age is 17, but the labor code permits the
employment of 15- and 16-year-old children to obtain training or to
fill labor shortages. The labor code does not permit teenagers to work
more than seven hours per day or 40 hours per week or on holidays.
Children ages 13 to 18 cannot work in specified hazardous occupations,
such as mining, or at night.
The Government took steps to identify child labor and rectify the
problem.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage, which is
enforced by the Labor Ministry, varies by occupation. On average, the
minimum monthly wage was approximately $9 (225 pesos). The Government
supplemented the minimum wage with free education, subsidized medical
care (daily pay is reduced by 40 percent after the third day of being
admitted to a hospital), housing, and some subsidized food. Even with
subsidies, the minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living
for a worker and family.
The law requires foreign investors to contract workers through
government employment agencies. Foreign companies pay the Government as
much as $600 to $800 per worker per month. However, because the
Government pays salaries in nonconvertible pesos, workers only receive
approximately 3 percent of the money paid by their foreign employer.
The standard workweek is 44 hours, with shorter workweeks in
hazardous occupations, such as mining. The law provides workers with a
weekly 24-hour rest period. These standards were effectively enforced.
The law does not provide for premium pay for overtime or prohibit
obligatory overtime. Workers were occasionally asked to work overtime
at the nonpremium pay rate; refusal to do so could result in a notation
in the employee's official work history that could imperil any
subsequent request for vacation time.
In October a lawsuit was filed in a foreign court alleging that
workers employed at a ship repair company were forced to work 112 hours
a week and that numerous occupational safety and health violations took
place at the company.
Laws providing for workplace environmental and safety controls were
inadequate, and the Government lacked effective enforcement mechanisms.
Labor activist Carmelo Diaz Fernandez said in October that construction
workers were at risk because they worked on scaffolding without safety
lines. Others in danger, he said, were workers exposed to electrical
lines and chemicals without protective gloves or masks. The Government
reported that in the first half of the year, 49 workers died in work-
related accidents. By profession, the most common victims were
soldiers, drivers, and stevedores. The law provides that a worker who
considers his life in danger because of hazardous conditions has the
right to refuse to work in a position or not to engage in specific
activities until such risks are eliminated; the worker remains
obligated to work temporarily in whatever other position may be
assigned him at a salary provided for under the law.
__________
DOMINICA
Dominica is a multiparty, parliamentary democracy with a population
of approximately 69,000. Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit's Dominica
Labour Party (DLP) prevailed over the opposition United Workers Party
(UWP) in May 2005 elections, the results of which were certified
despite challenges filed by the opposition in a few constituencies. 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 a few areas, primarily poor
prison conditions, violence against women and children, and adverse
conditions experienced by indigenous Kalinago (Carib Indians).
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 10, the director of public prosecutions (DPP) dismissed
the case of police officers charged with the February 2005 beating,
shooting, and killing of Clifford Ambo. The February 2005 case of
prison guards beating to death Henson Joseph was still under review by
the DPP 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.--While the law prohibits such practices, there were reports
that police used excessive force while making arrests, including two
documented cases during the year. Both victims chose to sue the police
for damages.
On February 17, police officers allegedly attacked and beat Derwin
Peltier. Police claimed that Peltier was intoxicated and attacked them,
and they used force only to subdue him. Similarly, in February a police
officer allegedly beat Edward Bruney with the butt of his gun. Because
these men chose to file civil suits, internal police review tribunals
were suspended until the civil suits concluded. At year's end both
cases were still before the civil courts.
All six cases of excessive force brought against police officers in
2005 were still pending at year's end. The police force's internal
disciplinary tribunal found three police officers guilty, and all three
appealed to an independent appeal board. Two cases were still before
the internal tribunal, while the Police Commission, DPP, and attorney
general ruled that one case was sufficiently severe to bring criminal
charges against the officer. At year's end this case was still before
the magistrate's court.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
poor. The buildings at the country's single prison, Stock Farm, were in
disrepair; conditions remained unsanitary; and overcrowding was a
serious problem. The prison held 301 prisoners in a facility designed
for fewer than 200 inmates.
Juvenile detainees were held with adults, and pretrial detainees
were held with convicted prisoners, due to a lack of separate
facilities.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, although no such visits were known to have occurred 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 Prime Minister's
office oversees the Dominica Police, the country's only security force.
The 411-officer force effectively carried out its responsibilities to
maintain public order. The police have a formal complaint procedure to
handle allegations of excessive force or abuse by police officers.
Corruption was not a problem within the police force.
Arrest and Detention.--The police apprehend persons openly with
warrants issued by a judicial authority. The law requires that the
authorities inform persons of the reasons for arrest within 24 hours
after arrest and bring the detainee to court within 72 hours. This
requirement generally was honored in practice; however, if the
authorities were unable to bring a detainee to court within the
requisite period, the detainee could be released and rearrested at a
later time. There is a functioning system of bail. Criminal detainees
were provided prompt access to counsel and family members.
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 composed of a high court judge, five
magistrates in the capital city of Roseau, and 10 magistrate's courts
located in police stations around the country. Appeals can be made
first to the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal and then to the Privy
Council in the United Kingdom.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial
before an independent, impartial court, and an independent judiciary
generally enforced this right. There are trials by jury, and defendants
can confront or question witnesses. Criminal defendants are presumed
innocent until proven guilty, are allowed legal counsel, and have the
right to appeal. Courts provide free legal counsel to juveniles unable
to obtain their own counsel, regardless of the crime committed, and to
the indigent, but only in cases involving serious crimes.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent,
impartial judiciary in civil matters where one can bring lawsuits
seeking damages for a human rights violation.
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. Generally individuals could criticize the
Government publicly or privately without reprisal. The independent
media were active and expressed a wide variety of views without
restriction.
On August 24, the government-sponsored radio station, Dominica
Broadcasting Service (DBS), chose not to air a radio program entitled
``Gates of Health,'' allegedly because of pressure from the Ministry of
Health. The program documented conditions at Princess Margaret
Hospital, and the journalist responsible for the program performed his
research, including interviews, while disguised as a patient. The
journalist alleged that the documentary was cancelled because of its
negative portrayal of the medical system. DBS and Ministry of Health
officials claimed that DBS cancelled the program because of the
clandestine manner in which it was researched, citing breaches of
confidentiality.
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 largely available in homes, offices, and Internet cafes in
urban areas. Infrastructure limitations restricted Internet access in
villages.
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 requires all religious organizations to register.
Organizations must register as nonprofit organizations with the
Attorney General's office and also register their buildings through the
Government registrar. On February 21, the Government formally
recognized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which had
been seeking full authorization since 2004.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no organized Jewish
community, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts. Rastafarians
complained that the use of marijuana, an aspect of their religious
rituals, was illegal and that their members were victims of societal
discrimination, especially in hiring.
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.--Although the country is a signatory to the
1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967
Protocol, the Government has not formulated a policy regarding refugees
or asylum. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, but did not routinely grant refugee status or asylum.
After the fall of the Aristide government in Haiti in 2004,
thousands of Haitians fled to Dominica. However, none of these Haitians
had requested refugee status by year's end. Although the Haitians
normally entered legally, many only used the country as a transit point
and attempted to depart illegally for the neighboring French
territories of Martinique or Guadeloupe. In September, as an incentive
to enter and exit the country legally, the Government began charging
Haitians $400 (EC$1,000) when entering the country and promised to
return the funds upon legal exit from the country. The refundable
entrance fee had little effect on the numbers of Haitians departing
illegally. There were no reported cases that any Haitians were
trafficked against their will.
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 May 2005 the ruling DLP
won 12 seats in parliamentary elections, defeating the UWP, which won
eight seats. An independent candidate affiliated with the DLP also won
a seat. Although the country has a history of holding free and fair
elections, impartial election observers were not present to verify the
results. In April the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal dismissed for
lack of evidence petitions brought in 2005 by the UWP that disputed the
results in five constituencies.
There were two women in the 30-seat legislature: an elected
parliamentary representative who also served in the cabinet and a
senator appointed by the President.
The parliamentary representative for the constituency that includes
the Carib Territory was a Carib Indian; he served concurrently as
minister for Carib affairs.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of
government corruption during the year.
The law does not provide for public access to government
information, and the Government did not provide such access in
practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were no government restrictions on the formation of local
human rights organizations, although no such groups existed. Several
advocacy groups, such as the Association of Disabled People, the
Dominica National Council of Women (DNCW), and a women's and children's
self-help organization, operated freely and without government
interference. There were no requests for investigations of human rights
abuses from international or regional human rights groups.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law specifically prohibits discrimination based on race,
gender, place of origin, color, and creed, and the authorities
generally respected it in practice.
Women.--Domestic violence cases were common. Although there are no
specific laws criminalizing spousal abuse, women could bring charges
against husbands for battery. The Protection against Domestic Violence
Act allows abused persons to appear before a magistrate without an
attorney and request a protective order. The court also may order the
alleged perpetrator to be removed from the home in order to allow the
victims, usually women and children, to remain in the home while the
matter is investigated. However, enforcement of these restraining
orders was difficult because of a lack of police resources. Police
officers continued to receive training in dealing with domestic abuse
cases.
The DNCW, a nongovernmental organization (NGO), provided preventive
education about domestic violence and maintained a shelter where
counseling and mediation services were available daily. It assisted
approximately 70 persons during the year. Due to a shortage of funding,
the organization could permit persons to stay at the shelter only for
several days at a time; however, if needed, further housing was
provided in private homes for up to three weeks. Because of the
country's small size, abusive spouses commonly found and visited the
victims at the shelter, making private homes a safer option in many
cases. The Catholic Church continued to be active in educating the
public about domestic violence.
The law criminalizes rape, which can include spousal rape. Whenever
possible, female police officers handled rape cases. Although the
maximum sentence for sexual molestation (rape or incest) is 25 years'
imprisonment, the normal sentence given was five to seven years, except
in the case of murder. The Women's Bureau of the Ministry of Community
Development assisted victims of abuse by finding temporary shelter,
providing counseling to both parties, or recommending police action.
The Women's Bureau also coordinated interagency efforts to collect
data, advocate policy changes, and provide programs for the empowerment
of women.
Prostitution is illegal but was a problem. Although women from the
Dominican Republic reportedly traveled to the country to work as
prostitutes, there was no evidence that they were trafficked.
The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, and it remained a
problem.
While there was little open discrimination against women, minor
cultural instances of discrimination existed. Also, property ownership
continued to be deeded to heads of households, who were usually male.
When the male head of household dies without a will, the wife may not
inherit or sell the property, although she may live in it and pass it
to her children. The law establishes fixed pay rates for specific civil
service jobs, regardless of gender. The Labor Department reported that
many rural women found it difficult to meet basic economic needs, which
resulted partly from the continuing decline of the banana export
industry. There was a 53 percent unemployment rate for women. Although
there were some women in managerial or high-level positions, most women
worked as shopkeepers, nurses, or in education.
The Gender Bureau of the Ministry of Community Development and
Gender Affairs is charged with promoting and ensuring the legal rights
of women. The bureau provides lobbying, research, support, counseling,
training, and education services. The Gender Bureau worked with the
DNCW and other organizations to celebrate the 16th anniversary of the
16 Days of Activism to End Violence against Women. From November 25
through December 10, these organizations ran a number of projects,
including marches and television broadcasts, to promote the
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, World
AIDS Day, and International Human Rights Day. In December 2005 the
Gender Bureau and DNCW, along with other related government bodies and
NGOs, launched a two-year, UN-sponsored program designed to improve the
implementation of existing laws, policies, and plans of action to
address violence against women and girls. The program was successful
throughout the year in helping the Government, NGO, and police sectors
work more closely together, particularly in data collection and
information sharing.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare.
Education is compulsory, free, and universal through the age of 16.
Approximately 90 percent of primary school-age children attended
school. In September 2005 the Government made secondary education
universal, and a year later approximately 87 percent of secondary
school-age children attended school.
Primary health care was available throughout the country, and boys
and girls had equal access.
Child abuse continued to be a pervasive problem, both at home and
at school. As of October the Welfare Department of the Ministry of
Community Development and Gender Affairs received 143 reports of child
abuse, compared with 152 in all of 2005. This included 78 cases of
sexual abuse, 25 cases of neglect, 18 cases of physical abuse, four
cases of emotional abuse, and 18 cases of multiple types of abuse. Of
these 143 cases, at least 84 of the victims were female. The Welfare
Department also assisted victims of abuse by finding temporary shelter,
providing counseling to both parties, or recommending police action.
The Welfare Department reported all severe cases of abuse to the
police. Lack of staff and resources continued to hamper enforcement of
children's rights laws.
The age of consent for sexual relations is 16 years. No specific
laws prohibit commercial sexual exploitation of children, but such
activity could be prosecuted under laws against prostitution or
trafficking.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
specifically involving forced labor, commercial sexual exploitation,
and smuggling illegal migrants. There were no reports that persons were
trafficked to, from, or within the country. Persons convicted of
trafficking are subject to a fine of $37,500 (EC$100,000) and up to
seven years in prison.
Persons With Disabilities.--Although the law does not specifically
prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities, there was no
reported discrimination against them in employment, education, access
to health care, or in the provision of other state services. However,
mentally challenged children had difficulty attending school and
finding appropriate foster homes when faced with neglect from their
birth parents. There is no legal requirement mandating access to
buildings for persons with disabilities. Labor laws authorize
employment of persons with disabilities for less than the minimum wage
to increase employment opportunities for such persons (see section
6.e.).
Indigenous People.--There was a significant Kalinago, or Carib
Indian, population, estimated at 4,000 persons, most of whom lived in
the 3,782-acre Carib Territory. The Government has a Ministry of Carib
Affairs headed by a Kalinago. A police station on the Carib Territory
was staffed by four to five officers, several of whom were Kalinago.
Two neighboring police stations and fire stations also served the Carib
Territory, along with two health centers. School, water, and health
facilities on the territory were rudimentary but similar to those
available in other rural communities; there were four preschools and
two primary schools in the Carib Territory and two secondary schools in
nearby communities attended by Kalinago children. In September the
Northern Education Complex, a technically advanced school, opened, and
the number of students from the Carib Territory attending secondary
school increased significantly. Unemployment in the territory generally
was higher than in the rest of the country, and mean income was below
the national level.
The Carib Act states that any child of a Kalinago is also Kalinago.
Non-Kalinagos may become Kalinagos if they are invited to live in the
Carib Territory and continuously do so for 12 years. Every five years
Kalinagos over the age of 18 who reside in the territory may vote for
the chief and six members of the Council of Advisors. They also are
eligible to vote in national elections. According to the Carib Act, the
council must meet once a month, determine the chief's itinerary, and
publish council meeting agendas in the Government Gazette.
The Kalinago people continued to suffer from low levels of
unofficial and societal discrimination.
Territory building permits may be obtained from the Carib Council
and were available only to Kalinagos. Although the law permits Kalinago
men and women married to non-Kalinagos to continue living in the
territory, in practice Kalinago women married to non-Kalinagos had to
move out of the territory.
The law establishing the Carib Territory does not delineate clearly
its territorial boundaries. Kalinagos continued to report difficulties
obtaining bank financing, particularly since reservation land was
communal and therefore unavailable for use as collateral for loans.
To lessen the challenges the Kalinago people face, the Ministry of
Education covered tuition for Kalinago students at the Dominica State
College, awarded scholarships to Kalinago students for study throughout
the Caribbean, and sent the Karifuna Cultural Group on a three-month
tour throughout the country to promote Kalinago culture. On May 1, the
Government opened the Kalinago Barana Aute (Carib Cultural Village by
the Sea) to promote Kalinago culture and contribute to the
socioeconomic development of the Kalinago people by providing
employment, teaching skills, and fostering cooperation among them.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There are no laws that
prohibit discrimination against a person on the basis of sexual
orientation in employment, housing, education, or health care. Although
no statistics were available, anecdotal evidence suggested that
societal discrimination against homosexuals occurred.
The Government and the Dominica Planned Parenthood Association
(DPPA) initiated programs designed to discourage discrimination against
HIV/AIDS-infected persons and others living with them. The Ministry of
Health programmed various television spots and radio discussions on
``Know Your Status,'' a theme promoting free HIV testing and
counseling. On World AIDS Day, the DPPA sponsored a march to raise
awareness of free testing and counseling.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers exercised the legal right to
organize and choose their representatives. Unions represented
approximately one-third of the total work force; approximately half of
government workers were unionized.
The law provides that employers must reinstate workers fired for
union activities, and employers generally did so in practice. The
National Workers Union pursued a case on behalf of a shop steward who
allegedly was dismissed for union activities in 2003. At year's end the
steward had not yet been reinstated, and this case remained unresolved.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Unions have
legally defined rights to organize workers and to bargain with
employers. Workers exercised this right, particularly in the
nonagricultural sectors of the economy, including in government
service. Government mediation and arbitration were also available.
There are no export processing zones.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice. However, emergency, port, electricity,
telecommunications, and prison services, as well as banana, coconut,
and citrus fruit cultivation industries, were deemed essential, which
effectively prohibited workers in these sectors from going on strike.
The Labor Office recognized that this law was rather broad and should
be updated.
In 2004 a court found in favor of the Government in a case brought
by the Public Service Union (PSU) concerning the legality of government
cost-cutting measures. In November the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court
took leave of the case, allowing an appeal to be presented to the Privy
Council in the United Kingdom. At year's end PSU lawyers were preparing
the appeal.
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.--
Although two laws prohibit employment of children, one law defines a
``child'' as under age 12 and the other as under age 14. The Government
defined 15 years as the minimum age for employment and enforced this
standard in principle. Children between the ages of 12 and 14 were
allowed to work only in certain family enterprises such as farming.
Safety standards limit the type of work, conditions, and hours of work
for children over the age of 14. The Government effectively enforced
these standards.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law sets minimum wages for
various categories of workers, but these were last revised in 1989. The
minimum wage rate for some categories of workers (for example,
household employees) was as low as $0.37 (EC$1.00) per hour if meals
were included. However, minimum wages for most workers ranged from
$0.74 (EC$2.00) per hour for tourist industry workers to $1.11
(EC$3.00) per hour for occupations such as shop clerk. Minimum wages
did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
However, most workers (including domestic employees) earned more than
the legislated minimum wage for their category, and there was no need
to enforce the outdated legal minimum wages.
Labor laws provide that the labor commissioner may authorize the
employment of a person with disabilities at a wage lower than the
minimum rate in order to enable that person to be employed gainfully.
The standard legal workweek is 40 hours in five days. The law
provides overtime pay for work above the standard workweek; however,
excessive overtime is not prohibited. The Government effectively
enforced these standards.
The Employment Safety Act provides occupational health and safety
regulations that are consistent with international standards.
Inspectors from the Environmental Health Department of the Ministry of
Health conducted health and safety surveys. The Department of Labor
conducted inspections that prescribe specific compliance measures,
impose fines, and can result in prosecution of offenders. Workers have
the right to remove themselves from unsafe work environments without
jeopardy to continued employment, and the authorities effectively
enforced this right.
__________
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
The Dominican Republic is a representative constitutional democracy
with a population of approximately 9.2 million, including an estimated
650,000 to one million undocumented Haitians. In August 2004 President
Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) was elected
for a second (nonconsecutive) term, and in May the PLD won majorities
in both chambers of Congress during congressional and municipal
elections. Impartial outside observers assessed both elections as
generally free and fair. 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 the Government's human rights record improved somewhat,
serious problems remained: unlawful killings; beatings and other abuse
of suspects, detainees, and prisoners; poor to harsh prison conditions;
arbitrary arrest and detention of suspects; severe discrimination
against Haitian migrants and their descendants; widespread perceptions
of corruption; violence and discrimination against women; child
prostitution and other abuse of children; trafficking in persons; and
disregard of fundamental labor rights.
The Government's new police chief implemented changes that
diminished the level of killings and other abuse carried out by
security forces and in some cases prosecuted those suspected of
misconduct. Continued implementation of the new Criminal Procedures
Code provided detainees additional protections, enhanced due process,
and improved respect for detainee rights.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Although the
Government or its agents did not commit any politically motivated
killings, security forces were involved in many killings that were
unlawful, unwarranted, or involved excessive use of force.
According to the Attorney General's office, security forces killed
361 persons during the year, a 36 percent decline from 2005. The office
stated that most (298) of these deaths resulted from ``exchanges of
gunfire'' in the course of arrests, which required officers to act in
self-defense. However, that office's data were not always updated to
reflect the results of internal police investigations; at least one
unjustified police killing was left off its list. According to the
National Commission on Human Rights, many killings were related to
aggressive tactics on the part of the police.
In July citizens protested in Bonao following news that two police
officials detained for killing a local businessman had ``escaped'' from
their holding cells the day after the incident took place. On July 6,
the officials allegedly killed the victim, Joesi Marte Nunez, after he
accused them in a police report of assaulting his family and stealing
$1,700 (50,000 pesos) from their business. Police captured the alleged
killers on July 15 and brought charges against two additional police
officers; all four awaited trial at year's end. A subsequent
investigation resulted in the firing of several other police officers,
including Colonel Antonio Cepeda Urena, who had served as director of
the city's police detachment.
On July 24, there were protests at the funeral service in Navarrete
for Luis Manuel Ventura, a 25-year-old leader of the Broad Front for
People's Protests (FALPO), a local leftist organization. Although
authorities initially classified his killing on July 23 by police as
occurring during an exchange of gunfire, witnesses disputed this
account, claiming that Ventura had been dragged by persons dressed in
police uniforms from a family funeral service and shot in full view of
other mourners. Authorities arrested two police sergeants and charged
them with homicide in connection with the case, and at year's end they
remained in preventive detention pending the outcome of their trial.
On September 25, the police killing of another FALPO member sparked
more protests in the same community. Police had initially classified
the killing of Elvin Amable Rodriguez, a FALPO leader and spokesman, as
an exchange of gunfire, but witnesses claimed that police dragged
Rodriguez from a neighborhood corner store, hooded him, and executed
him in view of his companions. After a subsequent investigation
corroborated witness reports, the police chief ordered the arrest of
two officers on murder charges and the immediate replacement of every
officer assigned to the Navarrete police unit.
Human rights organizations, while conceding that the situation
improved somewhat during the year, stated that the police employed
unwarranted deadly force against criminal suspects as in previous
years, and uniformed vigilantism persisted on a less-than-deadly level
(see section 1.c.).
The new police chief implemented changes that diminished the level
of killings and other forms of abuse carried out by security forces. As
a result, authorities investigated many of those suspected of
misconduct, suspended them from their duties, and in some cases
prosecuted them (see section 1.d.). However, some cases previously
referred to courts for investigation remained unresolved or resulted in
the release of the accused. In August the trial of two former policemen
accused of murdering a 12-year-old girl, her aunt, and a suspected
criminal in 2005 was again postponed. This most recent delay ignited
protests in Santiago, where the victims resided.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) alleged corruption among the
military and migration officials stationed at border posts and noted
that these officials sometimes facilitated the illegal transit of
Haitian workers into the country. In January authorities indicted seven
military officials accused of accepting bribes to permit the entry of
Haitians, 25 of whom died from asphyxiation while being smuggled in the
back of a truck (see section 5, Trafficking).
A number of deaths occurred in custody due to negligence by prison
authorities (see section 1.c.).
On a number of occasions citizens attacked Haitians in vigilante-
style reprisals for violent crimes allegedly committed by other
Haitians. In some cases the Haitians targeted were killed.
In March citizens beat two Haitians, doused them with gasoline, and
set them on fire in the rural community of Las Matas de Farfan. The
victims, who suffered severe burns over most of their bodies, later
succumbed to their injuries and died. The attack was provoked by the
murder of a Dominican man, allegedly by four persons of Haitian
descent.
In January men dressed in military uniforms were seen setting
ablaze more than 30 dwellings in the Haitian community of El Fao, near
Santo Domingo. This was reportedly an act of reprisal for the killing
of an air force sergeant by an unidentified Haitian, although in fact
the sergeant had been killed by a police officer. The secretary of the
armed forces later disputed the allegations of military involvement,
attributing them to NGOs seeking to tarnish his agency's reputation.
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 torture, beating, and physical
abuse of detainees and prisoners, security forces personnel, primarily
mid-level and lower-ranking members of the police, continued such
practices. However, improvements in oversight and awareness resulted in
a decrease in alleged incidents of torture and physical abuse of
detainees. The public defender's office made regular visits to prisons,
which enabled it to report cases of torture and maltreatment of
prisoners.
The law provides penalties for torture and physical abuse,
including sentences from 10 to 15 years in prison. Civilian prosecutors
sometimes filed charges against police and military officials alleging
torture, physical abuse, and related crimes. New abuse and torture
cases were remanded to civilian criminal courts as they arose.
Senior police officials treated the prohibition on torture and
physical abuse seriously, but lack of supervision, training, and
accountability throughout the law enforcement and corrections systems
undercut efforts to contain the problem. Although prison monitors and
other observers agreed that conditions improved during the year, human
rights groups reported repeated instances of physical abuse of
detainees, most commonly beatings.
On October 3, authorities placed two police officials in preventive
detention pending torture charges and released a third official on
bail. The victim, Dionisio Contreras, had filed a complaint with the
public prosecutor alleging that the officials handcuffed and repeatedly
beat him in order to force him to confess to stealing a handgun. In a
sign of the National Police's improved responsiveness towards
allegations of abuse, the suspects were immediately suspended from
their duties and imprisoned pending the charges.
There were reports of violence against demonstrators and protesters
by members of the security forces (see section 2.b.).
According to the National Commission on Human Rights, military and
police officials harassed, beat, and randomly deported Haitians as well
as citizens who appeared to be Haitians (see sections 2.d. and 5).
Lawyers from the National District prosecutor's office monitored
the investigative process to ensure that detainees' rights were
respected in high-volume police stations and in several National Drug
Control Directorate (DNCD) offices (see section 1.d.). Some evidence
indicated that assistant prosecutors at times acquiesced in improper
police practices rather than attempting to insist they be changed to
conform to constitutional standards.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions ranged
from poor to extremely harsh in most prisons, although one-fifth of the
prison population experienced good conditions in newer ``model
prisons.'' Reports of mistreatment and inmate violence in prisons were
common. The prisons were seriously overcrowded, health and sanitary
conditions were poor, and some prisons were out of the control of
authorities and effectively run by criminal gangs of armed inmates. A
common sentiment among prison wardens was that while they may control
the perimeter, inside the prison the inmates often made their own rules
and had their own system of justice.
Budget allocations for necessities such as food, medicine, and
transportation were insufficient. Most inmates begged for or purchased
food from persons in the vicinity of the prison or obtained it from
family members. Prisoners were often not taken to their trials unless
they paid bribes to the guards (see sections 1.d. and 1.e.), and
visitors often had to bribe prison guards in order to visit prisoners.
Similarly, detainees who wished to avail themselves of the vocational
training offered at some facilities had to pay bribes before being
allowed to attend. Prison officials accepted money in exchange for a
recommendation that a prisoner be furloughed or released for health
reasons. Prisons often did not provide adequate medical care to
inmates. Prisoners immobilized by AIDS or who had terminal illnesses
were not transferred to hospitals.
According to the Directorate of Prisons, the police and the
military held approximately 13,500 prisoners and detainees in 35
prisons with an intended capacity of approximately 9,000. Virtually all
prisons experienced extreme overcrowding. La Victoria prison, the
largest in the country, held more than 4,300 prisoners in a facility
designed for 1,600, with beds for fewer than 1,800 inmates. Officials
estimated that the entire prison system had 6,300 beds, leaving more
than 7,000 inmates sleeping on the floor. Some existing beds were
flammable and contained a toxic substance that several autopsies showed
to be cause of death for deceased detainees.
Although a warden who reports to the Attorney General was
technically responsible for running each prison, in practice police or
military officers (generally appointed for a period of only three to
six months and responsible for providing security) were usually in
charge of most prisons. A significant number of smaller prisons were
co-located on military bases and were under actual military control,
although military officers were untrained in corrections methodologies.
The press and human rights groups reported extensive drug and arms
trafficking within the prisons, as well as prostitution and sexual
abuse.
There were also reports of abuse of minors in custody, particularly
at Najayo Prison for Minors, where prisoners were reportedly punished
by being handcuffed to a fence in the hot sun, sometimes for hours at a
time. When public defenders reported the abuse to the public
prosecutor's office, the latter immediately fired several guards in
connection with the complaints. The same public defenders reported that
conditions at the prison had improved by year's end with the
appointment of a new prison director.
There were reports that police officials convicted of criminal
activity, including a few known human rights abusers, were interned in
a Santo Domingo facility known as the ``Special Prison for Police
Agents.'' Prisoners at this facility reportedly had access to a wide
range of amenities, including flexible movement restrictions, a
restaurant, a shooting range, and a bar.
There were a number of deaths due to negligence in the prisons. On
May 26, a prison fight resulted in the death of Damian Rafael Polanco
Diaz. Critics alleged that the practice of holding inmates together in
overcrowded, poorly supervised prisons made it difficult to prevent
incidents of this nature.
Following the March 2005 riot and fire that killed at least 136
inmates and injured 26 in Higuey prison, authorities announced that
they would file murder charges against prisoners and law enforcement
officials who were involved, and they arrested five inmates in
connection with the case. The public prosecutor's office transferred
the case to San Francisco de Macoris, where it remained active at
year's end. In November investigative reporting by the newspaper Clave
Digital revealed that prosecutorial authorities misplaced key files
associated with the case in March. Allegedly this was at least part of
the reason that no convictions had been obtained by year's end, nearly
two years after the fire took place.
Female inmates generally were separated from male inmates, and
instances where male and female prisoners were held together ceased
around September, when all female inmates had been moved to model
prisons or wings thereof. Half of the total female population was held
in a females-only prison. Conditions in the prison wings for females
generally were better than those in prison wings for males. Female
inmates, unlike their male counterparts, were prohibited from receiving
conjugal visits. Those who gave birth while incarcerated were permitted
to keep their babies with them for a year.
Authorities often detained juveniles with the general prison
population and sometimes treated minors as adults and incarcerated them
in prison rather than juvenile detention centers.
Because of serious overcrowding, authorities at many smaller
facilities did not attempt to segregate prisoners according to the
severity of criminal offense.
Pretrial detainees were held together with convicted prisoners. The
Directorate of Prisons estimated that only 37 percent of the detainees
in prison as of September had been convicted; another 57 percent were
awaiting trial while the remaining 6 percent had a trial in process. In
certain prisons, the vast majority of prisoners had not been convicted
of a crime but rather were held awaiting trial. Of the inmates in
Puerto Plata and Higuey prisons, 90 percent and 87 percent,
respectively, were pretrial detainees.
There were also insufficient efforts in place to segregate and
provide services to the mentally ill, especially at traditional
prisons. There were confirmed reports of inmates suffering afflictions
such as severe bipolar disorder who were kept alongside other inmates
and denied prescription medication at La Victoria, the country's
largest facility.
Prison authorities continued to revamp certain prisons to create
``model'' facilities; they improved the aging physical plant of
existing facilities, replaced the police and military administration
with professionally trained corrections officers, and focused on
rehabilitation of and vocational training for inmates. To support this
effort, authorities established a training program for specialized
corrections officers to ease the shortage of professionally trained
prison personnel. As of September, authorities had converted nine
prisons to the new model, and human rights organizations and the press
reported improved conditions and respect for human rights at the
renovated facilities. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) special rapporteur on the rights of persons deprived of liberty
visited the country in August, and subsequently the IACHR noted that
opening new prisons had improved the situation of a significant number
of prisoners.
Despite improvements in the new prisons, unrest among the inmates
at certain locations continued. On July 27, guards shot and wounded two
inmates and injured several others during a riot and subsequent fire at
Rafey-Men's prison. The detainees were protesting poor food quality,
the infrequency of conjugal visits, and the uniforms required for
inmates under the new prison model.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers and by the press, and such visits took place during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Although the Criminal Procedures
Code prohibits detention without a warrant unless a suspect is
apprehended in the act or in other limited circumstances, arbitrary
arrest and detention continued to be problems. By law, authorities may
detain a person without charges for up to 48 hours. There were numerous
reports of individuals held and later released with little or no
explanation for the detention.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police,
the National Department of Investigations (DNI), the DNCD, the Airport
Security Authority (CESA), Port Security Authority (CESEP), and the
armed forces (army, air force, and navy) form the security forces. The
Ministry of the Interior and Police is responsible for making policy
decisions affecting the police force. The military's domestic
responsibilities include maintaining public order and protecting
persons and property. The military, CESA, and CESEP are under the
secretary of the armed forces; the DNI and the DNCD, which have
personnel both from the police and military, report directly to the
President.
In an effort to stem a rise in crime, in June the armed forces
began providing troops to support the National Police in its nightly
patrols of Santo Domingo, Santiago, and other areas of the country. The
mixed-unit patrols prompted recruitment of 2,600 additional members of
the armed forces. As of year's end, authorities had received no
complaints of human rights abuses by these mixed-unit patrols.
The National Police responded more transparently and effectively to
allegations of police misconduct than in past years. In a change
instituted by the new chief, formal reviews took place whenever a
member of the police was involved in a death by shooting. The Internal
Affairs Unit of the National Police conducted these inquiries, and the
unit improved its ability to conduct fair and impartial investigations.
Representatives from the public prosecutor's office provided assistance
to and oversight of investigations, but police reported that their
participation was not consistent. Allegations of criminal misconduct
were forwarded to civilian criminal courts, which have full
jurisdiction to prosecute offenders (see section 1.e.).
The Internal Affairs Unit reported that its investigations had
resulted in 628 findings of criminal misconduct against members of the
National Police over the first 10 months of the year. Two-thirds of
these cases involved physical aggression, death threats, improper use
of a firearm, verbal aggression, muggings, or theft. These findings of
misconduct represented a significant improvement over the impunity that
existed in previous years.
Authorities discharged police officers for violent attacks,
extortion, drug use, and trafficking, and removed from duty all members
of the DNCD unit in the town of Bonao due to multiple accusations of
illicit activity. Significant problems of this nature remained, in part
because of insufficient background checks of police recruits. Many
persons with prior criminal records allegedly were incorporated into
police ranks, either under false names or with identification or
recommendations from other state institutions, such as the army. Many
members of the police force lacked basic education, received inadequate
training, and showed weak discipline, all factors that directly
contributed to unlawful or unwarranted killings and to cruel or inhuman
treatment (see sections 1.a. and 1.c.).
On many occasions, police officials attempted to solicit bribes
from individuals facing arrest or imposition of fines. Local human
rights observers reported roundups of Haitian and Dominican-Haitian
construction workers and other manual laborers. Officials allegedly
took groups of darker-skinned or ``Haitian-looking'' individuals to
empty buildings soon after they were paid to extort money from them.
In a revised police curriculum, both new and existing officers
received human and civil rights training as well as increased technical
training. The Institute of Human Dignity, a branch of the National
Police, held more than 100 courses, seminars, and conferences, which
were attended by 2,774 members of the National Police, armed forces,
and civilians. From January to September, more than 2,500 participants
graduated from the police course on respect for human dignity.
Training for military and DNCD enlisted personnel and officers
included instruction on human rights. The Military Institute of Human
Rights offered diploma courses in human rights and regularly sent
representatives to border units to conduct mandatory human rights
training. Approximately 7,000 participants from the military and civil
society received training during the year.
Systems for monitoring and sanctioning abuses of human rights
improved somewhat during the year. In response to the public perception
of police corruption, the National Police reinstituted a system to
provide every police officer with visible identification.
Arrest and Detention.--The constitution provides that an accused
person may be detained for up to 48 hours before being presented to
judicial authorities. It also provides for recourse to habeas corpus
proceedings to request the release of those unlawfully held. Any
prisoner detained for more than 48 hours without being formally charged
is entitled to request a hearing of habeas corpus. The presiding judge
at the habeas corpus hearing is empowered to order the prisoner's
release when the prisoner has been detained for more than 48 hours
without being formally charged or when there is insufficient proof of a
crime to warrant further detention. The judge's decision to release a
prisoner is subject to appeal by the district attorney.
Despite the foregoing provisions, at times the police detained
suspects for investigation or interrogation beyond the prescribed 48-
hour limit for detaining suspects without a warrant. Even so,
successful habeas corpus hearings reduced these abuses significantly.
Police often detained all suspects and witnesses in a crime and used
the investigative process to determine the individuals who were
innocent and merited release, and those whom they should continue to
hold. Police occasionally detained relatives and friends of suspects in
order to pressure suspects to surrender or to confess, but this
practice diminished significantly after the Criminal Procedures Code
came into force.
Given the inefficiency of the courts (see section 1.e.), the
granting of bail served as a de facto criminal justice system, and
defendants awarded bail rarely faced an actual trial. Although few
defendants were granted bail, bail became more common under the new
code, which requires judicial review of detentions at an earlier point
in a criminal case.
Most detainees and prisoners unable to afford defense services did
not have prompt access to a lawyer. The National Office of Public
Defense, with foreign donor support, provided legal advice and
representation to indigent persons, but resource constraints resulted
in inadequate levels of staffing despite significant expansion of the
public defender's office. The Government continued its program to train
public defenders on relevant changes caused by implementation of the
Criminal Procedures Code, giving an advantage to defendants who secured
one of these attorneys. In addition, the Government implemented
measures to improve the public defender program, including use of full-
time public defenders, and increased salaries approximately 300
percent.
Despite the police chief's representations to the contrary, police
continued the practice of making sporadic sweeps or roundups in low-
income, high-crime communities, during which they arrested and detained
individuals without warrants, allegedly to fight delinquency. During
these sweeps, which increased following a crackdown on crime in June,
police arrested large numbers of residents and seized property,
including motorcycles, other vehicles, and weapons. Prosecutors often
lacked the resources to investigate cases fully. Instead, prosecutors
often depended on police reports, many of which were based on forced
confessions.
Many suspects endured long pretrial detention. Under the Criminal
Procedures Code, the judge has authority to order a detainee to remain
in police custody for a period between three months and one year.
According to the Directorate of Prisons, average pretrial detention
decreased but still typically was between three and six months. Time
served in pretrial detention counted toward a sentence.
Juveniles at the Department for Minors at the Villa Juana police
station commonly were held well beyond the 12-hour limit for sending
the case to the district attorney's office. The law prohibits
interrogation of juveniles by the police or in the presence of police;
prosecutors and judges handle interrogation.
The failure of prison authorities to produce the accused for court
hearings caused a significant percentage of trial postponements (see
section 1.e.). Inmates often had their court dates postponed because
they were not taken from the prison to court or because their lawyer or
witnesses did not appear. Reports indicated that the Government lacked
the funding to transport several defendants between prison and court.
Despite additional protections for defendants in the Criminal
Procedures Code, in some cases the authorities continued to hold
inmates beyond the mandated deadlines even though there were no formal
charges against them. In some instances, a defendant appeared before
the judge on the scheduled trial date, but the trial could not go
forward due to the absence of one or more co-defendants. The decision
of the trial judge to postpone cases with multiple defendants
prejudiced defendants who complied with the law by appearing as
originally scheduled.
The judiciary successfully implemented a number of measures to
reduce the large backlog of criminal cases under the old Criminal
Procedures Code, and the Supreme Court assigned special judges (Courts
of Liquidation) dedicated solely to resolving them. On September 27,
the court mandated dismissal (with leave to refile) of all ``old''
criminal cases that had not received final judgment.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the law provides for an
independent judiciary, public and private entities continued to
undermine judicial independence. The judiciary continued to receive
training on the Criminal Procedures Code to help create and maintain
professional standards, with the judges receiving on average more than
70 hours of training. However, undue influence remained a problem.
The judiciary includes a 16-member Supreme Court, appeals courts,
courts of first instance, and justices of the peace. There are
specialized courts that handle tax, labor, land, and juvenile matters.
The Supreme Court is responsible for naming all lower court judges
according to criteria defined by law. The Government established 17 of
the 25 tribunals provided for by law and five courts of appeal for
children and adolescents. The Code for Minors outlines the judicial
system for criminal cases involving juveniles and family disputes.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for a presumption of innocence,
the right of appeal, and the right to confront or question witnesses.
The law establishes a citizen's right not to be deprived of liberty
without trial or legal formalities or for reasons other than those
provided by law, the right against self-incrimination, and the right to
a defense in an impartial and public trial. Defendants have the right
to remain silent. Although authorities violated these rights in some
cases, adherence to due process generally improved after enactment of
the Criminal Procedures Code.
The new code replaced the inquisitorial model with one that
emphasizes respect for human rights, offers more expeditious judgments,
includes anticorruption measures and means for alternative conflict
resolution, and ensures due process for both defendant and victim. The
new code grants all prisoners the right to have their attorneys present
while they are being questioned, which was not previously the case for
those arrested on narcotics charges. Defendants in cases processed
under the new code appear to have received greater legal protection
than their predecessors previously received.
Because of the additional protections for defendants under the new
code, some commentators attributed the increase in crime during the
year to the ability of defendants to obtain bail or to have their cases
dismissed on ``technicalities.'' Some police officials and other public
officials asserted that the safeguards contained in the code were
responsible for the rise in crime. A recent study undertaken by the
Foundation for Institutionalism and Justice appeared to offset that
argument, showing evidence that the success rate for reaching final
judgments in criminal trials was higher under the new code than under
the previous system.
During the year the Public Ministry began implementing a law
designed to create a civil service career track for prosecutors. It
hired 100 new career prosecutors and trained and certified them along
with an additional 27 current prosecutors. Although a large majority of
current prosecutors did not have career status, the National School of
the Public Ministry provided continuing training to prosecutors on the
new Criminal Procedures Code and established criteria to convert
prosecutors from political appointee to career status. Judges and
public defenders received similar training in prior years.
Although military and police tribunals previously exercised
exclusive jurisdiction over cases involving members of the security
forces, cases of killings allegedly committed during the year by
members of the security forces were remanded to civilian criminal
courts (see section 1.a.).
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There are separate court
systems for claims under criminal law, commercial and civil law, and
labor law. Commercial, civil, and labor courts reportedly suffered
lengthy delays in adjudicating cases, although their decisions were
generally enforced. As in criminal courts, undue political or economic
influence in civil court decisions remained a problem.
Citizens had recourse to the remedy of amparo, an action to seek
redress of any violation of a constitutional right, including
violations by judicial officials. However, this remedy was rarely used,
except by those with sophisticated legal counsel.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits arbitrary entrance into a private
residence, except when police are in hot pursuit of a suspect or when a
suspect is caught in the act of committing a crime. The law provides
that all other entrances into a private residence require an arrest
warrant or search warrant issued by a judge. Despite the law, the
police conducted illegal searches and seizures, including raids without
warrants on private residences in many poor Santo Domingo
neighborhoods.
Although the Government denied using unauthorized wiretapping and
other surreptitious methods to interfere with the private lives of
individuals and families, human rights groups alleged such interference
continued. There was an active illegal private wiretapping industry.
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 or groups generally were able to
criticize the Government publicly and privately without reprisal.
Newspapers and magazines presented a variety of opinions and
criticisms. There were eight daily newspapers, a number of weekly
newspapers, and numerous online news outlets. Editors at times
practiced self-censorship, particularly when coverage could adversely
affect the economic or political interests of media owners. This
tendency was particularly pronounced in reporting on the trials ensuing
after the major 2003 bank frauds, since banks and banking families
owned prominent newspapers.
In late November the news corporation Color Vision fired popular
journalist Adolfo Salomon from his job in response to complaints by
high-level officials in the Catholic Church and the armed forces.
Salomon had angered the church during a November 28 news conference at
which Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez criticized
homosexuality. After the cardinal's remarks, Salomon asked him about
his feelings on homosexuality within the church. Lopez Rodriguez
responded aggressively, questioning Salomon's ethics and
professionalism. Secretary of the Armed Forces Ramon Aquino, reportedly
with the help of the cardinal, then personally contacted Color Vision
to demand that Salomon be reprimanded. His employer complied by firing
him the next day.
There were many privately owned radio and television stations,
broadcasting a wide spectrum of political views. The Government
controlled one television station. International media were allowed to
operate freely.
There were occasional reports of harassment of journalists. During
the first nine months of the year, the National Journalists' Union
recorded three killings and 19 other instances of assault or harassment
of journalists in the country, although most of these appeared random
or unrelated to the victims' professions. An August attempted killing
targeted Arelis Pena Brito, deputy editor-in-chief of El Caribe
newspaper, while she was driving home with her family. The motive for
the attack was not known, and the assailant, who fired multiple gunshot
rounds from a motorcycle while driving alongside the family's vehicle,
was not apprehended.
On August 15, head bodyguard Mateo Vazquez of the first lady's
security detail reportedly roughed up Clave Digital photographer
Orlando Ramos as Ramos tried to photograph her during a cultural event.
Police held the photographer in custody overnight even though he had
broken no laws.
The Press Freedom Committee of the Inter-American Press Association
publicly complained in March of the ``sluggish and ineffective''
response of justice officials to calls to apprehend and prosecute those
suspected of crimes against journalists. Subsequently, arrests were
made in the unrelated 2004 cases of the murder in Azua of radio
journalist Juan Andujar and the attempted shooting in Santo Domingo of
broadcast journalist Euri Cabral. At least one of the victims allegedly
was targeted due to independent reporting that linked corrupt officials
and gang leaders to criminal acts.
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, but outdoor public
marches and meetings require permits, which the Government usually
granted. On some occasions, when police officers used force to break up
spontaneous demonstrations, they caused injuries to demonstrators or
bystanders.
In April police injured 18 demonstrators in Barahona who were
protesting the presence of a foreign military humanitarian mission.
According to press reports, police fired on the gathering without
warning or apparent provocation as it was commencing.
In August university students announced a protest event in the
colonial zone in Santo Domingo, but failed to obtain permission from
the district administrators; police barred the event and briefly
detained one of the organizers. The event was held at a different site
one month later without controversy.
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. The law
prohibits discrimination on religious grounds, and many religions and
denominations were active.
The Catholic Church enjoyed special privileges not extended to
other religions, under the terms of a concordat. For example the
cardinal has the rank of a military general officer, and there is a
Catholic chapel at the Presidential palace. The Catholic Church also
received public funding to cover some church expenses such as
rehabilitation of church facilities.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Relations among various
religious congregations were harmonious, and society was generally
tolerant with respect to religious matters.
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.--Although the law provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected these provisions in
practice, there were some exceptions. Local and international human
rights groups charged that there was discrimination against Haitian
migrants and that they were subject to arbitrary and unjustified action
by the authorities (see sections 5 and 6).
The Government refuses to recognize the citizenship of Dominican-
born children of parents who are not legal residents and does not grant
identity documents to them, a policy that most commonly affected
persons of Haitian descent. There were hundreds of thousands of persons
who lacked citizenship or identity documents and faced obstacles in
traveling both within and outside of the country (see section 5).
The law prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports of its
use.
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 provided some protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. This protection generally applied to individuals who
gained access to the refugee process and had been issued proof that
they were refugees or had applications pending. However, the Government
did not apply standards agreed upon with the office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to improve receipt and adjudication
of refugee claims. The UNHCR withdrew its personnel from Santo Domingo
in July 2005 and subsequently monitored migration and refugee issues
from a regional office outside the country.
An applicant for refugee status must be referred by the National
Office of Refugees in the Migration Directorate to the Technical
Subcommittee of the National Commission for Refugees, which is chaired
by the Foreign Ministry. The subcommittee has the responsibility of
making a recommendation to the commission, made up of members from the
Foreign Ministry, the DNI, and the Migration Directorate. The full
commission has responsibility for the final decision on the
application. The commission includes the three members of the
subcommittee, the legal advisor to the President, and members from the
National Police, the Ministry of Labor, and the Attorney General's
office.
In August authorities detained Haitian citizen Michelove Jean
Francois en route to Ecuador while she was attempting to transit
legally in Santo Domingo's airport. She was traveling under auspices of
a UNHCR-sponsored family reunification procedure. Immigration
inspectors incorrectly presumed that her valid Ecuadorian visa was
fraudulent and confined her with 17 men identified for deportation to
Haiti. According to Francois and the NGO that assisted her, during her
24-hour-long confinement she was denied both food and water. UNHCR and
the NGO supporting the family reunification procedure requested her
release and were eventually able to facilitate her travel to Ecuador.
As of October the Migration Directorate reported more than 300
applications, nearly all made by Haitians. Some of these cases had been
awaiting decision since 2000. In 2005 the National Commission for
Refugees reviewed and granted asylum in five cases, three of which were
submitted by members of the same family. That was the committee's first
meeting in 10 years. According to the Jesuit Refugee Service, an NGO,
thousands of other asylum seekers submitted claims that had not been
processed, leaving those individuals in a state of legal limbo. Most of
these individuals lacked documentation sufficient to obtain permission
to work legally and to exercise other rights, such as obtaining
documentation for their children.
In June the Committee of Political Refugees Unified for Their
Rights sent a letter to the UNHCR highlighting the problems facing
Haitian asylum seekers and requesting that a permanent UNHCR
representative be stationed in the country. The committee reported that
Haitian refugees applying to renew valid residence documents were
sometimes deported when immigration officials were unable to locate
their records in the Government's inaccurate database.
The 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees provides
that children born to refugees also be entitled to refugee status.
There were reports that children born to Haitian refugees--even those
born to holders of migration documents--were routinely denied birth
certificates as well as education, health, and security documentation
(see section 5). In this respect they received the same treatment as
any undocumented Haitian migrant.
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 nearly
universal suffrage. Active-duty police and military personnel may not
vote or participate in partisan political activity.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 PLD candidate
Leonel Fernandez won the presidency in an election described as
generally free and fair by the Organization of American States, the
National Democratic Institute, and the International Foundation for
Electoral Systems, as well as by the Government electoral board and the
NGO Citizen Participation. In May observers described the congressional
and municipal elections as generally free and fair.
By law parties must reserve for women 33 percent of positions on
their lists of candidates for the national House of Representatives and
city councils; in practice the parties often placed women so low on the
lists as to make their election difficult or impossible. Women held
three cabinet posts in the Fernandez administration. There were two
women in the 32-member Senate, 33 women in the 178-member House of
Representatives, and five women on the 16-seat Supreme Court.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The NGO Transparency
International and others reported that perceptions of severe corruption
persisted, even as government officials worked on bringing to trial a
series of high-profile private and public sector corruption cases, the
latter largely involving officials from the administration of former
President Mejia. The use of nonjudicial sanctions (e.g., dismissal,
transfer) against armed service members, police officers, and other
minor governmental officials engaged in bribe taking and other corrupt
behavior provided insufficient incentive to check pervasive petty
corruption.
Complicating this problem was a widespread attitude of tolerance
towards at least some forms of corruption in society. In December
results of a poll conducted by the Pontifical Catholic University
showed that 82 percent of survey participants found corruption to be at
least somewhat tolerable. More than 67 percent of respondents reported
that they would suggest to their friends or family payment of a bribe
in order to expedite an administrative process.
Government officials who took action against corruption were
threatened. The chief safety inspector of the Aviation Authority, Angel
Cristopher Martinez, was shot to death, probably by criminal elements,
in response to his refusal to countenance operation of aircraft that he
considered unfit or unauthorized to fly. In the months before his
killing, narcotics smugglers reportedly approached Martinez, offered
him bribes, and made threats in an effort to persuade him to look the
other way.
A Presidential commission for ethics and against corruption
continued to function, although its work was not well defined or well
known by the general public. The office of the inspector general of the
judiciary, headed by the President of the Supreme Court, publicized
procedures for citizens to initiate complaints by telephone or the
Internet. That office terminated several lower-ranking judges for
improprieties.
In February President Fernandez issued a temporary decree, which
entered force on June 1, designed to increase transparency in
contracting, bidding, and procurement for public works. Despite
numerous limitations and escape clauses, civil society commentators
called the decree ``a step in the direction of better controlling the
mechanisms of governmental corruption.'' The decree remained in effect
until August 18, when it was supplanted by legislation addressing these
issues.
Judicial proceedings in three major bank fraud cases moved forward,
although doubts about the pace of progress remained. In February a
three-judge review panel voted two to one to uphold five criminal
indictments related to the 2003 collapse of Banco Intercontinental
(Baninter). Civil society commentators considered the trial, which
began in May, to be a major challenge to impunity; two of the principal
defendants, Baninter former President Ramon Baez Figueroa and economist
Luis Alvarez Renta, reportedly had strong ties within local political
circles. In August a judge delivered a guilty verdict against the
principal defendant in the 2003 collapse of Bancredito. An additional
case regarding the fraudulent 2003 collapse of Banco Mercantil was in
preliminary stages at year's end.
In September an appeals court upheld fraud and embezzlement
convictions for 10 defendants involved in a Mejia-era transportation
modernization program known as Plan Renove. The trial court originally
found that a number of former government and private sector
transportation officials defrauded the Government of approximately $60
million (1.8 billion pesos) through bribes, bidding irregularities, and
outright graft in the purchase of replacement vehicles for the
country's aging transport fleet.
The law provides for public access to government information, with
limits on the availability of public information only under specified
circumstances (such as to protect national security), and penalties of
up to six months to two years in prison and a five-year ban from
positions of public trust for government officials who obstruct access
to public information. A court may review the decision of an agency to
deny access to information. On November 29, Senator Francisco Dominguez
Brito, a former attorney general, publicly declared that the access to
information legislation was ineffective because it was under-used by
the citizenry.
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.
Principal local groups included the Dominican Human Rights
Committee, the National Human Rights Commission, and the Santo Domingo
Institute of Human Rights. There were also several smaller
organizations, both secular and religious, that addressed among other
things women's rights, labor issues, and the rights of Haitians.
The Government has not implemented a 2001 law mandating the
creation of a human rights ombudsman's office with authority over
public sector problems involving human rights, the environment, women's
issues, youth issues, and consumer protection.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Although the law prohibits discrimination based on race and gender,
such discrimination existed, and the Government seldom acknowledged its
existence or made efforts to combat it.
Women.--Domestic violence continued to be a serious problem. Under
the Law against Domestic Violence, the state can prosecute rape,
incest, sexual aggression, and other forms of domestic violence.
Penalties for these crimes range from one to 30 years in prison and
fines from approximately $20 to $7,000 (600 to 210,000 pesos). A local
NGO estimated that 24 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 49
had been victims of physical abuse.
In the National District, which includes a large section of Santo
Domingo with approximately 10 percent of the country's population, the
public prosecutor's office created a specialized Violence Prevention
and Attention Unit and 13 satellite offices around the city, where
victims of violence could file criminal complaints, obtain free legal
counsel and receive psychological and medical attention. Police were
instructed to forward all domestic violence and sexual assault cases to
these offices. Each office had professional psychologists on staff to
counsel victims of violence and to assess the threat of impending
danger associated with a complaint. Since July these offices had the
authority to issue temporary restraining orders immediately after
receiving complaints.
Also in the National District, in November authorities created a
special police unit to respond to complaints of domestic violence and
to enforce court orders in favor of battered women and children.
During the year the Violence Prevention and Attention Unit received
10,281 domestic violence complaints in the National District. This
number appeared to be growing: the second half of the year saw nearly
30 percent more complaints than were submitted in the first six months,
which may have reflected a growing awareness of the resources available
to victims.
The number of restraining orders these offices issued gradually
increased after July, and in the month of December, of the 922 domestic
violence and sexual assault complaints received, 30 percent prompted
restraining orders or orders for preventive arrest. Victim assistance
specialists in the National District reported satisfaction with the
cooperation they received from local law enforcement authorities,
especially after the creation of the specialized police unit in
November.
However, these resources were available only to those living in the
National District. Victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in
other parts of the country continued to suffer from a lack of resources
for victims and insufficient funding for police, investigators, and
prosecutors. Even so, the National District had a reputation for being
a laboratory for country-wide changes, and officials from the Violence
Prevention and Attention Unit said that plans were being devised to
extend its programs to other parts of the country.
The National Directorate for Assistance to Victims, created in
2005, coordinates efforts of official and nongovernmental institutions
that offer services to victims of violence. It opened three offices in
Santo Domingo and another three at locations around the country. These
offices not only accepted criminal complaints from victims of violence
throughout the country but also provided counseling and protection
services and, when necessary, referrals to medical or psychological
specialists.
The Attorney General's office and the Secretariat of Women, as well
as various NGOs, conducted outreach and training programs on domestic
violence and legal rights. In its October session, the IACHR held a
hearing on the situation of violence against women in the country.
The NGO Piedra Blanca operated a shelter for battered women, and
the Secretariat of Women supported operation of a center for victims of
domestic violence in Bani, where victims of abuse could make a report
to the police and receive counseling.
Rape was a serious and widely underreported problem. The penalties
for committing rape are 10 to 15 years in prison (or 10 to 20 years in
case of rape against a vulnerable person or under other egregious
circumstances) and a fine of approximately $3,300 to $6,600 (100,000 to
200,000 pesos). The state may prosecute a suspect for rape even if the
victim does not file charges, and rape victims may press charges
against a spouse. Victims often did not report cases of rape because of
fear of social stigma, as well as the perception that the police and
the judiciary would fail to provide redress; however, this appeared to
be changing, at least in the National District. In other parts of the
country, police were reluctant to handle rape cases and often
encouraged victims to seek assistance from NGOs.
Prostitution is legal, although there are some prohibitions against
sex with minors, and it is illegal for a third party to derive
financial gain from prostitution. However, the Government usually did
not enforce prostitution laws. Sex tourism remained a serious problem,
particularly in Las Terrenas, Sosua, and Boca Chica. Human rights
groups reported continuing prostitution in sugarcane work camps and
areas outside the capital. NGOs conducted programs on prostitution and
child sexual exploitation for hotel and industrial zone workers, male
and female prostitutes, and other high-risk groups. Trafficking in
women and children was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace, which was a
misdemeanor and carried a possible penalty of one year in prison and a
fine of up to $333 (10,000 pesos); however, union leaders reported that
the law was not enforced, and sexual harassment was a problem.
Although the law provides that women have the same legal status as
men, in practice women experienced discrimination. Traditionally, women
did not enjoy social and economic status or opportunity equal to those
of men, and men held most leadership positions in all sectors. In many
instances women were paid less than men in jobs of equal content and
requiring equal skills. Some employers reportedly gave pregnancy tests
to women before hiring them, as part of a required medical examination.
Union leaders reported that pregnant women often were not hired and
that female employees who became pregnant sometimes were fired. There
were no effective government programs to combat economic discrimination
against women.
Children.--The Government declared its commitment to children's
rights and welfare and tried to increase protection for children, with
emphasis on eliminating child labor. The Code for Minors established
the National Council for Children and Adolescents (CONANI) as a
noncabinet public agency to coordinate public policy to protect
children's human rights and to administer the code. While the law
stipulates that CONANI is to receive at least 2 percent of the national
budget and that a minimum of 5 percent of municipal government budgets
must be devoted to projects to benefit children, this requirement was
not met.
Education is free, universal, and compulsory for all minors through
the eighth grade, but legal mechanisms provide only for primary
schooling, which was interpreted as extending through the fourth grade.
Although the Ministry of Education reported a 97 percent enrollment
rate in grades one through eight in 2004, a government study estimated
that the average grade level achieved by children in public schools was
the fifth grade in rural areas and the sixth grade in urban areas. Many
children of Haitian descent and children of undocumented citizens
experienced difficulties gaining acceptance to school due to their lack
of documentation and irregular status (see section 5, National/Racial/
Ethnic Minorities).
Several government programs provided medical care for children in
public hospitals, but these programs, as well as all other medical
programs, faced severe budget limitations.
Abuse of children, including physical, sexual, and psychological
abuse, was a serious problem. Of the 10,281 domestic violence and
sexual assault complaints filed during the year in the National
District, nearly a quarter (2,434) involved allegations of child abuse.
CONANI asserted that three of every 10 children in Santo Domingo had
been sexually abused. Few such cases reached the courts, due to fear of
family embarrassment, lack of economic resources, or lack of knowledge
regarding available legal assistance. The Santo Domingo district
attorney's office reported that in 85 percent of abuse cases, the
accused was a person close to the child, such as a family member or
close family friend. The law provides for removal of a mistreated child
to a protective environment.
Local monitors believed that instances of child abuse were
underreported because of the social norm that such problems should be
dealt with inside the family. The law contains provisions concerning
child abuse, including physical and emotional mistreatment, sexual
exploitation, and child labor (see sections 5, Trafficking, and 6.d.).
The law provides penalties of between two and five years' incarceration
and a fine of three to five times the monthly minimum wage for persons
found guilty of abuse of a minor. The penalty is doubled if the abuse
is related to trafficking.
The Government's National Directorate for Assistance to Victims
coordinated efforts of official and nongovernmental organizations to
assist children who were victims of violence and abuse.
Trafficking and sexual exploitation of children within the country
were problems, particularly in popular tourist destinations (see
section 5, Trafficking). Adolescent girls and boys from poor families
sometimes were enticed into performing sexual acts by the promise of
food or clothing.
In July authorities filed charges against Ernesto Lisandro Santos
Disla, accused of operating a child pornography network over the
Internet from San Francisco de Macoris. In September police in Santo
Domingo raided a number of Internet cafes in search of child
pornography. At the request of the Attorney General, police continued
to close bars, nightclubs, and ``massage parlors'' used for child
prostitution and sexual exploitation of women.
Child labor was a serious problem in the informal sector of the
economy (see section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits trafficking in
persons, there were reports that men, women, and children were
trafficked to, from, and within the country.
The law includes penalties for traffickers of 15 to 20 years'
imprisonment and a fine of up to 175 times the monthly minimum wage.
The Code for Minors provides penalties for sexual abuse of children of
20 to 30 years' imprisonment and fines from 100 to 150 times the
minimum wage.
The Attorney General's antitrafficking unit coordinated the
investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases. Units at the
National Police, the Migration Directorate, and the Attorney General's
office targeted trafficking in persons, as did the interagency
Committee for the Protection of Migrant Women. The Migration
Directorate's antitrafficking department coordinated with the Attorney
General's office and the National Police to find and prosecute persons
dedicated to trafficking women for prostitution and commercial sexual
exploitation.
International groups estimated that between 30,000 and 50,000
Dominican women worked in prostitution around the world, a substantial
portion of whom were victims of trafficking. Principal destination
countries were in Europe, the Caribbean, and Latin America, and
included Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Costa Rica, Germany,
Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Panama, Spain, St. Maarten, and
Switzerland. Traffickers in the Caribbean maintained and in some cases
strengthened their networks. Women 18 to 25 years of age were at the
greatest risk of being trafficked. Many victims were uneducated single
mothers desperate to improve the living conditions of their children.
On November 10, authorities rescued six trafficked Venezuelans in
the Hotel Kay in Santo Domingo. The victims alleged that they had been
contracted under false pretenses but upon arrival were confined in the
hotel and forced to prostitute themselves. Authorities arrested and
confined in preventive custody two individuals in connection with the
case.
There were conflicting reports that sugarcane plantations around
the country had ceased the practice of transporting new undocumented
workers from Haiti. Such workers traditionally played a crucial role in
the sugar industry, but they were forced to live in conditions that
were described as modern-day slavery (see section 6.e.). The apparent
discontinuation of this practice was attributed to government
crackdowns on Haitian immigration, investment by private sugar
producers in mechanization, and the cessation of large-scale cane
harvesting on government-owned plantations. However, at year's end
there were allegations that some employers, specifically the Vicini
Corporation, had resumed the practice of importing undocumented workers
for the sugar fields.
NGOs estimated that there were hundreds of alien smuggling and
trafficking rings operating within the country. According to the NGO
Center for Integral Orientation and Investigation (COIN) and the
International Organization for Migration (IOM), trafficking
organizations were typically small groups. Individuals in the country
recruited the persons to be trafficked and obtained identification and
travel documents. Traffickers frequently met women through friends and
family; they promised some form of employment, obtained false or
legitimate documents for the women, and often retained their passports
after arrival in the destination country. Trafficking organizations
reportedly received $5,000 to $8,000 (150,000 to 240,000 pesos) for
trafficking a woman for purposes of prostitution.
Some elements within the tourist industry facilitated the sexual
exploitation of children. Particular problem areas were Boca Chica, Las
Terrenas, and Sosua.
The Government made some efforts to investigate, fire, and
prosecute public officials who facilitated, condoned, or were complicit
in trafficking activities or migrant smuggling. In June the Attorney
General suspended and later fired Maria Asuncion Santos, district
attorney for San Cristobal. The dismissal took place after one of her
subordinates was accused of involvement in a trafficking scheme that
lured citizens with false offers of employment in Spain.
At year's end 29 public officials, including a city mayor and an
assistant director of immigration, were in prison on charges of
conspiring to falsify official travel documents in order to smuggle
large numbers of persons (mostly women) to several European countries.
Authorities accused the officials, from a variety of government
agencies, of involvement in a trafficking network that accumulated
nearly $1.5 million (45 million pesos) over six months. The first
arrests were made in September 2005, but as further investigations
revealed more extensive involvement, arrests continued to be made
throughout the year.
In August authorities fired police Major Rafael Elpidio Fernandez
Garcia from his job and placed him and his wife in preventive detention
on trafficking charges. The suspects were accused of operating a
trafficking network between the country and Spain.
In other cases, government prosecutors appeared reluctant to pursue
criminal charges against public officials involved in trafficking. On
June 23, Colonel Juan Reyes Santana of the La Caleta firefighters was
arrested on suspicion of involvement in alien smuggling. According to
witness testimony, Reyes Santana collected $3,000 (90,000 pesos) each
from eight individuals in exchange for fraudulently securing them visas
to travel under the auspices of a firefighter training program.
Although authorities fired Reyes Santana from his job, as of year's end
they had declined to pursue criminal charges against him.
Human rights organizations alleged the involvement of some
diplomatic missions in organized trafficking operations. In August the
Haitian government launched an investigation into allegations that its
consulate in Barahona was linked to a network smuggling Chinese
nationals. Consulate supervisor Pierre Laud Lagrenade was suspended
from his duties, convicted in Haiti on charges of trafficking, and
sentenced to 15 months in prison.
NGOs alleged corruption among the military and migration officials
stationed at border posts and noted that these officials sometimes
facilitated the illegal transit of Haitian workers into the country.
There were also elements within the Migration Directorate and the
National Police that organized or facilitated the smuggling of aliens
through the international airports.
In January, 25 Haitian citizens died from asphyxiation in the back
of a truck while being smuggled from Haiti to Santiago. An
investigation by the public prosecutor resulted in criminal indictments
against 10 civilians and seven military officials accused of accepting
bribes in exchange for looking the other way.
Within the Attorney General's office, the Department of Alien
Smuggling and Trafficking in Persons secured further convictions
against human smugglers and traffickers. According to the IOM, there
were 11 convictions for trafficking-related offenses in the first 11
months of the year. The May conviction of Wilson Charles on charges of
trafficking in persons and child sexual exploitation resulted in a
sentence of 15 years in prison.
Authorities arrested five suspects on trafficking charges related
to a case in July involving 11 women promised work in Spain but
defrauded of their possessions and left abandoned in Italy, Turkey, and
Peru. The suspects remained in preventive detention in Najayo Prison
and awaited trial at year's end.
Since 2004 the Venezuelan embassy received multiple complaints from
trafficked Venezuelans victimized by a Dominican-Venezuelan company
named Literatura Universal. The embassy repeatedly communicated its
concerns about the problem to the foreign ministry and others, but as
of year's end it had not received a satisfactory response. The company
remained in operation and reportedly continued to traffic Venezuelans.
Some cases, especially those perceived to involve politically well-
connected suspects, continued to languish. A series of delays and
postponements plagued an early 2005 case against a group of Colombian
and Dominican traffickers, one of whom was a former leader of the
Dominican Communist Party and another of whom was a former employee of
Literatura Universal. After a series of delays, the accused were found
guilty in February of operating a criminal network that trafficked
young Colombian girls into the country to work as prostitutes. The
accused were allowed to go free pending sentencing hearings, which were
repeatedly postponed due to the failure of the accused to appear in
court. The convicted traffickers remained free at year's end.
The Government provided some assistance to trafficking victims both
overseas and in the country. The Secretariat of Foreign Affairs
developed a worldwide network of consular officers trained to recognize
and assist victims of trafficking. The Government continued working
with NGOs to develop job-training programs for returned women. When
trafficked individuals were repatriated from abroad, they were given a
control record that went into their official police record and were
interviewed by a migration inspector. According to COIN, most victims
were too embarrassed or frightened to seek legal action against
traffickers, and victims received limited or no psychological
counseling. COIN worked to develop relationships with embassies and
consulates that serve trafficked victims and with other NGOs in
destination countries that serve similar populations. There were
several church-run shelters that provided refuge to children who
escaped prostitution.
The Prevention Unit of the Department of Alien Smuggling and
Trafficking in Persons, in coordination with the Secretariats of Labor
and Education, conducted outreach training at schools around the
country. The courses warned children of the dangers of alien smuggling,
commercial sexual exploitation, and trafficking and were given to an
estimated 2,130 adolescents during the first eight months of the year.
COIN and the IOM counseled women planning to accept job offers in
Europe and the eastern Caribbean about immigration, health, and other
problems, including the dangers of trafficking, forced prostitution,
and forced domestic servitude. COIN administered the Center for Health
and Migration Information for Migrant Women, which carried out
community education campaigns in high-risk areas on these issues, as
well as citizenship documentation and legal work requirements. With IOM
support, COIN also provided a minimal level of clinical services and
adult education classes for returned women.
Persons With Disabilities.--Although the law prohibits
discrimination against persons with disabilities, these individuals
encountered discrimination in employment and in obtaining other
services. The law provides for physical access for persons with
disabilities to all new public and private buildings, but the
authorities did not enforce this law. The Dominican Association for
Rehabilitation, which had 17 branches around the country, received a
subsidy from the Ministry of Public Health to provide rehabilitation
assistance to persons with disabilities.
Discrimination against persons with mental illness was common, and
there were few resources dedicated to the mentally ill.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There was significant racial
prejudice against persons of dark complexion, and the Government did
little to address the problem. Acts of discrimination were common,
ranging from the petty to the more serious. In particular there were
strong prejudices against Haitians, which disadvantaged many Haitians
and Dominicans of Haitian ancestry, as well as other foreigners of dark
complexion (see section 1.d.). Few government officials acknowledged
the existence of this discrimination; others regularly and publicly
denied that it existed.
Darker-skinned persons sometimes reported being denied entry into
stores, nightclubs, and restaurants. In September a private security
officer shot and killed 22-year-old student Alexandra Nunez Rodriguez
at a popular Santo Domingo nightclub. The guard's employer catered to
upper-class youth and was known periodically to deny entry to
individuals of darker complexion. According to witness accounts, the
victim, who was unarmed, was shot when the security officer's refusal
of admission to her darker-skinned friend escalated into a heated
argument. Authorities immediately launched an investigation and
temporarily closed the club. At year's end they held the guard in
preventive detention pending his trial but allowed the club to reopen
in December.
Haitians continued to immigrate to the country in search of
economic opportunity, and many of them were repatriated. Migration
authorities and security forces conducted periodic sweeps throughout
the year to locate and repatriate undocumented persons of Haitian
descent, more than 26,000 of whom were deported during the year. This
figure was 20 percent greater than in 2005, despite President
Fernandez's mid-2005 promise to suspend so-called mass repatriations.
Some of those removed from the country reported that they were denied
the opportunity to demonstrate that they were legal residents, to make
arrangements for their families or property, or to express a credible
fear of persecution or torture if returned to Haiti. Migration
officials and security forces sometimes confiscated and destroyed
expellees' residency documents. In some cases expellees with
appropriate legal documents received permission to return.
Efforts by the authorities to stem the influx of illegal Haitian
immigrants made life more difficult for Haitians who were legally in
the country. Police regulations permit the confiscation of vehicles
offering transportation to illegal immigrants, a factor discouraging
taxi and bus drivers from picking up darker-skinned persons. In
roundups aimed at illegal immigrants, the authorities picked up and
expelled darker Dominicans as well as Haitians legally resident (see
section 1.d.).
The constitution provides that anyone born in the country is a
citizen, except those in transit or children born to diplomats.
Children born of Haitian parents in the country were regularly denied
registration as citizens under the transit exception, even when their
parents had resided in the country for long periods of time. In
November 2005 the Supreme Court ruled that ``in transit'' status
applied to children of undocumented migrants.
Haitian consulates reported that they were legally authorized to
register only those births that were declared within a year. Parents
declaring a birth were required to submit valid forms of identification
in order to file a claim. These requirements could not be met by a
significant number of Haitian descendents in the country, and thus
their children remained undocumented.
Government officials often took strong measures related to the
sensitive issue of citizenship for persons of Haitian descent. Some
provincial officials took steps to cancel birth certificates issued to
persons of Haitian descent. The Government stated that these
cancellations were made based on evidence the certificates had been
obtained fraudulently, but critics alleged that the revocations
arbitrarily targeted persons whose names sounded Haitian. In November
the foreign minister published a diplomatic note to a foreign
ambassador sharply attacking alleged comments by the ambassador in
favor of granting citizenship to the locally born children of Haitians
who lacked residency. In fact, the ambassador's public comments had
clearly been directed at the general problem that all children born of
foreigners without residency face: the lack of a legal means to
register birth, a key step in establishing identity (although not
necessarily citizenship).
In September 2005 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found
that the Government had violated the right to nationality of two young
Dominican girls of Haitian descent by denying them birth certificates.
A December 2005 press release quoted the foreign minister as saying
that even though the verdict against the country was unjust, the
country would pay as instructed by the court. The foreign minister
reaffirmed this in June. Despite these assurances, the Government
failed to comply with the ruling's provisions within the timeframe
ordered by the court.
At year's end there were some indications that the Government was
working to develop a system to issue birth certificates to the children
of nonresidents, a central component of the court's ruling. This
registration process would not confer nationality but would assist the
Government in meeting its legal obligation to register all children
born in the country.
Although a legal ordinance allows undocumented children to attend
school through the fifth grade, some school administrators denied
undocumented children access to school, particularly those who appeared
to be of Haitian ancestry. NGOs reported that undocumented Haitian
children were prevented from enrolling in school to a greater degree
than were similarly undocumented Dominican children.
When permitted to attend primary school, the children of poor
Haitian parents, like poor Dominican children in the same
circumstances, rarely progressed beyond the sixth grade.
The IOM estimated that approximately 650,000 Haitian immigrants--or
7.5 percent of the country's population--lived in shantytowns or
sugarcane work camps known as bateyes, harsh environments with limited
or no electricity, usually no running water, and no adequate schooling.
Many of these settlements were associated with sugar mills that had
been abandoned. Although some Haitians were brought to the country
specifically to work in sugarcane fields, many had no documentation.
Human rights NGOs, the Catholic Church, and activists described Haitian
living conditions in bateyes as modern-day slavery. In many bateyes, as
in many poor areas in other parts of the country, medical assistance
either was rudimentary or not readily available. Housing in the bateyes
was poor; many individuals slept in barracks on iron beds without
mattresses or on dirt floors. Many families of five or more shared
living quarters that measured as little as nine by 10 feet. Bathroom
facilities, where available, were generally unhygienic, and cooking
facilities were usually improvised. The availability of fresh food,
including fruits and vegetables, was severely limited. Clean water was
rarely available. Many batey residents, lacking documentation, felt
they had little choice but to remain in their communities, where they
felt relatively safe from the risks of deportation and harassment that
existed elsewhere in the country.
Private sector enterprises in the sugar sector, including the
Vicini Corporation, made improvements at some facilities during the
year.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Persons with HIV/AIDS,
particularly women, faced discrimination in the workplace and
elsewhere. An estimated 80,000 to 222,000 persons in the country were
infected with the disease. According to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty
International, workers in many industries faced obligatory HIV testing
in the workplace or when seeking medical care or medical insurance.
Workers or patients found to have the disease could be fired from their
jobs or denied adequate health care. Although the law prohibits the use
of HIV testing to screen employees or for medical services unrelated to
the disease, there were no known instances where this law was enforced,
despite reports that official complaints had been filed.
According to Amnesty International, HIV/AIDS activist Adonis
Polanco received a number of anonymous death threats throughout the
year.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the freedom to
organize labor unions, and all workers, except the military and the
police, were free to form and join unions of their choice. Organized
labor represented an estimated 8 percent of the work force. The law
calls for automatic recognition of a union if the Government has not
acted on its application within 30 days.
Although the law forbids companies to fire union organizers or
members, it was enforced inconsistently, and penalties were
insufficient to deter employers from violating worker rights. There
were reports of harassment and intimidation by employers in an effort
to prevent union activity, especially in the free trade zones (FTZs)
(see section 6.b.). The Dominican Federation of Free Trade Zone Workers
(FEDOTRAZONAS) reported incidents of antiunion activity at two of 13
production facilities belonging to apparel manufacturing firm Grupo M,
one of the largest private sector employers in the country. Company
management conducted a public campaign against union organizers and
affiliates, which allegedly included firings and salary reductions
targeting union members and the creation of a fraudulent rival union
favoring company policies. At year's end a decision on the legality of
this rival group remained pending.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Collective
bargaining is legal and must be used in firms in which a union has
gained the support of an absolute majority of the workers. Few
companies have collective bargaining pacts, and the International Labor
Organization (ILO) considered the requirements for collective
bargaining rights to be excessive and an impediment to collective
bargaining.
The law establishes a system of labor courts for dealing with
disputes. While cases made their way through the labor courts, the
process was often long and cases remained pending for several years.
Many participants reported that mediation facilitated by the
Secretariat of Labor was the most effective method for resolving
worker-company disputes.
The law provides for the right of most workers to strike (and for
private sector employers to lock out workers), but formal strikes were
not common. Formal requirements for a strike include the support of an
absolute majority of all company workers whether unionized or not, a
prior attempt to resolve the conflict through mediation, written
notification to the Ministry of Labor, and a 10-day waiting period
following notification before proceeding with the strike.
Government workers and essential public service personnel are not
allowed to strike. Government-employed physicians of the Dominican
Medical Association threatened to strike in midyear but cancelled their
plan following last-minute negotiations with the President's office.
A few labor unions represented a small number of Haitian workers,
who are covered by the Labor Code regardless of legal status. Various
NGOs reported that the majority of Haitian laborers in the sugar and
construction industries did not exercise their rights, fearing firing
or deportation.
The Labor Code applies in the 57 established FTZs, which employed
approximately 155,000 workers. According to the National Council of
Labor Unions, unions were active in only four companies in the FTZs.
Workplace regulations and their enforcement in the FTZs did not differ
from those in the country at large, although working conditions were
sometimes better and the pay was occasionally higher. Mandatory
overtime was a common practice, and it was sometimes enforced through
locked doors or loss of pay or employment for those who refused.
There were reports of widespread covert intimidation by employers
in the FTZs in an effort to prevent union activity (see section 6.a.).
Unions in the FTZs reported that their members hesitated to discuss
union activity at work, even during break time, for fear of losing
their jobs. Some FTZ companies were accused of discharging workers who
attempted to organize unions. The majority of the unions in the FTZs
were affiliated with the National Federation of Free Trade Zone Workers
(FENATRAZONAS) or FEDOTRAZONAS. FEDOTRAZONAS estimated that fewer than
10 percent of the workers in the FTZs were unionized. Many of the major
manufacturers in the FTZs had voluntary codes of conduct that included
worker rights protection clauses generally consistent with the ILO
Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. However,
workers were not always aware of such codes or of the principles they
contained.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, and there no longer were reports that it
occurred. In previous years managers regularly prohibited workers on
sugarcane plantations from leaving during the harvest, but it appeared
that this was no longer the case (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
While the law prohibits employment of children younger than 14 years of
age and places restrictions on the employment of children under the age
of 16, child labor was a serious problem. The Central Bank's Statistics
Department estimated that throughout the first half of the year more
than 157,000 children, including 15.7 percent of children between the
ages of 14 and 17, engaged in some sort of work, although bank
officials conceded that the actual proportion of child laborers was
much higher than these statistics indicated. Regulations limited
working hours of those between the ages of 14 and 16 to six hours per
day, prohibited employment of those under the age of 18 in hazardous
occupations or in establishments serving alcohol, and limited nighttime
work. Fines and legal sanctions may be applied to firms employing
underage children. While the Government effectively enforced these
regulations in the formal sector, child labor was largely a problem in
the informal sector beyond regulatory reach.
The high level of overall unemployment, an insufficient social
safety net, and the lack of educational or recreational alternatives
created pressures on families to allow or encourage children to earn
supplemental income. According to the ILO, 90 percent of child laborers
began working before the age of 14. Child labor took place primarily in
the informal economy, small businesses, private households, and
agriculture. Children often accompanied their parents to work in
agricultural fields, in part because parents had nowhere else to leave
their children, since schools in the countryside were usually in
session only for a few hours a day. The commercial sexual exploitation
of children remained a problem, especially in popular tourist
destinations (see section 5, Trafficking).
There was some inconclusive evidence that poor Haitian families
arranged for Dominican families to ``adopt'' and employ their children,
in hopes of assuring a more promising future for them. The adoptive
parents were alleged to register the child as their own. In exchange
the birth parents received monetary payment or a supply of clothes and
food. In many cases adoptive parents were said not to treat the adopted
children as full family members, expecting them to work in the
households or family businesses rather than to attend school. This was
alleged to result in a kind of indentured servitude for children and
adolescents.
The Ministry of Labor and other government institutions, as well as
organizations from civil society, collaborated with the ILO's Program
for the Elimination of Child Labor and other international labor rights
organizations to continue programs combating child labor. These
included programs to eliminate the employment of children in hazardous
agriculture in the rice-growing region around San Francisco de Macoris
and the agricultural provinces of Constanza, San Juan de la Maguana,
and Barahona. The effort also included a program to combat the
commercial sexual exploitation of minors in popular tourist
destinations such as Boca Chica, Sosua, and Las Terrenas. These
programs provided psychological support and medical assistance,
returned children to classrooms, and reunited children with their
families and communities whenever possible. The programs also provided
legal assistance to child victims in order to arrest and convict
exploiters.
According to the Secretariat of Labor, approximately 28,000
children either actively working or at risk of exploitation benefited
from child labor prevention and withdrawal programs. The National
Steering Committee against Child Labor adopted a National Strategic
Plan to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor. This plan set
objectives, identified priorities, and assigned responsibilities so
that exploitive labor could be efficiently tackled and the number of
child laborers significantly reduced by 2016.
The Ministries of Labor and Education continued to support the
Combating Child Labor through Education program, which established
several camps that hosted large numbers of children and adolescents.
There were no confirmed reports of forced child labor in the formal
sector.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The executive branch sets
minimum wage levels for public workers, and the National Salary
Committee sets levels for the private sector, with the exception of
workers in the FTZs and the sugar, construction, hotel, and shoe
manufacturing industries. The minimum monthly salary was approximately
$139 (4,450 pesos) in the FTZs and $200 (6,400 pesos) outside the FTZs.
The minimum wage for the public sector was approximately $81 (2,600
pesos) per month. The daily minimum wage for farm workers covered by
minimum wage regulations was approximately $4.00 (130 pesos), based on
a 10-hour day. The national minimum wage did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family.
The law establishes a standard work period of 44 hours per week and
stipulates that all workers are entitled to 36 hours of uninterrupted
rest each week. The law provides for premium pay for overtime, which
was mandatory at some firms in the FTZs.
On sugar plantations, cane cutters usually were paid by the weight
of cane cut rather than the hours worked. Observers suspected fraud at
some weighing stations and noted that employers sometimes did not
provide trucks or carts to transport the newly cut cane at the end of
the workday, causing workers to receive lower compensation because the
cane dried out overnight and weighed less. The amount of cane a worker
could cut varied, but many cane cutters earned less than $2.50 (75
pesos) per day.
Conditions for agricultural workers were poor, particularly in the
sugar industry. Most bateyes lacked schools, medical facilities,
running water, and sewage systems and had high rates of disease.
Company-provided housing was sub-standard (see section 5). Most
sugarcane workers were Haitian or of Haitian descent. In some bateyes,
employers withheld a portion of wages to ensure that workers returned
to the fields for the next season's harvest. Sugarcane workers often
did not receive medical services or pensions due them even though
deductions were taken from their pay.
The Diocese of San Pedro de Macoris continued to promote worker
rights in the bateyes and to seek a work contract for cane workers.
Officials of the association of sugar industries criticized the priest
heading this effort, who was abruptly recalled and departed the country
in October. Media reports indicated that the diocese abandoned the many
projects the priest had managed on behalf of batey residents.
The Dominican Social Security Institute (IDSS) sets workplace
safety and health conditions. Both the IDSS and the Ministry of Labor
had a small corps of inspectors charged with enforcing standards. The
Secretariat of Labor had 185 active inspectors. Inspector positions
customarily were filled through political patronage, and inspectors
typically took bribes from businesses. Workers complained that
inspectors were not trained and did not respond to health and safety
complaints. While the law requires that employers provide a safe
working environment, in practice workers could not remove themselves
from hazardous working situations without losing their jobs.
__________
ECUADOR
Ecuador is a constitutional republic with a population of
approximately 13.5 million. Vice President Alfredo Palacio assumed the
presidency in April 2005 after the National Congress removed his
predecessor, and he will complete the previous President's term in
January 2007. On October 15, general elections were held, resulting in
a Presidential runoff between Alvaro Noboa and Rafael Correa. On
November 26, Correa won the presidency in elections that the
Organization of American States (OAS) considered generally free and
fair. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of
the security forces.
While the Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, there continued to be serious problems in the following
areas: isolated unlawful killings and use of excessive force by
security forces; occasional torture, abuse, and killing of suspects and
prisoners by security forces, sometimes with impunity; poor prison
conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; a high number of pretrial
detainees; and corruption and denial of due process within the judicial
system. Members of the National Police were accused of murder,
attempted murder, rape, extortion, kidnappings, and alien smuggling.
Societal problems continued, such as violence against women;
discrimination against women, indigenous people, Afro-Ecuadorians, and
homosexuals; trafficking in persons and sexual exploitation of minors;
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.--Although the
Government or its agents did not commit any politically motivated
killings, there continued to be credible reports that security forces
used excessive force and committed numerous unlawful killings.
In April a stray bullet that came from a police officer's gun
killed a student protester in Cuenca. The authorities denied
responsibility (see section 2.b.).
On June 22, Miguel Angel Chiran, an off-duty police officer,
allegedly shot and killed taxi driver Eulogio Tabango Quishpe.
Witnesses suspected that the shooting took place as Chiran tried to
steal the taxi and the driver resisted. On June 26, following a
hearing, the Police Disciplinary Tribunal fired the police officer,
although he remained in jail pending a possible trial.
On August 26, two military officers reportedly shot to death an
indigenous medicine man in Puyo, Pastaza Province, in the belief that
the victim had cast a spell (see section 2.c.).
A police court case against police officer Freddy Abel Rizzo
Barzola continued in connection with the August 2005 killing of
detainees Washington Enrique Vilela Barra and Luis Antonio Cevallos
Barre, whose bodies were found the day after their arrest. In November
2005, authorities arrested a second police officer implicated in the
killing, and a police prosecutor's investigation continued at year's
end.
In September 2005, military officers on patrol in Sucumbios
Province reportedly opened fire with no warning on a vehicle, killing
two occupants. The district attorney charged four army officers in the
case: Angel Chuya, Carlos Badillo, Benito Tangamashi, and Jorge Zamora.
Military authorities detained the four officers, and the Sucumbios
attorney general initiated a formal investigation that continued at
year's end.
There were no developments in the 2004 police killing of Luis
Alfonso Ortiz Rodriguez. The police officer, who killed Ortiz while
investigating a domestic dispute, remained in prison pending an
investigation to determine whether the killing was accidental.
There were no new developments in the 2004 investigation of the
alleged police killing of Erik Fabricio Lopez Yanez. The accused police
officer and his brother remained in jail pending the outcome of the
investigation.
In contrast with 2005, there were no reports that prison guards
killed inmates during the year.
There were cases of mob violence against suspected criminals, which
occurred particularly in indigenous communities and poor neighborhoods
of major cities, where there was little police presence (see section
1.e.). However, the Ecumenical Human Rights Commission (CEDHU) reported
that there were fewer incidents of mob violence than in 2005.
On June 13, residents in the rural agricultural community of El
Carmen, Manabi Province, tried to lynch two persons suspected of
attempting to kidnap a young girl. Residents had reported the incident
to police who failed to apprehend the suspects.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
Criminal kidnapping for profit continued to be a problem in
selected regions of the country. There were also reports of extortion
and threats of kidnapping of ranchers, farmers, and businessmen along
the northern border with Colombia. During the year police registered 41
kidnapping cases and 18 related arrests as well as 25 ``express
kidnappings'' (in which a person is driven around and forced to make
automatic withdrawals of personal funds) with seven related arrests.
On May 26, a group of seven to 10 individuals, including a police
officer, kidnapped Jose Stisin Barriga on the outskirts of Quito. The
family was unable to comply with the three-million-dollar ransom
request, and after a two-month police investigation, Stisin's body was
recovered. The authorities arrested the officer and two other suspects,
one of whom acknowledged having ties to Colombia's Revolutionary Armed
Forces, a terrorist group. The police officer, Darwin Pozo, was fired,
tried and convicted in civil court, and sentenced to eight years'
imprisonment.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--While the constitution and laws prohibit torture and
similar forms of intimidation and punishment, some police continued to
torture and abuse suspects and prisoners, often with impunity.
The Government took no action on a November 2005 finding by the UN
Committee Against Torture that the country's laws on torture do not
meet standards set by the UN Convention Against Torture. The committee
had noted that the definition of torture in the criminal code, which
criminalizes ``corporal torment'' but not psychological torture, does
not correspond to the definition outlined in the convention. Torturers
often were penalized with a fine, rather than imprisonment.
Through August CEDHU registered alleged cases of torture by police
forces involving approximately 30 victims. In most cases the police
appeared to have abused such persons during investigations of ordinary
street crime, antigovernment demonstrations, or because of a personal
grudge. The victims reported that the security forces beat them,
punching and kicking different parts of their body. During the night
while sleeping on the floor without blankets, the victims also reported
being awakened and showered with cold water, forced to stand for long
periods while blindfolded, and made to kneel for hours while security
forces stepped on their legs. To hide any evidence of bruising, the
victims said security forces would either pad their bodies or cover
with cloth the stick with which they were beaten.
On January 23, Quito judicial police arrested a group of students
suspected of participating in street demonstrations protesting the
implementation of the Government's student identification program.
According to one of those arrested, human rights activist Victor Hugo
Salazar, the police separated the students into two groups and took one
group to an area reserved for those deemed to have committed serious
crimes. Police allegedly stripped members of the group, showered them
with cold water, then kicked, punched, and beat them with a broomstick.
The students alleged that they were then taken to an interrogation room
and beaten. The police also allegedly used a thick stick inscribed with
the words ``human rights'' to beat the students, as they taunted ``Here
are your human rights.'' The police, who later released the students,
confirmed that the students were detained but denied any mistreatment
and did not conduct any investigation.
According to CEDHU, in January two police officers in Quito stopped
a transvestite pedestrian, Jorge Tamayo, and insulted him, later
sprayed him with tear gas, beat him with a stick full of nails, then
took him to jail where he was hosed with water to wash away the blood
and beaten again. The police refused Tamayo's request to be sent to a
hospital for his injuries and continued the beatings, threatening to
kill him; finally they released him. In both March and April, police
officers accosted and again beat Tamayo and his partner and took some
of their belongings. The police split Tamayo's lip and inflicted head
injuries. Police also beat Tamayo's partner and took some of their
belongings. After a police investigation, the victims were called in to
identify the two alleged suspects; however, the victims never appeared,
and the investigation was closed.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions in prisons and
detention centers generally were poor and tended to be worse in the
tropical coastal areas than in the temperate highlands. In June the
Government declared a 70-day state of emergency covering the country's
34 jails and detention centers to address infrastructure, staffing, and
funding issues in the prisons. The National Office for Social
Rehabilitation (DNRS) reported that the Government had disbursed only
2.5 million dollars out of a proposed eight million dollars to pay jail
guards' unpaid wages and to improve the infrastructure at jails in
Quito and Guayaquil. Overcrowding was a chronic problem in most
facilities. According to the Attorney General's office, as of June,
15,125 prisoners nationwide were held in facilities built to hold
7,463. A number of prisons experienced serious outbreaks of disease,
and medical care often was inadequate. The daily allocation for prison
rations was one dollar per inmate; prisoners often supplemented these
rations by buying their own food. Prisoners in various centers
threatened to strike during the year, citing overcrowding, low budgets,
and problems with rehabilitation and social reintegration programs.
The DNRS reported that through December, 30 prisoners died: 14 from
illness, five from serious injury, and five from unknown causes; six
were suicides. On January 21, Pablo Daniel Sanchez Altamirano died
after being held for over a week by the Judicial Police. While police
sources indicated that Sanchez had been injured before his arrest,
human rights sources claimed that more rapid medical attention might
have saved his life.
In September and December 2005, unknown assailants killed two
guards suspected of killing four prison inmates in September 2005.
Authorities suspected that the head of a prison gang ordered the
killings.
Conditions were notably better in the women's prison in Quito than
in men's facilities. Approximately 325 children lived in prison with
their mothers at year's end. Pretrial detainees were held with
convicted prisoners. According to CEDHU, male guards are responsible
for guarding female inmates, and female inmates reported being beaten
by male guards who accused them of trying to escape. The law stipulates
that pregnant women cannot be jailed in prison facilities, yet many
were jailed rather than being confined to their homes.
Although in most instances the Government permitted prison visits
by independent human rights observers, authorities occasionally did not
permit human rights observers to visit prisoners who had been placed in
isolated cells after they allegedly had been beaten.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--While the constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, the UN's Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention noted on February 22 that provisions in the Criminal
Procedure Code, the penal code, and some regulations adopted by central
or provincial authorities ``undermine the guarantees and protection
offered.'' The UN working group cited two laws of particular concern:
one imposes an obligation on judges to order detention for persons
awaiting trial, i.e., ``preventive detention,'' which in practice
created a situation in which thousands of persons were detained for
longer periods than the constitution allows, often years longer, thus
violating their right to be tried within a reasonable time. The second
measure abolishes sentence reductions, which led to a large number of
persons serving lengthy sentences for minor offenses. On September 26,
the Constitutional Court found the ``preventive detention'' provision
unconstitutional, but prisoners were not released.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police are
under the authority of the Ministry of government. National Police
effectiveness was impaired by corruption, poor hiring procedures, and
insufficient training, supervision, and resources. In the state of
Guayas, 21 police recruits reportedly ``cleaned'' their criminal
convictions. Through July, 60 recruits had been convicted of crimes
committed after becoming recruits or faced charges; only four of the 60
had graduated from training.
On November 11, four police officers escorted Oscar Caranqui, a
jailed narcotics trafficker out of jail for a visit to an entertainment
club. Caranqui, who was wearing a police uniform lent to him by one of
the officers, declared at a hearing that the November 11 excursion was
his eighth such outing and revealed that seven other inmates enjoyed
similar privileges. The police officers who accompanied Caranqui were
under investigation at year's end.
In November President Palacio ordered the restructuring of the
National Police and directed top police officials to punish those
responsible for corruption.
Some municipalities, such as Quito and Guayaquil, have their own
metropolitan police forces in addition to the National Police. A police
internal affairs office investigates complaints against police officers
and can refer cases to the police courts. Nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) claimed that members of the Quito and Guayaquil metropolitan
police occasionally used excessive force. Police corruption was
sometimes a problem. An internal affairs investigation of charges that
the former National Police director facilitated alien smuggling
concluded without formal charges.
The National Police contracted with NGOs to provide human rights
training. A 2006 Amnesty International report again criticized the use
of the police court system, citing the UN Committee against Torture's
concern that complaints of human rights violations by the security
forces continued to be tried in police and military courts, which were
neither independent nor impartial.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires authorities to issue
specific written arrest orders within 24 hours of detention, and
authorities must charge the suspect with a specific criminal offense
within 24 hours of arrest. Within 24 hours of arrest, detained persons
may challenge the legality of their detention by habeas corpus petition
to the senior elected official in the locality where detention takes
place, usually the mayor; however, few such petitions were made in
practice.
In the case of an illegal detention, mayors have the right to
release the detainee, based solely on procedural issues under the
habeas corpus mechanism. Otherwise, a prisoner may be released only by
court order. In some cases detainees who are unaware of this provision,
or who do not have the funds to hire a lawyer, may remain in prison for
an extended period without being tried. Bail is allowed only in the
case of less serious crimes, those punishable with ``correctional
imprisonment,'' and is prohibited for more serious crimes involving
narcotics and other major offenses requiring long-term incarceration
(offenses that ``affect or put at risk'' the public, punishable by
three to 35 years' imprisonment). According to government data as of
June, 66 percent of detainees in jail had not been sentenced.
Although the law entitles detainees to prompt access to lawyers and
family members, there were delays depending on the circumstances and
officials' willingness to enforce the law; alleged narcotics
traffickers commonly waited 24 to 48 hours for these visits. Detainees
with sufficient resources often bribed prison officials to facilitate
access.
Although the law prohibits incommunicado detention, human rights
organizations continued to report occasional violations. Even when
police obtained a written arrest order, authorities charged with
determining the validity of detention often allowed frivolous charges
to be brought, either because they were overworked or because the
accuser bribed them. The system frequently was used as a means of
harassment in civil cases in which one party sought to have the other
arrested on criminal charges.
Investigative detention up to and including trial is legal if a
judge determines that it is necessary and if evidence that a crime has
been committed is presented. The law limits immediate detention to 24
hours for in flagrante crimes or to allow for investigative detention
to begin. If the investigation report is detrimental, the judge may
order preventive detention. Preventive detention is limited to six
months for minor offenses and 12 months for major offenses. However,
the law permits prisoners to be held for an indefinite period after
indictments have been issued but before they have been convicted or
sentenced. The majority of the accused remained in prison during the
investigation phase. More than 60 percent of the detainees in jail had
not been sentenced, and approximately 10 to 15 percent had been tried
but not sentenced.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--While the constitution provides
for an independent judiciary, in practice the judiciary was at times
susceptible to outside pressure and corruption. The media reported
extensively on the susceptibility of the judiciary to bribes for
favorable judicial decisions and resolution of legal cases and on
judges parceling out cases to outside lawyers who wrote judicial
sentences on cases before the court and sent them back to the presiding
judge for signature. CEDHU further asserted that judges occasionally
reached decisions based on media influence or political and economic
pressures.
In September a former congressman involved in litigation before the
Supreme Court accused three justices of soliciting a $500,000 bribe to
secure a favorable ruling. The three judges were expelled from the
court, and at year's end the case remained under investigation by the
Office of the Attorney General.
The judiciary consists of the Supreme Court, superior circuit
courts, other courts, and tribunals that hear cases in accordance with
the constitution and other laws, and the Judicial Council, which is
charged with administering the court system and disciplining judges.
There also are military and police tribunals that have the same status
as circuit courts, as well as criminal, provincial, and cantonal
(county) courts. The Supreme Court supervises the selection by open
competition of all appellate judges.
A decision by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on a
February 2005 appeal brought by 27 justices of the Supreme Court who
were replaced by Congress in 2004 remained pending at year's end.
Trial Procedures.--Despite ongoing efforts to modernize the court
system, the judiciary continued to operate slowly and inconsistently.
There were lengthy delays before most cases came to trial. Judges
reportedly rendered decisions more quickly or more slowly as a result
of political pressure or, in some cases, the payment of bribes. The
failures of the justice system contributed to cases in which
communities took the law into their own hands, such as mob violence
against suspected criminals (see section 1.a.).
There are no juries in the justice system. Defendants are presumed
innocent until proven guilty and have the right to a public trial,
defense attorneys, and appeal. They may present evidence, refuse to
testify against themselves, and confront and cross-examine witnesses.
Although a public defender system exists, in practice only 31 attorneys
were available to defend the large number of impoverished suspects
throughout the country.
Civil society groups, lawyers' associations, universities, and
foreign donors sought to support vulnerable groups of the population
that did not have access to legal defense. From January to September,
foreign donor assistance funded legal counseling and defense services
for 2,518 persons from vulnerable groups of the population (especially
poor prisoners and women) in seven cities.
A recent evaluation the local NGO Fundacion Esquel conducted in
three cities that account for 60 percent of the country's criminal
cases indicated that, despite some advances in the application of the
accusatory justice system, severe limitations remained. The study
identified a particular need for improvements in the public defender
system, better prosecutor-police coordination, and implementation of a
national program to protect victims and witnesses.
The regular court system tries most nonmilitary defendants,
although some indigenous groups try members independently for
violations of tribal rules. The law permits police or military courts
to try police officers and military defendants in closed sessions in
accordance with the respective military and police court martial
manuals. Only the Supreme Court may try cases involving flag-rank
officers. Despite a constitutional provision that civilian courts have
jurisdiction over police or military officers charged with criminal
offenses, these officers are often tried in police or military courts.
The police court often did not pursue cases or announce verdicts and
punishments, reinforcing the impression that police were immune from
prosecution. While the constitution places both police and military
justice under the regular judicial system, the systems remained
separate.
Although the law recognizes indigenous communities' right to
exercise their own system of justice based on their traditions and
customs, it does not specify its implementation. This parallel system
raised questions of both jurisdiction and conformity to the right to a
fair trial.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Civilian courts and the
Administrative Conflicts Tribunal, generally considered independent and
impartial, handle lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, human
rights violations. However, civilian lawsuits seeking damages for
alleged wrongs by the state were rarely filed since such suits were
time consuming and difficult to prosecute, with judges taking up to a
decade to rule on the merits.
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.
Although wiretapping by the national police to investigate crimes
is legal with a court order, there is no specific procedural guidance
for obtaining such approval.
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 and a largely
democratic political system combined to promote freedom of speech and
of the press. There were no cases of public figures bringing criminal
charges against journalists during the year. The independent media were
active and expressed a wide variety of views without restriction.
While there were no reports of officials using libel laws to
suppress criticism of political or other leaders, in June Ignacio
Alvarez, the OAS special rapporteur for freedom of expression in the
Americas, in June called on the Government to review legislation that
constituted ``insult laws.'' Other respected NGOs supported Alvarez's
comments.
In February two journalists were killed within a 24-hour period.
The Inter-American Press Association and other press freedom NGOs
called on authorities to investigate whether the killings were related
to the victims' journalistic activities. The authorities claimed that
the deaths were most likely related to gang violence, and there were no
arrests of suspected perpetrators.
On several occasions the Government declared emergencies,
suspending civil liberties in specific regions. For example, in
February the Government declared a state of emergency in Napo Province
during a regional strike that paralyzed the export of crude oil. The
order suspended constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and of
expression.
On February 22, in the city of Esmeraldas, the Popular Democratic
Movement organized a protest march led by the mayor and the prefect,
who were from the same political party; some 4,000 persons protested
against the media while the mayor and prefect verbally insulted news
organizations. The Attorney General's Office investigated four
individuals rumored to have been hired by the mayor's office to
distribute flyers denouncing local media and their owners.
A superior court decision remained pending in the January 2005 case
against University Leftist Revolutionary Front activists who attacked
former vice President Leon Roldos Aguilera while he was giving a speech
at the Central University.
After a preliminary investigation, the case of a February 2005
dynamite attack on the Radio Canela radio station in Macas, Morona
Santiago Province, was closed in November 2005.
In January a judge dismissed all charges against members of a pro-
Gutierrez movement who invaded and vandalized the offices of the NGO
Citizen Participation in March 2005.
On March 3, Quito's Superior Court dismissed sedition charges
against former President Gutierrez and ordered his release from prison.
The charges stemmed from statements the ex-President made while abroad
claiming to be the country's legitimate leader.
Economic considerations influenced elements of the media who tended
to reflect the narrow, regional interests of their owners. Business and
private interest pressures on the media sometimes constrained freedom
of the press.
The 2004 request by then President Gutierrez for a formal inquiry
into allegations by a prominent radio director that Gutierrez accepted
money from a Colombian guerrilla group did not result in any further
investigation.
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 peaceful assembly,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice; however,
security forces used force and tear gas to quell some violent
demonstrations, resulting in several injuries. Public rallies require
prior government permits, which generally were granted, although
exceptions occurred.
Through its state of emergency decrees, the Government at times
restricted popular demonstrations and freedom of speech by arresting
and bringing civilian demonstrators before military tribunals and
sentencing them to between six and seven years in prison.
President Palacio on several occasions during the year quelled
disruptive protests. In January a Presidential decree issued to stop
street protests against local authorities suspended the right to
assembly in the coastal city of Chone, Manabi Province, for up to 90
days.
Indigenous demonstrations, led by the Confederation of Indigenous
Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), took place in February and March.
The Government announced it would use force, if necessary, to stop the
demonstrations, and CEDHU reported that military and police forces use
of tear gas and batons against many demonstrators caused serious
injuries.
In March a tear gas canister fired by police in Pichincha Province
struck protester Jose Alberto Cabascango, causing the loss of an eye;
other demonstrators suffered neck, nose, and head injuries. In the city
of Cayambe, the armed forces surrounded the Radio Intipacha station and
detained announcers William Ramos and Julio Charro for reporting on
demonstrations in Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Imbabura, Canar and sections of
Pichincha provinces. The next day the armed forces forcibly entered the
radio station's premises and ordered the playing of music in place of
regular programming.
In April a stray bullet killed student protester Jhonny Montesdeoca
in Cuenca. Although an investigation determined the bullet came from a
police officer's gun, the authorities denied any police involvement and
alleged that bank guards were responsible for the shooting. Bank
representatives disputed these accounts and stated that bank guards
only fired their guns in the air. No further details were available.
On September 6, residents of Guayaquil demonstrated in the center
of the city to demand wider access to the city's metrobus system.
National Police forces dispersed the demonstrators, many of whom were
elderly, women, and children, with physical force including the use of
tear gas. Members of the media covering the demonstrations were also
affected by the police force's actions. By contrast, a similar type of
demonstration supporting the city's metrobus system and the mayor of
Guayaquil received police protection (see sections 2.a., 2.b., and
6.a.).
There were no further developments in the investigation relating to
the March 2005 police actions to suppress a protest at the Jorge
Mantilla Ortega School in Quito, which resulted in serious injuries to
a student.
An investigation continued in the April 2005 case of Chilean
journalist Julio Garcia Romero, who had a heart attack after being
exposed to tear gas while covering a demonstration.
There were no new developments in the 2004 case in which the
military shot four participants (one of whom later died) in a
demonstration by indigenous people (see sections 1.a. and 5). The case,
according to the military prosecutor, remained under investigation.
Protesters often blocked roads. Security forces generally
intervened in such demonstrations only when there was violence against
bystanders or destruction of property.
Freedom of Association.--The law 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.
The Government requires religious groups to be licensed or
registered if they engage in proselytizing activity. Religious
organizations that do not engage in such activity may still choose to
register to obtain a legal identity, which is useful when entering into
contracts. Any religious organization wishing to register with the
Government must possess a charter and be in nonprofit status, include
all names used by the group (to ensure that names previously registered
are not used without their permission), and provide signatures of at
least 15 members. In addition, groups must file a registration petition
with the Ministry of government, using a licensed attorney, and pay a
$100 registration fee.
The press reported that on August 26, two military officers shot to
death a shaman (indigenous medicine man) in Puyo, Pastaza Province. One
of the officers reportedly believed the shaman had used a ``powerful
stone'' to cast a spell on his wife and asked the shaman for the stone
to cure her. Later that evening, the officers returned, escorted the
shaman and two of his sons to a river, and allegedly fired several
shots that killed the shaman and injured one of his sons. Both officers
remained under arrest. Press reports added that at least nine shamans
have been killed in the past 10 years in the same area.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The country has a small Jewish
population. During the year there were no reports of societal abuses or
discrimination against members of religious groups, including 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. Protesters often
blocked roads (see section 2.b.). Men must show proof of having
completed military service or pay a fine to leave the country.
The law prohibits forced exile, and 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. The Government granted refugee status or asylum. The
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) also provided
temporary protection to individuals who may not qualify as refugees
under the 1951 Convention/1967 Protocol. The Government cooperated with
the UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees
and asylum seekers.
The Government reported that through September it had received
5,779 applications for refugee status. Approximately 2,600 cases from
this and preceding years were pending. Rejected applicants have a legal
right to appeal and after appeals are exhausted, they have 30 days to
put their affairs in order and leave the country. Both UNHCR and the
Government reported difficulty dealing with the number of applicants
and appeals.
Approximately 97 percent of refugee applicants were Colombians. A
small but rising percentage of applicants were Peruvians; however, both
the UNHCR and government reported that the vast majority of these
applicants were actually economic migrants. Most Colombian refugees
were poor farmers or small businessmen fleeing fighting in Colombia.
The law allows persons granted refugee status to work. The
identification card issued to asylum seekers explicitly states that
bearers have the right to work, health care, and an education. The
Government reported that it has undertaken a campaign to educate local
officials on refugee rights. UNHCR officials noted that growing anti-
Colombian sentiment discouraged many Colombian refugees from formally
seeking asylum. The UNHCR began training police officials to refer such
cases to the Foreign Ministry.
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 April 2005 following
large-scale protests in Quito and the public withdrawal of support by
the military and the National Police leadership, Congress voted to
remove President Gutierrez, who had been democratically elected in
2002. Vice President Alfredo Palacio assumed the presidency to finish
Gutierrez's term. First-round Presidential elections on October 15
resulted in a runoff between Alvaro Noboa and Rafael Correa. On
November 26, in an election considered generally free and fair, Correa
won the runoff; his inauguration was scheduled for January 15, 2007.
The OAS deployed electoral observation missions for both the first-
round and runoff elections; after the second round, the mission ``took
place in an atmosphere of calm, and voters were able to freely exercise
their franchise.''
On October 15, 26 women, four indigenous persons, and one Afro-
Ecuadorian were elected to the 100-seat Congress. There were two women
but no members of ethnic minorities among the 31 Supreme Court members.
President-elect Correa named eight women, one Afro-Ecuadorian, and one
indigenous person to his cabinet to take office on January 15, 2007.
The law requires that the percentage of female candidates increase
in each election until it reached 50 percent in 2008 (with 45 percent
specified for the 2006 election). Some political parties met this
mandate by listing women as alternates, including spouses of party
leaders, and alternated multiple male candidates at the top of the list
followed by an equal number of women. Legal challenges to this practice
have been unsuccessful.
In 2005 the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) barred former
President Gutierrez from running for political office claiming that he
violated campaign financing laws during his 2002 Presidential campaign.
In July the Constitutional Court upheld the TSE ruling that Gutierrez
could not run for public office at any level until 2008.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
public perception of corruption in all areas of the Government. The NGO
Transparency International reported in its 2006 Corruption Perceptions
Index that corruption continued to be a ``severe'' problem, worsening
from the previous year.
An investigation begun in August 2005 of advisers to President
Palacio who allegedly forged the President's signature on documents
granting government positions resulted in dismissal of a military aide
from the army; a second adviser's case remained pending in the criminal
court.
The 2004 case involving the national police chief, several other
police officials, and members of the army accused of collaborating with
alien smugglers ended with no charges filed against any suspects.
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, investigating and publishing
their findings on human rights cases. Government officials cooperated
with the groups but often did not act on their views.
There is an office of the ombudsman to focus on human rights
problems; however, some observers criticized its lack of independence
in practice. The office had adequate resources but was not considered
effective on human rights issues.
The Government continued to implement various aspects of the
National Human Rights Plan, including human rights training for the
Congress, seminars, publication of documents, and a contingency plan
for refugees. Several prominent human rights NGOs publicly criticized
the Government's lack of progress in implementing the plan.
Congress has a seven-member human rights committee. The committee
met infrequently, and local human rights organizations did not consider
the committee's role particularly significant.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, gender,
disability, language, or social status; however, women, persons with
disabilities, indigenous people, and Afro-Ecuadorians continued to face
significant discrimination.
Women.--Although the law prohibits violence against women,
including within marriage, abuses were widespread. The law provides
penalties for domestic violence of up to $28 or seven days in prison,
creates family courts, and gives courts the power to remove an abusive
spouse from the home if continued cohabitation creates a risk to the
victim of abuse. The courts may also issue restraining orders
prohibiting the abusive spouse from approaching the victim or her place
of employment or study; prohibiting the abusive spouse from persecuting
or intimidating the victim or any member of her family; reinserting the
victim into the family home, if shared, while simultaneously removing
the abusive spouse from the premises; and ordering any treatment deemed
beneficial to the affected family.
The Office of Gender, in the Ministry of government, reported
68,184 cases of sexual, psychological, or physical mistreatment of
women during the year. Women may file complaints against a rapist or an
abusive spouse or companion only if they produce a witness. Thirty
special Police Stations for Women and Families handled issues including
domestic violence. The Government's National Commission on Women
(CONAMU) may accept complaints about abuse of women but must refer
cases to the prosecutor's office for action. CONAMU had projects in all
provinces, focusing primarily on equal opportunities, public policy
programs toward women, and lines of credit for women's businesses.
CONAMU also offered legal and psychological services to victims of
violence in most provinces. In some police stations, social workers
employed by city governments or NGOs assisted victims. A variety of
NGOs offer legal and psychological assistance to victims of domestic
violence.
The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and provides a
penalty of up to 25 years in prison. In cases of statutory rape
involving ``amorous'' sex with a minor, the rapist may marry the
victim, which cancels the charges unless the marriage subsequently is
annulled. The penalty for rape where death occurred is 35 years in
prison. By the end of the year there were 1,452 reported rapes,
resulting in 586 persons charged. No information was available on the
number of cases prosecuted successfully. Many rapes were not reported
due to the victim's reluctance to confront the perpetrator.
Prostitution is legal for persons over the age of 18 so long as the
businesses are registered with the Government and follow health
regulations. Trafficking in persons for prostitution was a problem (see
section 5, Trafficking).
Despite the legal prohibition of harassment, women's rights
organizations described sexual harassment in the workplace as common.
The law also provides legal support to the Government's National
Women's Council, which is charged with building public policies that
promote women's human rights and equality in cases of sexual
harassment. The Council and the Ministry of Education and Culture
organized a sexual harassment monitoring program in the provinces of
Esmeraldas, Manta, Cuenca, and Loja to prevent sexual harassment in the
education sector. The Government provided protection to sexual
harassment victims and those who report such incidents, and it
conducted public education against sexual harassment in the workplace.
Despite legal protections of women's rights in politics, the home,
and employment, societal discrimination against women was pervasive,
particularly with respect to educational and economic opportunities for
older women and for those in the lower economic strata. Although women
enjoy the same legal status as men, the Office of Gender reported that
women often did not receive equal rights in practice. According to the
Government, women received approximately 65 percent of the pay received
by men for equal work. Women's advocates alleged that culture and
tradition inhibited achievement of full equality for women. There were
fewer women than men employed in professional work and skilled trades.
The Ecuadorian Women's Permanent National Forum included more than
320 women's organizations and promoted social, economic, and cultural
change through various methods, including increasing political
participation by women. The National Women's Council provided support
for approximately 500 women's organizations, many of which promoted
social consciousness and greater participation by women in the
political process. The NGO Women's Political Coordinator operated in
all 22 provinces and promoted similar themes relating to women's
rights, with emphasis on political participation and human rights. It
also focused on young women and Afro-Ecuadorian women.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare and has increased funding for child health and education;
however, those steps were not fully effective. The UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF) reported that approximately 70 percent of the country's 4.8
million children lived in poverty and that malnutrition affected 15
percent of children under age five.
The law requires that children receive a minimum of 10 years of
education; however, due to the lack of schools in many rural
communities, the Government's failure to provide adequate resources,
the economic needs of families, and the comparatively high cost for
poor families of books and uniforms, the Government rarely enforced
this requirement in practice. The Ministry of Education reported that
most children achieved a sixth grade education. The citizen movement
Social Contract for Education estimated that during the year 660,000
children ages six to 17 (approximately 22 percent of school-age
children) did not attend school. Education was free through high
school, although there were various related fees that prevented many
children and adolescents from attending school. The Government operated
programs that provided families with educational subsidies, which
assisted approximately 50,000 children to remain in school. In rural
areas many children attended school only sporadically after 10 years of
age because they needed to contribute to household income, primarily as
farm laborers (see section 6.d.). In some areas there were no teachers
in the classrooms at the start of the school year; other schools
reported an extremely high student/teacher ratio forcing school
administrators to initiate morning and afternoon shifts to accommodate
the students.
The Government provided free medical care to children under age
six. Boys and girls received equal access to such care.
There was no societal pattern of abuse against children.
Commercial sexual exploitation of minors was a problem (see section
5, Trafficking).
More than 20 NGOs promoted child welfare. UNICEF and several
private organizations were active in programs to assist street
children. The children of the poor often experienced severe hardships,
particularly in urban areas.
Trafficking in Persons.--While the criminal laws prohibit
trafficking in persons, there were reports that persons were trafficked
within, to, from, and through the country.
The country was a source, transit, and destination country for
persons trafficked for the purpose of sexual and labor exploitation.
The most recent statistics, from a 2002 International Labor
Organization (ILO) report, estimated that 5,200 minors were engaged in
prostitution. Ecuadorians were trafficked to Italy, Spain, Colombia,
and Venezuela; however, most victims were trafficked within the
country. Anecdotal evidence showed that traffickers lured young victims
romantically or with promises of legitimate employment and then forced
them into prostitution. According to press reports, some poverty-
stricken parents also sold their children into trafficking situations,
wittingly or unwittingly, including prostitution or forced labor in
agriculture.
Traffickers were organized criminal gangs specializing in movement
of persons, proprietors of small businesses such as bars or brothels,
or illicit employment brokers. Anecdotal evidence indicated that some
of those willing to pay up to $10,000 to be smuggled out of the country
were also victims of trafficking, and women were susceptible to sexual
abuse by smugglers. NGOs and the press reported several instances of
judges releasing trafficking detainees prematurely. Falsification of
civil registry documents to disguise the nationalities of trafficking
victims and the ages of juveniles was a problem.
The law criminalizes trafficking in persons and provides prison
terms of six to 35 years. The law also provides penalties of six to 12
years in prison for promoting sexual tourism and child sex tourism.
Since the law took effect in June 2005, there have been more than 100
arrests: all were in some stage of prosecution.
The country increased the number of law enforcement officials and
prosecutors devoted to combating trafficking in persons. In May, the
child welfare police created an eight-person trafficking intelligence
unit to work with police, Interpol, and prosecutors. In August the
Government created and trained a 36-member specialized police unit,
spread over seven major cities, dedicated to victim and witness
protection. In September the Government established a specialized 14-
person Special Sexual Crimes Police Unit to investigate trafficking-in-
person crimes.
Prosecutors and judges received training on preparing and
adjudicating trafficking cases.
The police youth protection agency (DINAPEN) conducted regular
raids on nightclubs, bars, and brothels. Raids in Guayaquil, Machala,
Quito, and Santo Domingo de los Colorados all produced arrests. An
April 18 DINAPEN raid on a brothel in Guayaquil rescued three 15- to
17-year-old girls and resulted in the detention of four men who
allegedly prostituted the minors. In February the Government appointed
special prosecutors to oversee trafficking cases in Guayaquil and
Machala, two of the worst trafficking areas. The special prosecutor
appointed in Quito in 2005 also continued to work on cases. A police
unit to combat alien smuggling formalized a cooperative relationship
with DINAPEN and judicial police to investigate trafficking cases.
The Government cooperated in international investigations of
trafficking. In August the President approved a national
antitrafficking plan to coordinate strategy among the Government
agencies and earmark funds for that purpose, and subsequently an
operational plan was adopted.
Minors engaged in prostitution were returned to their families or
to NGOs without being detained. Shelters and victims' services have
been identified and shelter staffs trained. The Public Ministry's
victim and witness protection program assisted trafficking victims by
providing shelter, psychological and medical attention, police
protection, and economic and employment assistance to victims willing
to assist in investigations. NGOs assisted more than 1,000 victims of
trafficking or trafficking-related crimes during the year. The
Government signed agreements with a private trafficking victims'
shelter to provide witness protection.
The Government implemented a nationwide trafficking awareness and
prevention campaign in which the first lady played a leadership role.
The Government's National Institute for Children and Families spent
more than one million dollars in its annual antitrafficking campaign.
The Government also promoted a hot-line number to identify victims,
provide assistance, and increase arrests.
The Government conducted a two-day media training session on
trafficking for television, radio, and print journalists. In June
authorities also launched a million-dollar year-long public awareness
campaign and in October began an anti-sexual tourism campaign. The
Victim and Witness Protection program assisted 43 trafficking victims
during the year.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution prohibits
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities in
employment, education, access to health care, and the provision of
other state services, and the Government effectively enforced the law.
The interagency National Council on Disabilities oversees government
policies regarding persons with disabilities. Although the law mandates
access to buildings for persons with disabilities, the Government did
not enforce it.
For the national elections, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal printed
Presidential election ballots in Braille, provided sign language
translators, and made efforts to ensure that voting precincts were
fully accessible to persons with disabilities. However, accessibility
to some voting precincts was difficult. Observers reported seeing
numerous persons with disabilities throughout the day being assisted by
the military and others to ensure they were able to access their voting
tables. Although ballots in Braille for the Presidential ticket were to
be provided nationwide, some voting precincts reported never receiving
such ballots.
A December 2005 law requires the hiring of persons with
disabilities in all public and private enterprises with more than 25
employees; there was no information on its implementation by year's
end.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The estimated 600,000 Afro-
Ecuadorian citizens suffered widespread poverty and pervasive
discrimination, particularly with regard to educational and economic
opportunity.
The Afro-Ecuadorian Cultural Center estimated that 70 percent of
Afro-Ecuadorians lived in poverty. Afro-Ecuadorian organizations noted
that, despite the absence of official discrimination, societal
discrimination, including stereotyping, continued to affect them. For
example, they asserted that the police stopped Afro-Ecuadorians for
document checks more frequently than they stopped other citizens and
that employers often would not interview persons whose job applications
carried Afro-Ecuadorian photos. There were no special government
efforts to address these problems.
Indigenous People.--Estimates of those who maintained their
indigenous cultural identity and lived in indigenous communities varied
between 7 and 20 percent of the population. The vast majority of
indigenous citizens resided in rural areas, including the highlands and
the Amazonian provinces. Despite their growing political influence and
the efforts of grassroots community groups, which were increasingly
successful in pressuring the Government to assist them, indigenous
people continued to suffer discrimination at many levels of society.
With few exceptions, indigenous people were at the lowest end of the
socioeconomic scale.
Arable land was scarce in the more heavily populated highland
areas, where high infant mortality, malnutrition, and epidemic disease
were common. Electricity and potable water often were unavailable.
Although the rural education system was seriously deficient, many
indigenous groups participated with the Ministry of Education in the
development of the bilingual education program used in rural public
schools.
The law recognizes the rights of indigenous communities to hold
property communally, to administer traditional community justice in
certain cases, and to be consulted before natural resources are
exploited in community territories. Indigenous people also have the
same civil and political rights as other citizens. In the Amazon
region, indigenous groups lobbied the Government, enlisted the help of
foreign and domestic NGOs, and mounted protests, including kidnapping
oil workers in attempts to win a share of oil revenues and a voice in
natural resource and development decisions. In November in the
northwestern province of Sucumbios, indigenous villagers from Tarapoa
took over the Andes Petroleum installations and kidnapped approximately
700 oil workers. Andes Petroleum officials later agreed to a series of
villager demands for employment.
The Government generally consulted indigenous communities on
natural resource matters. Although oil companies increased efforts to
minimize the environmental and social impact of their oil projects in
the Amazon, indigenous groups asserted that environmental damage,
particularly deforestation, continued. Corrupt local officials, a lack
of political will, and divisions among and within indigenous
communities undermined indigenous efforts to manage the flow of illegal
lumber.
The ombudsman's office had representatives in indigenous
communities throughout the country. These had responsibility for
promoting human and indigenous rights among indigenous communities and
providing specific advisory services to these groups.
In March Quito police used force to suppress CONAIE demonstrations
(see section 2.b.).
There were no developments in the 2004 case in which two
unidentified individuals shot at Leonidas Iza, President of CONAIE, or
in the killing of Maria Lalbai by members of the military during a
protest in 2004.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Although the law
prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, homosexuals,
transsexuals, and transvestites continued to suffer discrimination from
both public and private bodies.
According to a credible NGO, homosexuals, transsexuals, and
transvestites were subjected to cruel, inhumane, and degrading
treatment by the police. They accused the police of specifically
targeting them and inflicting physical and psychological abuse,
threats, extortion, and robbery. Police routinely arrested homosexuals
and transvestites in public areas (see section 1.c.).
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--While the law provides most workers
with the right to form and join trade unions of their choice, legal
protections of these rights were inadequate, sometimes failing to deter
employers from retaliating against workers for organizing. Members of
the police, the military, and most public sector employees were not
free to form trade unions. Approximately 2 percent of the workforce was
organized.
The law sets the number of workers required for an establishment to
be unionized at 30, which the ILO's Committee on Freedom of Association
considered too stringent a limitation at the plant workers' council
level. Some companies took advantage of this law by subcontracting with
several shell companies, each of which has less than 30 workers. A law
enacted in June provides subcontracted workers with the right to
freedom of association, the right to bargain collectively, and to legal
protection against antiunion discrimination. The Labor Ministry is
responsible for enforcing the new law.
While employees of state-owned organizations enjoyed rights similar
to those in the private sector, the law prevents the majority of public
sector employees from joining unions or exercising collective
bargaining rights. However, most public employees maintained membership
in a labor sector association; such associations are not allowed to
strike or bargain collectively (see section 6.b.).
The labor code requires workers in state enterprises to be
represented by only one labor union. The law does not require
reinstatement of workers fired for antiunion activity but does require
compensation and fines. The law does not protect workers against
antiunion discrimination in hiring. In September a group of 48
employees at the Transnavo shipping company attempted to unionize and
were fired. The unionists filed for compensation and the case was
pending at year's end.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
requires all private employers with 30 or more workers belonging to a
union to negotiate collectively when the union so requests. Collective
bargaining agreements covered 25 percent of the organized workforce.
Most of the economically active population was employed in the
agricultural sector or the urban informal sector; the vast majority of
these workers were not organized. The law allows businesses to hire
workers on individual contracts.
Many newly hired employees, particularly in the agricultural
sector, worked on temporary contracts. In practice it was difficult to
organize temporary employees on short-term contracts. Since the labor
code does not recognize temporary workers, they did not enjoy the same
level of protection offered to other workers.
There are few restrictions on the right of private-sector workers
to strike, although a 10-day period is required before a strike can be
declared. The law allows solidarity strikes or boycotts of three days
if the Ministry of Labor approves them. In some industries, during a
legal strike, workers may take possession of the factory or workplace
(thus ending production at the site) and receive police protection
during the takeover. However, in other industries, such as agriculture,
the law requires a 20-day waiting period from the day the strike is
called. During this time, workers and employers must agree on how many
workers are needed to ensure a minimum level of service, and at least
20 percent of the workforce must continue to work in order to provide
essential services. The law provides that ``the employer may contract
substitute personnel'' only when striking workers refuse to send the
number of workers to provide the minimum necessary services, although
in practice this law was not enforced. The law protects strikers and
their leaders from retaliation.
The law does not provide the majority of public workers (those who
fall under the civil service law) with the right to strike and includes
a provision that striking public sector workers are liable to between
two and five years in prison; however, there were frequent ``illegal''
strikes, including by public school teachers and health workers. Public
workers are prohibited from bargaining collectively.
The law permits the hiring of temporary workers for the maquila
(in-bond processing for export) industries. The maquila system allows a
company and its property to become an export-processing zone wherever
it is located. There were no unions or labor associations in the
maquilas. Most workers were hired on temporary contracts by the
employer to complete a specific order.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--While the law
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, there were
reports that children were trafficked for labor (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace and defines
acceptable working conditions. Although the Government sought to
enforce the law, child labor remained a problem.
The labor code and the child and adolescent code set the minimum
working age for minors at 15 for all types of labor and the maximum
hours a minor may work at six hours per day and five days per week. The
law lists 15 jobs that are not suitable for children and prohibits
minors from working in hazardous conditions, including in mines or in
jobs requiring exposure to toxic or dangerous substances. The law
requires employers to pay minors at least 80 percent of the wages
received by adults for the same type of employment. Penalties for
violations of the child labor laws include fines of $50 to $300 for
parents or guardians and $200 to $1,000 for employers hiring
adolescents between ages 15 and 17 and a $1,000 fine for any employer
found to have hired children under the age of 15. In cases of repeated
infractions, the employer's business can be closed. The Government
employed 23 child labor inspectors on a contract basis to inspect
locations that employed child labor; these inspectors had the authority
to cite violations and sanction companies and employers found to have
illegally hired child labor. During the year the Ministry of Labor
issued 100 citations to employers for child labor law violations.
While the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Social Welfare, and the
Minors' Tribunals were charged with enforcing child labor laws,
enforcement was ineffective. A 2005 study by the Ministry of Labor, the
Institute for the Child and Family, and the National Committee for the
Progressive Eradication of Child Labor found that 550,000 children
between ages five and 14 (approximately 15 percent of children in this
age group) were engaged in labor not permitted by law, primarily
working in rural areas in the informal sector.
More than 40 percent of all children lived in rural areas, and many
left school at an early age to do unpaid agricultural work for their
families.
In August the Ministry of Labor hired 28 permanent child labor
inspectors and seven support staff, whose sole function is to inspect
companies throughout the country, monitor whether children are
employed, and impose fines for violations. Through December the
inspectors conducted approximately 1,486 workplace inspections and
found approximately 93 minors under age 15 and 104 adolescents between
15 and 17 years old. The ministry will reinvest some part of the fines
collected in the inspection program. The National Committee for the
Progressive Elimination of Child Labor also has 30,000 education
scholarships available for children identified as child laborers.
The Ministry of Labor has a three-officer Division for Child Labor,
which meets monthly with other divisions in the ministry and the
National Committee for the Progressive Eradication of Child Labor,
which includes government agencies, businesses, and labor
organizations.
While the Ministry of Labor's Social Service Directorate monitored
child labor in businesses such as factories, enforcement in most
sectors of the economy remained limited. In urban areas many children
under age 15 worked in family-owned businesses in the informal sector,
shining shoes, collecting and recycling garbage, or as street peddlers.
Other children were employed in commerce, messenger services, domestic
services, and begging. Children as young as five or six often sold
newspapers or candy on the street to support themselves or to augment
family income.
The Government supported the Program for the Schooling and
Protection of Child Workers, which implemented a workshop program in
six cities to work with families and schools on the problem of child
labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Ministry of Labor
periodically sets the minimum wage in consultation with the Commission
on Salaries, but Congress also may adjust the minimum wage. As of July
the minimum wage plus mandated bonuses provided a gross monthly
compensation of approximately $186, or one dollar per hour, in the case
of contract workers. The statutory minimum wage did not provide a
decent standard of living for a worker and family. Most organized
workers in state industries and formal-sector private enterprises
earned substantially more than the minimum wage and also received other
significant benefits through collective bargaining agreements. However,
most workers worked in the large informal and rural sector without
obtaining the minimum wage or legally mandated benefits.
The law provides for a 40-hour workweek and two consecutive days of
rest per week. If required to work beyond the standard workweek,
workers must be paid overtime. A higher overtime rate is set for
working at night. The maximum number of hours of overtime was 12 hours
per week, which generally was respected, except in subcontracting
companies where workers sometimes were required to work up to 28 hours
of overtime per week. The Ministry of Labor did not deploy sufficient
resources to enforce labor laws.
The law also provides general protection for workers' health and
safety on the job. However, a worker may not leave the workplace for
health reasons, even if there is a hazardous situation. A worker is
allowed to request that an inspector from the Ministry of Labor confirm
a workplace hazard; that inspector then may close down the workplace.
Response time for inspectors ranged from three days in major cities to
much longer in the countryside.
The Social Security Institute is responsible for enforcing health
and safety standards and regulations. In the formal sector,
occupational health and safety was not a significant problem. However,
there were no specific regulations governing health and safety
standards in the agricultural sector, and in practice there was no
enforcement of safety rules in the small mines that make up the vast
majority of enterprises in the mining sector.
__________
EL SALVADOR
El Salvador is a constitutional, multiparty democracy with an
estimated population of 6.7 million. In 2004 voters elected Elias
Antonio Saca of the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) as
President for a five-year term in generally free and fair elections.
March nationwide municipal and legislative assembly elections were also
free and fair. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
Although the Government generally respected the rights of its
citizens, protection of human rights was undermined by widespread
violent crime, including gang-related violence, impunity, and
corruption. The most significant human rights problems included harsh,
violent, and overcrowded prison conditions; lengthy pretrial detention;
inefficiency and corruption in the judicial system; violence and
discrimination against women; abuses against children, child labor, and
forced child prostitution; trafficking in persons; discrimination
against persons with disabilities; discrimination against indigenous
persons; discrimination against persons based on sexual orientation;
and lack of enforcement of labor 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. As of November, however, the Office of the
Inspector General of the Civilian National Police (PNCIG) reported that
security forces allegedly killed 22 persons, in comparison with 23 in
2005 and 29 in 2004. The PNCIG also reported that as of November, it
had received 449 complaints of alleged violations to the integrity of
persons. During the year the Office of the Ombudsman for Human Rights
(PDDH) received 48 cases of attempted killings and determined that 12
were for arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life.
Through December the PDDH received complaints of mistreatment by
police officials, including unlawful killings, attempted unlawful
killings, assaults, and other offenses causing bodily harm. The PDDH
determined that since 2005 the Civilian National Police (PNC) was at
fault in 21 cases.
The PNCIG reported that as of November, it had received 22 cases of
alleged police involvement in killings. There was no information
available regarding how many cases involving use of lethal force by the
police concerned gang members. As of December, however, the PNC
reported that 12,930 persons belonged to gangs.
On February 15, the Sentencing Tribunal of Usulutan Jurisdiction
exonerated two defendants, Santos Sanchez and Rosa Elba de Ortiz,
charged in the 2004 killing of foreign labor activist Jose Gilberto
Soto. The tribunal sentenced Joel Ramirez Gomez to 25 years in prison
for the killing. The remaining defendants were found not guilty and
released.
During a July 5 demonstration outside the University of El
Salvador, masked militants associated with the Revolutionary Student
Brigade and Popular Youth Bloc vandalized public and private property.
As police tried to restore order, a sniper who was later identified as
former Faribundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) city councilman
Jose Mario Belloso Castillo fired on police with a military rifle,
resulting in the killing of two police officers and the wounding of 10
others. Several hours after a search warrant was issued police entered
the campus. Police officers did not employ lethal force in responding
to the protestors, and protestors suffered no serious injuries. At
year's end Belloso remained at large and was the subject of an Interpol
arrest warrant. His accomplice Luis Antonio Herrador was in custody
awaiting a hearing scheduled for April 2007 (see section 2.a.).
On October 12, PNC officers Victor Manuel Cabrera Valladares, Henry
Vladimir Valladares Sanchez, Julio Cesar Rivera Sanchez, and Jaime
Olivares Martinez were suspended from duty for 180, 90, and 120 days,
respectively, for consuming alcoholic beverages during work hours and
negligence, resulting in PNC Officer Nelson Alexander Minero Vasquez's
March 2005 killing of PNC Officer Antonio Cruz Vasquez. On February 1,
the PNC dismissed Minero Vasquez from his job.
Following a reported November 29 death threat against Ricardo
Alberto Iglesias Herrera, an expert named by a court to evaluate
impunity and administration of justice, the President of the court
requested in December that the Government take measures to protect
Iglesias Herrera's life.
On December 3, Oscar Cesar Vanegas died in a public hospital after
he was arrested and allegedly injured by police officers Edilberto
Alexander Cruz Chavez, Angel Antonio Garcia Hernandez, and William
Leonidas Beltran in Tenancingo, Cuscatlan Department. On December 15,
the Office of the Attorney General (AG) issued arrest warrants for the
officers involved. At year's end the case remained under investigation
by the AG and the PNCIG.
There were no developments during the year regarding the
investigation into the killing of Melvin Guadalupe during 2004 riots in
San Salvador, during which the police reportedly used excessive force.
On September 26, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights asked the
Government to protect the lives of the family of Mauricio Garcia
Prieto, who was killed in 1994 by three armed men with suspected ties
to the armed forces, and the family's legal counselors at the Institute
of Human Rights of the University of Central America (IDHUCA).
On March 2, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)
admitted for review a 1990 petition filed by the Legal Aid Office
(Oficina de Tutela Legal) of the Archbishop of San Salvador, alleging
the Government's responsibility for violating the human rights of 765
persons killed extrajudicially during a 1981 military operation known
as the ``El Mozote Massacre,'' conducted by the armed forces' Atlacatl
Battalion in the cantons of La Joya and Cerro Pando, and in the
villages of El Mozote, Jocote Amarillo, Rancheria, and Los Toriles.
During the year there were no further developments regarding
whether the Government would reopen the case of the 1980 killing of
Archbishop Oscar Romero, despite continued calls by the Catholic Church
to reopen the investigation.
There were no developments in the PNC's investigation of
discoveries of a number of decapitated bodies of persons killed in
2005, possibly due to gang violence.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances. Most disappearances were criminal kidnappings for
ransom, and there were no reports of kidnappings by governmental
actors. According to statistics from the AG, 16 persons were kidnapped
during the year, compared with 10 during 2005. Of the 16 cases, 12 were
resolved and four remained under investigation.
The Association for the Search of Disappeared Children (Pro-
Busqueda) investigated 97 cases of children who disappeared during the
year and in previous years, opened files for 22 new cases, organized 10
family reunification meetings, and determined the location of 15
children who had disappeared, two of whom had died.
At year's end the IACHR had not published any findings regarding
its February 2005 reopening of the 1982 case of the disappearances of
Gregoria Herminia, Serapio Cristian, and Julia Ines Contreras, captured
by members of the military's Fifth Infantry Brigade during an operation
carried out at La Conacastada, San Vicente Department. On December 12,
Pro-Busqueda organized the family reunification of Gregoria Herminia
Contreras with her biological mother.
On September 22, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a
resolution stating that the Government had not complied with the
measures set out in the Serrano Cruz case and ordered once again that
the state ``adopt all the measures necessary to ensure that the points
of the sentence pending completion are given effect and observed as
soon as possible.'' The court asked the Government to present a report
before January 19, 2007, in which the Government would confirm its
compliance with all of the reparation measures.
The reparation measures ordered by the court included that the
Government publish the sentence in a national newspaper, designate a
day dedicated to the children who disappeared during the internal armed
conflict between 1980 and 1992, and pay Pro-Busqueda's $38,000 in court
costs.
On December 28, the Government published the court's sentence in
the leading daily La Prensa Grafica. The Government also designated
March 29 as the Day for Disappeared Children of the Armed Conflict, and
paid Pro-Busqueda's court costs. According to media accounts, the court
also stated that the Government had not yet adequately complied with
other requirements of the resolution, including providing free medical
and psychological treatment for relatives of the victims; creating a
website to search for children who disappeared; forming a national
search commission to search for children who disappeared; and
developing a system to enable the conservation of genetic data for
determining family relationships.
There were no developments regarding the IACHR's October 2005
agreement to review the 2001 complaint filed by Pro-Busqueda and the
Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) regarding the 1983
disappearance of three-year-old Jose Ruben Rivera, who was allegedly
abducted by the military's Fifth Infantry Brigade, and the subsequent
failure of the Government to investigate and make reparations for these
violations.
There were no developments regarding the IACHR's October 2005
acceptance for review of a 2001 complaint filed by Pro-Busqueda and
CEJIL concerning the disappearance of Ana Julia and Carmelina Mejia
Ramirez, allegedly abducted by the military's Atlacatl Battalion in
1981, and for the Government's subsequent failure to investigate and
make reparations.
On November 9, the IACHR admitted the case of Jose Adrian Hernandez
Rochac, who disappeared in 1980 when he was five years old during a
military operation carried out by the Salvadoran Air Force in San Jose
Segundo, San Salvador Department.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices, but during the
year the PDDH received 824 complaints that PNC officers used excessive
force or otherwise mistreated detainees. The PDDH found PNC officers
responsible in 33 cases. The PNCIG received 22 petitions to investigate
cases of alleged violations of personal integrity.
On October 17, police officers Juan Pablo Reyes Guevara and Jose
Mauricio Trejo of the PNC's counternarcotics unit allegedly injured two
persons near the University of El Salvador during a routine search. At
year's end the AG was investigating the case.
Through November the PNCIG received 1,499 complaints of police
misconduct and submitted 12 of these to special investigation units.
The PNCIG sanctioned 2,778 officers in response to complaints filed
during the year and in previous years. The sanctions included
dismissing 369 officers for misconduct, suspending 453 from work
without pay for serious violations, and suspending 1,956 from work
without pay for minor infractions.
On March 31, police officer Wilfredo Antonio Romero Garcia was
sentenced to six years in prison on sexual abuse and extortion charges
in connection with a 2005 PNC investigation finding that six PNC agents
had forced alien minors to have sex with them to avoid deportation.
Romero Garcia presented a petition before the Criminal Chamber of the
Supreme Court to annul the sentence. By year's end the Supreme Court
was considering Romero's appeal. The other five PNC agent defendants
remained in pretrial detention.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
dangerous and harsh. Overcrowding constituted a serious threat to
prisoners' health and lives. The prison population increased for the
sixth consecutive year.
There were 14,682 prisoners held in 21 correctional facilities and
two secure hospitals wards, with a combined designed capacity of 7,372
persons. At year's end 9,893 inmates had been tried and convicted, and
5,841 were held in pretrial detention. During the year 44 inmates
escaped from correctional facilities; 22 were recaptured.
Through December correctional facilities authorities reported 14
riots in nine prisons in Apanteos, Chalatenango, Ciudad Barrios,
Cojutepeque, Ilopango, Oriental, Quezaltepeque, San Francisco Gotera,
San Miguel, Santa Ana, and Zacatecoluca. Between February 3 and 4,
several inmates at La Esperanza Central Penitentiary broke out of their
cells and temporarily took control of cell blocks. In March and May
prisoners rioted briefly at La Esperanza before authorities
reestablished control of the facility.
On February 22, the vice minister of governance criticized
penitentiary judges' backlog, stating that the cases of 380 inmates who
had fulfilled all legal, social, and psychological requirements for
parole were still pending review.
Prison authorities reported that during the year 18 prisoners died
due to violence, and 25 died due to natural causes. Prisoners obtained
weapons that had been smuggled into prisons, in some cases apparently
with the knowledge of guards.
Prison authorities seized from prisoners 14,759 bags of marijuana,
2,658 bags of crack cocaine, 56 bags of cocaine, 357 cell phones, 529
machetes, 1,121 knives, 1,963 homemade edged weapons, 13 improvised
explosive devices, and nine ounces of poison.
Gang activities in prisons remained a serious problem.
By year's end 4,375 inmates were gang members, which was
approximately 25 percent of the prison population. Gangs continued to
exercise influence within the prisons and the judicial system, and
prisoners reportedly continued to run criminal activities from their
cells. Gang violence in juvenile holding facilities was a serious
problem. Following discussions over several weeks with a commission of
the Directorate of Prisons, gangs within the maximum-security prison at
Zacatecoluca ended a hunger strike that began in September 2005.
In March the Directorate of Prisons, the Ministry of Health, and
the HIV/AIDS nongovernmental organization (NGO) FUNDASIDA began
implementing a voluntary HIV testing program for inmates in the
nation's penitentiaries. Between March and August approximately 7,069
inmates underwent voluntary HIV testing. During November and December
prison employees received medical training for dealing with HIV-
positive inmates, and prison staff trained 51 prisoners to conduct HIV/
AIDS awareness-raising campaigns among inmates.
On October 5, a prison guard at Apanteos penitentiary reportedly
attempted to provide illegal drugs for inmate consumption. At year's
end the AG was investigating the case.
On January 13, sentencing judges acquitted 13 Mariona prison
inmates previously found guilty of homicide in August 2005 in relation
to a 2004 prison riot.
By year's end there were no new developments regarding the
recapture of seven remaining prisoners who had escaped in September
2005 from Ilobasco Penitentiary.
Due to a lack of holding cells, pretrial detainees often were sent
to regular prisons where sometimes they were placed together with
violent criminals.
The Government permitted prison monitoring visits by independent
human rights observers, NGOs, and the media; such visits occurred
during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Although the constitution
prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention, there were complaints that at
times the PNC arbitrarily arrested and detained persons. The PNCIG
reported that by year's end it had received 304 complaints of arbitrary
acts, including arbitrary arrest, and 149 other complaints that police
officers acted beyond the scope of their authority. The PDDH reported
that through December PNC officials were responsible for 30 cases of
arbitrary detention and 33 cases of excessive use of force and
mistreatment of detainees.
On September 26, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights asked the
Government to take necessary measures to protect Major Adrian Melendez
Quijano and his family, who filed a complaint in August against Defense
Minister Otto Alejandro Romero for illegal detention and labor rights
violations.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The PNC maintains
public security, and the Ministry of Defense is responsible for
national security. The military provided support for a few PNC patrols
in rural areas and also gave support to the law enforcement agencies
for specific activities, including antinarcotics efforts. The Ministry
of Governance headed the Anti-Gang Task Force. Approximately 823
military personnel were deployed to protect police in high crime areas.
Military personnel, however, do not have arrest authority.
The PNC's effectiveness was undermined by inadequate training,
corruption, insufficient government funding, and the lack of a uniform
code of evidence. Persons could report complaints about PNC abuses to
the PDDH or the PNCIG, which then investigate the case or refer the
matter to the AG for further review.
The PNCIG reported that during the year 1,652 officers received
human rights awareness training. The Salvadoran Institute for the
Development of Women (ISDEMU), a government agency, gave training to
the police regarding prevention of rape, child abuse, and related
offenses. The NGO ``Norma Virginia Guirola de Herrera'' Women's Studies
Institute also trained police regarding the treatment of women. The
International Law Enforcement Academy for training police, prosecutors,
and other public security and judicial officials began operating during
the year at temporary facilities in Santa Tecla.
By year's end the AG reported receiving 301 complaints of alleged
irregularities against prosecutors, compared with 215 complaints for
the year 2005. The irregularities included workplace harassment, sexual
harassment, corruption, fraud, and lack of due diligence in
presentation of charges before a court.
Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and the law require a
written warrant for arrest, except in cases where an individual is
arrested in the commission of a crime. In practice authorities
apprehended persons openly with warrants based on sufficient evidence
and issued by a duly authorized official and brought them before
appropriate judicial officials. The constitution provides that a
detainee has the right to a prompt judicial determination of the
legality of the detention, and authorities generally respected this
right in practice. In general detainees were promptly informed of
charges against them.
The law permits release on bail for detainees who are unlikely to
flee or whose release would not impede the investigation of the case.
Because it may take several years for a case to come to trial, some
prisoners were incarcerated longer than the maximum legal sentences for
their crimes. In such circumstances, a detainee was able to request a
review by the Supreme Court of the continued detention.
The courts generally enforced a ruling that interrogation without
the presence of counsel is considered coercion, and that any evidence
obtained in such a manner is inadmissible. As a result, PNC authorities
generally delayed questioning until a public defender or an attorney
arrived. Family members were allowed prompt access to detainees.
Detainees generally had prompt access to counsel of their choosing or
to an attorney provided by the state.
The constitution permits the PNC to hold a person for 72 hours
before delivering the suspect to court, after which the judge may order
detention for an additional 72 hours to determine if an investigation
is warranted. Because of a lack of holding cells, such detainees often
were sent to regular prisons where they might be placed together with
violent criminals (see section 1.c.). The law permits a judge to take
up to six months to investigate serious crimes before requiring either
a trial or dismissal of the case. In exceptionally complicated cases,
the prosecutor may ask the appeals court to extend the deadline for
three or six months, depending on the seriousness of the crime. Many
cases were not completed within the legally prescribed time frame. As
of December 4,789 inmates were held in pretrial detention.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution provides
for an independent judiciary, the judiciary suffered from inefficiency
and corruption. Corruption in the judicial system contributed to
impunity from the country's civil and criminal laws. Impunity remained
a significant problem, undermining respect for the judiciary and the
rule of law. As of September the civil courts reported a workload of
4,500 cases.
On June 27, the AG announced it was investigating seven judges for
corruption. By year's end the Supreme Court had sanctioned two and
ordered disciplinary procedures against the other five. The Supreme
Court also sanctioned 25 other judges.
On July 1, the Supreme Court issued a public statement that it
would discharge corrupt or negligent judges, and that it would improve
internal controls through a new process of judicial investigations to
address the failure of judges to follow procedures, judges' absences
from legal proceedings, and other sanctionable offenses.
On August 25, Supreme Court Justice Mirna Perla telephoned and
visited first-instance judges in an attempt to influence them to
transfer Doctor Yomar Vallejo, a staff member of the Social Security
Institute (ISSS) awaiting trial on charges of corruption, from a
military hospital to a public hospital. On August 30, Perla alleged
that Vallejo required special attention that the military hospital
could not provide.
CID-Gallup polls in October revealed citizens' belief that judicial
system inefficiencies allowed criminals to escape from justice. Many
judges allowed unjustified trial delays, but few were ever sanctioned
for this practice. NGOs such as the Foundation for Studies in Legal
Application, the Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social
Development, and IDHUCA continued to complain that the Supreme Court
did not respond adequately to public criticism and did not make a
comprehensive effort to remove unqualified and corrupt judges.
The PNC, prosecutors, public defenders, and the courts continued to
have problems with criminal investigations. Inadequate government
funding of the PNC, combined with intimidation and killing of victims
and witnesses, made it difficult to identify, arrest, and prosecute
perpetrators of human rights abuses and other crimes, thus diminishing
public confidence in the justice system.
There were no developments regarding any investigation of the
killing or any arrest of gang members who killed trial witness Antonio
Alexander Pacas in September 2005.
On March 14, the IACHR admitted a 2000 IDHUCA complaint alleging
the Government's responsibility in the violation of the right to a fair
trial and other human rights of Supreme Electoral Tribunal Magistrate
Eduardo Benjamin Colindres, whom the Legislative Assembly dismissed
from his job on grounds of performance irregularities. At year's end
the IACHR continued to examine the merits of the case.
On May 15, Levis Italmir Orellana, President of the Judges and
Appellate Judges Association, stated that a witness and victim
protection law, passed by the legislature on April 26, was
unconstitutional. The law went into force on August 22. Italmir
Orellana asserted that he and other judges would not enforce its
provisions because of what they viewed as a conflict with the
presumption of innocence and a defendant's right to confront his or her
accuser.
On June 28, sentencing judges Manuel Edgardo Turcios, Rosa Estela
Hernandez, and Ramon Ivan Garcia compelled four sexually abused minors
to testify in front of their stepfather, who allegedly had raped them,
violating established law and AG guidance proscribing forcing sexual
abuse victims to testify in the presence of their alleged abusers. The
AG and NGOs publicly criticized the judges' decision, but because the
victims did not present a complaint to the Supreme Court regarding the
violation of the established law, the judges were not sanctioned for
their behavior. On July 11, the Fourth Sentencing Tribunal in San
Salvador sentenced the stepfather to 18 years imprisonment and ordered
him to pay a $1,000 fine.
On June 27, the AG announced it had initiated investigations
against seven judges for corruption and malfeasance, including for
compelling victims of sexual abuse to testify in the presence of their
alleged abusers.
On August 22, the Government inaugurated a new center for victims
and witnesses but allocated inadequate resources to enable the center
to provide victims with adequate care.
During the year the AG received 301 complaints of prosecutorial
irregularities, including bribery, negligence, and failure to attend
legal proceedings, compared with 215 in 2005.
There were no new developments, and none were expected, regarding
the criminal court's 2004 decision to release from police custody, and
to dismiss charges against, criminal court legal clerk Graciela Roque,
in connection with the 2004 flight from justice of Raul Garcia Prieto.
At year's end there were no developments, and none were expected,
regarding an appellate court's 2004 decision to uphold a lower court
ruling to transfer defendant Fernando Palacios Luna, convicted of
kidnapping and organized crime, from a maximum-security to a medium-
security prison.
The court system has four levels: justices of the peace, trial
courts, appellate courts, and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court
oversees the budget and administration of the court system, and selects
justices of the peace, trial judges, and appellate judges from a list
of nominees proposed by the National Judiciary Council (CNJ), an
independent body that nominates, trains, and evaluates justices. There
are separate court systems for family matters and juvenile offenders.
The law requires that minors from 12 to 17 years of age be tried in
juvenile courts.
On October 5, the President of the CNJ recommended that the Supreme
Court sanction 39 judges following an evaluation of the conduct of 652
judges in 2005.
Although juries were used for specific charges, including
environmental pollution and certain misdemeanors, judges decided most
cases. By law juries hear only cases that the law does not assign to
sentencing courts. After the jury's determination of innocence or
guilt, a tribunal decides the sentence.
Defendants have the right to be present in court and to question
witnesses and present witnesses and evidence. Although the constitution
further provides for the presumption of innocence, protection from
self-incrimination, the right to legal counsel, freedom from coercion,
and government-provided legal counsel for the indigent, these legal
rights and protections were not always respected in practice. Although
a jury's verdict is final, a judge's verdict can be appealed. Trials
are public.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Although the law provides
for access to the courts, enabling litigants to bring civil matter
lawsuits, including seeking damages for, or cessation of, human rights
violations, the judiciary was not independent or impartial. Judges were
subject to outside influence. Some persons sought to bring their cases
before international bodies, such as the Inter-American Court of Human
Rights and the IACHR, because they believed that these organizations
would adjudicate their claims with greater fairness and impartiality.
The law provides administrative remedies for alleged wrongs through the
PDDH, the solicitor's office, the Government Ethics Tribunal, and the
Center for Consumer Protection, as well as administrative offices
within the various ministries. There were problems in enforcing
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. During official Presidential
addresses to the country, all telecommunications media routinely were
blacked out except for radio and television stations carrying the
President's presentation. NGOs commented that this exerted a chilling
effect on free speech. The independent media were active and expressed
a variety of views without restriction. International media were
allowed to operate freely.
There were no further developments, and none were expected,
regarding the 2004 convictions for public disorder and the sentencing
of defendants to two-year suspended sentences in relation to attacks on
journalists and the burning of media vehicles in 2004 during a
demonstration by social security workers.
International NGOs generally commented positively on the status of
press freedom in the country. Some media groups asserted, however, that
a criminal code provision allowing judges to close court proceedings if
public exposure could prejudice a case abridged press freedom.
According to some practitioners and observers, at times newspaper
editors and radio directors discouraged journalists from reporting on
topics or presenting views that the owners or publishers might not view
favorably.
Following the fatal shootings of police officers during a July 5
riot at the University of El Salvador (see section 1.a.), social
activist Gilberto Garcia reportedly attempted to intimidate La Prensa
Grafica photographer Milton Flores during preliminary hearings against
Luis Antonio Herrador. At the hearings Herrador and former Mejicanos
city councilman Jose Belloso Castillo were charged as accomplices in
the shootings. Garcia stated that his presence at the hearings was
connected to his work as a media correspondent. Flores's photographs
were key evidence in the case against the fugitive Belloso Castillo
(see section 1.a.).
On July 8, the Salvadoran Press Association strongly condemned
violence against journalists covering the events of July 5 (see section
1.a.), including attacks and property destruction by demonstrators
against Teledos television reporter Ernesto Landos, El Diario de Hoy
photographer Felipe Ayala, and YSUCA radio reporter Ivan Perez.
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 Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic and Cultural Freedom.--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. On September 21,
the Legislative Assembly passed new counterterrorism legislation, which
FMLN leaders alleged was instituted to undermine the ability of
demonstrators to carry out civil disturbances to protest government
policies. During July 5 demonstrations, masked individuals vandalized
public and private property, and a former FMLN councilman fatally shot
two police officers and wounded 10 others. Police did not use lethal
force and no demonstrators suffered serious injuries (see section
1.a.).
Freedom of Association.--Although the constitution provides for
freedom of association, there were concerns regarding registration
delays of certain types of civil society groups. NGOs asserted that the
Governance Ministry delayed approval of legal status for NGOs with
particular human rights or political agendas. There were no
developments regarding the Governance Ministry's 2005 denial of legal
status to En Nombre de la Rosa, a homosexual and transvestite advocacy
NGO (see section 5).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. Under the law for nonprofit organizations and foundations,
the Ministry of Governance has responsibility for registering,
regulating, and overseeing the finances of NGOs, non-Catholic churches,
and other religious groups. The law exempts unions, cooperatives, and
the Roman Catholic Church from this registration requirement. Although
the law prohibits visitors to the country from proselytizing while on a
visitor or tourist visa, this prohibition was not enforced.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts. The
Jewish community totaled approximately 150 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
observed this prohibition in practice.
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 established a system for providing protection to refugees.
In August the President enacted new regulations relating to the status
of refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. During the year the Government received two refugee
petitions from Sri Lankan nationals and granted the two applicants
refugee status. The Government also provided temporary protection to
individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 UN
Convention or 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.
Pursuant to concerns brought by the UNHCR to the Government, in
April the Government granted refugee status to 29 Nicaraguans who had
moved to the country during the 1980s but had never completed
procedures for receiving refugee 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, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
In March elections, described as free and fair by international
observers, the ruling center-right ARENA party won a plurality of 34
deputy seats in the 84-seat unicameral Legislative Assembly and later
negotiated with the 10 deputies of the center-right National
Conciliation Party (PCN) and the five deputies of the center-left
Christian Democratic Party (PDC) to maintain a simple working majority.
The opposition FMLN Party won 32 seats in the March elections.
In 2004 ARENA party candidate Elias Antonio Saca won the
Presidential election, which the Organization of American States and
other international observers reported was free, fair, and with few
irregularities.
The country's vice President was a woman, and 13 of 84 legislators
were women. There were five women on the 15-member Supreme Court.
No persons identified as members of an ethnic or religious minority
held leadership positions in the Government or the Legislative
Assembly.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were reports of
substantial government corruption during the year within the judicial
system (see section 1.e.), as well as in the executive and legislative
branches.
On grounds of lacking jurisdictional competence, on May 12, the AG
declined to proceed with a challenge brought by a justice of the
Supreme Court contesting a June 2005 decision by the Supreme Court
holding that a request by the court's probity section for bank records
of former cabinet members of the 1999-2004 Flores administration
violated due process.
During the year, acting on a petition of the Probity Section of the
Supreme Court, the AG prosecuted 30 public officials, including 17
legislators and former legislators, 12 members of municipal councils,
and a former director of public transportation. By year's end eight
legislators had paid the fines imposed upon them by the Supreme Court,
and the assets of eight other public officials were ordered embargoed.
On November 29, the Legislative Assembly revoked the immunity of
PCN Alternate Deputy Roberto Carlos Silva Pereira, accused of money
laundering, illicit negotiations with mayors, and fraud. Following the
revocation of immunity, the AG submitted the case to the First
Appellate Court of San Salvador to determine whether to proceed with a
trial. At year's end the court had not arrived at a decision.
Although the law provides for public access to government
information, the public had difficulty accessing government budget
figures, information involving investigations by the comptroller's
office, and information on cases before the Supreme Court.
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. Although government
officials generally were cooperative and responsive to these groups,
officials at times were reluctant to discuss worker rights issues with
NGOs and refused to discuss the topic with the PDDH. Domestic and
international NGOs were required to register with the Government, and
some reported difficulties (see section 2.b.).
The principal human rights investigative and monitoring body is the
PDDH, whose head is elected by the Legislative Assembly for a three-
year term. The PDDH operated independently, without government or
political party interference. On August 17, the Fourth Chamber of First
Instance of the Court of Accounts found 16 administrative failures and
four financial failures against the PDDH amounting to $21,585.27,
relating to the 2004 fiscal year. By year's end the PDDH had appealed
the court's verdict.
During the year the PDDH reported receiving death threats from
unknown sources. The PDDH regularly issued reports and press releases
and maintained a constructive dialogue with the President's office. The
Government publicly acknowledged receipt of the PDDH's reports. In some
cases, however, the Government did not take action on PDDH reports'
recommendations, which are not legally binding.
By year's end the PDDH had accepted 2,703 complaints of human
rights violations (see sections 1.a. and 1.c.) and had issued 1,082
preliminary decisions and 660 final decisions for cases filed during
the year and previous years. The rights most frequently alleged to have
been violated related to personal integrity, freedom of movement, labor
laws, access to justice, and personal security. The PDDH provided no
information regarding the number of cases it dismissed or the number of
cases in which it issued recommendations.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Although the constitution and laws establish that all persons are
equal before the law and prohibit discrimination regardless of race,
gender, disability, language or social status, in practice the
Government did not effectively enforce these prohibitions. There was
discrimination against women, persons with disabilities, and indigenous
people regarding salaries and hiring.
Women.--Violence against women, including domestic violence, was a
widespread and serious problem. The law prohibits domestic violence and
provides for sentences ranging from one to three years in prison. In
addition convicted offenders are prohibited from using alcohol or drugs
and from carrying guns. The length of the prohibition depends on the
circumstances of the case and is at the judge's discretion. The law
also permits the imposition of restraining orders against offenders.
Domestic violence was considered socially acceptable by a large portion
of the population. Few victims filed complaints against abusers, and
the police reportedly at times were reluctant to pursue charges in such
cases. ISDEMU conducted public awareness campaigns against domestic
violence and sexual abuse in coordination with the judicial and
executive branches and with civil society groups.
During the year ISDEMU received 4,792 reports of domestic violence,
compared with 4,033 complaints in 2005 and 4,329 in 2004, and the PNC
received 773 complaints of domestic violence during the year.
Incidents of domestic violence and rape continued to be
underreported for a number of reasons, including societal and cultural
pressures against victims, fears of reprisal, ineffective and
unsupportive responses by the authorities toward victims, fear of
publicity, and a perception among victims that cases were unlikely to
be prosecuted.
Government institutions such as the PDDH, the AG, the Supreme
Court, the public defender's office, and the PNC coordinated efforts
with NGOs and other organizations to combat violence against women
through education, increased enforcement of the law, and NGO support
programs for victims. The National Secretariat for the Family, through
ISDEMU, defined policies, programs, and projects on domestic violence
and continued to maintain a hot line and a shelter for victims of
domestic abuse. Judges are permitted to give NGOs legal authority to
assist victims of domestic violence.
Rape and other sexual crimes against women were widespread and
serious problems. ISDEMU received 891 cases of sexual abuse, including
rape. The PNC received reports of 488 rapes against children and 869
rapes against women, in comparison with 455 cases of rape and 225 cases
of other sexual assaults during 2005. There was no information
available on the number of rapes and other sexual assaults that were
gang-related.
The law permits the AG to prosecute rape cases with or without a
complaint from the victim and does not permit the victim's pardon to
nullify the criminal charge. In general the penalty for rape is six to
10 years in prison, but the law provides for a maximum sentence of 20
years for rape of certain classes of victims, including children and
persons with disabilities.
ISDEMU conducted sensitivity and technical courses for the
education, government, public health, and social assistance ministries;
the judiciary; the PNC; the AG; and the ISSS. During the year ISDEMU
provided psychological assistance to 13,872 victims of rape and other
forms of sexual abuse, child abuse, and domestic violence.
Although the law does not specifically address spousal rape, it may
be considered a crime if the actions meet the definition of rape in the
criminal code.
Although prostitution is legal, the law prohibits inducing,
facilitating, promoting, or giving incentives to a person to work as a
prostitute. Prostitution remained common, and there were credible
reports that some women and girls were forced into prostitution (see
section 6.c.). There were no reports that police or other public
security officials condoned or engaged in abuse of persons engaged in
prostitution.
There were no reports of sex tourism. Trafficking in women and
girls for purposes of sexual exploitation was a problem (see section 5,
Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment and stipulates penalties of
three to five years in prison for those convicted of harassment, or
four to eight years in cases where the victim was a minor under the age
of 15. Fines are added to the prison term in cases where the
perpetrator is in a position of authority or trust over the victim.
The Government did not enforce sexual harassment laws effectively.
It was difficult to estimate the extent of the problem. Underreporting
by victims of sexual harassment appeared to be related to traditional
cultural norms. ISDEMU estimated that 40 percent of incidents of sexual
abuse and rape were preceded by sexual harassment. Even though
pregnancy testing as a condition for employment is illegal, some
employers, including maquila factories in the export processing zones
(EPZs), required female job applicants to present pregnancy test
results and also fired workers found to be pregnant (see section 6).
The constitution grants women and men the same legal rights under
family and property law, but at times women did not receive equal
treatment in practice. The law establishes sentences of one to three
years in prison for public officials who deny a person's civil rights
based on gender. Although the law provides for a prison sentence of six
months to two years for employers who discriminate against women in
labor relations, it was difficult for employees to report such
violations because they feared reprisals.
Women suffered from cultural and societal discrimination and had
reduced economic opportunities. Men often received priority in job
placement and promotions, and women were not accorded equal respect or
stature in traditional male-dominated sectors, such as agriculture and
business. Training for women generally was confined to low-wage
occupational areas where women already held most positions, in fields
such as teaching, nursing, home industries, and small businesses.
A 2003 UN Development Program study, the most recent available,
reported that women earned on average $3,350 per year, compared with
$7,381 for men. In the maquila sector, where women formed approximately
85 percent of the labor force, men held the majority of positions in
management and in departments where employees received higher wages.
During the year ISDEMU gave human rights awareness training on
various issues, including prevention of domestic violence, public
policies relating to gender, and HIV/AIDS to approximately 12,300 men
and women. ISDEMU, along with Foundation for Small and Medium-Sized
Enterprises and the Salvadoran Institute for Professional Training,
also supported combating economic discrimination through providing
technical and financial assistance to 1,305 female heads of household
in 25 municipalities.
Children.--The Government was committed to improving children's
rights and welfare but allocated insufficient resources and suffered
from poor interagency coordination in its child welfare activities. The
Salvadoran Institute for Children and Adolescents (ISNA), an autonomous
entity, has primary responsibility for child welfare issues.
The Government focused on improving children's education, with the
goal of creating a more competitive work force through continuing
programs that supported bilingual studies and computer and mathematics
skills.
The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labor, with foreign
government assistance, coordinated the APRENDO program that raised
awareness among students, teachers, and parents regarding the
importance of remaining in school and avoiding harmful forms of child
labor. The Government also continued to cooperate in a program
sponsored by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) that provided information
to children regarding sexual and commercial exploitation.
Education is free, universal, and compulsory through the ninth
grade and nominally free through high school. Children on average
attended school for approximately 5.5 years. The law prohibits persons
from impeding children's access to school due to inability to pay fees
or buy uniforms. Some public schools, however, continued to charge
student fees, preventing poor children from attending school. Rural
areas fell short of providing a ninth grade education to all potential
students, due to a lack of resources and because rural parents often
withdrew their children from school by the sixth grade to work. The
majority of private schools dismissed adolescent females in cases of
pregnancy but authorized adolescent males who were expectant fathers to
continue studying.
Boys and girls enjoyed equal access to state-provided medical care.
Child abuse was a serious and widespread problem. ISDEMU reported
2,932 cases of child abuse, including 623 cases of negligence, 468
cases of mistreatment, 434 cases of children living on the streets, 265
cases of sexual abuse, 260 cases of abandonment, and 79 cases of
children employed as beggars.
Notwithstanding unsubstantiated reports in previous years of police
abuse of street children, during the year the PNCIG and the PDDH
received no reports of PNC abuse of street children. The Government
provided street children with food, shelter, and healthcare. There were
174 street children housed in ISNA shelters, but ISNA lacked adequate
resources to provide assistance to all street children.
As of September ISNA reported 184 cases of sexual crimes against
children, including prostitution, rape, statutory rape, and
molestation; 411 cases of negligence; 186 cases of abandonment; 184
cases of domestic violence; and 53 cases of exploitation as beggars.
International Labor Organization (ILO) data indicated that there was
societal tolerance toward having sexual relations with minors.
The law prohibits participating in, facilitating, or purchasing
materials containing child pornography and sanctions offending adults
with prison sentences of up to 16 years. Following the August
publication of an article in La Prensa that reported despite legal
prohibitions, pornographic materials remained available through vendors
in San Salvador, police in the capital undertook a crackdown to stop
the sale and distribution of pornographic materials.
Child labor remained a widespread and serious problem. In September
the Ministry of Education reported that its 2004-2005 school attendance
census, the most recent available, revealed that approximately 15
percent of students between five and 17 years old worked, with children
in rural areas most likely to be involved in work activities (see
section 6).
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits trafficking in
persons, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, and
within the country. Trafficking in persons and forced prostitution are
felonies, penalized by four to eight years' imprisonment. If the
trafficking victim is under 18, suffers mental or physical disease,
suffers violations to freedom of transit in a foreign country, dies as
a consequence of negligence or imprudence, or if the perpetrator is a
law enforcement agent or public officer, the maximum sentence increases
by one-third.
The country was a source, transit, and destination country for
women and children trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
The country was also a source country for forced labor. There was
evidence that the country was a transit point for girls trafficked to
Mexico, the United States, neighboring Central American countries, and
elsewhere. Most international trafficking victims came from Nicaragua,
Honduras, and South America. Some children were trafficked internally
to cities, particularly to Acajutla and San Miguel, and to bars and
border regions. Sex trafficking of minors occurred within the country's
borders, as did sex trafficking in which commercial sex was induced by
force, fraud, or coercion. According to the ILO's International Program
to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor (IPEC), girls were sexually
exploited commercially in San Salvador and San Miguel.
There were no firm estimates on the extent of trafficking.
Particular groups at special risk for trafficking were girls and young
women from 12 to 19 years of age, persons from rural and poor areas,
single mothers in poor areas, adolescents without formal schooling,
adolescent mothers, unemployed young men, and foreign girls. In October
the ILO stated that children were most vulnerable to become victims of
trafficking.
According to immigration authorities, the principal traffickers in
the country were the owners of topless bars and brothels and employment
agencies that offered inducements for work in beauty salons, as models,
in gyms, as maids, or in factories. The PNC reported that the most
common methods of obtaining victims were kidnapping, lucrative job
offers, and inducement into prostitution by family, friends, and
smugglers. Some victims were transported by organizations. Most
victims, however, entered the country on their own from Nicaragua,
Honduras, and other neighboring countries in response to job offers to
work as domestic servants but upon arrival were forced into
prostitution.
By year's end the AG had prosecuted 35 cases of trafficking, with
four cases resulting in convictions of seven traffickers. Traffickers
received sentences between three and 20 years in prison.
On February 1, Santa Tecla Justice of the Peace Eduardo Tenorio
acquitted Jose Miguel Clara Uriarte, Oscar Ernesto Rodr!guez Perez,
Jorge Armando Rodr!guez, and Roberto Carlos Melgar Suria of charges of
sexual exploitation, rape, child pornography, alien smuggling, and
prostitution of three Nicaraguan girls between 14 and 16 years of age.
Tenorio claimed that the victims had entered the country of their own
free will and that during their brief time in the country had not
generated income for the defendants. The ILO and the AG publicly
contested the decision on the grounds that it violated domestic laws
and international conventions. On October 26, the Second Criminal Judge
of Santa Tecla confirmed Judge Tenorio's decision. The AG appealed the
decision, but an appellate court acquitted the defendants temporarily
and offered the AG one year to present new evidence against them.
On July 11, Juan Santos Martinez was sentenced to 20 years in
prison for rape, violation to the right of freedom of transit, and
trafficking in persons in relation to the purchase of a 13-year-old
girl in Belize in August 2005.
There were no new developments, and none were expected, in the AG's
attempt to reopen the case of Sara Elizabeth Galdamez de Orellana,
arrested in 2004 for procuring for prostitution three girls aged 14 to
16 in Metapan, but acquitted by a justice of the peace for lack of
evidence.
On March 5, the minister of foreign affairs formally swore in the
National Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons, comprising the
Government agencies responsible for addressing trafficking in persons.
Government agencies on the committee included the Alien Smuggling and
Trafficking in Persons Unit of the Office of the Attorney General; the
PNC; ISNA; and the foreign affairs, governance, treasury, education,
labor, health, and tourism ministries. The ILO and UNICEF advised and
provided financial support to the committee.
During the year the Ministry of Labor, along with the ILO, trained
and provided trafficking awareness training to 60 PNC agents of the
trafficking and alien smuggling division, 280 officers and 21 agents of
the trafficking prevention unit, and 1,800 officers from other units.
The National Academy of Public Security, the Ministry of Labor, and the
ILO trained 62 new PNC agents on trafficking issues. Additionally the
Ministry of Labor and the ILO gave trafficking awareness training to 75
Ministry of Education psychologists, 90 ISDEMU staff members, 90
judges, and 145 agents of the Migration Directorate.
During the year the Government coordinated 14 cases of trafficking
in cooperation with INTERPOL and Guatemalan, Belizean, Nicaraguan, and
Mexican authorities, resulting in 24 arrests. By year's end there were
no extraditions based on trafficking charges.
The Government detained illegal migrants, including those who might
have been trafficking victims. When illegal immigrants who were victims
of trafficking were older than 18 years and did not request assistance
or express fear for their lives, they were deported under the
immigration law. Persons under 18 years of age were repatriated through
ISNA cooperation with the counterpart organization in the victim's
country of origin. The PNC encouraged national trafficking victims to
press charges against traffickers. Victims could apply for temporary
residence or refugee status if they were likely to face persecution in
their country of origin.
The Government provided access to legal, medical, and psychological
services upon request. Victims of trafficking were not treated as
criminals unless they were undocumented workers of legal age. Although
the Government provided assistance to its repatriated citizens who were
victims of trafficking, victims faced societal discrimination due to
having engaged in prostitution or other commercial sexual activities.
The Salvadoran Network Against Trafficking, comprising the ILO,
Catholic Relief Services, the NGOs Las Dignas, CONAMUS, Flor de Piedra,
FESPAD, and CARITAS, provided legal counseling and human rights
awareness to victims of trafficking. CEMUJER, IDHUCA, CONAMUS, the
International Office on Migration, and the ILO had programs to prevent
trafficking. On April 29, the Government opened a shelter for victims
of trafficking. As of October 58 trafficking victims had received
shelter, many of whom were minors later repatriated to their families
or countries of origin. At year's end 12 trafficking victims were
living at the shelter.
Persons With Disabilities.--Although 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, the Government did not effectively enforce these
prohibitions, nor did it effectively enforce legal requirements for
access to buildings for persons with disabilities. There was
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment and
education.
The Government made inadequate efforts during the year to combat
discrimination and increase opportunities for persons with non-war-
related mental and physical disabilities. The law requires that one of
every 25 employees hired by private businesses be a person with
disabilities. Even though there were no reliable data on the number of
persons with disabilities who were employed, the unemployment rate
among this group remained significantly higher than that of the general
population.
There were no developments, and none were expected, regarding an
October 2005 ruling of a justice of the Constitutional Chamber that a
criminal court had violated a deaf man's right of defense by failing to
provide a sign language interpreter during March 2004 judicial
proceedings relating to child abuse charges.
Access by persons with disabilities to basic education was limited
due to lack of facilities and appropriate transportation. Few of the
Government's community-based health promoters were trained to treat
persons with disabilities, and they rarely provided such services. The
Government provided insufficient funding to the several organizations
dedicated to protecting and promoting the rights of persons with
disabilities.
The National Council for Disabled Persons (CONAIPD) is the
Government agency responsible for protecting the rights of persons with
disabilities. Through year's end CONAIPD provided medical and
psychological assistance to 28,025 persons with disabilities. It
trained 182 officials from different government agencies in sign
language and coordinated the first Central American Special Olympics
for persons with disabilities. CONAIPD also conducted awareness
campaigns to promote hiring of persons with disabilities and to improve
the treatment of persons with disabilities in the employment,
education, and health sectors. Through December the National Registry
of Persons reported that there were 200,728 persons over 18 years of
age with disabilities.
The Rehabilitation Foundation (Teleton), in cooperation with the
Salvadoran Institute for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled, continued
to operate a treatment center to offer services to persons with
disabilities, including a touch garden for the blind, art workshops, a
special educational assistance program, and an education program for
parents of children with disabilities.
Indigenous People.--While the constitution states that native
languages are part of the national heritage and should be preserved and
respected, the law does not recognize indigenous communities and
accords no special rights to indigenous people. Indigenous persons
comprise approximately 1 percent of the national population and form
three principal groups: Nahua-Pipiles in western and central areas of
the country, Lencas in the eastern region, and Cacaoperas also in the
eastern region. Due to the persistence of discriminatory cultural
attitudes against indigenous people, few individuals publicly
identified themselves as indigenous. There were a few small indigenous
communities whose members continued to wear traditional dress and
maintain traditional customs to a recognizable degree without
repression or interference by the Government and nonindigenous groups.
Government estimates in 2004, the most recent available, indicated that
approximately 99 percent of indigenous persons lived below the poverty
level.
Access to land was a problem for indigenous persons. Because few
possessed title to land, bank loans and other forms of credit were
extremely limited. In a March session, the UN Committee on Elimination
of Racial Discrimination (CERD) noted with concern the vulnerability of
the country's indigenous persons with regard to enjoyment of their
economic, social, and cultural rights, particularly with regard to land
ownership and access to drinking water; the low level of indigenous
participation in government and public affairs; and that indigenous
persons did not have access to their sacred sites of worship in the
same ways as followers of other religions.
The CERD expressed concerns about government assertions that there
was no racial discrimination. The CERD noted discrepancies between
government assessments that the country was ethnically homogenous and
credible indications that specific indigenous populations lived in the
country. The CERD recommended that the Government consider granting
legal recognition to indigenous persons.
During the year five schools in the western part of the country
continued operating an after-school Nahuat language program, in which
817 students participated. The Government's National Committee for Art
and Culture, in cooperation with the Inter-American Development Bank,
the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), and Don Bosco University,
continued to support the program. There were no government programs
dedicated to combat discrimination against indigenous persons.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--During the year IDEMU
received 584 complaints of domestic violence against the elderly.
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of HIV status and
sexual orientation, although in practice discrimination was widespread.
There were reports of violence and discrimination by public and private
actors against persons with HIV/AIDS, and against homosexual, lesbian,
and transgender persons, including denial of legal registration for a
homosexual rights advocacy group (see section 2.b.). As in the previous
year, in September the Ministry of Labor along with the Ministry of
Health launched another campaign to eliminate workplace discrimination
based on pregnancy or HIV status as part of a comprehensive effort to
combat an increase in HIV cases.
A 2005 PAHO report, the most recent available, revealed that HIV/
AIDS patients suffered from a lack of information and supplies. Lack of
public information remained a problem in confronting discrimination
against persons with HIV/AIDS or in assisting persons suffering from
HIV/AIDS. According to a National Health Survey presented in September,
only half of the population between the ages of 15 and 24 were
sufficiently aware of methods for preventing HIV infection.
There were no new developments regarding any investigation of two
bodyguards of the prisons director who in September 2005 were accused
of sexually abusing a transvestite minor whom they picked up on the
streets in a government vehicle. The defendants remained on bail
pending trial.
There were no developments, and none were expected, regarding any
investigation into the 2004 separate killings of transvestite Jose
Flores Natividad Duran and transvestite David Antonio Andrade
Castellano.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--While the constitution provides for
the right of workers, except military personnel, national police, and
government workers, to form unions without previous authorization,
there were problems in the exercise of this right.
During the year the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association
supported worker complaints that the Government impeded the exercise of
the right of association. Union leaders asserted that the Government
and judges continued to use excessive formalities as a justification to
deny applications for legal standing to unions and federations. Among
the requirements to obtain legal standing, unions must have a minimum
of 35 members in the workplace, hold a convention, and elect officers.
According to Ministry of Labor statistics, 10.2 percent of the
country's total workforce in the formal and informal sectors was
unionized, compared with 9.1 percent in 2005.
According to the 2004 Multiple Household Survey, the most recent
available, 772,407 persons, representing approximately 50 percent of
the economically active urban population, worked in the informal
sector. Of those, 274,931 were women, and 221,610 were men.
On July 24, the Ministry of Labor granted legal status to the
airport maintenance workers union following a workers' appeal
contesting a June 9 ministry decision denying legal status on technical
grounds.
On September 18, members of the communications union SITCOM filed
an appeal with the Ministry of Labor contesting the ministry's denial
of the union's legal status. On November 15, the ministry upheld its
previous decision to deny SITCOM's legal status.
The law does not require employers to reinstate illegally dismissed
workers. Employers dismissed workers who tried to form unions, and in
most cases the Government did not prevent their dismissal or seek their
reinstatement.
On November 15, the Third Sentencing Court of San Salvador
sentenced to two years in prison Hermosa Manufacturing Co. owner
Joaquin Salvador Montalvo Machado, for illegally retaining workers'
payments to the ISSS and pension system. Mantalvo was also fined
$144,724.05, which he paid. At year's end, however, payment of wages
and benefits due to workers remained pending in the courts. In
September the Ministry of Labor imposed fines of $2,399.88 on the
company in response to a June 2005 suit brought by the National
Federation of Salvadoran Workers before the ILO.
Using mediation provided by the Ministry of Labor, on November 9,
ISSS officials and labor leaders of the Social Security Workers Union
reached a settlement of a labor dispute under which ISSS employees
would receive a monthly salary increase of $80 in May 2008. The
settlement also included a two-year extension of the collective
bargaining agreement and a provision that the new collective bargaining
agreement would be registered with the ILO to provide legal assurances
for workers and the ISSS.
On February 13, the owners of Evergreen Manufacturing Company
closed their factory permanently, and pursuant to a labor ministry
directive sold the factory's machinery and paid wages and other legal
benefits to workers.
The law specifies 18 reasons for which an employer can legally
suspend workers, and employers can invoke 11 of these reasons without
prior administrative or judicial authorization. Workers reported
instances where employers used illegal means to undermine union
organizing, including the dismissal of labor activists and the
circulation of lists of workers who would not be hired because they had
belonged to unions.
Through December the Ministry of Labor reported that the country
had 205 active registered unions, 20 labor federations, and four labor
confederations, with a combined membership of 168,849 workers.
By end of the year workers fired in 2005 for organizing the legally
recognized Port Industry Workers Union of El Salvador, and whose case
the Public Services Union Federation of El Salvador brought before the
ILO in June 2005, still had not been rehired. The Ministry of Labor
imposed fines on port enterprises that refused to rehire worker union
members.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for collective bargaining by employees in the private sector
and by certain categories of workers in autonomous government agencies,
such as utilities and the port authority. At year's end the Ministry of
Labor reported 264 collective bargaining agreements in effect, covering
54,209 workers. Labor leaders asserted that the Government had an
unfair advantage in arbitration of public sector labor disputes because
the Government holds two of three seats on arbitration panels.
With the exception of public workers who provide vital community
services, the constitution recognizes the right to strike, and workers
exercised this right in practice. Despite the prohibition on strikes by
public sector workers performing vital community services, the
Government generally treated work stoppages called by such worker
associations as legitimate.
On March 2, the IACHR accepted for review a 2003 complaint filed by
the NGO Derechos Humanos para las Americas, alleging that the
Government violated the human rights of the founding members of the
Ministry of Education Workers Union in denying it legal status. Through
December there were no further developments in this case.
In order for a strike to be legal, 51 percent of workers in an
enterprise must support a strike, including workers not represented by
the union. Unions may strike only after the expiration of a collective
bargaining agreement or to protect professional rights. Unions first
must seek to resolve differences through direct negotiation, mediation,
and arbitration before striking. A strike must aim to obtain or modify
a collective bargaining agreement and to defend the professional
interests of workers. Union members must approve a decision to strike
through secret ballot, and the union must name a strike committee to
serve as a negotiator and send the list of names to the Ministry of
Labor, which notifies the employer. The union must wait four days from
the time the Ministry of Labor notifies the employer before beginning
the strike.
There were 123 maquila plants, 56 of which were located in the
country's 15 EPZs. There are no special laws or exemptions from regular
labor laws inside the EPZs. There were credible reports that some
factories in the EPZs dismissed union organizers; there were no
collective bargaining agreements among the 15 unions active in the
maquila sector. Maquila workers reported verbal and physical abuse, as
well as sexual harassment by supervisors (see section 5).
The Government did not allocate sufficient resources for adequate
inspection and oversight to ensure respect for association and
collective bargaining rights in EPZs. There continued to be allegations
of corruption among labor inspectors in the maquilas. The ILO Committee
of Experts noted allegations by unions that maquila companies set
production targets requiring employees to work beyond the ordinary
working day without pay and under threat of dismissal and asked the
Government to document the number of instances in which workers alleged
imposition of labor outside the ordinary working day.
The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economy concurred that
during the year approximately 10,000 workers in the maquila sector were
not receiving social security and other payment benefits to which they
were legally entitled.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, except in
the case of natural catastrophe and other instances specified by law.
Although the Government generally enforced this prohibition, there were
problems with trafficking of persons for forced commercial sexual
purposes (see section 5, Trafficking).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits the employment of children under the age of 14, but child
labor remained a serious and widespread problem.
On September 20, the Government launched its first comprehensive
national plan to eliminate child labor, by aiming within four years to
reduce the worst forms of child labor among 288,221 children and youth
between five to 17 years of age. The plan was a collaborative effort by
the labor, education, health, agriculture, foreign affairs, tourism,
governance, and economy ministries, the National Secretariat for the
Family, the National Secretariat for Youth, ISNA, the Small and Medium
Enterprises Committee, the National Superior Labor Council, the
National Roundtable Against Sexual Commercial Exploitation, and the
National Committee for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child
Labor, coordinated with IPEC.
As of September IPEC had removed 1,503 children from work
activities. There was no data available regarding the approximate
number of children working in the country during the year.
The law limits the workday to six hours, plus a maximum of two
hours of overtime, for youths between 14 and 16 years of age and sets a
maximum normal workweek for youths at 34 hours. For all sectors of the
economy, the law prohibits those under the age of 18 from working in
occupations considered hazardous (see section 6.e.). The Ministry of
Labor was responsible for enforcing child labor laws. In practice labor
inspectors focused almost exclusively on the formal sector, where child
labor was rare. There were no reports of child labor in the formal
industrial sector.
With the exception of efforts among the Government, growers, and
refiners to end child labor on sugarcane plantations, the Government
did not devote adequate resources to enforce effectively child labor
laws in agricultural activities, especially coffee production, and in
the large informal sector. Orphans and children from poor families
frequently worked for survival as street vendors and general laborers
in small businesses. The Ministry of Labor received few complaints of
violations of child labor laws because many citizens perceived child
labor as an essential component of family income rather than a human
rights violation.
There were credible reports of trafficking in children and child
prostitution (see section 5).
The Ministry of Labor had 163 labor inspectors distributed
nationwide, 24 of whom specifically worked on child labor issues. The
Government conducted monitoring and inspections, especially in the
sugarcane cultivation sector, including 36 programmed inspections and
six follow-up inspections affecting 9,755 workers, resulting in the
removal of 149 children from child labor. The Government also conducted
33 child labor awareness campaigns in which 13,287 workers
participated. The Ministry of Labor conducted 10,075 inspections, 6,315
follow-up visits, and issued civil penalties in 436 cases. The
Government's National Interagency Committee for Elimination of the
Worst Forms of Child Labor launched the first national plan against
child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage is set by
executive decree, based on recommendations from a tripartite committee
comprising representatives from labor, government, and business. The
minimum monthly wage was $174.24 for service employees, $170.28 for
industrial laborers, and $157.25 for maquila workers. The agricultural
minimum wage was $81.51, except for seasonal coffee harvesters
($89.10), sugarcane workers ($75.57), and cotton pickers ($67.98). The
minimum wage with benefits did not provide a sufficient standard of
living for most workers with families.
According to the 2004 Multiple Household Survey, the most recent
available, more than half of informal sector workers were women, whose
incomes were often below the minimum wage. In general the Ministry of
Labor enforced minimum wage laws effectively only in the formal sector.
By year's end the ministry had imposed 22 fines on employers in the
industrial, commercial, and service sectors due to nonpayment of
minimum wages to employees.
Some maquila plants underpaid workers and failed to compensate
workers for mandatory overtime. Corruption among labor inspectors and
in the labor courts remained barriers to enforcing the minimum wage
laws.
The law sets a maximum normal workweek of 44 hours, which is
limited to no more than six days for all workers and requires bonus pay
for overtime. The law mandates that full-time employees be paid for an
eight-hour day of rest in addition to the 44-hour normal workweek.
These standards were not enforced effectively. A number of workers who
worked more than the legal maximum number of hours were not paid
overtime. The law prohibits compulsory overtime.
The Ministry of Labor inspected 3,312 workplaces during the year
and issued 700 recommendations for improvements in working conditions.
There were 543 occupational safety and health committees at work in
industries nationwide. The ministry, in conjunction with the private
sector, organized 155 training sessions for prevention of occupational
risks in the workplace.
The law requires all employers to take steps to ensure that
employees are not placed at risk to their health and safety in the
workplace, including prohibitions on the employment of persons under 18
years of age in occupations considered hazardous or morally dangerous.
Health and safety regulations were outdated, and enforcement was
inadequate due to the Ministry of Labor's restricted powers and the
limited resources allocated to it by the Government. The law does not
clearly recognize the right of workers to remove themselves from
hazardous situations without jeopardy to their continued employment.
__________
GRENADA
Grenada is a parliamentary democracy with a bicameral legislature.
Grenada and two smaller islands, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, have
a population of approximately 102,000. In 2003 Prime Minister Keith
Mitchell's New National Party (NNP) won eight of 15 parliamentary seats
in generally free and fair elections. The civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, problems included allegations of corruption,
violence against women, and instances of child 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 constitution and law prohibit such practices, and
there were no confirmed reports that government officials employed
them. However, there were occasional allegations that police beat
detainees. Flogging, a legal form of punishment, was occasionally used
as punishment for sex crimes.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, with the exception of
overcrowding, and the Government permitted visits by independent human
rights observers. Overcrowding was a significant problem as 334
prisoners were housed in space designed for 98 persons.
Women were held in a separate section of the prison from men. There
was no separate facility for juveniles, so they were mixed in with the
general prison population.
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 does not
have a military. The 830-person Royal Grenadian Police, together with
200 rural constables, has a hierarchical structure and generally was
effective in responding to complaints. However, lack of resources
remained a problem. The police commissioner has instituted a community
policing program.
The police report to the minister of national security, who works
in the Ministry of the Prime Minister. The police commissioner can
discipline officers (up to the rank of sergeant) in cases of brutality
with penalties that include dismissal. Only the Public Service
Commission can discipline officers with the rank of inspector or above.
There was one report of a corrupt police officer in the Criminal
Investigation Department during the year. Authorities brought charges
against the officer and discharged him from the service. He was
awaiting trial at year's end.
Authorities brought charges against the police officer who stole
drugs and ammunition from the evidence room in 2005 and dismissed him
from the force. He awaited trial at year's end. Authorities dismissed
two other officers for fraud; they also awaited trial.
Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and law permit police to
detain persons on suspicion without a warrant, but they must bring
formal charges within 48 hours, and this limit generally was respected.
In practice detainees were provided access to a lawyer and family
members within 24 hours. The law provides for a judicial determination
of the legality of detention within 15 days after arrest on a criminal
charge. The police must formally arraign or release a detained person
within 60 days, and the authorities generally followed these
procedures. There is a functioning system of bail, although persons
charged with capital offenses are not eligible. Persons charged with
treason may be accorded bail only upon the recommendation of the
governor general. The court will appoint a lawyer for the indigent in
cases of murder and other capital crimes.
In March police detained the editor of a local paper and questioned
him for an hour based on a suit lodged against him over the contents of
an article (see section 2.a.).
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 is a part of the Eastern Caribbean legal system,
which consists of three resident judges who hear cases in the High
Court and a Court of Appeals staffed by a chief justice who travels
between the Eastern Caribbean islands hearing appeals of local cases.
Final appeal may be made to the Privy Council in the United Kingdom.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this
right. There is a presumption of innocence, and the law protects
persons against self-incrimination and requires the police to explain a
person's rights upon arrest. The accused has the right to remain silent
and to seek the advice of legal counsel. The law allows for a defense
lawyer to be present during interrogation and to advise the accused how
to respond or not to respond to questions. The accused has the right to
confront his accuser and has the right of appeal.
The court appoints attorneys for indigents only in cases of murder
or other capital crimes. In other criminal cases that reach the
appellate stage, the court appoints a lawyer to represent the accused
if the defendant was not represented previously or reappoints earlier
counsel if the appellant no longer could afford that lawyer's services.
With the exception of foreign-born drug suspects or persons charged
with murder, the courts grant most defendants bail while awaiting
trial.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
In 2004 the High Court was set to resentence or possibly free 14
members of the ``Grenada 17,'' who were convicted for the 1983 murder
of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, when the Government appealed the
decision to the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. In June 2005 the
Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court ruled that the group could take its
case for resentencing to the Privy Council in London, but by year's end
the matter had not yet been presented.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary for civil matters. The civil court system
encompasses a number of seats around the country at which magistrates
preside over cases.
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.
In June the Prime Minister won a libel case he brought against the
editor of a newspaper, and the editor was ordered to pay approximately
$37,000 (EC$100,000). The Media Workers Association of Grenada (MWAG)
accused the police of suppression of freedom of the press because
authorities had detained and questioned the newspaper editor for one
hour. The MWAG argued that the lawsuit that resulted in the detention
and questioning should have been brought in civil court, not criminal.
The editor ignored the fine and was threatened with closure, but by
year's end nothing had been done about making him pay the fine or
closing the newspaper.
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 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; however, all religious organizations
must register with the Government, which entitles them to some customs
and import tax exemptions.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts. The
Jewish community was miniscule.
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 address forced exile, but the Government did not
use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is not 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 or asylum seekers. In practice the Government provided
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country
where they fear persecution.
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 2003 the incumbent NNP
administration of Prime Minister Keith Mitchell retained power by
winning eight of the 15 seats in parliamentary elections generally
considered free and fair, but with some irregularities noted by the
Organization of American States in several very close races.
In late 2005 the Government began an examination of the
constitutional provisions regarding dual citizenship and qualifications
for election to parliament. In February the Attorney General filed suit
to nullify the 2003 election to parliament of a leading opposition
member who maintains dual citizenship. In September the court handed
down its decision against the Government, ruling that the Government
should have filed its complaint according to election law, within 21
days of the vote; the defendant was awarded approximately $3,745
(EC$10,000). The Government appealed the decision, lost in the Court of
Appeal, and was fined an additional $2,962 (EC$8,000).
There were four women in the 15-seat parliament and four women
among the 12 appointed senators. There were six female ministers of
government.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There are no laws
mandating transparent reporting of political donations. According to
the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Transparency International there
was a serious perceived level of domestic corruption. The public
perception of official corruption was nuanced, with a number of
government officials perceived to be quite corrupt, others somewhat
corrupt, and a few perceived to be incorruptible.
The Commission of Inquiry established to investigate whether Prime
Minister Mitchell accepted money from a foreign citizen, reportedly in
exchange for a diplomatic title, adjourned but had not yet issued its
report by year's end. The Prime Minister continued to maintain that he
was given $15,000 to cover travel expenses, not the $500,000 he was
accused of receiving. The leader of the opposition won the right to
cross-examine the witnesses in this case, but by year's end, the
inquiry had not been reopened to allow him to do so.
Although there is no law providing for public access to government
information, citizens may request access to any information that is not
deemed classified.
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.
On September 13, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC),
launched in 2001 to investigate the period between the mid-1970s and
the late 1980s, presented its final report to the Government. The
Government made no decisions about how to implement the
recommendations, including whether to grant a retrial for the Grenada
17, and invited the public and NGOs to provide input. The legal affairs
minister established a committee to review the findings of the TRC, and
the committee was expected to hold a series of public consultations to
recommend how they might be implemented.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race,
place of origin, political opinion, color, creed, or gender, and the
Government generally upheld these prohibitions.
Women.--Women's rights monitors noted that violence against women
remained a serious problem. The law prohibits domestic violence and
provides for penalties at the discretion of the presiding judge based
on the severity of the offense. Police and judicial authorities usually
acted promptly in cases of domestic violence. Sentences for assault
against a spouse vary according to the severity of the incident. A
court convicted three men accused of killing their wives and sentenced
them to life in prison. At year's end one new domestic violence case,
in which a teacher allegedly killed his wife, was awaiting trial. A
shelter accommodating approximately 20 battered and abused women and
their children operated in the northern part of the country, staffed by
medical and psychological counseling personnel.
The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and stipulates a
sentence of flogging or up to 15 years' imprisonment for a conviction
of any nonconsensual form of sex. In the June court session, 37 out of
96 cases dealt with either rape or related charges: nine rape cases, 13
indecent exposure cases, 11 unlawful carnal knowledge cases, three
defilement cases, and one unnatural carnal knowledge case.
Prostitution is illegal but existed. There are no laws prohibiting
sex tourism.
The law prohibits sexual harassment, but there are no criminal
penalties for it. It is the responsibility of the complainant to bring
a civil suit against an alleged harasser. A number of local
organizations spoke out against sexual discrimination on radio and
television programs to raise awareness amid the female population of
their rights. The programs also addressed issues of women's health,
particularly the risks of HIV/AIDS.
Women generally enjoyed the same rights as men, and there was no
evidence of official discrimination in health care, employment, or
education; however, women frequently earned less than men performing
the same work.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare. The Social Welfare Division within the Ministry of Housing,
Social Services, and Cooperatives provided probationary and
rehabilitative services to youths, day care services and social work
programs to families, assistance to families wishing to adopt or
provide foster care to children, and financial assistance to the six
children's homes run by private organizations.
Education was compulsory, free, and universal until the age of 16.
Government social service agencies reported 15 physical abuse and
three sexual abuse cases during the year, equal to the number of child
abuse cases in 2005. Abused children were placed either in a
government-run home or in private foster homes. The law stipulates
penalties ranging from five to 15 years' imprisonment for those
convicted of child abuse and disallows the victim's alleged ``consent''
as a defense in cases of incest.
Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution and law do not prohibit
trafficking in persons; however, there were no reports that persons
were trafficked to, from, or within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and law do not protect
job seekers with disabilities from discrimination in employment. The
law does not mandate access to public buildings or services. The
Government provided for special education in its school system;
however, most parents chose to send their children to three special
education schools operating in the country. Persons with disabilities
had full access to the health care system and other public services.
The Government and NGOs continued to provide training and work
opportunities for such persons.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution and law allow
workers to form and join independent labor unions. Labor ministry
officials estimated that 52 percent of the work force was unionized.
All major unions belong to one umbrella labor federation, the
Grenada Trades Union Council, which was subsidized by the Government.
The law does not oblige employers to recognize a union formed by
their employees if the majority of the work force does not belong to
the union; however, they generally did so in practice.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination, and employers can be
forced to rehire employees if a court finds they were discharged
illegally. Such cases were rare, however, and on one recent occasion, a
company reinstated temporary workers it had discharged in accord with
their contract simply because the workers' union threatened to go on
strike or take the company to court.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Workers
exercised the legal right to organize and to participate in collective
bargaining. The law requires employers to recognize a union that
represents the majority of workers in a particular business. There are
no export processing zones.
The law provides workers with the right to strike, and workers
exercised this right in practice. Port workers threatened to strike
when three temporary employees were laid off in September; the union
and the port authorities agreed upon how to handle these workers, and
the strike was called off.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Government
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.--
Although child labor is illegal, children sometimes worked in the
agricultural sector on family farms. The statutory minimum age for
employment of children is 18 years. Inspectors from the Ministry of
Labor enforced this provision in the formal sector through periodic
checks, but enforcement in the informal sector remained a problem.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Ministry of Labor last
updated minimum wages in 2002. Minimum wages were set for various
categories of workers; for example, agricultural workers were
classified into male and female workers. Rates for men were $1.85
(EC$5.00) per hour, and for women $1.75 (EC$4.75) per hour; however, if
a female worker performed the same task as a man, her rate of pay was
the same. The minimum wage for domestic workers was set at $148
(EC$400) monthly. The national minimum wage did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. During the year 31 percent
of the population earned less than the official poverty line, which was
drawn at $224 (EC$599) per month. The Government effectively enforced
minimum wages; workers in construction- related sectors and other high-
demand sectors earned far higher wages.
The law provides for a 40-hour maximum workweek. The law requires a
premium for work above the standard workweek and prohibits excessive or
compulsory overtime.
The Government sets health and safety standards, but the
authorities enforced them inconsistently. Workers have the right to
remove themselves from dangerous workplace situations without jeopardy
to continued employment.
__________
GUATEMALA
Guatemala is a democratic, multiparty republic with a population of
approximately 12.7 million. In 2003 national elections, generally
considered by international observers to be free and fair, Oscar Berger
of the Grand National Alliance coalition (GANA) won a four-year term,
which began in January 2004. While the civilian authorities generally
maintained control of the security forces, there were instances in
which members of the security forces committed illegal acts including
human rights abuses.
Although the Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, serious problems remained. The human rights and societal
problems included the Government's failure to investigate and punish
unlawful killings committed by members of the security forces;
widespread societal violence, including numerous killings; corruption
and substantial inadequacies in the police and judicial sectors; police
involvement in kidnappings; impunity for criminal activity; harsh and
dangerous prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; failure of
the judicial system to ensure full and timely investigation, or fair
trials; failure to protect judicial sector officials, witnesses, and
civil society organizations from intimidation; discrimination and
violence against women; discrimination and violence against gay,
transvestite, and transgender persons, trafficking in persons; ethnic
discrimination; and ineffective enforcement of labor laws, including
child labor provisions.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Although there were
no reports that the Government or its agents committed any politically
motivated killings, members of the police force committed a number of
unlawful killings. Corruption, intimidation, and ineffectiveness within
the police and other authorities prevented adequate investigation of
many such killings and other crimes, as well as the arrest and
successful prosecution of perpetrators (see sections 1.c. and 1.e.).
During the year the National Civilian Police (PNC) Office of
Professional Responsibility (ORP) reported that it had investigated 37
accusations of killings involving PNC personnel.
On March 27, police inspector Marvin Wilfredo Mendez Mayorga was
arrested for the alleged extrajudicial killing of two youths in Villa
Nueva, a suburb of Guatemala City.
On March 29, police agent Leonel Giovany Herrera Reyes was
sentenced to 90 years in jail for sexually abusing one woman and
sexually abusing and killing another woman.
On June 11, the Public Ministry Office for Crime reported to the
press that 86 bodies found in the course of the year in Guatemala City
had indications that the victims had been tortured before dying.
On June 17, five transvestites were shot, one of them fatally (see
section 5). By year's end there was no information on any
investigation. There were no developments regarding any investigation
of the December 2005 killing of one transvestite and the wounding of
another allegedly by persons dressed as police officers.
On June 20, four off-duty police officers in Escuintla were rescued
from a mob attempting to lynch them after they allegedly killed
Cristian Oswaldo Rodriguez Alvarez.
On July 7, Spanish Judge Santiago Pedraz issued an international
arrest warrant for former heads of state Efrain Rios Montt and Oscar
Humberto Mejia Victores, as well as Angel Anibal Guevara Rodriguez,
German Chupina Barahona, Pedro Garcia Arredondo, Benedicto Lucas
Garcia, Donaldo Alvarez, and Fernando Lucas Garcia for genocide,
terrorism, torture, and illegal detention during the country's 1960-96
conflict. On November 7, the Supreme Court acted on the Spanish
judicial request by ordering the arrest of all persons named in the
Spanish warrant except Rios Montt. Subsequent court decisions excluded
former heads of state Efrain Rios Montt and Oscar Humberto Mejia
Victores from the warrant, although these decisions were under appeal
at year's end. Another court decision suspended the arrest order
against Pedro Garcia Arrendondo. By December Angel Anibal Guevara
Rodriguez and German Chupina Barahona were in detention, receiving
medical care. Guevara Rodriguez and Chupina Barahona were appealing
their cases at year's end.
There were no new developments, and none were expected, regarding
the 2004 confrontation between peasants and members of the PNC at Nueva
Linda plantation, in which three police and seven workers were killed.
There were no new developments, and none were expected, concerning
any investigation of the 2004 killing reportedly by police of former
gang member David Ixcol Escobar.
There were no new developments, and none were expected, regarding
the search for fugitive Colonel Juan Valencia Osorio, whose 25-year
prison sentence for being the intellectual author of the 1990 killing
of anthropologist Myrna Mack Chang was reinstated by the Supreme Court
of Justice in 2004. At year's end Valencia had been at large for almost
three years.
The Government reported that during the year the National
Reparations Program disbursed approximately $16 million (120 million
quetzales) to families of victims of the 1960-96 armed conflict.
At year's end the case of the 1982 military massacre of 250
civilians at Dos Erres, Peten, remained stalled in court due to appeals
made by defendants.
During the year two justice sector workers were killed (see section
1.e.).
By December the police had completed an investigation of the
September 2005 killing of Casa Alianza's legal advisor Harold Perez
Gallardo by unknown gunmen and were transferring the report to the
Public Ministry for legal action.
Societal violence occurred widely throughout the country. Nonstate
actors with links to organized crime, gangs, private security
companies, and alleged ``clandestine groups'' committed hundreds of
killings and other crimes. Human rights activists alleged that these
persons also were responsible for threats, assaults, burglaries, and
thefts targeted at human rights organizations. Reports also suggested
that former or current members of the police condoned or were involved
in some of the attacks and other abuses.
Killings, including evidence of sexual assault, torture, and
mutilation, of women continued to increase, as did the overall number
of killings of men and women. Although during the year there was only a
slight increase in the percentage of women killed as a percentage of
total killings in 2005, the actual number of women killed by year's end
was substantially higher than in 2005 (see section 5).
Killings of children, particularly in Guatemala City, increased
during the year (see section 5).
The human rights nongovernmental organization (NGO) Mutual Support
Group reported that 59 attempted lynchings took place during the year,
compared with 14 such incidents in 2005. Many observers attributed the
rise in lynchings from the previous year to increased public
frustration with the failure of the justice sector to guarantee
security. Among the victims were civil servants or police officials who
had taken unpopular actions in either enforcing or failing to enforce
the law.
There were also other incidents of societal violence. On June 11,
the NGO Association of Urban Transportation reported that from January
to May there had been 30,200 assaults in public buses, an average of
200 assaults per day involving bus passengers and drivers.
b. Disappearance.--Although there were no reports of politically
motivated disappearances, there were reports of police involvement in
kidnappings for ransom. The ORP reported that between January and
December, there were 10 complaints of kidnapping by PNC personnel. The
office determined that three cases had merit, with the identity of the
offenders established in two of the cases. The officers identified in
the two cases faced disciplinary action at year's end. On June 29, the
First Appeals Court overturned the October 2005 kidnapping convictions
of, and ordered a new trial for, former police commissioner Rudy Giron,
former PNC official Marvin Utrilla Marin, and four other persons. Giron
and Utrilla Marin remained in prison at year's end.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution and the law prohibit such
practices, during the year there were credible reports of torture,
abuse, and other mistreatment by PNC members. Complaints typically
related to the use of excessive force during police operations and
arbitrary detention of suspected gang members and others targeted
during extortion schemes.
On January 30, police arrested seven men accused of membership in
the People's Avengers (previously known as the People's Social
Cleansing Group), a group of vigilantes in San Lucas Toliman, Solola.
Local residents accused the group of extortion and beatings in the
Solola area.
A human rights NGO reported the alleged May 22 beatings of three
homeless children by soldiers assigned to the Military Police Brigade.
A military investigation was not able to substantiate the charges, and
at year's end the Public Ministry was investigating the case (see
section 5).
There were credible reports that PNC officials or persons disguised
as police officers stopped cars and buses to demand bribes or steal
private property. In some cases the supposed police officers assaulted
and raped victims.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh and dangerous. The prison system continued to suffer from a
severe lack of resources, particularly in the areas of prison security
and medical facilities. Prisoners complained of inadequate food and
medical care. Corruption, especially drug-related, was widespread.
Prison officials reported frequent escape attempts and other
manifestations of prisoner unrest.
Prison overcrowding was a problem. According to the registry
maintained by the prison system, at the end of the year there were
7,477 persons held in 40 prisons and jails designed to hold 6,974.
Approximately 44 percent of the national penitentiary system population
was held in pretrial detention. The media and NGOs reported physical
and sexual abuse of women and juvenile inmates as a serious problem in
detention cells at police precincts. Many of the abused juvenile
inmates were suspected gang members.
There were no new developments regarding any investigation of the
identities of persons who smuggled weapons into the prisons or of the
August 2005 simultaneous incidents involving violence in four prisons
that claimed 36 lives.
On June 22, in an outbreak of violence between rival gang member
inmates at the San Jose Pinula Juvenile Detention Center, four juvenile
inmates were killed and five others were injured. The Office of the
Human Rights Ombudsman (PDH) alleged the prison guards were involved in
the killings.
There were no developments regarding any investigation of a
December 2005 intragang dispute in a prison in Mazatenango resulting in
the killing of one gang member inmate.
On September 25, 3,000 members of the security forces, including
police, military, and prison guards, recovered control of El Pavon
prison farm from inmates who had been operating organized crime
activities throughout the Guatemala City area from within the prison.
There was minimal violence. Seven inmates were reportedly killed in
acts of armed resistance against the Government takeover. Some
prisoners alleged that the dead inmates were the victims of
extrajudicial killings that occurred after the prison was occupied by
security forces. The PDH supported this claim and reported that
security forces had committed extrajudicial killings in the immediate
aftermath of the recovery effort. By year's end the Public Ministry had
announced that it was investigating these accusations. The
approximately 1,650 remaining prisoners at El Pavon were moved
temporarily to nearby prison facilities while the authorities rebuilt
El Pavon. By December prison authorities had reportedly returned
approximately 495 prisoners to El Pavon.
On rare occasions male and female detainees in immigration
facilities were held together. Pretrial detainees sometimes were held
in the same prison blocks with the general prison population.
The Government permitted prison monitoring visits by local and
international human rights groups, the Organization of American States,
public defenders, religious groups, and family members, and such visits
took place throughout the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and the law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, but there were credible
reports of arrests without judicial warrants, illegal detentions, and
failure to adhere to prescribed time limits in legal proceedings. In
practice arresting officers often failed to satisfy legal requirements
due to the failure of magistrates to receive the case within the
legally mandated timeframe of six hours.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The 18,000-member PNC,
headed by a director appointed by the President, remained understaffed,
poorly trained, and severely underfunded. As of December the PNC
reported 118 deaths of PNC personnel during the year, with 60 of these
deaths due to firearms and two due to lynching.
Police corruption was a serious problem, and there were credible
allegations of involvement by individual police officers in criminal
activity, including rapes, killings, and kidnappings. Police impunity
remained a serious problem. When ORP investigations failed to elicit
successful administrative or judicial punishment, the PNC often
transferred suspected officers to different parts of the country.
Attempts to curb impunity included placing 157 officers in employment
dismissal proceedings.
While no active members of the military served in the police
command structure, the Government continued to employ the military to
support police units in response to rising rates of violent crime.
Joint police and military operations under operational control of the
PNC continued in areas of Guatemala City with the highest crime rates,
as well as in other regions of the country. Under Presidential
instructions, in March and April the military trained and equipped
approximately 3,000 military reservists and former soldiers to form the
Special Corps for Citizen Security, which military commanders deployed
in Guatemala City and several other areas of the country to undertake
joint patrols with police units.
On June 30, PDH and 16 civil society organizations requested that
President Berger end combined patrols between army and police units due
to concerns about the potential for abuses. During the year there were
no credible reports of abuses conducted by the joint patrols, which
continued to operate.
Police threatened persons engaged in prostitution and other
commercial sexual activities with false drug charges to extort money or
sexual favors and harassed homosexuals or transvestites with similar
threats of false charges (see section 5). Critics accused the police of
indiscriminate and illegal detentions when conducting antigang
operations in specific high-crime neighborhoods. Suspected gang members
allegedly were arrested and imprisoned without charges or on the basis
of false drug charges, and in some instances were arrested without a
warrant and not during the commission of a crime.
On June 29, the security reform NGO Instance of Monitoring and
Support for Public Security reported personnel and technical resource
deficiencies in police internal investigation processes.
The ORP undertook internal investigations of misconduct by police
officers. Although the ORP increased its professionalism, its
independence and effectiveness were hampered by a lack of material
resources and the absence of cooperation from other PNC units. The ORP
reported that at year's end it had received 1,571 complaints, which
included: 37 killings, 36 forced disappearances, 10 kidnappings, 51
illegal detentions, 260 thefts, 16 rapes, 124 instances of bribery, 80
threats, 274 cases of abuse of authority, and 51 instances of illegal
detention.
Although cases with sufficient evidence of criminal activity were
forwarded to the Public Ministry for further investigation and
prosecution, few cases went to trial. Throughout the year ORP
investigations resulted in the removal from duty of 157 police officers
and exoneration of 175 officers.
Immigration and police officials often subjected persons attempting
to enter the country illegally to extortion and mistreatment. Many
civil society and media observers believed this mistreatment was
underreported.
During the year the PNC trained 954 cadets in courses that included
human rights and professional ethics. The army developed a manual for
human rights training, and the military continued to incorporate human
rights training into its curriculum and developed relevant courses with
the PDH. Civil affairs officers at each command were required to plan
and document human rights training provided to soldiers, and the
officers met this requirement during the year.
Approximately two-thirds of the police districts remained
understaffed. Indigenous rights advocates asserted that police
authorities' continuing lack of sensitivity to indigenous cultural
norms and practices engendered misunderstandings in dealing with
indigenous groups and that few indigenous police officers worked in
their own ethnic-linguistic communities.
Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and the law require that a
court-issued arrest warrant be presented to a suspect prior to arrest
unless the suspect is caught in the act of committing a crime. Police
may not detain a suspect for more than six hours without bringing the
case before a judge. Detainees often were not promptly informed of the
charges filed against them. Once a suspect has been arraigned, the
prosecutor generally has three months to complete the investigation and
file the case in court or seek a formal extension of the detention
period. The law provides for access to lawyers and bail for most
crimes. The Government provided legal representation for indigent
detainees, and detainees had access to family members.
Through December the ORP had received 46 accusations of illegal
detention. There were no reliable data on the number of arbitrary
detentions, although most accounts indicated that police forces
routinely ignored writs of habeas corpus in cases of illegal detention,
particularly during neighborhood antigang operations.
On March 17, the Government began a pilot project of a 24-hour
court in the basement of the Supreme Court of Justice building in
Guatemala City, staffed with police, prosecutors, public defenders, and
judges. In the jurisdictional area of the 24-hour court, the pilot
project significantly reduced the number of cases dismissed by judges
for lack of evidence and increased the Government's ability to comply
with legal requirements to bring suspects before a judge within six
hours of the start of detention.
Although the law sets a limit of three months for pretrial
detention, prisoners often were detained past their legal trial or
release dates, sometimes for years. During the year approximately 44
percent of persons incarcerated were in pretrial detention. Some
prisoners were not released in a timely fashion after completing their
full sentences due to the failure of judges to issue the necessary
court order or to other bureaucratic problems. On April 18, Carlos
Bermudez Lopez was released from jail nine months after a court had
ordered his release in July 2005. A judge has the discretion to
determine whether bail is necessary or permissible for pretrial
detainees depending on the circumstances of the charges. Detainees who
are offered bail but are unable to pay, or choose not to pay, must
remain in jail.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--While the constitution and the law
provide for an independent judiciary, the judicial system often failed
to provide fair or timely trials due to inefficiency, corruption,
insufficient personnel and funds, and intimidation of judges,
prosecutors, and witnesses. The majority of serious crimes were not
investigated or punished. Many high-profile criminal cases remained
pending in the courts for long periods as defense attorneys employed
successive appeals and motions.
During the year there were numerous reports of corruption,
ineffectiveness and manipulation of the judiciary. Judges, prosecutors,
plaintiffs, and witnesses also continued to report threats,
intimidation, and surveillance. The special prosecutor for crimes
against justice sector workers received 71 cases of threats or
aggression against judges, compared with 79 in 2005. During the year
two judicial sector workers were killed by unknown assailants.
There were no developments regarding the investigations of the
March 2005 killing of Justice of the Peace Jose Antonio Cruz Hernandez
by unknown assailants or of the April 2005 killing of High Impact Court
Judge Jose Victor Bautista Orozco. There were credible reports of
killings of witnesses. Less than 3 percent of reported crimes were
prosecuted, and significantly fewer received convictions.
On May 2, a judge sentenced Julio Cesar Roque Villela and Jose
Romilio Moscoso Lemus to 300 years in prison for the 2002 killing of
six persons in Xororagua, Chiquimula. Two other persons, Kenneth
Vanegas and Fredy Osorio, were released from police custody for lack of
evidence. During the prosecution of the case in February, witnesses
disappeared, were killed, or refused to present testimony for fear of
losing their lives. Two relatives of the victims refused to testify
against Vanegas in court after previously identifying him in written
statements.
On May 11, Judge Maria Ester Roldan stated that she had received
threats from a police lawyer for ordering the transfer of the recently
discovered historical police archive to the custody of the PDH. By
year's end the case had been transferred to the Public Ministry for
review.
There were no developments, and none were expected, regarding the
2004 killing of Jesus Mendoza, cousin of Bamaca case witness Otoniel de
la Roca Mendoza.
The Supreme Court of Justice continued to seek the suspension of
judges and to conduct criminal investigations for improprieties or
irregularities in cases under its jurisdiction. During the year the
Judicial Discipline Unit investigated and held hearings for 266
complaints of wrongdoing, including 94 for judges, 95 for justices of
the peace, 105 for judicial auxiliaries, and 12 for administrative
personnel. The Supreme Court did not provide statistics on the
resolution of these cases.
Prosecutors remained susceptible to intimidation and corruption and
were often ineffective. The law's failure to differentiate between the
responsibilities of the PNC and the Public Ministry regarding
investigating crimes led to organizational rivalries and the
duplication of investigative efforts.
The judiciary consisted of the Supreme Court of Justice, appellate
courts, trial courts, and probable-cause judges (with a function
similar to that of a grand jury), as well as courts of special
jurisdiction, including labor courts and family courts. More than 350
justices of the peace were located throughout the country. Some of the
justices specialized in administering traditional and indigenous law in
community courts, which were under the jurisdiction of the Supreme
Court of Justice. The Constitutional Court, which reviews legislation
and court decisions for compatibility with the constitution, is
independent of the rest of the judiciary.
Between January and December, the Public Ministry had approximately
139 persons in its witness protection program. In November one witness
under police protection was killed at her home in Palencia.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair, public trial, the presumption of innocence, the right to be
present at trial, and the right to counsel. The law provides for plea-
bargaining, the possibility of release on bail, and the right to an
appeal. Three-judge panels render verdicts. The law provides for oral
trials and requires language interpretation for those needing it, in
particular the large number of indigenous persons who were not fluent
in Spanish (see section 5). Inadequate government funding limited the
effective application of this legal requirement. The Public Ministry
concentrated 16 interpreters in former conflict areas of the country,
and the Office of the Public Defender employed bilingual public
defenders in locations where they could serve as translators in
addition to defending clients.
The Public Ministry, semi-independent of the executive branch, may
initiate criminal proceedings on its own or in response to a complaint.
Private parties may participate in the prosecution of criminal cases as
coplaintiffs. Lengthy investigations and frequent procedural motions
used by both defense and prosecution often led to excessively long
pretrial detention (see section 1.d.), frequently delaying trials for
months or years.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law does not provide
for jury trials in civil matters. The law provides for administrative
and judicial remedies for alleged wrongs, including the enforcement of
domestic court orders, but there were problems in enforcing domestic
court orders.
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.
On May 30, police raided a residence of Gustavo Adolfo Herrera, a
fugitive from justice in an embezzlement case, and although Herrera
avoided capture, his family accused the police of kidnapping Herrera's
son and briefly detaining his grandson to compel Herrera's surrender.
Human rights defenders alleged that individuals affiliated with
clandestine armed groups participated in a number of illegal entries
into their homes and offices. The Public Ministry investigated a number
of these cases but failed to identify suspects for prosecution.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and the law
provide for freedom of speech and press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice.
On February 1, the Constitutional Court declared void three
articles of the Penal Code that criminalized disrespect for public
officers, holding that these articles violated freedom of expression
guaranteed in the constitution.
On March 28, Juan Carlos Aquino, a reporter for Radio Novedad,
alleged that he received death threats for his news coverage of an
exhumation in Zacapa of victims of the 1960-96 internal armed conflict.
On March 21, the NGO Reporters Without Borders reported that the
Office of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Journalists and
Unionists, with the support of the Telecommunications Authority and the
National Broadcast Commission, closed nine community radio stations for
failing to have a broadcasting license and usurping airwaves belonging
to others. Critics asserted that the Government's action represented
discrimination against indigenous groups that largely operated the
unlicensed radio stations.
On August 23, radio journalist Vinicio Aguila was shot and wounded
while he was jogging in Mixco. Preliminary investigations could not
determine a motive for the shooting, but robbery was ruled out. The two
assailants fled immediately after firing a single shot.
Although the independent media, including international media,
operated freely and were active and expressed a wide variety of views
without government restriction, there were reports that members of the
media were targets of threats and intimidation from unidentified
persons. The Public Ministry reported 67 incidents of intimidation
against journalists, compared with 26 during 2005.
Reporters Without Borders reported that in July 2005 former members
of the civil defense patrols assaulted Prensa Libre correspondent Edwin
Paxtor with machetes while he filmed a demonstration in Chiquimula
Department. Paxtor also claimed to have received anonymous death
threats on September 23. The threats were reported to the PDH.
By year's end one of the defendants, who was convicted and
sentenced to 16 years in prison in February 2005 in conection with the
2003 home invasion of Jose Ruben Zamora, publisher of El Peridico, had
appealed the conviction but remained in custody. The other defendant
was acquitted. Zamora filed an appeal challenging the acquittal.
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 and Cultural Freedom.--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 the law provide for freedom of
assembly, and the Government generally respected these rights in
practice, there were some allegations of unnecessary use of force or
inaction by the police during violent demonstrations.
Although between September 25 and 29, the Government restricted
freedom of assembly in Fraijanes municipality in connection with the
takeover of El Pavon prison (see sections 1.c and 2.d.); this
restriction was not enforced.
Between August 29 and September 12, the Government declared and
enforced a state of exception that restricted freedom of assembly
during a counternarcotics operation in five municipalities in San
Marcos Department. The state of exception was imposed to forestall
armed opposition to poppy eradication and related operations.
There were no new developments, and none were expected, regarding
the investigation of the January 2005 death of a protester in Solola.
By year's end the authorities had not released a report on the
investigation of the March 2005 killing of a protester in
Huehuetenango.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and the law provide 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. There is no state religion; however, the constitution
recognizes explicitly the distinct legal personality of the Catholic
Church. The Government does not establish requirements for religious
recognition, nor does it impose registration requirements for religious
members to worship together. The Government requires religious
congregations, nonreligious associations, and NGOs to register as legal
entities in order to transact business.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination against persons for their religious
beliefs or practices, and no reports of anti-Semitic acts. The Jewish
population numbered approximately 2,000 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 the law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
On September 25, the Government declared a state of exception in
the Fraijanes Municipality around El Pavon prison to support the
security authorities' reassertion of control of that facility (see
sections 1.c and 2.b.). The declaration restricted freedom of movement
and assembly and arms possession within the boundaries of the
municipality as a public security measure but was not enforced. Between
August 29 and September 12, the Government enforced restrictions on
freedom of movement during a declared state of exception in five
municipalities in San Marcos Department (see section 2.b.).
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use
exile in practice.
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 provided protection against
refoulement, the 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.
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, and citizens exercised this right
in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the
basis of nearly universal suffrage for those 18 years of age and older.
Members of the armed forces and police are not permitted to vote.
Elections and Political Participation.--In the 2003 national
elections, Oscar Berger of the GANA coalition won a four-year term as
President with approximately 54 percent of the vote in the second
round. Despite some irregularities in the electoral registry, the
Organization of American States' international observation mission
categorized the elections as generally free and fair.
There were 14 women in the 158-seat Congress of the Republic, two
women on the Supreme Court of Justice, including the President of the
court, and one woman on the Constitutional Court. There were 197 women
serving as judges. There was one female minister in the cabinet and
seven female Presidential secretaries. Of the country's 331 mayors,
nine were women. There was one indigenous member in the cabinet, and
two Presidential secretaries were indigenous. There were 15 indigenous
members of the Congress of the Republic. Of the 331 mayors, 120 were
indigenous.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption was
widely perceived to be a serious problem, with public surveys noting a
lack of confidence in almost all government institutions including
those in the legislative and judicial branches. The Public Ministry
continued to investigate corruption charges against former vice
President Reyes Lopez, former President Alfonso Portillo, former
minister of government Byron Barrientos, and other senior members of
the previous government.
On December 13, Jorge Mario Nufio, a former board member of the
Social Security Institute, arrested on embezzlement charges, was
sentenced to 13 years in prison. By year's end Nufio's lawyer had
announced that he would appeal the sentence.
On October 26, Manuel Abundio Maldonado, former director of the
General Directorate of Civil Aviation, was sentenced to two years in
prison, or payment of $7,200 (54,000 quetzales), for abuse of authority
in connection with a 2003 diversion of $160,000 (1.2 million quetzales)
from civil aviation funds through payments to nonexisting workers.
Three other former civil aviation employees, including the finance
director, were sentenced to prison terms or ordered to pay fines.
There were no new developments regarding the appeal of the
acquittal of former Social Security Institute head Carlos Wohlers who
had been charged with corruption and abuse of authority or of the
appeal of the conviction for material falsification in transferring
funds of former minister of finance Eduardo Weymann.
There were no new developments regarding the whereabouts of former
director of the National Transit Authority, Arnoldo Heriberto Quezada
Chapeton, who remained at large after failing to appear at a September
2005 hearing on charges of corruption.
Judicial authorities continued to restrict the movements of former
defense ministers Eduardo Arevalo Lacs and Alvaro Lionel Mendez
Estrada, who remained under investigation for corruption in relation to
alleged embezzlement of $121 million (906 million quetzales) of
Ministry of Defense funds between 2001 and 2003.
In May police discovered stolen gasoline trucks at a gas station
owned by Congressman Hector Loaiza Gramajo. Based on subsequent
investigations, the Public Ministry charged Loaiza with fraud, tax
evasion, and other crimes. At year's end the Supreme Court of Justice
was reviewing government evidence seeking to strip Loaiza of his
parliamentary immunity.
At year's end former director of the tax administration body Marco
Tulio Abadio, who had been in prison since 2004, was still awaiting
trial for embezzlement of tax administration funds.
Although the constitution provides for the right of citizens to
access public information, there are no laws regulating provision or
facilitating access to information held by public institutions and no
other established mechanisms to enable citizens or noncitizens to
access government 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 somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views, including
civil society advocacy for the election of members to the
Constitutional Court and the negotiation of the International
Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). Many NGOs and human
rights workers and a number of trade unionists (see section 6.a.)
reported threats or intimidation by unidentified persons and complained
that the Government did little to investigate these reports or to
prevent further incidents. Only a small number of these cases were
officially reported to authorities.
The resident Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
assisted the Government in investigating various issues, including land
use conflicts, and discrimination against indigenous persons.
The Government continued to provide security to homes and offices
of human rights activists who received threats. The Myrna Mack
Foundation and the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation (FAFG)
received ongoing security protection. Staff members of FAFG continued
to receive death threats throughout the year.
During the year the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Human
Rights opened several new cases on matters involving anonymous
telephoned or written threats, break-ins, physical assaults, as well as
surveillance of workplaces, residences, and vehicular movements. The
majority of such cases remained pending for lengthy periods without
investigation or languished in the court system as defense attorneys
filed successive motions and appeals to delay trials.
Substantial threats were made against the lives and safety of
persons involved in the exhumation of often secret burial sites
containing the bodies of victims of the 36-year internal armed conflict
that concluded with the signing of peace accords in 1996. Forensics
groups used the information obtained from the exhumations to verify
eyewitness reports of massacres during the conflict.
In June UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour and in
September UN Rapporteur for Extrajudicial Executions Philip Alston
visited the country. In July the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights (IACHR) held a special session in the country to analyze
petitions, cases, precautionary measures, and thematic and general
reports on human rights and also met with representatives of the
Government and civil society.
Human Rights Ombudsman Sergio Morales, elected by the Congress of
the Republic, reports to the Congress of the Republic and monitors the
rights recognized under the constitution. The PDH's rulings do not have
the force of law. The PDH operated without government or party
interference, had adequate resources to undertake its duties, and had
the Government's cooperation.
The PDH issued reports and recommendations that were made public,
including its annual report on the fulfillment of the PHD's mandate to
the Congress of the Republic. During the year the PDH also issued
reports on femicide in Central America, the death of Claudia Isabel
Madrid, July 18 disturbances at a juvenile detention center, and the
discovery of the National Police Archives. There were no developments,
and none were expected, in the investigation to identify individuals
who made threats in 2004 against PDH field staff.
The President's Commission on Human Rights (COPREDEH), directed by
human rights leader Frank La Rue, is charged with formulating and
promoting the Government's human rights policy, representing the
Government for past human rights abuse cases before the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights, and negotiating amicable settlements in those
cases before the IACHR. COPREDEH took a leading role in coordinating
police protection for various human rights and labor activists
throughout the year and in consultations for redrafting the provisions
of the CICIG.
The Congressional Committee on Human Rights also drafts and
provides advice on legislation regarding human rights issues. By law
all political parties represented in the Congress of the Republic are
required to have a representative on the committee. NGOs reported that
they considered the committee to be valuable.
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. In practice the
Government frequently did not enforce these provisions due to
inadequate resource allocations, corruption, and a dysfunctional
judicial system (see sections 1.c. and 1.e.).
Women.--Violence against women, including domestic violence,
remained a common and serious problem. The law prohibits domestic abuse
but does not provide prison sentences for cases of domestic abuse.
Prosecutors noted that the law permits the charging of abusers with
assault only if bruises from the abuse remained visible for at least 10
days. The law provides for the issuance of restraining orders against
alleged aggressors, police protection for victims, and requires the PNC
to intervene in violent situations in the home. In practice, however,
the PNC often failed to respond to requests for assistance related to
domestic violence. Women's groups noted that few officers were trained
to deal with domestic violence or provide victims' assistance.
The Program for Prevention and Eradication of Intrafamily Violence,
a government program under the Presidential Spouse's Secretariat of
Social Work, reported receiving approximately four calls a day via its
emergency hot line from battered women and children. The Public
Ministry reportedly received more than 9,657 complaints of family
violence against women and children through December. During the year
the Public Ministry achieved convictions in 79 of the 3,547 cases it
opened during the year.
Justices of the peace issued an unspecified number of orders of
restraint against domestic violence aggressors and police protection
for victims. Full investigation and prosecution of domestic violence
and rape cases usually took an average of one year, and prosecutors
noted that half of the victims of domestic violence who filed
complaints failed to pursue their cases after their initial visit to
the Public Ministry. The Public Ministry handled 6,281 cases against
perpetrators of domestic violence, but there was no information on the
number of prosecutions or convictions. Although the law affords victims
of domestic violence with protection, such as shelter, during the
period of investigation, in practice there were insufficient facilities
for this purpose.
The ombudsman for indigenous women, an office of COPREDEH, provided
social services for victims of domestic or social violence, as well as
mediation, conflict resolution, and legal services for indigenous
women. This office also coordinated and promoted action by government
institutions and NGOs to prevent violence and discrimination against
indigenous women but lacked human resources and logistical capacity to
perform its functions on a national level. The office handled 1,425
cases between January and September, including labor conflicts and
domestic violence.
Sexual offenses remained a serious problem. The law criminalized
rape, including spousal rape and aggravated rape, and establishes
penalties between six and 50 years in prison. Prosecutors from the
Special Unit for Crimes against Women noted that reports of rapes had
increased by 30 percent over the past four years, although some
observers suggested that the increases might reflect improved record-
keeping of crime statistics. Until 2004 the law provided that a rapist
could escape charges by marrying the victim. Although the law no longer
allows for this, judicial processes that were entered into before the
law changed are judged according to the old law. During the year there
were cases in which this occurred.
Police had minimal training or capacity for investigating or
assisting victims of sexual crimes. The Government maintained a PNC
Special Unit for Sex Crimes, an Office of Attention to Victims, and a
Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Women, Children, and Trafficking
in Persons, but none of these units were effective in reducing sexual
violence. The PNC in Guatemala Department reported opening 342 cases
against sexual offenders and making 64 arrests relating to sexual
violence. The Public Ministry did not provide data on the number of
convictions in cases of rape and sexual abuse of women and minors. The
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that rape victims sometimes did
not report the crime for lack of confidence in the prosecution system
and fear of reprisals.
Between January and December the prosecutor's office reported
receiving 581 cases of rape and sexual assault in Guatemala City. Of
these, 74 cases went to trial resulting in 63 convictions with an
average sentence of six to 20 years' imprisonment, 21 persons were
absolved, and 25 cases were settled out of court.
The PNC reported that by year's end there were 603 killings of
women, constituting approximately 10 percent of the total number of
5,885 killings reported during that period, compared with approximately
10 percent (552 women out of 5,747 total killings) during 2005, and
approximately 11 percent (509 women out of 4,519 total killings) during
2004. Although the PNC attributed gang violence, narcotics trafficking,
and domestic abuse as the probable causes for many of the killings,
authorities were unable to identify the perpetrator or motives for over
half of the killings. Through December female victims represented 21.5
percent (75 of 349) of the reported killings by strangulation. A study
during the year by the NGO Grupo Guatemalteco de Mujeres reported that
11 percent of killings of women in the country could be identified as
targeted killings based on gender. The overall number of killings of
both men and women continued to rise, as did the rate of victims of
killings per 100,000 persons.
Due to weaknesses throughout the judicial and law enforcement
systems, including inadequate governmental allocation of resources to
criminal investigation authorities, government investigations of
killings of women and of homicides generally were extremely
ineffective, resulting in the erosion of public confidence in these
governmental institutions and in the ability of the Government to
resolve crimes and protect citizens.
Although prostitution is legal, procuring and inducing a person
into prostitution are crimes that can result in fines or imprisonment,
with heavier penalties if minors are involved. Trafficking in women and
minors, primarily for the purpose of prostitution, is illegal and was a
broadly recognized problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment is not specified as a crime in the penal code,
and during the year there were no accurate estimates of the incidence
of sexual harassment. Human rights organizations reported, however,
that sexual harassment was widespread, especially in industries in
which the workforce was primarily female, such as the textile and
apparel assembly sector. While the law establishes the principle of
gender equality, in practice women faced job discrimination and were
less likely to hold management positions. The 2002 National Study on
Income and Spending, the most recent available, showed that indigenous
women earned 58 percent of what indigenous men earned and that
nonindigenous women earned 71 percent of what nonindigenous men earned.
Women were employed primarily in low-wage jobs in agriculture, retail
businesses, the service sector, the textile and apparel industries, and
the Government and were more likely than men to be employed in the
informal sector, where pay and benefits generally were lower. Women may
legally own, manage, and inherit property on an equal basis with men,
including in situations involving divorce.
The Secretariat for Women's Affairs advised President Berger on
interagency coordination of policies affecting women and their
development. The secretariat's activities included seminars, outreach,
and providing information on discrimination against women.
Children.--The Government devoted insufficient resources to ensure
adequate educational and health services for children.
Although the constitution and the law provide for free compulsory
education for all children up to the sixth grade, less than half the
population had received a primary education. The UN Development
Program's 2003 Human Development Report, the most recent available,
estimated that 40 percent of children who entered primary school
finished their third year and 30 percent were promoted beyond sixth
grade. Completion rates were lower in rural and indigenous areas.
According to the Population Council's annual report, the average
education level attained varied widely based on background and
geographic region. Although the average nonindigenous child received
4.2 years of schooling, indigenous children received an average of 1.3
years.
Boys and girls had equal access to medical care. UNICEF statistics
reported that 67 percent of indigenous children suffered from chronic
malnutrition.
Child abuse remained a serious problem. The Public Ministry did not
provide a figure on the number of cases of child abuse during the year.
The Social Secretariat for the Welfare of Children, with oversight for
children's treatment, training, special education, and welfare programs
provided shelter and assistance to children who were victims of abuse
but sometimes placed children under its care in shelters with other
youths who had criminal records. Due to an overwhelmed public welfare
system, family courts during the year referred 329 minors to Casa
Alianza, an NGO focusing on issues regarding street children. The
Special Prosecutor's Office for Women included a unit that investigated
only child abuse cases.
Child prostitution was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking and
section 6.c.).
Child labor was a widespread and serious problem. According to the
International Labor Organization (ILO), during the year almost one
quarter of children had to work to survive (see section 6.d.).
Credible estimates put the number of street children at 5,000
nationwide, approximately 3,000 of them in Guatemala City. Most street
children ran away from home after being abused. Casa Alianza reported
that increased gang recruitment decreased the number of street children
in the capital, because after joining a gang, street children often
lived with fellow gang members and no longer slept on the streets. Casa
Alianza reported that by year's end approximately 377 minors suffered
violent deaths in Guatemala City. Criminals often recruited street
children for purposes of stealing, transporting contraband,
prostitution, and illegal drug activities. Approximately 10,000
children were members of street gangs. NGOs dealing with gangs and
other youth reported concerns that street youth detained by police were
subject to abusive treatment, including physical assaults (see section
1.d.).
The Government closed its two shelters in Guatemala City and moved
their functions to a shelter for girls in Antigua and a shelter in San
Jose Pinula for boys. Two other shelters in Quetzaltenango and Zacapa
served both boys and girls.
The Government devoted insufficient funds to its shelters, and
governmental authorities often preferred to send juveniles to youth
shelters operated by Casa Alianza and other NGOs. The Government
provided no funding assistance for shelter costs to these NGOs.
Juvenile offenders were incarcerated at separate youth detention
facilities.
Trafficking in Persons.--While the law prohibits trafficking in
persons, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from,
through, and within the country. The law criminalizes all forms of
trafficking, defines the categories of persons responsible for
trafficking offenses, and mandates jail time for traffickers. The
Government acknowledged that trafficking was a significant and growing
problem in the country.
The Public Ministry operated the Office of Special Prosecutor for
Crimes against Women, Children, and Victims of Trafficking. During the
year a task force, which included the Office of the Special Prosecutor,
immigration authorities, PNC, and Casa Alianza, conducted an
unspecified number of bar raids.
The country cooperated with Mexico on an annual work plan to care
for victims and regularize cooperation between the respective
government agencies. This cooperation included ensuring that the
repatriation of trafficking victims was handled separately from
deportations. The country had repatriation agreements for minor victims
of trafficking with El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, and
Panama.
The country was a source, transit, and destination country for
women and children trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation and
child labor. One 2004 NGO report, which contained the most recent data
available, identified 600 to 700 minors who were victims of trafficking
in centers of prostitution across the country. There were no reliable
estimates of forced labor trafficking, mainly involving children used
in begging rings in Guatemala City.
Trafficking was particularly a problem in the capital and in towns
along the borders with Mexico and El Salvador. Child migrants who did
not cross the border into Mexico often remained in the country and
resorted to or were forced into prostitution. Many women and children
also were brought into the country from El Salvador, Nicaragua, and
Honduras by organized rings that forced them into prostitution. The
primary target population for sexual exploitation was minor boys and
girls or young women from poor families. Traffickers often approached
individuals with promises of economic rewards, jobs in cafeterias or
beauty parlors, or employment in other countries. The means of
promotion included flyers, newspaper advertisements, and verbal or
personal recommendations.
Brothel owners often were responsible for transporting and
employing victims of trafficking. Traffickers frequently had links to
other organized crime, including drug trafficking and migrant
smuggling.
There were credible reports that police and immigration service
agents were complicit in trafficking of persons. In a 2002 study by the
NGO End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and Trafficking of
Children for Sexual Purposes, some minor victims of trafficking
reported that immigration officials took bribes from traffickers, gave
the victims falsified identification papers, and allowed them to cross
borders. There were credible reports that brothel owners allowed police
and migration officials to have sex with minor victims without charge.
There were no further developments, and none were expected, regarding
the investigation of former PNC official Rudy Giron Lima's ownership of
three bars where underage persons were engaged in prostitution. During
the year Giron Lima remained in prison under a 63-year sentence for an
unrelated kidnapping conviction.
The Secretariat for Social Welfare, a government institution,
operated shelters in Antigua, San Jose Pinula, Quetzaltenango and
Zacapa that housed victims of trafficking and offered social casework,
job training, and counseling.
Immigration officials generally deported foreign adult trafficking
victims but did not treat them as criminals. Immigration officials
deported an unspecified number of women found during bar raids back to
Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. Victims were not prosecuted and
were not required to testify against traffickers.
During the year the Government undertook efforts to address the
problem of trafficking in persons, including increased attention to
rescuing minors from commercial sexual exploitation in bars, brothels,
and other establishments. The Government released minor trafficking
victims rescued in bar raids primarily to the custody of Casa Alianza,
which provided shelter, medical treatment, psychological counseling,
and job training. Other NGOs provided similar services and, along with
Casa Alianza, lobbied for legislation, protection of victims, and
prevention of trafficking.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and the law contain no
specific prohibitions against discrimination based on physical
disability in employment, education, access to health care, or the
provision of other state services. The law, however, mandates equal
access to public facilities and provides some other legal protections,
such as equal hiring opportunities. In many cases persons with physical
and mental disabilities did not enjoy these rights, and the Government
devoted few resources to combat this problem. A 2004 report by the
International Disability Rights Monitor, the most recent available,
noted that the Government discriminated against persons with
disabilities by not providing adequate protection.
There were minimal educational resources for those with special
needs, and the majority of universities were not made accessible to
persons with disabilities. The National Hospital for Mental Health, the
principal healthcare provider for persons with mental illness, lacked
basic supplies, equipment, hygienic living conditions, and adequate
professional staffing. Although the National Council for the Disabled,
composed of representatives of relevant government ministries and
agencies, met regularly to discuss initiatives, the Government devoted
no resources to the implementation of the council's recommendations.
Indigenous People.--Indigenous people from approximately 22 ethnic
groups constituted an estimated 43 percent of the population. In
addition to the many Mayan communities, there were also the Garifuna,
descendents of Africans brought to the Caribbean region as slaves who
intermarried with Amerindians, and the indigenous Xinca community. The
law provides for equal rights for indigenous people and obliges the
Government to recognize, respect, and promote their lifestyles,
customs, traditions, social organization, and manner of dress. Although
some indigenous people attained high positions as judges and government
officials, they generally were underrepresented in politics and
remained largely outside the country's political, economic, social, and
cultural mainstream due to limited educational opportunities, poverty,
and pervasive discrimination.
In a session during the year, the UN Committee on the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination (CERD) reported its deep concern at the extent
to which racism and racial discrimination against the Maya, Xinca, and
Garifuna communities was entrenched in the country, and at the
inadequacy of public policies to eliminate racial discrimination. The
CERD recommended that the Government adopt specific legislation to
punish dissemination of ideas based on notions of superiority or racial
hatred, incitement of racial discrimination, and violent acts directed
against indigenous people and persons of African descent.
The CERD also stated that it was concerned about the low level of
political participation among indigenous people, problems expressed by
indigenous people in gaining access to the justice system, the lack of
access by indigenous people to land, the lack of respect shown for
their traditional lands, and difficulties surrounding restitution of
lands to indigenous people displaced by armed conflict or economic
development. The committee recommended that the Government take steps
to return lands and territories traditionally owned by indigenous
persons and to adopt a national land bill so that indigenous
communities could be identified and demarcated.
A 2004 World Bank study, the most recent available, found that 76
percent of the indigenous population lived in poverty, compared with 41
percent of the nonindigenous population.
Rural indigenous persons had limited educational opportunities and
fewer employment opportunities. Many of the indigenous were illiterate,
and approximately 33 percent did not speak Spanish. More than 50
percent of indigenous women were illiterate and a disproportionate
number of indigenous girls did not attend school (see section 5, Women,
and Children). According to a 2005 report of the Ministry of Education,
the most recent available, 309,764 preschool and kindergarten aged
indigenous children were enrolled in bilingual education programs. The
Government devoted less than 10 percent of the total budget to
bilingual education.
The Department of Indigenous People in the Ministry of Labor,
tasked with investigating cases of discrimination, representing
indigenous rights, and promoting implementation of ILO Convention 169
on the rights of indigenous people, counseled indigenous persons on
their rights. This department had no separate budget, only four
employees, and lacked resources to investigate any discrimination
claims.
Legally mandated court interpreters for criminal proceedings were
rarely available, placing indigenous people arrested for crimes at a
disadvantage due to their limited comprehension of Spanish (see section
1.e.). There were 63 judges who spoke Mayan languages among the 561
tribunals in the country. There were 62 court interpreters, and the
Supreme Court of Justice reported that the judicial system had 689
employees who spoke indigenous languages. In many instances bilingual
judicial personnel continued to be assigned to areas where their second
language was not spoken.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law does not
criminalize homosexuality, but it also does not expressly include
sexual orientation or HIV status among the categories prohibited from
discrimination. There was social discrimination against gay, lesbian,
and transgender persons and persons with HIV/AIDS. Homosexual rights
support groups alleged that members of the police regularly waited
outside clubs and bars frequented by sexual minorities and demanded
that patrons and persons engaged in commercial sexual activities
provide protection money. These groups also complained that police at
times raped lesbians and transvestites, but that due to a lack of trust
in the judicial system and out of fear of further persecution or social
recrimination, victims were unwilling to file complaints.
On June 17, five transvestites were shot in Guatemala City, one of
them fatally. A human rights group claimed that the victims were
attacked because of their sexual preferences. By year's end police
authorities had investigated the attack but had not identified any
suspects. A December 2005 incident involving the killing of one
transvestite person and the injuring of another remained under
investigation. Members of the gay rights group OASIS asserted that the
perpetrators were wearing police uniforms (see section 1.d.).
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--While the law provides for freedom of
association and the right to form and join trade unions, in practice
enforcement remained weak and ineffective. With the exception of
members of the security forces, all workers have the right to form or
join unions, but less than 3 percent of the formal sector work force
was unionized.
Legal recognition of a new industry wide union requires that the
membership constitute 50 percent plus one of the workers in an
industry. In its annual report, the ILO Committee of Experts (COE)
recalled that for many years it had been commenting on this requirement
as among ``restrictions on the formation of organizations in full
freedom.'' Labor rights activists considered this number to be a nearly
insurmountable barrier to the formation of new industry wide unions.
Enforcement of legal prohibitions on retribution for forming unions
and for participating in trade union activities was weak. To hold union
office, the law requires that a person must be both a citizen of the
country and actively employed by the enterprise or economic activity.
Many employers routinely sought to circumvent legal provisions for
union organizing by resisting union formation attempts or by ignoring
judicial orders to enforce them. An ineffective legal system and
inadequate penalties for violations continued to undermine enforcement
of the right to form unions and participate in trade union activities.
There were credible reports of retaliation by employers against
workers who tried to exercise internationally recognized labor rights.
There were no new developments, and none were expected, regarding the
status of a 2004 case involving 20 workers dismissed by the Secretariat
for Social Welfare while trying to form a public sector union, despite
a court order calling for their reinstatement.
Some workers who suffered illegal dismissal took their cases to the
labor courts and won 6,037 injunctions ordering reinstatement. The law
requires employers to reinstate workers dismissed illegally for union
organizing activities. In practice employers often failed to comply
with reinstatement orders. Appeals by employers, along with legal
recourse such as reincorporation as a different entity, often prolonged
reinstatement proceedings. The labor courts rarely dismissed frivolous
appeals, did not operate in a timely manner, or ensure enforcement of
their decisions. According to labor ministry officials, employers
rarely were disciplined for ignoring legally binding court orders.
The COE noted problems with failure to comply with court orders to
reinstate dismissed trade union members, tardiness of the procedures to
impose penalties for breaches of labor legislation, and numerous
antiunion dismissals.
Labor leaders reported receiving death threats and other acts of
intimidation. A three-prosecutor Office of the Special Prosecutor for
Crimes Against Unionists and Journalists accepted 30 new union-related
cases during the year (see section 4). During the year prosecutors
secured no convictions for crimes against trade unionists and often
claimed that they had minimal evidence to prosecute such cases. In its
annual report the COE expressed ``deep concern at the acts of violence
against trade union leaders and members,'' emphasized that ``trade
union rights can only be exercised in a climate that is free of
violence,'' and requested government information on how the Government
would protect trade unionists.
During the year the Ministry of Labor granted legal status to 53
new labor unions. Although there were 1,769 legally registered labor
unions, fewer than 415 appeared to be active based on administrative
register records.
An active solidarismo (solidarity association) movement claimed to
have approximately 170,000 members. Its advocates claimed that these
associations operated in an estimated 400 companies. Unions may operate
legally in workplaces that have solidarity associations, and workers
have the right to choose between them or to belong to both. The
Government characterized these associations as civic organizations that
need not interfere with the functioning of trade unions. Although the
law stipulates that trade unions have an exclusive right to negotiate
work conditions on behalf of workers, unions charged that management
promoted solidarity associations to avoid the formation of trade unions
or to compete with existing labor unions. Representatives of most
organized labor groups criticized these associations for their
inability to strike, having inadequate grievance procedures, and for
displacing genuine, independent trade unions with an employer-dominated
structure.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government generally strove to protect this right in practice. The law
requires that union members approve a collective bargaining agreement
by simple majority. Although workers had the right to organize and
bargain collectively, the small number of unionized workers limited the
practice of organizing and bargaining. In its annual report, the COE
identified ``violation of collective agreements'' in the country as a
restriction on the exercise of trade union rights in practice.
In a factory or business, 25 percent of the workers must be union
members for collective bargaining to take place. Most workers,
including those organized in trade unions, did not have collective
contracts documenting their wages and working conditions, nor did they
have individual contracts as required by law.
According to the Ministry of Labor, there were 17 collective
bargaining agreements, covering an estimated 15,000 unionized and non-
unionized workers, primarily in the public sector.
Workers have the right to strike, but due to the very low level of
unionization and procedural hurdles, there were only two legal strikes
by year's end. The law requires approval by simple majority of a firm's
workers to call a legal strike, and it requires that a labor court
consider whether workers are conducting themselves peacefully and have
exhausted available mediation before ruling on the legality of a
strike. Teachers, farm workers, and other labor groups held illegal or
unofficial work stoppages.
The law empowers the President and his cabinet to suspend any
strike deemed ``gravely prejudicial to the country's essential
activities and public services,'' an authority that the Government did
not use during the year.
Workers in the essential services and public services sectors can
address grievances by means of mediation and arbitration through the
Ministry of Labor's General Inspectorate of Labor and also directly to
the labor courts. Employers may suspend or fire workers for absence
without leave if authorities have not recognized a strike as legal. The
law calls for binding arbitration if no agreement is reached after 30
days of negotiation. The law prohibits employer retaliation against
strikers engaged in legal strikes.
Labor laws and regulations apply throughout the country, including
in the 12 active export processing zones (EPZs) and within the
maquiladoras, which operated under an EPZ-like regime, although they
were not located in distinctly established areas. By end of year the
number of workers in the maquiladora sector decreased to approximately
85,766 businesses due to competition from producers in Asian countries.
There were no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the EPZs. Due to worker mistrust of employers and union organizers,
unions had minimal success in organizing workers in EPZs and in the
maquiladora sector. There was one collective bargaining agreement in
the EPZ sector. Only five enterprises in the maquiladora sector had
legally registered unions. Labor leaders and activists asserted that
employer intimidation and pressure undermined organizing activities.
Among the deficiencies in the exercise of trade union rights identified
in the COE's annual report were ``the need to promote trade union
rights (particularly collective bargaining) in export processing
zones.''
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--While the
constitution and the law prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including
by children, women and increasingly minors were trafficked for the
purpose of sexual exploitation (see section 5). There were reports that
employers sometimes forced workers to work overtime, often without the
premium pay mandated by law (see section 6.e.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although the law bars employment of minors under the age of 14 without
written permission from parents or the Ministry of Labor, child labor
was a widespread problem. The law prohibits minors from work in
establishments where alcoholic beverages are served, from work in
unhealthy or dangerous conditions, and from night work and overtime
work. The legal workday for persons younger than 14 is six hours, and
for persons 14 to 17 years of age, seven hours. Despite these
protections, child laborers worked on average in excess of 45 hours per
week.
The informal and agricultural sectors regularly employed children
below 14 years of age, usually in small family enterprises. Economic
necessity forced most families to have their children work to
supplement family income, particularly in rural and indigenous
communities.
Laws governing the employment of minors were not enforced
effectively. The vast majority of child labor cases occurred in the
informal sector. The situation was exacerbated by the weakness of the
labor inspection and labor court systems, and because the law provides
that parental consent alone is sufficient to permit a child to work.
The ILO's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor
(IPEC) continued to operate programs in the country to deal with
commercial sexual exploitation of children, child labor in commercial
agriculture, children working in garbage dumps, and child labor in
quarries. During the year IPEC ended two child labor programs in
Retalhuleu and San Marcos. The Ministry of Labor estimated that
approximately 3,000 children were illegally employed in the very
hazardous cottage-based fireworks production industry.
The Child Worker Protection Unit within the Ministry of Labor is
charged with enforcing restrictions on child labor and educating
minors, their parents, and employers on the rights of minors in the
labor market.
The Government devoted insufficient resources to prevention
programs, but Guatemala City's municipal administration managed several
small programs that offered scholarships and free meals during the year
to encourage families to send to school children who had formerly
worked in the broccoli, coffee, gravel, and fireworks industries.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law sets national minimum
wages for agricultural and nonagricultural work. The daily minimum wage
was $6.95 (52.91 quetzales) per day for agricultural work and $7.12
(54.15 quetzales) for nonagricultural work.
The minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family. The National Statistics Institute calculated that
the minimum food budget for a family of four was $197.40 (1,502.28
quetzales) per month, significantly above the $208 (1,587.40 quetzales)
per month that could be earned at the nonagricultural minimum wage
rate. The institute's estimate of a family's total needs, including
housing, clothing, utilities, and healthcare, was $360.23 (2,741.38
quetzales). Labor representatives noted that even where both parents
worked, the minimum wage did not allow the family to meet its basic
needs.
Noncompliance with minimum wage provisions in the informal sector
was widespread. The Ministry of Labor conducted inspections to monitor
compliance with minimum wage provisions, but the Government allocated
inadequate resources to enable inspectors to enforce the minimum wage
law adequately, especially in the very large informal sector. Advocacy
groups focused on rural sector issues estimated that more than half of
workers in rural areas who engaged in day-long employment did not
receive the wages, benefits, and social security allocations required
by law.
According to the National Center for Economic Investigations,
approximately 75 percent of the workforce operated in the informal
sector and therefore outside of the basic protections, such as minimum
wage, afforded by the law.
The legal workweek is 48 hours with at least one paid 24-hour rest
period, although in certain economic sectors workers continued to
operate under a tradition of longer work hours. Daily and weekly
maximum hour limits did not apply to domestic workers. Time-and-a-half
pay was required for overtime work. Although the law prohibits
excessive compulsory overtime, trade union leaders and human rights
groups charged that employers sometimes forced workers to work overtime
without legally mandated premium pay. Labor inspectors reported
uncovering numerous instances of overtime abuses, but effective
enforcement was undermined due to inadequate fines and inefficiencies
in the labor court system.
Labor courts have responsibility for sanctioning employers found
violating labor laws. Labor inspectors are not empowered to adopt
administrative measures or to impose fines for labor violations. During
the year the labor courts received 7,119 cases from the labor
inspectorate and ruled in favor of reinstatement of the worker in 6,037
cases.
The Government sets occupational health and safety standards, which
were inadequate and poorly enforced. When serious or fatal industrial
accidents occurred, the authorities often failed to investigate fully
or assign responsibility for negligence. Employers rarely were
sanctioned for failing to provide a safe workplace. Legislation
requiring companies with more than 50 employees to provide on-site
medical facilities for their workers was not enforced. Workers have the
legal right to remove themselves from dangerous work situations without
reprisal. Few workers, however, were willing to jeopardize their jobs
by complaining about unsafe working conditions.
__________
GUYANA
The Co-operative Republic of Guyana is a multiparty democracy with
a population of approximately 750,000. On August 28, citizens voted in
generally free national elections to reelect the People's Progressive
Party Civic (PPP/C) and President Bharrat Jagdeo. The civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
The most significant reported human rights abuses included unlawful
killings by police, police abuse of suspects, poor prison and jail
conditions, lengthy pretrial detention, and warrantless searches.
Inequitable use of government-controlled media resources compromised
media freedom during the campaign for the August elections. There was a
widespread perception of government corruption. Sexual abuse and
domestic violence against women and children and discrimination against
indigenous persons were pervasive; trafficking in persons remained a
problem.
The August elections were the country's first nonviolent elections
in nearly two decades.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--While there was no
evidence that the Government or its agents committed any politically
motivated killings, the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Guyana Human
Rights Association (GHRA) and the media asserted that police continued
to commit unlawful killings. The Police Complaints Authority (PCA)
received complaints of seven unlawful killings during the year. In most
cases the police shot the victims while attempting to make an arrest or
while a crime was being committed. Police seldom were prosecuted for
unlawful killings. The constitution broadly defines justifiable use of
lethal force.
On February 8, police fatally shot Bemaul Harrinarine. According to
press reports, police officers shot Harrinarine at his residence while
attempting to arrest him on robbery charges. Police reported that
Harrinarine threatened officers with a machete. According to
Harrinarine's family members, however, police shot him three times
immediately after he opened the door to them and then retrieved a
machete from the house to corroborate their story.
On April 9, minibus driver Orin Adams died after being taken to the
Brickdam police station for a traffic offense. According to press
reports, two officers hit Adams before taking him to the station. Adams
was pronounced dead on arrival at Georgetown Public Hospital; a
postmortem showed that he died as a result of a blow to the back of the
neck. Authorities arrested two policemen in connection with the death.
In May policeman Mohanlall Persaud was charged with manslaughter in the
case and released on bail. His case remained pending at year's end.
On September 8, police fatally shot Kelvin Nero. The police
maintained that Nero was wanted for murder and fled when ordered to
surrender. Nero's relatives claimed that no warrant had been issued for
his arrest. An eyewitness said that Nero was unarmed at the time of the
shooting and reported that after Nero had been shot in the leg, an
officer kicked him and ordered him to get up before dragging him to a
police vehicle. He died while being taken to the hospital.
On October 26, police shot and killed James Bennet. According to
press reports, police fired warning shots before pursuing Bennet and
several other persons suspected of dealing in cocaine. Eyewitnesses
reported that a police officer shot Bennet as he was running away and
then shot again after he fell down incapacitated. According to the
police, the second shot was accidentally discharged when the pursuing
officer also fell to the ground. Bennet died before receiving medical
attention.
There were no developments in the allegations of police killings in
previous years, including the 2005 cases of Simeon Hope, Eon Forrester,
Dwight McKenzie, Eon Alleyn, and Carl Abrams.
On April 22, masked gunmen armed with AK-47s forced their way into
Minister of Agriculture Satyadeow Sawh's home and killed him, along
with two relatives and a security guard. While the gunmen also stole
some cash and jewelry, authorities did not believe that robbery was the
motivation for the attack. In several instances during the following
months, men wanted for questioning in relation to the Sawh killing were
shot and killed by police during pursuit or arrest. The case remained
open 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.--Although the law prohibits torture, and there were no
reports of its use, allegations of police abuse of suspects continued.
As of October the PCA received 47 complaints of unlawful arrest and by
year's end had received 22 complaints of unnecessary use of violence.
According to the GHRA, high levels of violent crime and pressure on
the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to deliver results contributed to an
upsurge in police misconduct.
In September masked men, some wearing camouflage gear, allegedly
forced Buxton residents Troy Freeman, Wendrick Providence, and Kester
October into vehicles; the men claimed that they were held for three
days in a room, interrogated, and threatened with torture before being
handed over to the police. Speaking with the independent Stabroek News
in October, Acting Police Commissioner Henry Greene did not confirm or
deny police involvement; however, he stated that as a security tactic,
police could wear masks while carrying out certain arrests.
In the May 2005 case of alleged sexual abuse by staff members of a
former female inmate at the New Opportunity Corps (NOC), a correctional
facility for juvenile delinquents, the trial of three former employees
was underway.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison and jail conditions
were poor, particularly in police holding cells. The GHRA stated that
while the Prison Authority was committed to creating a humane and
professional prison service, capacity and resource constraints were a
problem. The Prison Authority reported that there were 1,724 prisoners
in five facilities, more than half of whom were in Georgetown's Camp
Street Prison, which was designed to hold 500 inmates but held
approximately 900 during the year. Overcrowding was in large part due
to backlogs of pretrial detainees. Despite efforts by the Prison
Authority and the judiciary to reduce the numbers of pretrial
detainees, the GHRA noted that the pretrial detainee population
increased.
In August there was violent unrest at the Camp Street Prison.
Prisoners climbed onto the roof and set fire to mattresses to protest
substandard food, inadequate bedding materials, lack of access to
sufficient water for bathing, and lengthy delays in their cases. Prison
guards fired warning shots and sprayed teargas to break up the protest.
Home Affairs Minister Gail Teixeira eventually brokered a deal with the
prisoners allowing them to return to their cells, providing new
mattresses, and promising better food.
In September the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Guyanese Women
in Development helped a group of female pretrial detainees at the
Berbice prison obtain an audience at the New Amsterdam Magistrate's
Court to air their complaints about detention conditions. The women
complained that, unlike male prisoners, they were forced to do heavy
chores despite having medical conditions. The women said that their
requests for medical attention had been denied and complained about
substandard food. They reported that food items delivered by relatives
were often taken away, forcing them to supplement their rations from an
expensive prison-run food shop. Dale Erskine, director of prisons, sent
a team to the prison to investigate and submit recommendations to the
director.
Conditions in the country's four smaller prisons generally were
adequate. Some prison officers received basic medical training, but no
doctor regularly visited any of the prisons. The prison system faced
staffing constraints and lack of resources. However, attempts were made
to give all prison officers human rights training, and the senior level
management of the Prison Service made serious efforts to combat cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment in the prisons. The GHRA did not
consider mistreatment of prisoners a problem in the prison system.
Although sanitary and medical conditions in police holding
facilities varied, overall these conditions were worse than those in
the prisons. Some jails were bare, overcrowded, and damp. Few had beds,
washbasins, furniture, or utensils. Meals normally were inadequate;
friends and relatives routinely had to bring detainees food and water.
Cells rarely had sanitary facilities, and staff members sometimes
escorted inmates outside the cells to use holes in the floor for
toilets. Inmates generally slept on a thin pallet on the concrete
floor. Ventilation and lighting were often inadequate. Although
precinct jails were intended to serve only as pretrial holding areas,
some suspects were detained there as long as two years, awaiting
judicial system action on their cases.
On June 20, police found Sean Andrews dead in the Sparendaam Police
Station lockup. Relatives had brought Andrews, who was mentally ill, to
the police on June 18 after he became violent at home. Police stated
that Andrews was placed in the lockup while the documents necessary for
admitting him to hospital observation were obtained and that they
suspected Andrews had hit his head against the lockup walls. The press
reported that a postmortem examination revealed injuries suggesting
Andrews may have been beaten.
Juvenile offenders ages 16 and older were held with the adult
prison population. Juvenile offenders ages 15 and younger were held in
the NOC, which originally was conceived as a training and
rehabilitation facility rather than as a juvenile detention center.
There were complaints that juvenile runaways, or those out of their
guardians' care, were placed with juveniles who had committed crimes,
with the result that some petty offenders became involved in more
serious criminal activity. According to the Director of Public
Prosecutions (DPP), a separate, secure facility for juveniles who had
committed more serious offenses was needed to correct this problem. The
DPP also noted the need for better rehabilitation and education
programs at the NOC. The NOC facility had multiple problems including
staffing capacity, capabilities, and lack of effective security.
Since there were no facilities in Georgetown to house female
offenders ages 16 and over, women awaiting trial were held in the same
facilities as men. The Prison Authority reported that there were 60
female inmates in the women's prison located in New Amsterdam. The GHRA
reported that the large number of female prisoners incarcerated on drug
charges caused overcrowding in the facility. Due to inadequate
facilities, juvenile female pretrial detainees were sometimes held
together with adult female pretrial detainees.
In September the Prison Service launched a restructuring of the
prisoner rehabilitation program to offer more skills training to
inmates. According to the GHRA, rehabilitation programs did not
adequately address the needs of prisoners with substance-abuse
problems.
The Government permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions, but there were no known requests by human rights
organizations to conduct such monitoring 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 GPF, which is
headed by the commissioner of police and overseen by the minister of
home affairs, maintains internal security. The Guyana Defense Force
(GDF) is responsible for defending the country's territorial integrity,
assisting civil authorities to maintain law and order, and contributing
to economic development. The GDF consists of approximately 2,500 troops
and is headed by the chief of staff. The GDF falls under the purview of
the Defense Board, which the President chairs.
Poor training, poor equipment, and acute budgetary constraints
severely limited the effectiveness of the GPF. Public confidence in and
cooperation with the police remained low. There were reports of
corruption in the force. Most cases involving charges against police
officers were heard by lower magistrate's courts, where specially
trained police officers served as the prosecutors.
According to the GHRA, the PCA's effectiveness, especially in
making field visits to outlying regions, steadily improved despite
staff shortages. After the PCA receives and investigates a complaint,
it sends a report and relevant statements to the chairman and a two-
person panel for review. By law the police commissioner must comply
with the PCA's recommendation on complaints. The PCA currently relies
on the GPF to conduct investigations into complaints against its own
officers. According to the chairman, long delays in getting reports
from the commissioner of police significantly hampered the complaints
process.
The PCA received 257 written complaints during the year, of which
seven involved police killings. The remaining 250 complaints were
mostly for police neglecting their duties or misbehaving in public
places, unlawful arrest, wrongful seizure of firearms or motor
vehicles, corrupt transactions, and unnecessary use of force.
Investigation into the complaints led to three recommendations of
criminal charges and 31 recommendations of disciplinary action against
police officers. At year's end 97 reports remained outstanding, and the
other 160 complaints had been investigated and dealt with by the police
force or rejected by the PCA.
The GPF includes a basic human rights course in its recruit-
training program. In April the GHRA presented the GPF with a human
rights training manual, Human Rights in Policing.
Arrest and Detention.--An arrest requires a warrant issued by a
court official, unless an officer witnesses a crime, or at the
officer's discretion in instances where there is good cause to suspect
that a crime or a breach of the peace has been or will be committed.
The law requires that a person arrested and held for more than 72 hours
be brought before a court to be charged; authorities generally observed
this requirement in practice. Bail was generally available except in
capital offenses and narcotics trafficking cases.
Although the law provides criminal detainees prompt access to a
lawyer of their choice, as well as access to family members, in
practice these rights were not fully respected. Police routinely
required permission from the senior investigating officer, who was
seldom on the premises, before permitting counsel access to a client.
There were reports that senior officers refused to grant prompt access
to prisoners.
Lengthy pretrial detention, due primarily to judicial inefficiency,
staff shortages, and cumbersome legal procedures, remained a problem,
despite the chief justice's efforts to have the courts deal more
quickly with inmates on remand. Pretrial detainees made up
approximately one-third of the prison population, and the average
length of pretrial detention was four months for those awaiting trial
at the Magistrate's Court and 18 months for those awaiting trial at the
High Court.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the law provides for an
independent judiciary and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice, some law enforcement officials, prominent
lawyers, and others accused the Government of occasional judicial
intervention. NGOs described a general perception that the executive
influenced the judiciary and that corruption existed at the magistrate
level.
Delays and inefficiencies in the judicial process undermined due
process. Delays in judicial proceeding were caused by shortages of
trained court personnel and magistrates, inadequate resources,
postponements at the request of the defense or prosecution, occasional
allegations of bribery, poor tracking of cases, and the slowness of
police in preparing cases for trial. The delays resulted in a backlog
of more than 14,000 cases.
While the courts made some attempt to deal with the backlog,
including working overtime hours, encouraging the use of mediation on a
voluntary basis, and opening a specialized Commercial Court on June 21,
the backlog remained severe. Some judges did not deliver written
decisions on completed cases in a timely manner, further adding to the
backlog.
The court system is composed of several magistrate's courts, the
High Court, and the Court of Appeals. There is also the right of final
appeal to the Caribbean Court of Justice. The magistrate's courts deal
with both criminal and civil matters. Specially trained police officers
serve as prosecutors in lower magistrate's courts. The DPP is
statutorily independent, may file legal charges against offenders, and
handles all criminal cases.
The Judicial Services Commission (JSC) has the authority to appoint
judges, determine tenure, and appoint the DPP and his or her deputy.
The President, on the advice of the JSC, may temporarily appoint judges
to sit in magistrate's courts and on the High Court. At year's end five
of 14 High Court judges, as well as the chancellor of the judiciary,
were serving in an acting capacity.
Trial Procedures.--Trials are public, and defendants enjoy a
presumption of innocence. Cases in magistrate's courts are tried
without jury; more serious cases are tried by jury in the High Court.
Defendants can confront witnesses against them and have access to
relevant government-held evidence. Defendants have a right of appeal.
Trial postponements were granted routinely to both the defense and the
prosecution. Programs designed to improve legal structures, reform
judicial procedures, upgrade technical capabilities, and improve
efficiency of the courts had a limited effect.
The law recognizes the right to legal counsel; however, excepting
cases involving capital crimes, it was limited to those who could
afford to pay. Although there is no public defender system, a defendant
in a murder case that reaches the High Court receives a court-appointed
attorney. The Georgetown Legal Aid Clinic, with government and private
support, provided advice to persons who could not afford a lawyer,
particularly victims of domestic violence and violence against women.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The Government did not detain
persons on political grounds, although supporters of Mark Benschop, a
talk show host arrested on charges of treason in 2002, considered him
to be a political detainee. In December 2005 Benschop sued the Attorney
General over his continued incarceration without bail and the High
Court's delay in hearing his case a second time. Benschop's mother and
political supporters made several appeals to the local press urging
that a near date be named for his retrial, which was pending at year's
end.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law provides for an
independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters, and the
Government generally respected this provision in practice. The
magistrate's courts deal with both criminal and civil matters. Delays,
inefficiencies, and corruption in the magistrate court system affected
the ability of citizens to seek timely remedy in civil matters, and
there was a large backlog of civil cases waiting to be heard.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--While the law prohibits such actions, authorities
sometimes infringed on citizens' privacy. Law enforcement officials
must obtain warrants before searching private homes or properties.
Although the authorities generally respected these requirements, there
were reports that police officers searched homes without warrants,
particularly in the village of Buxton, a criminal enclave, and in
neighborhoods where narcotics trafficking was suspected.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press. The Government generally respected these
rights in practice; however, there were some exceptions. Inequitable
use of government-controlled media resources was a problem, especially
during the months leading up to the August 28 national elections.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. International media operated freely. The
Government's daily newspaper, the Guyana Chronicle, which typically
displayed a progovernment bias, covered a broad spectrum of political
and nongovernmental groups.
In September authorities charged local television station owner
Anthony Veira with contempt of court for airing a political commentary
that the Government characterized as containing ``statements and
comments which tend to bring the authority and administration of the
law in Guyana into disrepute and disregard and to scandalize the
court.'' The case was pending at year's end.
Government limits on licensing and expansion sharply constrained
the broadcast media. The Government owned and operated two radio
stations broadcasting on several frequencies, which are the only media
that reach the entire country. A third station, Radio Paiwomak,
operated under the license of the government-operated National
Communications Network as a community radio station with a limited
broadcast area in the hinterland Rupununi region. Private interests and
the political opposition continued to criticize the Government for its
failure to approve long-standing requests for private radio frequency
authorizations.
In August there were reports that an unlicensed radio station
broadcast music and opposition political advertisements in Region Ten
for three weeks leading up to the national elections. The head of the
Presidential Secretariat called these illegal broadcasts a ``threat to
national security.''
Equitable access to the state media remained a contentious issue
between the Government and opposition parties and grew more heated
during the run-up to the national elections. In the month before
polling day, the government-run television and radio stations tripled
the cost for political advertisements, effectively denying access to
less well-funded opposition parties. After international observers
intervened, the rates were reduced to match the fees charged during the
1997 campaign, still nearly double the regular advertising rates.
Two independent groups monitored the media during the election
campaign. The Independent Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) monitored and
rated the pre-election coverage of radio, television, and print, while
the Independent Refereeing Panel assessed compliance with the Media
Code of Conduct voluntarily signed by media outlets in January. Both
groups noted numerous incidents of unbalanced or biased coverage,
including unfair use of state-controlled media by the ruling party,
such as the airing of pro-party documentaries. The ruling party
received 64 percent of positive political coverage on the state-owned
National Communications Network television channel, with nine
opposition parties sharing the remaining positive coverage. The MMU
made several final recommendations in its report, including the passage
of a Freedom of Information Act, better regulations for paid political
advertisements, and the liberalization of radio licenses.
In August four pressroom workers were killed execution-style at the
independent Kaieteur News. No evidence suggested that the murders were
related to Kaieteur News' reporting.
There were no developments in the 2005 Guyflag prior restraint case
against Stabroek News.
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 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.
While the Government recognizes religious groups of all faiths,
churches must register with the Government to be formally recognized.
Foreign religious groups seeking to establish operations require
permission from the Ministry of Home Affairs before commencing their
activities.
Some GDF commanders required attendance at Christian religious
services, and the GDF made no allowances for Hindu dietary preferences
or Muslim observance of Friday as a holy day.
Under a March revision of the Amerindian Act, religious groups
seeking access to Amerindian villages do not need special permission
from the minister of Amerindian affairs, but like all travelers, do
need to obtain permission from the local village council before
entering village lands.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts. The
Jewish community was very small, perhaps fewer than 10 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 law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
A revision of the Amerindian Act requires that the local village
council grant permission for travel to Amerindian areas. Previously,
governmental permission had been required. In practice most persons
traveled throughout these areas without a permit.
The law prohibits forced exile, and it was not used.
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 to protect 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.
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 elections based on universal suffrage. There is a
multiparty political system based on proportional representation, and
the party that wins the most votes for parliament wins the presidency.
Rather than voting for individual candidates, voters endorse one
party's list of candidates. After the election the party leadership
determines which of the listed candidates will fill any seats it wins.
The President appoints a cabinet and prime minister who, with the
President, exercise executive power.
Elections and Political Participation.--On August 28, citizens
voted in a generally free election to keep the PPP/C government in
office. Incumbent Bharrat Jagdeo remained the PPP/C's Presidential
candidate and was re-elected to a five-year term. International
observers, including teams from the Organization of American States,
the Caribbean Community, the Carter Center, and the Commonwealth, noted
isolated irregularities not sufficient to change the outcome of the
election.
However, ruling party use of government resources during the
campaign disadvantaged opposition parties. According to reports by
independent monitoring groups, the Government used its radio monopoly
and control over state television stations to air coverage casting the
Government and ruling party in a favorable light. Some opposition
parties and politicians reported that their tax records had been
singled out for scrutiny during the pre-election period.
In November the Alliance for Change (AFC) party filed an election
petition claiming that incorrect counting of the votes in Region Ten
had wrongly awarded a seat to the ruling PPP/C that should have gone to
the AFC. The leader of the Justice for All Party also claimed that
counting mistakes had cost his party a parliamentary seat. In late
December the Electoral Assistance Bureau, a local observer group,
released an audit of Region Ten results that supported the AFC's claim.
Also in December, an Elections Commission official told accredited
international election observers that the claims of both political
parties had merit.
The composition and verification of the official list of electors
was a source of controversy during the campaign. The constitution and
laws do not clearly delineate who is entitled to vote, creating ground
for confusion and disagreement. No complete, up-to-date compilation of
electoral laws was publicly available.
Local government elections, due every three years, were last held
in 1994.
The constitution requires that one-third of each party list of
candidates be female but does not require the parties to select any
women for seats. There were 20 women in the 65-seat National Assembly.
Five of 22 cabinet ministers were women.
While supporters of the two major parties (the PPP/C and the
People's National Congress Reform) were drawn largely from the Indo-
Guyanese and Afro-Guyanese communities respectively, political party
leadership was more diverse. The ethnically diverse National Assembly
included four indigenous people. The cabinet was also ethnically
diverse, mirroring the ethnic makeup of the general population. Over
one-quarter of the 22 cabinet ministers were Afro-Guyanese, including
the Prime Minister and the head of the Presidential secretariat; there
were also two indigenous cabinet ministers.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
public perception of serious corruption in the Government, including
law enforcement and the judicial system. Low-wage public servants were
easy targets for bribery.
The law does not provide for public access to government
information. Government officials were often reluctant to provide
public information without approval from senior levels of the
administration.
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 were somewhat cooperative and
responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
While the constitution provides fundamental rights for all persons
regardless of race, gender, religion, or national origin, the
Government did not always enforce these provisions.
Women.--Violence against women, including domestic violence, was
widespread and crossed racial and socioeconomic lines. The law
prohibits domestic violence, gives women the right to seek prompt
protection, and allows victims to seek protection, occupation, or
tenancy orders from a magistrate. Penalties for violation of protection
orders include fines up to $54 (G$10,000) and 12 months' imprisonment;
however, this legislation frequently was not enforced.
According to the NGO Help and Shelter, the Government used laws
against domestic violence with some measure of success; the problems
lay with the failure of those responsible for implementation. Help and
Shelter said that magistrates and magistrate court staff needed to be
more sensitive to the problem of domestic violence and to their roles
in ensuring implementation of the law. In addition not all police
officers fully understood provisions of the law.
NGOs reported a widespread perception that some police officers and
magistrates could be bribed to make cases of domestic violence ``go
away.'' The Government also did not prosecute cases in which the
alleged victim or victim's family agreed to drop the case in exchange
for a monetary payment out of court. NGOs asserted the need for a
specialized Family Court.
Domestic violence was a problem in all regions of the country.
Enforcement of the domestic violence laws was especially weak in the
interior, where police did not have as strong a presence and courts met
only once a quarter.
Between January and September, Help and Shelter handled 414 abuse
cases, including child, spousal, nonspousal, and other domestic abuse;
297 of the cases involved spousal abuse directed against women. Help
and Shelter, which received private donor and some government funding,
ran a free shelter for victims of domestic violence and operated a hot
line to counsel victims.
NGOs ran public service announcements and trained police officers,
teachers, nurses, agricultural workers, religious groups, and health
clinics to sensitize them to domestic violence. Domestic violence
training was part of the curriculum of the Police Training College.
There is a Task Force on Violence against Women whose membership
included representatives from NGOs, law enforcement, the health
community, and youth. The Task Force gathered data in preparation for
drafting a national policy on domestic violence.
Although rape and incest, including spousal rape, is illegal, it
was a serious but infrequently reported or prosecuted problem. While
increasing numbers of victims reported these crimes to the authorities,
victims were socially stigmatized. A judge has discretion to issue a
sentence of any length in a rape conviction, depending upon the
circumstances and severity of the act committed. The established trend
appeared to be a sentence of five to 10 years in prison.
By the end of September, the police reported 87 rape charges;
however, the actual number was likely much higher because victims were
reluctant to file charges or report cases. Statistics showed that in
more than 70 percent of sexual assault cases, the victim was under the
age of 18. According to a study released by the GHRA, there were only
nine convictions from 647 rape reports for the period 2000-04. The
study described ``unreconstructed chauvinism'' of the country's legal
culture as a major obstacle in delivering justice for victims.
Lack of sensitivity for victims of sexual abuse and domestic
violence and tolerance for perpetrators of abuse reached to all levels
of society. In July Minister of Human Services and Social Security Bibi
Shadick reacted to press reports of an alleged pornography ring
blackmailing or drugging young girls and forcing them to appear in
pornographic videos with the observation that based on her examination
of two photographs of the incidents, the activities appeared to
represent ``consensual sexual activity.'' Several prominent figures in
politics and society retained their status despite widely circulating
rumors of their past histories of sexual abuses and domestic violence
against women.
Prostitution is illegal but widespread. It received greater public
attention due to the high incidence of HIV/AIDS among prostitutes and
increased prevalence of trafficking in persons (see section 5,
Trafficking).
Sexual harassment is prohibited under the Prevention of
Discrimination Act, which provides for monetary penalties and award of
damages to victims. Any act of sexual harassment involving physical
assault can also be prosecuted under relevant criminal statutes.
Although reports of sexual harassment were common, there were no
prosecutions for sexual harassment under the Prevention of
Discrimination Act, and according to the Office of the Director of
Public Prosecutions, charges of sexual harassment were often settled
out of court.
The law prohibits discrimination based on gender, but there was no
legal protection against such discrimination in the workplace. Although
women constituted a significant proportion of the workforce, there were
credible reports that they were not equally treated and faced
disadvantages in promotion. Job vacancy notices routinely specified
that the employer sought only male or only female applicants. The
Women's Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Labor monitored the legal
rights of women, but its role was limited to employment-related
services. The bureau also held seminars on leadership and gender equity
issues for women throughout the country. The constitution provides for
a Women and Gender Equality Commission, but implementing legislation
had not been passed.
The law protects women's property rights in common-law marriages.
It entitles a woman who separates or divorces to one-half the couple's
property if she had been working and one-third of the property if she
had not been employed. The courts may overturn a husband's will if it
does not provide for his wife, so long as she was dependent on him
financially.
Children.--The Government generally was committed to children's
rights and welfare. The constitution provides for a commission on the
rights of the child, but implementing legislation had not been passed.
Public education is available to age 20. Education is compulsory
until age 15, universal, and free through secondary school. Children
often did not attend school because their families needed them to
contribute to the household by working or providing child care to
siblings or younger relatives. The law provides penalties for parents
who do not send their children to school, but these did not represent a
meaningful deterrent. According to the Ministry of Education, 84
percent of children completed primary school, and approximately 48
percent completed secondary school. Schools suffered from high
attrition rates of trained and experienced teachers, gross
understaffing with a high proportion of untrained and underqualified
teachers, and very poor infrastructure.
Reports of physical and sexual abuse of children were common.
Between January and September, Help and Shelter handled 75 cases of
child abuse and an additional 24 cases of rape where the victim was 17
years of age or younger. It was unclear how many deaths from child
abuse took place; law enforcement officials and NGOs believed that the
vast majority of child rape and criminal child abuse cases were not
reported. As with cases of domestic abuse, according to NGOs there were
reports that some police officers and magistrates could be bribed to
make cases of child abuse ``go away.'' The Government did not further
pursue cases in which the alleged victim or victim's family agreed to
drop the case in exchange for a monetary payment out of court. The age
of criminal responsibility is 10, although children usually were not
prosecuted as adults, and offenders were sent to the NOC (see section
1.c.).
In October Minister of Human Services and Social Security Priya
Manickchand launched the Child Protection Agency (CPA), partially
funded by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). The CPA took over child
protection functions from Probation and Family Welfare Services, whose
social workers did not specialize primarily in child welfare issues.
Child protection services outside of Georgetown were limited, but the
Government endeavored to put social workers in every region.
The age of sexual consent is 16. Under the law anyone who has
carnal knowledge of a girl under 16 can be found guilty of a felony and
imprisoned for life. There were reports of child prostitution (see
section 5, Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--The Combating of Trafficking in Persons
Act prohibits all forms of trafficking in persons, but there were
reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or within the country.
Penalties include three years' to life imprisonment, forfeiture of
property, and full restitution to the victims.
The country was a source and destination for trafficked women,
children, and men; however, most trafficking in persons occurred
internally and involved young women and girls trafficked for purposes
of commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary domestic servitude.
Trafficking reportedly took place in the interior, where there was
little government oversight and law enforcement was lacking. Young
Amerindian men were exploited under forced labor conditions in timber
camps. Most trafficking originated in impoverished indigenous
communities, although some victims came from the larger coastal cities.
In some instances victims were forcibly abducted. Some women trafficked
into the country came from the northern regions of neighboring Brazil.
A smaller number of women were trafficked into the country's sex trade.
Reports indicated that trafficking victims were promised employment as
highly paid domestic helpers, cooks, restaurant servers, and nude
dancers. The victims were provided with barracks-style housing with
cramped quarters and sometimes were locked inside. They were restrained
through debt bondage, intimidation, and physical abuse. Most victims
were exposed to the same health risks as women in prostitution and
other victims of sexual exploitation, including sexually transmitted
diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Girls and young women were trafficked for
purposes of sexual exploitation to neighboring countries, including
Suriname and Barbados.
Most traffickers were believed to be individual business persons or
small groups of miners. There was no evidence that government officials
or institutions participated in or condoned human trafficking. There
were no reports of any cases of police corruption linked to human
trafficking. Prosecution of human traffickers was more difficult in the
interior, where infrequent court sessions prolonged cases.
In February shop owner Debbie Gaskin was charged with forcing a 13-
year-old girl into prostitution and forced labor after bringing her to
the North West District to work as a cleaner. In March Ann Smith was
also charged in the case. Both cases were later dismissed.
In March five people were charged with forcing a runaway 12-year-
old girl into sexual slavery. Michael Joseph, Tinelle Edwards, John
Wills, Shemroy Marks, and Treon Rutherford allegedly paid to have sex
with the girl, who was eventually taken to the police by relatives who
discovered her whereabouts. At year's end cases against Wills, Edwards,
and Joseph were pending.
In September Ramdai Narine was charged with harboring a 15-year-old
girl ``by means of a position of vulnerability for the purpose of
exploitation.'' Narine pled not guilty and was released on bail.
The Government continued to make progress in its efforts to combat
trafficking in persons, although there were no convictions under the
Trafficking in Persons Act during the year. The country's slow judicial
process contributed to the lack of progress in convicting traffickers.
In January the Government released a review of its countertrafficking
efforts from 2004-05 which acknowledged the need for improved policing
and outreach efforts in rural communities. There is a National Plan of
Action to combat human trafficking, and the deputy commissioner of
police monitors enforcement.
Victims identified by the Government were removed from the
traffickers' custody and provided passage back to their homes. There
were no reports of societal discrimination against trafficking victims.
The Government also worked closely with and provided some financial
support for the NGOs Help and Shelter and Red Thread that dealt with
trafficking. The Government provided medical attention, housing, and
funds to return victims to their home countries.
In June six police officers and two employees from the Anti-
Trafficking in Persons Unit within the Ministry of Human Services and
Social Security participated in a two-week trafficking-in-persons
training program in the Bahamas organized by the International
Organization for Migration.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution provides that ``the
state shall . . . take legislative and other measures designed to
protect disadvantaged persons and persons with disabilities''; however,
there is no legislation allowing such persons to contest discriminatory
acts. There is no law mandating provision of access for persons with
disabilities, and the lack of appropriate infrastructure to provide
access to both public and private facilities made it very difficult for
persons with disabilities to be employed outside their homes. In March
the National Commission on Disabilities (NCD) released the results of a
survey of 1,500 persons with disabilities across four regions. Survey
respondents reported facing significant obstacles in accessing
employment, health care, education and training, and social outlets
because of disability. Approximately 40 percent of respondents reported
losing their employment as a result of incurring disabilities, and only
17 percent reported current employment. Of respondents under the age of
16, 42 percent reported never having attended school. A few independent
organizations dealing with specific disabilities existed, such as a
society for the visually impaired. The Open Door Center offered
assistance and training to persons with disabilities and functioned
throughout the year. In December a resource center equipped with
specialty computers and other resources for the visually impaired and
physically disabled opened at the NCD.
National/Racial/Ethnic/Minorities.--Longstanding ethnic tensions,
primarily between citizens of African descent and those of South Asian
origin, continued to influence society and political life. Racial
grouping of many social and political organizations polarized society
along ethnic lines, and discrimination and exclusion continued to
occur. A few politicians and media personalities engaged in rhetorical
and propaganda attacks that fueled racial tensions. The constitution
charges the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) with investigating
complaints of ethnic discrimination. The ERC actively received
complaints, launched investigations, provided mediation, and engaged in
public education on ethnic relations issues. As of November the ERC had
received 62 complaints, with an additional 56 unresolved complaints
held over from 2005. Working with a two-person investigative unit, the
ERC had resolved 67 of these complaints, with 51 outstanding as of late
November.
Indigenous People.--According to the 2002 census, the indigenous
population constituted 9 percent of the population. There were nine
tribal groups, and 90 percent of indigenous communities were located in
the remote interior. Their standard of living was lower than that of
most citizens, and they had limited ability to participate in decisions
affecting their lands, cultures, traditions, and allocation of natural
resources. Indigenous communities had limited access to education and
health care; there was no information on the effectiveness of
government efforts to improve these services. All indigenous
communities had primary schools, and there were 10 secondary schools in
the hinterland regions. The secondary schools had dormitories that
housed approximately 1,400 students at the Government's expense. The
Government also offered scholarships for indigenous children to attend
secondary school in Georgetown, and there were approximately 360
students enrolled in the scholarship program. The Government funded an
additional 273 students to attend technical institutions in Georgetown
and provided 90 scholarships for indigenous students to attend the
University of Guyana. The Government established programs to train
health workers and established rudimentary health facilities in most
communities.
A revised Amerindian Act was enacted on March 14, replacing the act
in force since 1951. Many indigenous groups opposed the new act because
of concerns over rights to land and resources, use of the term
``Amerindian'' rather than ``Indigenous,'' the powers conferred upon
the minister of Amerindian affairs, and the lack of autonomy given to
community governing institutions. The revised act regulates indigenous
life, including local governance. Indigenous villages elect a village
council headed by a ``Toshao,'' or head councillor. Persons wishing to
enter indigenous lands must obtain permission from the local village
council. Rules enacted by the village council require approval from the
minister of Amerindian affairs before entering into force.
For the indigenous population, land rights were a major issue.
Indigenous communities complained that the Government allocated land
(to mining and logging interests as well as for environmentally
protected reserves) without proper consultations with them. The
indigenous communities often viewed these allocations as illegitimate
seizure of ``their'' lands and complained that consultations on
development in the interior did not provide adequate time for feedback.
Indigenous groups also argued that by granting their communities title
to certain lands, the Government was able to take control of other
lands previously understood to belong to their communities. During the
campaign for the August 28 elections, some indigenous groups complained
that many indigenous citizens lacked the basic identity documents, such
as birth certificates, necessary for registering to vote.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution provides for the
right of association and specifically enumerates workers' rights to
form or belong to trade unions, and workers exercised this right in
practice. However, the constitution also specifically bars GPF members
from unionizing or associating with any established union.
Approximately 25 percent of the work force was unionized.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers; however,
some unions alleged antiunion discrimination by the Government.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Public and
private sector employees possessed and utilized the right to organize
and to bargain collectively. The Ministry of Labor certified all
collective bargaining agreements, and there were no reports that it
refused to do so. Individual unions directly negotiate collective
bargaining status. The chief labor officer and the staff of the
Ministry of Labor provided consultation, enforcement, and conciliation
services.
The law provides workers with the right to strike, and workers
exercised this right in practice. Strikes may be declared illegal if
the union leadership did not approve them or if they did not meet the
requirements specified in collective bargaining agreements. Public
employees providing essential services may strike if they provide the
proper notice to the Ministry of Labor and leave a skeleton staff in
place, but they are required to engage in compulsory arbitration to
bring an end to a strike. There is no law prohibiting retaliation
against strikers, but this principle always was included in the terms
of resumption after a strike. The law defines and places limits on the
retaliatory actions employers may take against strikers.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Although the law
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.--
Although the law sets minimum age requirements for employment of
children, child labor in the informal sector was a problem, and it was
common to see very young children engaged in street trading in the
capital. No person under age 14 may be employed legally in any
industry, and no person under age 16 may be employed at night, except
under regulated circumstances. The law permits children under age 14 to
be employed only in enterprises in which members of the same family are
employed.
According to a 1999-2005 UNICEF survey (the most recent available),
19 percent of children between the ages of five and 14 were
economically active. According to a 2001 UNICEF survey, approximately
45 percent of children in the interior regions worked. The survey
estimated that 3 percent of the children were involved in commercial
sexual activity. Teenage prostitution was a problem (see section 5).
Some children performed hazardous work in the mining, logging,
farming, fishing, and manufacturing industries. The Government
cooperated with international donors to administer a program to combat
these worst forms of child labor.
While the Ministry of Labor recognized that child labor existed in
the informal sector, it did not employ sufficient inspectors to enforce
existing laws effectively.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum public sector wage
is $109 (G$22,480) per month. There were minimum wages for certain
categories of private sector workers, including retail cashiers and
clerks, printers, drivers, and conductors, starting with a minimum of
$16 (G$3,300) per week. Although enforcement mechanisms exist, it was
difficult to put them into practice, and unorganized workers,
particularly women and children in the informal private sector, often
were paid less than what was required legally in the service sector.
Laborers and untrained teachers at public schools also were paid less
than the minimum wage. The legal minimum wage did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family.
The law sets hours of employment, which vary by industry and
sector. In general work in excess of a 44-hour workweek required an
overtime payment rate. The law does not require a minimum weekly rest
period but does state that a person cannot be compelled to work
overtime.
The law also establishes workplace safety and health standards. The
Occupational Health and Safety Division of the Ministry of Labor is
charged with conducting factory inspections and investigating
complaints of substandard workplace conditions. Inadequate resources
prevented the ministry from effectively carrying out this function.
Workers could not remove themselves from dangerous work situations
without jeopardizing continued employment.
__________
HAITI
Haiti is a republic with a constitution that calls for an elected
President and a bicameral legislature. Its population is approximately
8.4 million. After then President Jean Bertrand Aristide resigned and
departed the country in February 2004, Boniface Alexandre, chief
justice of the Supreme Court, assumed office as interim President
(pursuant to the constitutionally prescribed order of succession). In
March 2004 Gerard Latortue was installed as prime minister of the
Interim government of Haiti (IGOH). Presidential and run-off
parliamentary elections were held on February 7 and April 21. More than
3.5 million citizens registered to vote (79 percent of eligible voters
according to a 2003 census), and an estimated 63 percent of registered
voters participated in the elections. After a relatively stable and
peaceful election process, voters selected a new President and filled
129 parliamentary seats. President Rene Preval and the new parliament
took office on May 14.
The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), deploying 6,668
troops and 1,692 civilian police from 45 countries, provided security
in advance of and during the elections, trained and supported the
national police force, and assisted the Government in suppressing gang-
related violence and deterring potentially violent opposition by well-
armed and militant political groups.
Despite some improvements, the Government's human rights record
remained poor. The following human rights problems were reported:
occasional extrajudicial killings by elements of the Haitian National
Police(HNP); overcrowding and poor sanitation in prisons; occasional
arbitrary arrests; prolonged pretrial detention; an inefficient
judiciary subject to significant influence by the executive and
legislative branches; severe corruption in all branches of government;
ineffective enforcement of trade union organizing rights; ineffective
measures to prevent violence and societal discrimination against women;
child abuse, internal trafficking of children, and child domestic
labor; and ineffective measure to address killings by members of gangs
and other armed groups; and kidnapping, torture and cruel treatment by
gang members and criminals.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--In contrast with
2005, the Government or its agents did not commit any politically
motivated killings. However, there were incidents where suspected
elements of the HNP (acting outside of their authority) unlawfully
killed citizens. The Government was, for the most part, unable to
conduct thorough and reliable investigations to determine who was at
fault. It remained difficult to identify and prosecute suspected
killings by HNP officers, sometimes due to imposters posing as HNP
officers. The HNP lacked rudimentary expertise and resources and as a
result was unable to conduct thorough and reliable investigations of
many of these incidents. If suspects were arrested, they were often
released due to the country's corrupt and inefficient judicial system.
On May 14, there were two suspected but unconfirmed deaths in
prison caused by prison guards using excessive force during a riot at
the men's penitentiary. The HNP, prison authorities, and MINUSTAH were
unable to substantiate the deaths (see section 1.c.).
In August, media reported that an HNP officer in Gonaives shot and
killed a man who was apparently arguing with the officer in front of
the police station. The officer was arrested. No additional information
was available.
There were some developments in multiple killings by HNP officers
reported in 2005 and earlier. Four of the eight HNP officers charged
with the 2004 torture and killing of five juveniles escaped from prison
in February 2005. On August 30, the criminal court fined the remaining
four officers and sentenced them to five years' imprisonment.
At year's end only two of the 15 HNP officers arrested for the
August 2005 killings of six men during a soccer match in Port-au-Prince
remained in prison and awaited trial. A judge, thought to be corrupt by
one human rights organization, released the other 13 officers. Details
concerning the release were not publicly available.
Much of the violence in the country stemmed from the activities of
organized criminal gangs. Common criminality and armed attacks against
civilians continued to create fear among the population.
On July 7, gang members deliberately killed at least 20 residents
in the Gran Ravine district of Martissant, a slum area in Port-au-
Prince. Many more people were injured and hundreds of homes were
burned. The violence resulted from a territorial dispute between rival
gangs. Subsequent turf battles in the Martissant area caused several
more deaths in the weeks that followed.
On September 21, unknown assailants shot and killed Bruner Esterne,
a human rights activist in the Gran Ravine district of Martissant.
Esterne was an eyewitness to the HNP killings that occurred at a soccer
match in Martissant in September 2005.
On September 26, gang members killed eight residents of
Martissant's Fontamara district. MINUSTAH subsequently strengthened its
presence in the area, but violence continued.
Suspected retribution killings also occurred. On September 14, Guy
Francois, a former colonel in the now-disbanded army, was shot and
killed by persons who were talking with him as he sat in his car in
Petionville (a suburb of Port-au-Prince). The police have made no
arrests in that case.
In response to ongoing violence perpetrated with impunity by
criminals, citizens in some neighborhoods resorted to vigilante
justice. There were occasional and credible reports of irate citizens
in Port-au-Prince killing individuals who were suspected of rape,
murder, or kidnapping.
On December 20, a crowd of several hundred citizens confronted HNP
and MINUSTAH at an HNP substation under the mistaken belief that the
HNP was holding a suspected kidnapper. The mob demanded that the
authorities release the suspect so that the mob could kill him. The mob
barricaded streets and burned a UN vehicle. HNP and UN-established
civilian police (UNCIVPOL) broke up the mob, but at least two of the
demonstrators were injured by gunfire and another possibly died. No
further investigations were conducted at year's end.
b. Disappearance.--Unlike in 2005, there were no reports of
politically motivated disappearances caused by government agents;
however, there were reports of disappearances that stemmed from
internal conflict.
There were widespread kidnappings of citizens from all social
strata by armed and organized criminal elements. While most cases were
resolved through the payment of ransom, some victims were tortured,
raped, and killed while in their kidnappers' custody. There were 554
reported kidnapping victims during the year, compared with 760 in 2005.
Many kidnappings were not reported.
In August and September the criminal court convicted and sentenced
each of two HNP officers to seven years' imprisonment in two kidnapping
cases.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices and, unlike in 2005 there
were no reports that government officials employed them; however,
criminal gangs frequently employed these practices.
In September the criminal court sentenced James Montas, an HNP
officer, to six years in prison for the rape of Carline Seide on
November 2, 2003.
During the year MINUSTAH investigated five cases of sexual
exploitation and abuse of minors by MINUSTAH security forces. All
remained pending at year's end.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--All but four of the police
stations and prisons damaged or destroyed in 2004 have reopened;
however, prisons remained overcrowded, poorly maintained, and
unsanitary. According to the NGO National Human Rights Network for
Haiti (RNDDH), prisoners and detainees continued to suffer from a lack
of basic hygiene, malnutrition, poor quality health care, and the
presence of rodents. Furthermore, most prisons lacked adequate food and
sanitation and periodically suffered from lack of water, especially in
the provinces. The incidence of preventable diseases such as beriberi,
AIDS, and tuberculosis decreased during the year but remained a serious
issue. Prisons were also plagued by guard corruption. There were 12
known retribution killings of prison guards outside prison walls within
the last three years.
On May 14, a riot erupted at the National Penitentiary (housing
adult men). Approximately 300 prisoners took over the maximum security
facility within the penitentiary and held out for approximately four
hours before surrendering to a combined force of prison guards, HNP
crowd control CIMO officers (Haitian National Police's Company for
Maintaining Order), and UNCIVPOL officers. Approximately 40 prisoners
were injured (a few seriously) and perhaps two died according to
UNCIVPOL officers on the scene; although the deaths have not been
verified by the HNP, MINUSTAH or human rights organizations. Six police
officers were injured. Information from MINUSTAH and witnesses at the
scene indicated that during the riot prison guards physically abused
prisoners, beating non aggressive prisoners with clubs and shooting
firearms directly at unarmed prisoners. Intervention by a team of
UNCIVPOL and HNP CIMO officers prevented the situation from becoming
much worse.
There are separate penitentiaries for adult men and women in Port-
au-Prince. The men's facility held 2,235 adult men, and the women's
facility held 198 women (both adults and girls). There were 15 other
local detention centers throughout the country. In those centers, space
permitting, male and female prisoners were held in separate cells.
Children 16 and older were confined with adults.
Most boys (109 of 154) were held in a separate facility in Port-au-
Prince. By law, that facility may only hold boys ages 13 to 15,
although there were a few children who claimed to be 11-to-12 and 16-
to-17 years-of-age. Most girls under age 16 (27 of 33) were held in the
same cells as female adults in the women's penitentiary in Port-au-
Prince.
The Government possessed a computerized national system for
tracking the movements and status of prisoners in each of its
facilities. This system was developed with the assistance of the UN
Development Program and was maintained by correctional staff. The total
prison population, including both pretrial detainees and sentenced
prisoners in the country's 17 prisons, was 4,663. Of the 4,663
prisoners in custody, only 738 of them (16 percent) had been tried and
sentenced, while 3,925 detainees (84 percent) still awaited trial.
An already burdened prison system was stressed further with
insufficient facilities to hold prisoners, especially as new arrests
mounted during the year. Due to lack of available space, minors and
adults sometimes were held in the same cell. In addition, overcrowding
prevented the constitutionally mandated separation of violent from
nonviolent prisoners or convicted individuals from individuals in
preventive detention. Many convicted prisoners were incarcerated for
long terms in temporary holding cells, particularly in the provinces.
Most severely overcrowded was the National Penitentiary in Port-au-
Prince, built in 1915. The penitentiary was originally designed to hold
a maximum of 800 prisoners and was expanded in 1997 to accommodate an
additional 400 inmates, for a total of 1200 prisoners. It held 2,235
inmates at year's end.
The total prison population did not include the large number of
persons who were held in police stations around the country in
``preventive detention'' (without a hearing or charges being filed) for
longer than the constitutionally mandated 48-hour maximum detention
period. Inadequate record keeping and data entry at the police stations
made it difficult to estimate the number of persons held in preventive
detention.
The authorities freely permitted the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC), the Haitian Red Cross, and human rights groups to
enter prisons and police stations, monitor conditions, and assist
prisoners and detainees with medical care, food, and legal aid. The
ICRC and RNDDH monitored prison conditions in cooperation with the
Department of Prison Administration (DAP).
The ICRC's primary concerns related to adequate water, food, and
sanitation; however, the Government continued to lack the resources to
implement necessary changes.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the constitution stipulates that a person may
be arrested only if apprehended during the commission of a crime, or on
the basis of a written order by a legally competent official such as a
justice of the peace or magistrate. The authorities must bring the
detainee before a judge within 48 hours of arrest. In practice
officials frequently ignored these provisions. With so many detainees
being held in preventive detention without the benefit of a hearing and
in violation of the 48-hour rule, it was difficult to determine how
many of them were arbitrarily arrested or detained.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The 7,700-member HNP
has the sole responsibility for law enforcement and maintenance of
order in the country. The HNP is an officially autonomous civilian
institution under a director general who controls the force. The
Ministry of Justice, through its minister and the secretary of state
for public security, provides oversight.
In July 2005 the IGOH installed new HNP leadership, which then
initiated a program to eliminate corrupt officers, train the remaining
officers (including human rights training), and induct new classes of
recruits who were cleared by MINUSTAH and UNCIVPOL. The director
general installed in July 2005 purged the upper ranks of the internal
affairs unit of corrupt officers and appointed a new professional
inspector in charge of investigating accusations of police corruption
and human rights abuses. Under the director general's leadership, the
HNP conducted at times swift investigations of human rights cases and
arrested suspected officers.
Reform and professionalization of the HNP continued as
international programs provided: training (including human rights
training) and equipment for new recruits and for existing officers,
police station upgrades, security and humanitarian improvements to
prisons, vehicles, computers and communications equipment, forensics
equipment and training, weapons inventory and ballistics testing, and
technical assistance. Nevertheless, efforts to reform the HNP remained
incomplete, and HNP officers were still implicated in corruption,
kidnapping, and narcotics trafficking.
The UNCIVPOL element of MINUSTAH supplemented the police and
improved the HNP's capacity to maintain order. UNCIVPOL provided
training (including human rights training) and operational support.
Notably, with UNCIVPOL's assistance, HNP developed relatively well-
trained and professional SWAT and CIMO forces.
In many cases the HNP failed to prevent or respond to societal
violence, usually gang-related; the reasons being an insufficient
number of officers and inadequate training. However, with the
assistance of UNCIVPOL and international donors, the capacity and
effectiveness of the HNP in preventing and responding to such violence
improved.
Arrest and Detention.--Police sometimes apprehended persons without
warrants or on warrants not issued by a duly authorized official. The
authorities occasionally detained individuals on unspecified charges or
pending investigation.
Police frequently disregarded the legal requirement to present
detainees before a judge within 48 hours (see section 1.d.), often
because of the sluggishness of the judicial system. Consequently, many
detainees were held for extended periods in preventive detention
without being informed of charges against them. Prolonged preventive
detention remained a serious problem (see section 1.c.).
Bail was available at the discretion of the investigative judge.
Bail hearings were not automatic, and judges usually granted bail only
for minor cases and based on compelling humanitarian grounds such as a
need for medical attention. Detainees generally were allowed access to
family members and a lawyer of their own choosing. Many detainees could
not afford the services of an attorney, and the Government did not
provide free counsel.
Prisoners were sometimes detained after they were acquitted.
According to information from the National Center for State Courts, an
inefficient judicial record system occasionally caused detainees to
remain in prison for weeks or months after a court had ordered their
release.
Citizens deported to the country after completing prison sentences
in foreign countries were often detained, although they had not
violated any domestic laws. These detentions sometimes lasted several
months. The Government justified the practice because of the high level
of insecurity in Port-au-Prince, considering those deportees with a
record of violent or serious crime as potential threats to the public
order. In September a court ruled that such detentions were not valid
under the law; however, authorities continued to temporarily
incarcerate deportees previously convicted of violent crimes. The
International Organization for Migration (IOM) implemented a program to
help the Government reintegrate the deportees into society.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the law provides for an
independent judiciary, in practice the judiciary was subject to
significant influence by the executive and legislative branches. Years
of extensive corruption and governmental neglect left the poorly
organized and poorly funded judicial system largely moribund. Judges
assigned to politically sensitive cases complained about interference
from the executive branch. There were widespread and credible reports
of judicial corruption. Previous attempts by the IGOH to rectify
problems within the judicial system were only minimally effective. The
newly elected government's efforts to reform the judiciary and judicial
systems included the appointment of a new chief investigating
magistrate (prosecutor) for the judicial district containing Port-au-
Prince.
Systemic problems--including a shortage of funding and adequately
trained and qualified justices of the peace, judges, and prosecutors--
created a huge backlog of criminal cases, with many detainees waiting
months for a court date (see section 1.d.).
Another systemic problem in the judicial system created a barrier
for crime victims. After a citizen reported his or her victimization by
a crime, justices of the peace charged inconsistent ``fees'' to
initiate a criminal prosecution. These fees varied across jurisdictions
and justices. The fees effectively barred some citizens from full
access to the judicial system enabled corruption.
Judges increasingly conducted legal proceedings exclusively in
Creole rather than French (spoken by only a minority of citizens).
However, since some proceedings were conducted in French, language
remained a barrier to full access to the judicial system.
In most regions judges lacked basic resources and professional
competence. An internationally funded program provided training for
judges, prosecutors, and other court personnel, furnished technical
assistance in drafting rules and procedures, and worked with the
parliament to draft legislation to establish a judicial council that
would oversee the court system. In addition, the UNDP provided training
for judges and court personnel in Jacmel, Cap Haitien, and Fort
Liberte.
Trial Procedures.--The judicial apparatus follows a civil law
system based on the Napoleonic Code. Although the constitution provides
for the right to a fair public trial, this right was widely abridged in
practice. The constitution also expressly denies police and judicial
authorities the right to interrogate suspects unless legal counsel or a
representative of the suspect's choice is present or they waive this
right. Most accused persons could not afford legal counsel for
interrogation or trial, and the law does not require that the
Government provide legal representation. However, some defendants had
access to counsel during trials. While the constitution provides
defendants with a presumption of innocence, the right to be present at
trial, the right to confront witnesses against them, and the right to
present witnesses and evidence on their own behalf, in practice corrupt
and ill-trained judges frequently denied defendants these rights.
At the lowest level of the justice system, justices of the peace
issue warrants, adjudicate minor infractions, mediate cases, take
depositions, and refer cases to prosecutors or higher judicial
officials. Investigating magistrates and public prosecutors cooperate
in the development of more serious cases, which are tried by the judges
of the first instance courts. Thirty appeals court judges hear cases
referred from the first instance courts, and the 11-member Court of
Cassation, the country's highest court, addresses questions of
procedure and constitutionality.
The Code of Criminal Procedure does not assign clear responsibility
for investigating crimes, dividing the authority among police, justices
of the peace, prosecutors, and investigative magistrates. Examining
magistrates often received files that were empty or missing police
reports. Autopsies were rarely conducted, and autopsy reports seldom
were issued. The law provides for at least two criminal court sessions
(assises) per year in each of the 15 first-instance jurisdictions for
all major crimes requiring a jury trial, with each session generally
lasting two weeks. However, this did not occur in practice. Criminal
assises in Port-au-Prince, the largest jurisdiction, have met only once
a year since 1998, which was a significant reason for the lengthy
delays for prisoners who were awaiting trial.
In addition, each annual assise processes only about 10 jury
trials. Since most of the 2,144 detainees awaiting trial in the
National Penitentiary were held for serious crimes that warranted a
jury trial, they were effectively denied the right to a jury trial.
International donor programs allowed the Government to conduct
additional jury and non-jury trials during the year but did not
significantly reduce the backlog.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were differing reports
regarding whether the Government was holding political prisoners. At
least two respected local human rights organizations reported that the
Government did not hold political prisoners. On the other hand, Amnesty
International stated that the Government held approximately 100
political prisoners. The differing reports reflected the large number
of prisoners being detained without a trial. Since most prison
detainees (84 percent) were awaiting trial, it was possible that some
of them were being held for political reasons.
Former high-profile detainees, considered by many to be political
prisoners, who were released during the year included:
On June 15 and July 27, respectively, former minister of interior
Joclerme Privert and former prime minister Yvon Neptune were released
from prison after more than two years in detention. Both were charged
with involvement in the 2004 massacre of Aristide opponents near St.
Marc. Neptune was released for medical reasons and Privert released
pending the outcome of his appeal. Although many of the 28 former
Aristide government officials and Lavalas supporters who were charged
in the killings were provisionally released pending trial, four
remained in detention.
On January 29, Father Gerard Jean-Juste, a Catholic priest and pro-
Aristide activist who was arrested in July 2005, was provisionally
released from custody for medical reasons after he was diagnosed with
leukemia.
On August 14, Annette Auguste ``So Anne,'' a self-proclaimed pro-
Lavalas community organizer, was released after charges against her
were dropped. She was arrested in May 2004 and charged with being the
architect of an attack on state university students and faculty in
2003. On August 14 the court also released the other Lavalas militants
accused in the attack, including George Honore, Paul Raymond, and Yvon
``ZapZap'' Antoine, citing a lack of evidence against them.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and unlike previous
years, 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, a marginally effective
judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to
ensure these freedoms. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports
of killing or harassment of journalists.
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 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,
provided that practice does not disturb law and order, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination against members of religious groups,
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 law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits the involuntary exile of citizens, and there were
no reports of its use. However, there were anecdotal reports that
former government officials imposed internal and external exile upon
themselves and their families for fear of retaliation.
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 protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, but did not routinely grant refugee status or asylum.
Since there were no known refugees in the country, there was no
opportunity for the Government to cooperate 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 law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in 2006 through free and
fair elections based on universal suffrage.
The political system changed significantly following President
Aristide's February 2004 resignation and departure from the country.
Boniface Alexandre, President (chief justice) of the Supreme Court,
assumed office as interim President in accordance with the
constitution. The President chose Gerard Latortue as interim prime
minister.
In April 2004 representatives of the IGOH agreed with political
party leaders on a transition accord outlining the IGOH's mandate and
committing it to organize elections in 2005. The IGOH eventually
conducted primary and run-off elections in February and April
respectively.
Elections and Political Participation.--To implement its commitment
to hold elections, the IGOH appointed a nine-person Provisional
Electoral Council (CEP), with representatives from several parties
including Fanmi Lavalas (FL), the party of former President Aristide.
The CEP proceeded with its mandate but, due to internal conflicts among
the members and bureaucratic delays, deferred the original October 2005
election date to February 7 and April 21. Approximately 3.5 million
people registered to vote, and 63 percent of registered voters
participated in the elections.
There were 35 registered candidates for the presidency from across
the political spectrum. While most parties were able to freely declare
their candidates and get on the ballot, questions arose about Haitian-
American businessman Dumarsais Simeus's citizenship status and a
possible conflict with the constitution. Although the Supreme Court
ruled twice in Simeus's favor, the CEP removed him from the
Presidential ballot. The CEP also disqualified another dual citizen,
Samir Mourra, on the same grounds.
Despite delays, the first round of Presidential and parliamentary
elections occurred with relatively few administrative difficulties. The
vote-counting process for the Presidential election created temporary
uncertainty. An abstruse CEP interpretation of rules concerning the
counting of spoiled ballots led to allegations of fraud from those
backing Rene Preval, whose supporters threatened members of the CEP and
held mass demonstrations in his support. MINUSTAH and the HNP provided
extensive election security and oversight, and there were only limited
instances of violence, disruption, and corruption. Many teams of
international monitors and observers provided oversight as well,
lending credibility to the results. Despite shortcomings in the
process, citizens and international observer groups considered the
election process acceptable and the results credible. Rene Preval won
the presidency with 51 percent of the votes, and 129 National Assembly
members were also elected. On May 14, President Preval took office for
a five-year term.
The monetary deposit required of female candidates for political
office (if sponsored by a recognized party) was one-half that required
of male candidates. There was one female Presidential candidate, and a
large number of female parliamentary and municipal candidates. Six
women were elected to the 129-seat National Assembly, and there were
two women in the 18-member cabinet.
On December 3, the CEP conducted elections to fill 8,820 local
government positions throughout the country. There were few incidents
of violence or fraud. Citizens and international observers considered
the election process acceptable and the results credible.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The NGO Transparency
International reported in November that there was a widespread public
perception of corruption. Corruption remained widespread in all
branches and at all levels of government. The factors contributing to
corruption in the country were poverty, lack of economic opportunity,
and weak governmental institutions (especially relating to law
enforcement and the judiciary). The HNP, with the assistance of
UNCIVPOL, continued efforts to eliminate corruption within its ranks,
and the Government sought to reduce corruption within the judicial
system.
No law requires public access to government information, but there
were no reports that the Government prevented 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 without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. The Government
cooperated with the various human rights observation missions and
generally acknowledged their views but lacked the capacity to implement
their recommendations. The Government permitted special missions and
the continued presence of UN bodies and other international
organizations such as the ICRC, the UN Independent Expert on Human
Rights, the UNDP, the IACHR, MINUSTAH's Human Rights Office, and the
OAS Special Mission's Human Rights Office.
At the national and international levels, human rights
organizations were active and effective in monitoring human rights
issues, meeting frequently with government officials. Human rights
organizations made media appearances and published objective reports on
violations. Human rights organizations continued to focus on such
persistent problems as murders, rapes, kidnappings, prison conditions,
impunity for criminals, trafficking in persons, and the status of
children and women.
The House of Deputies and the Senate each had a human rights
commission. The new parliament took office in May and neither
commission published any reports or passed any legislation during the
year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law does not specifically prohibit discrimination on the
grounds of race, gender, disability, language, or social status. It
does provide for equal working conditions regardless of gender,
beliefs, or marital status. However, there was no effective
governmental mechanism to administer or enforce these provisions.
Women.--The law prohibits and provides penalties for rape and
domestic violence against women. The penalty for rape is a maximum of
10 years' imprisonment; for gang rape and premeditated, aggravated
assault it is 15 years of hard labor. The criminal code excuses a
husband who kills his wife or her partner found engaging in an act of
adultery in his home, but a wife who kills her husband under similar
circumstances is not excused.
According to women's rights groups and human rights organizations,
domestic violence against women, including spousal abuse and rape, was
commonplace, underreported, and increased compared with last year. In
its January report, the UN Commission on Human Rights noted that women
were involved in 85 percent of interpersonal violence cases and that
the increase in rape was ``disquieting.'' A report from Haitian Women
in Solidarity (SOFA), a human rights organization for women, estimated
that eight out of 10 women suffered domestic violence, and that
incidence of rape increased. Women's shelters and organizations
reported that local armed thugs frequently raped and harassed girls and
women in districts such as Cite Soleil and Martissant. Police rarely
arrested the perpetrators or investigated the incidents, and the
victims sometimes suffered further harassment in retaliation and feared
reprisals from the perpetrators. There were no government-sponsored
programs for victims of violence.
Although prostitution is illegal, it remained a widespread problem,
particularly among women and girls (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law does not specifically prohibit sexual harassment, although
the labor code states that men and women have the same rights and
obligations. Reports of sexual harassment in the workplace were not
available, though reasons suggested that incidents of sexual harassment
did occur in the country. Such incidents went unreported because of
high unemployment and because citizens had little confidence in the
ability of the judicial system to protect them.
Women did not enjoy the same social and economic status as men. In
some social strata, tradition limited women's roles. The majority of
women in rural areas remained in traditional occupations of farming,
marketing, and domestic labor. Very poor female heads of household in
urban areas also often had limited employment opportunities, such as
domestic labor and sales. Laws governing child support recognize the
widespread practice of multiple-father families but rarely were
enforced. Female employees in private industry or service jobs, and
government jobs, seldom were promoted to supervisory positions. There
were no government efforts to combat economic discrimination.
Domestic women's rights groups were small, localized, and received
little publicity. Some women's rights groups became increasingly
involved in political and civic voter education initiatives in the pre-
election season.
Children.--Governmental agencies and programs to promote children's
rights and welfare existed, but the Government lacked the capacity and
the resources to adequately support or enforce existing mechanisms.
According to the constitution, public primary education is free and
compulsory, but in practice many children did not have access due to
the insufficient number of public schools. Nearly 90 percent of the
approximately 15,000 schools in the country were managed by religious
institutions, community organizations, or NGOs. The official school
year begins in early September and ends in early June. Many children
began their school year as late as January because of their families'
inability to pay private school fees. Poorer families sometimes
rationed education money to pay school fees only for male children. The
Government implemented programs to reduce parents' educational costs by
giving out 500,000 school uniforms and distributing two million
textbooks across the country. According to the Government, 40 percent
of children never attended school. Of those who did, less than 15
percent graduated from secondary school. The Ministry of Education
estimated net primary school enrollment at 65 percent but acknowledged
that 500,000 children age six to 11 were not in school; the actual
number was thought to be much higher). In addition, nearly 75 percent
of adolescents were not in school. No government programs existed to
address the educational and social reinsertion needs of youth (ages 15
to 24) who had never attended school.
According to the most recent UNICEF statistics from 2004,
approximately 23 percent of all children under the age of five were
chronically malnourished. According to the UN's independent expert,
there were approximately 200,000 HIV-related orphans and vulnerable
children affected by HIV (children who have HIV, who have become
orphaned because of HIV, or who live with parents who have HIV).
Child abuse was a problem. There was anecdotal evidence that in
very poor families caretakers deprived the youngest children of food to
feed older, income-generating children. In January the UN's independent
expert stated that 47 percent of sexual assaults involved minors.
There were credible reports that children were trafficked within
the country and forced to work as domestic servants, called restaveks
(``to live with'' in Creole) (see section 5, Trafficking).
Port-au-Prince's large population of street children included many
restaveks who were dismissed from or fled employers' homes. The
Ministry of Social Affairs provided minimal assistance, such as food
and temporary shelter, to street children.
In 2005 a joint UNICEF/IACHR delegation expressed concern over
grave violations of the human rights of children and adolescents
committed as part of the ongoing violence in the country. In September
UNICEF reinforced that assessment, highlighting the impact of the
violence on the emotional equilibrium and development of the country's
children, whether as victims or as witnesses. UNICEF attributed the
violence to organized criminal gangs and called upon the Government to
protect and guarantee the lives and rights of children.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons, although there are laws that could be used to
combat human trafficking, and there were reports that persons were
trafficked from and within the country. Such laws include labor laws
and provisions prohibiting and penalizing kidnapping and violence
against women.
Internal trafficking of children for domestic labor remained a
significant problem. The country was also a source for persons
trafficked to the Dominican Republic, the United States, Europe, and
Canada. The Government acknowledged the problem of human trafficking
but did little to address it.
Rural families continued to send young children, particularly
girls, to more affluent city dwellers to serve as restaveks in exchange
for that child's room and board. While some restaveks received adequate
care, many employers compelled the children to work long hours,
provided them little nourishment, and frequently abused them. The
majority of restaveks worked in low-income homes where conditions,
food, and education for non-biological children were not priorities.
While difficult to quantify, the Government and UNICEF estimated
that the number of restaveks ranged from 90,000 to 300,000.
The Government acknowledged the problem of internal trafficking of
children and took steps to address it by forming the Brigade for the
Protection of Minors. As a branch of the HNP, the Brigade investigated
cases of child trafficking and monitored movement of children across
the border with the Dominican Republic. However, the lack of resources,
training, and institutionalized procedures remained a barrier to its
operational capacity. Also, NGOs reported a lack of cooperation by the
Brigade in dealing with child trafficking cases.
Persons With Disabilities.--There were no reports of discrimination
by the Government against persons with disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, or the provision of other state
services. However, because of widespread and chronic poverty, a
shortage of public services, and limited educational opportunities,
persons with disabilities were severely disadvantaged. No governmental
mandates or programs operated to ensure that persons with disabilities
were treated equitably or, for example, had access to public buildings.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal discrimination
occurred against persons with HIV/AIDS, particularly women, but
educational programs sponsored by foreign donors and efforts by HIV/
AIDS activists attempted to change that stigma.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers, except public
sector employees to form and join unions of their choice. The law also
requires that a union must have a minimum of 10 members and register
with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs within 60 days of its
formation. The law prohibits employers, management, and anyone who
represents the interests of employers from joining a union. In theory
unions are independent of the Government and political parties, but in
practice most unions were extensions of political parties. Nine
principal labor federations represented approximately 5 percent of the
labor force.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--While the law
protects trade union organizing activities and stipulates fines for
those who interfere with this right, in practice the Government made
little effort to enforce the law.
High unemployment rates and antiunion sentiment among some factory
workers and most employers limited the success of union organizing
efforts.
Collective bargaining was nonexistent, and employers set wages
unilaterally. The labor code does not distinguish between industries
producing for the local market and those producing for export.
Employees in the export-oriented assembly sector enjoyed better than
average wages and benefits.
Although workers had access to labor courts established to resolve
common labor-management disputes, the courts' judgments were not
enforced. The courts function under the supervision of the Ministry of
Labor and Social Affairs and adjudicate minor conflicts, but unions
stated that the process was inefficient. Seven labor courts operated in
Port-au-Prince, and in the provinces plaintiffs utilized municipal
courts.
The labor code provides for the right to strike, and workers (with
the exception of managers, administrators, other heads of
establishments, and public utility service workers) exercised this
right in practice. The labor code defines public utility service
employees as essential workers who ``cannot suspend their activities
without causing serious harm to public health and security.''
There were few public sector strikes during the year, all relating
to the failure of government to pay staff in a particular hospital or
school, for example, in a timely manner.
There is one export processing zone (EPZ) located in Ouanaminthe, a
town on the Dominican border. Legislation governing free trade zones
provides that the labor code applies in the EPZs.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including of children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5, Trafficking).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
minimum employment age in all sectors is 15 years, with the exception
of domestic service, for which the minimum is 12 years. There is also a
legal provision for employment of children between the ages of 12 and
16 as apprentices. The labor code sets the minimum age for
apprenticeships at 14. The law prohibits minors from working under
dangerous conditions and prohibits night work in industrial enterprises
for minors under 18. Fierce adult competition for jobs ensured child
labor was not a factor in the industrial sector, however, children
under the age of 15 commonly worked at informal sector jobs to
supplement family income. Children also commonly worked with parents on
small family farms, although the high unemployment rate among adults
kept children from employment on commercial farms in significant
numbers. According to the NGO Haitian Coalition for the Defense of the
Rights of the Child, children worked primarily in domestic labor as
restaveks, however, some worked on the street as vendors or beggars,
and some were involved in prostitution.
Labor laws require anyone who employs a child as a domestic to
obtain a permit from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs' Social
Welfare and Research Institute (IBESR) and to ensure the overall
welfare of the child until he or she reaches 15 years of age.
Additionally the law requires that restaveks 15 years of age and older
be paid not less than one half the amount paid to an adult servant
hired to perform similar work, in addition to room and board. To avoid
this obligation, employers dismissed many restaveks before they reached
that age.
Although the Government designated IBESR to implement and enforce
child labor laws and regulations, resources were inadequate to fund
programs to investigate exploitative child labor cases throughout the
country.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The legal minimum daily wage,
which was approximately $1.84 (70 gourdes), was established by the
Tripartite Commission of Salaried Workers whose six members are
appointed by the President (two representatives each of labor,
employers, and government). This wage did not provide a decent standard
of living for a worker and family. Some workers were paid on a piece-
rate basis and earned more than the minimum wage. The majority of
citizens worked in the informal sector and subsistence agriculture
where minimum wage legislation does not apply and daily wages of $0.40
(15 gourdes) were common. Many women worked as domestic employees,
where minimum wage legislation also does not apply.
The law sets the standard workday at eight hours and the workweek
at 48 hours, with 24 hours of rest on Sunday. The law was not
effectively enforced, particularly for HNP officers who worked 12-hour
shifts six days per week. There is no provision for the payment of
overtime.
The law also establishes minimum health and safety regulations. The
industrial and assembly sectors largely observed these guidelines, but
the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs did not enforce them
effectively. There were no formal data, but unions alleged that job-
related injuries were prevalent in the construction industry and public
works sectors. Although they have the legal right to do so, in
practice, workers were not able to exercise the right to remove
themselves from dangerous work situations without jeopardy to continued
employment. Fifty percent of the population was unemployed.
__________
HONDURAS
Honduras is a constitutional democracy with a population of
approximately seven million. In November 2005 national elections,
considered by international and domestic observers to be generally free
and fair, voters elected as President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales of the
Liberal Party. The Liberal and National parties continued to dominate
the politics of the country within a multiparty system. While civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces, there were instances in which elements of the security forces,
particularly the police, acted independently of government authority.
Despite some positive steps, government corruption, impunity for
violators of the law, and virulent gang violence exacerbated serious
human rights problems in the country. The following human rights
problems were reported: unlawful killings by members of the police,
arbitrary and summary executions committed by vigilantes and former
members of the security forces, the disappearance of a former
dissident, beatings and other abuse of detainees by security forces,
harsh prison conditions, failure to provide due process of law, lengthy
pretrial detention, political interference in the judicial system,
judicial corruption and institutional weakness, illegal searches,
erosion of press freedom, violence and discrimination against women,
child prostitution and abuse, trafficking in persons, discrimination
against indigenous people, discrimination against persons based on
sexual orientation, ineffective enforcement of labor laws, and child
labor.
The Government enacted a Civil Procedures Code to reform court
proceedings within the next two years, the minister of security took
significant steps to reform the police, and the country ratified the UN
Convention on Civilian and Political Rights.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--While the Government
or its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings,
members of the security forces were suspected of direct involvement in
unlawful and arbitrary killings. As in previous years, nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) reported killings of youths and children by
vigilante groups that also may have included members of the security
forces (see section 5). There were no charges filed against or
convictions of any persons in relation to such killings. Between 1998
and October, the NGO Casa Alianza reported the killings of 3,351
children and adults under the age of 23 (of which 472 occurred in the
previous 12 months) and stated that government security forces were
possibly involved in 65 of these killings.
Authorities sought or detained a number of police officials for
their involvement in the killings of various individuals (see section
5).
On December 20, two environmentalists, Heraldo Zuniga and Roger
Ivan Cartagena, were executed in front of the Guarizama municipality in
Olancho allegedly by four members of the preventive police. The human
rights prosecutor filed criminal charges against the four suspects.
On November 27, Comayagua police officers shot and killed bar owner
Sean Keith Hanemann during a dispute at his bar; the police chief was
also killed in the confrontation. At year's end two police remained in
detention pending conclusion of an investigation.
A number of prisoner deaths were attributed to members of the
security forces.
Investigations continued in the August 2005 kidnapping and killing
of Jose Mario Garcia, the head of human resources at the Ministry of
Public Works, and in the December 2005 killing of Francisco Cruz
Galeano, a General Confederation of Workers (CGT) union leader.
At year's end an investigation of the 2004 killing of Christian
Democratic congressional candidate Luis Armando Genawer Paguada
remained pending.
During the year court sentenced Arlin Daniel Escobar Moli for the
2003 killing of priest Guillermo Antonio Salgado.
In November the Inter-American Court of Human Rights accepted the
case of the 2001 killing of Nationalist Party congressional candidate
Angel Pacheco, for which there were no known suspects.
In 2004 the Government accepted responsibility for human rights
abuses committed in the 1980s and undertook to comply with Inter-
American Court of Human Rights rulings regarding these killings. During
the year a number of active and former military and police officials
continued to face criminal charges for various human rights abuses,
including the killings of 184 persons in the 1980s. Although most of
the defendants were charged by the Public Ministry with illegal
detention and murder, by year's end the Public Ministry remained unable
to bring new cases against these individuals, including former members
of the army's disbanded Intelligence Battalion 3-16 (see section 1.b.).
On September 21, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemned
the Government in connection with the illegal detention and killing by
police of four youths in 1995, known as the ``four cardinal points
case,'' and ordered removal of any obstruction of justice that provided
impunity for the perpetrators. As a result of the judgment, the human
rights prosecutor requested that the criminal court in Tegucigalpa
issue arrest orders for a number of suspects in the case. Despite the
attention this case received, the court had not proceeded against the
police officials involved.
On July 6, the Office of Forensic Medicine turned over to their
families the remains of Jose Edelmiro Lopez Rosales and Angel Rolando
Padilla Guillen, who were killed in the 1980s. The remains were exhumed
from clandestine graves in 2005. Human rights organizations continued
to seek information from various sources to locate other clandestine
graves for future exhumations to advance prosecutions against alleged
human rights violators. By law courts will not accept a case unless the
body of the victim has been recovered and positively identified. An
identified body allows families and human rights organizations to bring
a case of suspected human rights abuse to court. Although arrest
warrants were issued in 1996, no one has been held responsible for
these killings nor have the courts initiated further actions.
The 2004 Inter-American Court of Human Rights case regarding the
1998 killing of environmental activist and councilperson Carlos Antonio
Luna Lopez remained pending at the court.
At year's end the appeals court had not issued a judgment in the
case involving retired major Manuel de Trejo Rosa, who was under house
arrest for the 1982 illegal detention and attempted killing of Nelson
MacKay Echevarria and Miguel Francisco Carias Medina (see section
1.c.). Rosa was no longer under house arrest, and the alleged crime has
gone unpunished.
At year's end the case of Raymundo Alexander Hernandez Santos, who
was charged with the 1982 illegal detention and killing of Adan Avilez
Funez and Nicaraguan citizen Amado Espinoza Paz, remained pending a
decision by the Supreme Court of Justice.
In November 2005 police detained Colonel Juan Blas Salazar for the
murder and illegal house search of two individuals in the 1980s. At
year's end the matter remained under investigation, and Salazar was in
detention in connection with other charges.
Through October the Ministry of Public Security reported that
unknown actors killed 30 police officers, noting that gangs may have
committed nine of these killings. These killings included one in
September in which 12 shots were fired point blank at the officer.
Violent crime continued to fuel the growth of private unlicensed
security guard services and vigilante groups that patrolled
neighborhoods and municipalities allegedly to deter crime. Neighborhood
watch groups called Citizen Security Councils occasionally took the law
into their own hands. Human rights activists continued to assert that
some councils, as well as private security companies with ties to
former and current military or police officials, acted with the tacit
complicity of police as vigilantes or death squads targeting youth and
other elements of the population.
There were no developments and none were expected in the
investigation regarding the 2004 killing of Cesar Virgilio Pinot,
allegedly by Agro Oriental security guards.
During the year the NGO Casa Alianza reported 444 killings of
persons 23 years or younger; 22 percent of the victims were age 18 or
younger (see section 5). An increasing number of the victims showed
signs of torture and characteristics of indiscriminate executions.
b. Disappearance.--On June 11, five presumed agents of the General
Office of Criminal Investigation (DGIC) kidnapped Jorge Ruiz Rosales,
53, former advisor of the National Association of Farmers of Honduras,
as he was traveling from Tegucigalpa to Tocoa, Colon. Rosales had been
in self-imposed exile in the 1980s for his active participation in
dissident political organizations but returned in 1991 when the
Government issued a decree of unconditional amnesty for former
dissidents. Family members filed a complaint with the DGIC on June 12.
The Ministry of Public Security reported that as of November there
had been 14 kidnappings for ransom, compared with seven in 2005.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit such practices,
there were instances in which government officials employed them,
including police beatings and other abuse of detainees.
The Public Ministry's appeal of the 2004 dismissal of charges
against retired colonel Juan Evangelista Lopez Grijalba remained
pending. Although Lopez Grijalba remained free on bail, on March 31 a
foreign court found him liable for compensatory and punitive damages
for torture of two plaintiffs, the disappearance and extrajudicial
killing of a man, and torture, disappearance, and extrajudicial killing
of another man.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
harsh, and prison security was poor. Human rights groups reported that
prisoners suffered from severe overcrowding, malnutrition, lack of
adequate sanitation, and allegedly were subjected to various other
abuses, including rape by other prisoners. In many cases prisoners
relied on outside help from visitors to survive because the prison
system did not provide adequate food or other basic necessities. Prison
escapes, through bribery or other means, remained a frequent
occurrence.
Prison disturbances, caused primarily by harsh conditions and
intergang violence, occurred in the larger facilities of San Pedro
Sula, Tegucigalpa, and Choluteca. Through November, 29 gang members had
been killed in prison, in some cases by members of rival gangs. For
instance, on January 5, 13 prisoners were killed and 38 injured in a
gang-initiated conflict at the Tamara National Penitentiary near
Tegucigalpa. Authorities suspended two prison officials and opened an
investigation.
Prison authorities attempted to hold prisoners from opposing gangs
in different facilities or in different areas of the same prison to
reduce intergang tensions and violence; however, Casa Alianza reported
that rival gang members killed four minors in Centro Renaciendo. In the
same detention center, a minor detainee died from a gunshot discharged
from a guard's gun that had been smuggled into the center. After the
incident, the Public Ministry and a juvenile court judge ordered the
removal of armed guards from the detention center.
There were no further developments in the investigation of the 2004
fire at the San Pedro Sula prison that killed 107 inmates.
The Supreme Court of Justice sentenced the prison director and four
other defendants to 19 years in prison for the deaths of 68 persons in
2003 at El Porvenir prison near La Ceiba.
Persons with mental illnesses, as well as those with tuberculosis
and other infectious diseases, were held among the general prison
population. Human rights organizations charged that prison officials
used excessive force against prisoners, including beatings, as well as
isolation and threats.
Female prisoners generally were held in separate facilities under
conditions similar to those of male prisoners but did not have conjugal
visit privileges as did male prisoners. At certain lower security
prisons, women were held with the general population. Children up to
age two were permitted to stay with their mothers in prison. Pretrial
detainees generally were held together with convicted prisoners.
While the Government operated four juvenile detention centers,
minors were sometimes detained with adults.
Although the National Honduran Institute for Families (IHNFA)
improved the infrastructure of four youth detention centers,
overcrowding remained a problem due to the overall deficiencies of the
juvenile penal system. Judges tended to place youth in detention
centers in the absence of other educational or reform programs.
There were no further developments in the 2004 negotiations between
the Government and Casa Alianza over Casa Alianza's complaint to the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights regarding four minors tortured in
a Comayagua prison in 1995.
The Government generally permitted prison visits by independent
local and international human rights observers, and such visits
occurred during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, but the authorities at times
failed to observe these prohibitions.
In November the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in
Honduras (CODEH) asserted that since its inception in August the
Government's intensified crime reduction program, Operation Nation, had
arbitrarily detained approximately 18,000 youth.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of Public
Security oversees police operations, including those of the Preventive
Police, DGIC, Transit Police, Frontier Police, Tourist Police, and
Prison Police. The minister of security took steps to strengthen the
police, selectively instituting polygraph and drug tests and changing
key personnel. Despite these steps, police lacked training and funding
and were understaffed. Corruption was a serious problem. The Ministry
of Public Security reported that from August 2005 to November 2006,
authorities had prosecuted 29 police officers for offenses ranging from
incompetence to corruption. On October 26, authorities reassigned 40
police officers and five other officials for soliciting bribes from
suspects taken to the Fourth Station in the Belen neighborhood of
Tegucigalpa. There was widespread public concern regarding the
perceived inability of the security forces to prevent and control
crime, and the public continued to believe that corrupt security
personnel were complicit in the high crime rate.
The Government revived the citizen security councils, which human
rights groups claimed were responsible for an increase in unlawful
deaths (see section 1.a.).
A number of inspectors and directors of police have been charged
with flagrant human rights abuses; their cases remained pending with
the Public Ministry at year's end. For example, subcommissioner ``El
Tigre'' Juan Carlos Bonilla who was suspected, but never charged, in a
number of unresolved killings continued as inspector of jails at year's
end.
During the year police and military continued joint patrols of the
streets. Gang violence and intimidation remained serious problems, and
gangs continued to harass, threaten, and rob passengers on public
transportation, causing the Government to station security officers on
many public buses. Perpetrators of killings against youth and minors,
including in some instances police, continued to act with impunity.
The Office of Internal Affairs investigates allegations of illegal
activities committed by members of the police force. The Preventive
Police and the DGIC each have an office of professional responsibility
that conducts internal reviews of police misconduct.
The NGO CODEH continued government-funded programs to train staff
of the Prison Police to prevent acts of torture. Police and military
officials took human rights training provided by international donors.
Arrest and Detention.--The law states that police may arrest a
person only with a court order, unless the arrest is by order of a
prosecutor, made during the commission of a crime, made when there is
strong suspicion that a person has committed a crime and may try to
evade criminal prosecution, or made when the person is caught with
evidence related to a crime. Police must clearly inform the person of
the grounds for the arrest. Police must bring a detainee before a
competent authority within 24 hours. The prosecutor has 24 hours to
decide if there is probable cause for an indictment, and a judge then
has 24 hours to decide whether to issue a temporary detention order
that can last up to six days, by which time the judge must hold a
pretrial hearing to examine probable cause and make a decision on
whether pretrial detention should continue. The law provides for bail
for persons charged with felonies. The law also provides that prisoners
have the right to prompt access to family members. Although the law
also provides that prisoners have the right of prompt access to a
lawyer of their choice and, if indigent, to state-provided counsel,
these requirements were not always followed in practice.
Lengthy pretrial detention was a serious problem. During the year
approximately 62 percent of the prison population awaited trial. The
law mandates the release from prison of any detainee whose case has not
come to trial and whose time in detention exceeds the maximum prison
sentence for the crime of which he is accused. Judicial inefficiency
and corruption and lack of sufficient resources delayed proceedings in
the criminal justice system. For instance, 310 prosecutors were
responsible for handling more than 361,000 cases. As a result of these
delays, many pretrial detainees already had served time in prison
equivalent to the maximum allowable for the crime for which they were
accused. Many prisoners remained in jail after being acquitted or
having completed their sentences due to the failure of responsible
officials to process their releases.
By the end of fiscal year 2006, authorities achieved the goal of
clearing the overall judicial backlog of criminal cases by closing
256,713 cases, including approximately 13,000 cases involving current
inmates.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law
provide for an independent judiciary, the judicial system was poorly
funded and staffed, inadequately equipped, often ineffective, and
subject to patronage, corruption, and political influence.
In June authorities arrested a member of the Presidential Guard in
connection with the 1999 killing of Francisco Javier Morales in
Trujillo. Subsequently, at least five members of the Presidential Guard
were deployed to Trujillo on official orders, where they threatened and
attempted to suborn witnesses, prosecutors, and judges dealing with the
case. Two witnesses subsequently recanted their testimony; although the
presidency was informed of the situation, it took no action in
response. The defense attorney requested DNA testing, but the court
denied the request. The guard remained in jail awaiting trial.
Low wages and lack of internal controls rendered judicial officials
susceptible to bribery, and powerful special interests exercised
influence in the outcomes of court proceedings.
There are 12 appeals courts, 77 courts of first instance with
general jurisdiction, and 330 justice of the peace courts with limited
jurisdiction. The Supreme Court of Justice names all lower court
judges. The media and various civil society groups continued to express
concern that the eight to seven split between the National and Liberal
parties in the Supreme Court of Justice resulted in politicized rulings
and contributed to corruption in public and private institutions.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair public
trial. Although the law provides that the accused is presumed innocent
and has the right to an initial hearing by a judge, to bail, to consult
with legal counsel in a timely manner, to have a lawyer provided by the
state if necessary, and a right to appeal, these rights frequently were
not observed.
Although the law prohibits cases from proceeding where a suspect
lacks legal representation, the Government allocated minimal resources
to the prosecutors. As a result, the public defender was not able to
meet the demand for legal assistance to those unable to afford
representation.
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 a court
to seek damages for a cessation of a human rights violation. There were
no such cases reported during the year.
CODEH and COFADEH were the only two organizations to bring charges
against human right violators by seeking financial retribution. This
can be done when the criminal court states that retribution may be
sought.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--Although the constitution and law generally prohibit
such actions, a legal exception allows entry at any time in the event
of an emergency or to prevent the commission of a crime. There
continued to be credible charges that police personnel occasionally
failed to obtain the required authorization before entering a private
home.
Garifuna and other indigenous rights leaders continued to complain
that the Government failed to redress previous actions by private and
public security forces that dislodged farmers and indigenous groups who
claimed ownership of lands based on land reform laws or ancestral
titles to property (see section 5). Despite reforms to the civil
service system, National or Liberal party membership often was
necessary to obtain or retain government employment.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--Although the constitution and law
generally provide for freedom of speech and of the press, demonstrators
are restricted from using statements that could incite persons to riot.
Some journalists acknowledged practicing self-censorship when their
reporting could challenge the political or economic interests of media
owners.
A small number of powerful business magnates with intersecting
commercial, political, and family ties owned most of the country's news
media. The Government influenced media coverage of its activities
through the granting or denial of access to government officials,
creating a situation in which the media was so closely interrelated and
linked to the political system that the powerful magnates strongly
influenced the news agenda and thereby elections and political
decisions.
Congress, the Presidential Palace, and other government entities
granted more than 20 major awards to individual journalists on
Journalists' Day; NGOs believed that the Government also gave
substantial sums of money to selected members of the media who covered
their stories in the manner they requested. The Government exerted
considerable influence on the print media through granting or
withholding publicly funded official advertisements.
The news media continued to suffer from internal corruption,
politicization, and outside influences. According to NGOs, ministers
and other high-ranking government officials obtained press silence
through hiring journalists as public affairs assistants at high
salaries and paid journalists to investigate or suppress news stories.
Some media members claimed that when they attempted to report in
depth on national politicians or official corruption, they were
occasionally denied access to government information. Access to the
Presidential palace was limited to the ``friendly'' press and was
arbitrarily awarded and withdrawn by Presidential palace staff.
In October the Inter American Press Association criticized
President Zelaya for using rhetoric hostile to the media. For instance,
during an October public conference, the President reacted to articles
alleging government corruption and negative reports about his family by
suggesting the slogan of the major conservative newspaper El Heraldo
should be changed from ``Truth'' to ``Lies in Your Hands.''
In July journalists Eduardo Maldonado and David Romero Ellner were
charged for defamation and lies against Mario Maldonado (no relation to
Eduardo Maldonado), former director of Hondutel. The case was pending
prosecution at year's end.
Former minister of housing Johnny Kafaty accused Channel 36
journalist Esdras Amado Lopez of slander and libel in June 2005.
Although charges were dismissed in an appellate court, on November 6,
Kafaty refiled with the lower court.
In 2005 the mayor of the municipality of San Marcos de Ocotepeque
charged Radio America correspondent Jose Aleman with defamation and
lies, but there was no prosecution. In March the case was resolved by
conciliatory measures proposed by the presiding judge. Aleman agreed to
refer to the mayor in a more respectful manner, and the mayor promised
not to take retaliatory actions against the correspondent, his family,
or the station.
On September 4, city council member Guillermo Villatoro Hall sued
journalist Ernesto Rojas of San Pedro Sula de Noche radio station. Also
on September 4, in Tegucigalpa, Yansen Juarez, national coordinator of
programs and projects in the Public Education Ministry, sued journalist
Francisco Romero of the program Hablemos de Noche de Hondured. Media
observers considered these to be harassment suits.
During the year there were several reports of threats or lawsuits
against journalists by powerful persons, including legal cases against
journalists for their reports on corruption. NGOs that monitor freedom
of the press registered threats that ranged from subtle to overt
censure to threats by organized crime, mainly narcotraffickers.
Journalists who worked for the NGO Association for a More Just
Society (ASJ) suffered harassment, anonymous calls, and persecution for
reporting on irregularities in the operation of two private security
businesses. On December 4, Dionisio Diaz Garcia, the ASJ's human rights
attorney who had reportedly received death threats associated with the
same labor case, was shot to death in Tegucigalpa. The killing was one
in a series of killings of lawyers and judges, many of which were
attributed to involvement in narcotics trafficking cases.
Journalist Renato Alvarez's 2004 appeal to the Supreme Court of
Justice seeking an annulment of his sentence for defamation and slander
remained pending 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.
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.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and the law generally
provide for freedom of association, and the Government generally
respected this right in practice; however, the criminal associations
law prohibits illicit association and prescribes prison terms of three
to 12 years (see section 5). Human rights organizations criticized the
law and its implementation as an undue restriction on the right to
associate freely, while gay rights advocacy groups expressed concerns
that the law could be used to criminalize social activities and
organizations of the gay community. During the year the law prohibiting
illicit associations was used to arrest individuals for being members
of Mara Salvatrucha and other gangs. A reform to criminal code 332
outlawing illicit association was used to persecute farmers and
indigenous people.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice. The Government requires foreign missionaries to obtain
entry and residence permits and allows deportation of foreign
missionaries who practice religions that claim to use witchcraft or
satanic rituals. Although the Government does not require religious
groups to register, those who receive ``juridical personality'' status
are accorded tax exemptions and waivers of customs duty on imports.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
discrimination or violence against religious groups, including anti-
Semitic acts. There was a small Jewish population.
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 explicitly prohibit forced internal or external
exile, but the Government did not employ this practice 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 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. During the year the
Government accepted 10 refugees for resettlement. The Government
cooperated with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the
International Office of Migration, 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 nearly universal suffrage. Active members of the clergy and of the
military and civilian security forces are not permitted to vote.
Elections and Political Participation.--In November 2005 national
elections, which were described by international observers as generally
free and fair, Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales of the Liberal Party won
election to the presidency with a plurality of votes. Observers noted
irregularities at approximately 1,100 ballot boxes but no systemic
patterns of fraud.
Women participated actively in politics and were increasingly well
represented in elected offices. There were 31 women elected to the 128-
seat National Congress, compared with seven in 2001; there were seven
women on the Board of Congress, three of whom were in the top five
vice-Presidential positions; 10 women presided over congressional
committees; eight of the 15 members of the Supreme Court of Justice,
including its President, were women; the National Party was led by a
woman for the first time in its history; four women were secretaries of
state and five were technical secretaries.
There were few minorities or indigenous people in leadership
positions in government or politics. There were three Garifuna members
in the 128-seat legislature, but there were no members from other
ethnic minority or indigenous communities.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The executive and
legislative branches were subject to corruption and political
influence. The Government implemented an anticorruption policy to
reform institutions and prosecute public and private sector officials
accused of corruption. The Government also strengthened the National
Anticorruption Board to include representatives of 12 organizations
from civil society. There remained, however, a widespread perception
among the public and international observers that corruption was severe
and that the Government's anticorruption institutions had not taken the
steps necessary to combat corruption and were unwilling or lacked the
professional capacity to investigate, arrest, and prosecute those
involved in high-level corruption.
Many observers argued that a small elite exercised considerable
control over the country's economic, judicial, and political
institutions, which created the potential for abuse of the country's
institutions and democratic governance. A foreign government revoked
the visa of former President Rafael Callejas on grounds of corruption.
The public and press warmly welcomed the action, which prompted a
vigorous public conversation about the need for national institutions
to police themselves better.
Ramon Romero, former director of immigration who was arrested and
charged with various counts of corruption in May 2005, was dismissed
from his post and at year's end faced criminal prosecution.
On November 27, Congress passed a strong transparency law that
permits citizens access to information regarding government operations
and decisions.
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 cooperated with these groups and were responsive to their
views.
Journalists and lawyers working for the ASJ were harassed by a
security firm (see section 2.a.).
There were no developments in the pending investigation of the 2004
killing of human rights activist Marvis Guelio Perez and the 2004
assault of Jose Idalecio Murillo, a leader of the Regional Coordination
of Popular Resistance.
The Government cooperated with international organizations such as
the International Committee of the Red Cross, which visited once during
the year.
The National Human Rights Commission (CONADEH), an autonomous
government institution, was headed by Human Rights Commissioner Ramon
Custodio Lopez. The CONADEH director had open access to all civilian
and military institutions and detention centers and functioned with
complete immunity and without government or political party
interference. The Government generally cooperated with, but allocated
inadequate financial or other resources to, the CONADEH.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or social status; however, in practice it was not effectively
enforced. Political, military, and social elites generally enjoyed
impunity under the legal system; women were subjected to
discrimination.
Women.--Violence against women remained widespread. The law
criminalizes domestic violence with two to four years' imprisonment.
The only legal sanctions for lesser forms of domestic abuse are
community service and 24-hour preventive detention if the violator is
caught in the act. The law provides a maximum sentence of three years'
imprisonment for disobeying a restraining order connected with the
crime of intrafamily violence.
The Government did not enforce the law effectively with regard to
domestic abuse. However, Congress amended the law to expedite the
judicial process and improve precautionary measures and treatment for
the victims. During the year the Public Ministry received 9,467 reports
of alleged domestic violence, which resulted in 1,023 convictions; 237
cases remained under investigation. There were 2,398 reports of alleged
intrafamily violence, a more serious crime under the law, with 47 cases
prosecuted. There were 1,427 reports of rape, resulting in 52
convictions.
The Government worked with CARE and other NGOs to provide
specialized training to police officials on enforcing the law relating
to domestic violence. Two facilities, both operated by NGOs, provided
shelter for battered women. The shelter in Tegucigalpa could
accommodate 20 women and their families. Additionally, six other
private centers for battered women offered legal, medical, and
psychological assistance.
The penalties for rape range from three to nine years'
imprisonment, and the courts enforced these penalties in practice.
Because all rapes, with the possible exception of spousal rape, which
is evaluated on a case-by-case basis, are considered public crimes, a
rapist can be prosecuted even if the victim does not press charges.
Whereas adult prostitution is legal and relatively widespread, the
law prohibits promoting or facilitating for purposes of prostitution.
Women were trafficked for sexual exploitation and debt bondage (see
section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace and provides
penalties of one to three years' imprisonment. Sexual harassment
continued to be a problem, but the Government did not effectively
enforce the law.
Although the law accords women and men equal rights under the law,
including property rights in divorce cases, in practice women did not
enjoy such rights.
The majority of women worked in lower-status and lower-paid
informal occupations, such as domestic service, without legal
protections or regulations. Women were represented in small numbers in
most professions, and cultural attitudes limited their career
opportunities. Under the law, women have equal access with men to
educational opportunities. The law requires employers to pay women
equal wages for equivalent work, but employers often classified women's
jobs as less demanding than those of men to justify paying them lower
salaries. Despite legal protections against such practices, workers in
the textile export industries continued to report that they were
required to take pregnancy tests as a condition for employment.
The Government maintained a technical-level position directing the
National Women's Institute, which develops women's and gender policy.
Several NGOs actively addressed women's issues, including the Center
for the Study of Women-Honduras, which dealt with trafficking in
persons, commercial sexual exploitation, domestic workers, and other
issues.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare. The educational system, however, faced fundamental problems,
including high dropout rates, low enrollment at the secondary level,
unbalanced distribution of government spending, teacher absenteeism,
and low quality of classroom education.
Although the law provides for free, universal, and compulsory
education through the age of 13, a 2006 National Institute of
Statistics (INE) study estimated that as many as 368,000 of the 1.7
million children ages five to 12 did not receive any schooling during
the year. In 2002 INE reported that only one of two students reached
the sixth grade.
Girls and boys had equal access to state-provided medical care.
Child abuse was a serious problem. The law establishes prison
sentences of up to three years for persons convicted of child abuse.
The Public Ministry received from Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula 1,934
reports of alleged crimes against children, including child abuse of
which 216 were processed; 100 of the 216 cases were returned with no
merit from the courts. In the same two cities, 72 cases were resolved,
and the others remained under investigation or held up in the courts.
Trafficking in children for commercial sexual exploitation and
child prostitution were problems (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.).
The Government and children's rights organizations estimated that
there were 20,000 street children, only half of whom had shelter. Many
street children were sexually molested or exploited. Programs to
address this problem were limited. The Tegucigalpa city administration
operated 12 temporary shelters with a total capacity of 240 children.
The NGO Casa Alianza operated three shelters (with a capacity for 160
children) for victims of commercial sexual exploitation, for street
children, and for children with substance abuse problems. The NGO
provided assistance to approximately 1,300 children each year,
attempting to reintegrate them with their families. Other private
organizations and IHNFA centers also housed street children and cared
for approximately 2,500 children.
Abuse of youth and children in poor neighborhoods and in gangs
remained a serious problem. Members of the police and members of the
general population engaged in violence against poor youth and children
(see sections 1.a. and 1.c.). Human rights groups alleged credibly that
individual members of the security forces worked with civilian
(including vigilante) groups and used unwarranted lethal force against
supposed habitual criminals or suspected gang members, as well as
against other youths not known to be involved in criminal activity.
During the year the legal arm of Casa Alianza investigated two
cases of police brutality against minors. On March 23, preventive
police officers assaulted minors Luis Sander Gomes Salgado and Dawin
Sevilla. On June 20, agents of the DGIC illegally detained and abused
minor Josue Armando Turcios. During the year killings of 444 children
and young adults (ages 23 and under) were reported. Casa Alianza
reported that normally law enforcement officials participated in these
actions as individuals rather than as agents carrying out official
policy. The NGO also stated that often these officials enjoyed a
``climate of impunity'' due to public opinion, which often favored a
strategy of ``social cleansing'' toward alleged gang members and other
juveniles suspected of criminal activities.
Several groups and families of the victims pushed for
investigations into specific incidents, while others claimed to have
provided public prosecutors with evidence of collusion between police
elements and business leaders. The Ministry of Public Security
acknowledged that it investigated individual police officers for
participation in killings of street youth; however, there was no
information available on the outcome of the investigations.
International NGOs, including CARE, and foreign government donors
continued to provide training in domestic violence and other human
rights problems for police and armed forces units.
From January to September, the Special Investigative Unit on Child
Killings had received cases involving killings of 80 minors; the unit
attributed the killings to the categories of: unknown assailants (57
percent), gang members (30 percent), private individuals, family
members and delinquents (12 percent), and police (1 percent). The new
administration replaced most personnel in the investigative unit, thus
depriving the unit of experience and technical ability. The
investigative unit reduced the frequency of its reporting from monthly
to semiannually, which constituted a setback in the investigation and
prosecution of killings of youths.
The investigation continued into the 2004 Chamelecon massacre that
resulted in 28 dead, six of them children; five gang-member suspects
remained in detention pending the outcome of the investigation.
The law outlaws illicit association, including gang and organized
crime membership, for which it prescribes prison terms ranging from
three to 12 years, depending on the individual's level of involvement
and seniority. Through November, 718 persons were detained for illicit
association. Year-end statistics indicated that there were
approximately 30,000 to 40,000 gang members, many of them minors,
belonging to nearly 500 separate groups or sub-groups; other reports
indicated that approximately 5,000 actively participated in criminal
activities. They were deemed responsible for between 20 and 50 percent
of violent crime in the country. Gang membership was primarily confined
to the Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula areas. The Mara Salvatrucha (MS
13) and the Mara 18 were the largest and most violent of the gangs and
accounted for approximately 40 percent of gang membership countrywide.
Trafficking in Persons.--Although a new law criminalizes
trafficking in persons, there were reports that persons were trafficked
from and within the country.
Women and children were trafficked into Guatemala and also
internally, most often from rural to urban settings. The commercial
sexual exploitation of children was a serious problem. Authorities
estimated that 20 to 30 children (96 percent of them girls) crossed the
border daily (approximately 15,000 a year) for purposes related to
sexual exploitation. As of October Casa Alianza estimated that there
were approximately 10,000 child victims of some form of commercial
sexual exploitation, and 90 percent of the children trafficked from the
country were girls. The Office of the Special Prosecutor for Children
conducted 30 operations jointly with the police, the IHNFA, judges, and
Casa Alianza, to rescue victims and to arrest and prosecute those
responsible for the victims' exploitation.
The new law, which came into force on February 4, sets increased
penalties and defines new offenses related to trafficking. Penalties
involve longer imprisonment in six areas: incest, lechery, abuse,
prostitution, pornography, and knowingly infecting someone with HIV/
AIDS. Punishments include fines ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 (100,000
to 500,000 Lempiras) and imprisonment for four to 20 years. The
application of the new law has been limited, reflecting an inadequate
understanding of the complexity of human trafficking and commercial
sexual exploitation on the part of judicial officials.
Most traffickers were apparently citizens of the country,
Guatemalans, Mexicans, or in some cases, Chinese or Taiwanese.
There were 13 prosecutors in Tegucigalpa, five in San Pedro de
Sula, and two in La Ceiba who staffed the Office of the Special
Prosecutor for Children, along with eight special child abuse
investigators in Tegucigalpa, four of whom focused on sexual and
commercial exploitation of minors. Some officials were investigated and
dismissed for corruption.
During the year the court sentenced Lina Odales Diaz Luqe to eight
years in prison and imposed a fine of $5,000 (100,000 lempiras) for
sexual exploitation of girls, possibly using the Internet, in Honduras
and Guatemala.
Three members of an international human trafficking ring arrested
in January 2005 for luring women into commercial sexual exploitation
abroad remained in detention while awaiting a preliminary hearing.
A court convicted and sentenced Glenda Suyapa Calderon, who was
arrested in May 2005, to three years' and nine months' imprisonment for
trafficking girls into Guatemala.
Casa Alianza estimated that there were approximately 10,000 victims
of sexual exploitation in or from the country. The problem was growing
because of the link between trafficking in persons and illegal
immigration. In the greater Tegucigalpa metropolitan area, an estimated
2,280 children were sexually expoited. In 2005 there were 37 cases of
trafficking in persons, of which 17 were brought to trial and 10
resulted in conviction. By the end of year, the Public Ministry
indicated there were 21 active sexual exploitation cases, of which 10
were under investigation.
During the year the Government cooperated with foreign governments
to identify and repatriate minors. The Office of the Special Prosecutor
for Children worked with its Guatemalan counterpart to locate and
repatriate children who were trafficking victims, with 51 children
returned from Mexico and Guatemala and one child each from Belize and
Nicaragua. A five-year National Action Plan against commercial sexual
exploitation of children and adolescents in the country was published
in June; however, by year's end no actions had been implemented.
The women's prosecutor worked with the International Office for
Migration (IOM) to help women who were victims of trafficking, found
principally in Mexico and Guatemala, reintegrate into the social and
work environment and provide them with psychological treatment; opened
a prevention center for women; and trained 2,000 police officers on
trafficking-related law enforcement practices and procedures. In
November the IOM, the Interinstitutional Commission on Trafficking, and
the UN Children's Fund completed a protocol for the repatriation of
children and adolescents who were victims of or vulnerable to
trafficking. The Government did not provide assistance to foreign
victims of trafficking and did not provide funding to NGOs that helped
trafficking victims. IHNFA was responsible for dealing with repatriated
minors upon their arrival in the country. In Yunque, Ocotepque, IHNFA
(with support of the Catholic Church and IOM) operated a shelter for
the returned minor victims.
The Government and Casa Alianza, along with other NGOs,
participated in six training seminars on the prevention and eradication
of the commercial sexual exploitation of children and trafficking in
women and children. Through these seminars the Public Ministry trained
a total of 250 justice officers, which included judges, prosecutors,
and preventive and frontier police.
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, but the Government did not adequately enforce these
provisions.
General statutory provisions make it illegal for an employer to
discriminate against a worker based on disability. During the year
there were no reports of discrimination against persons with
disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, or in the
provision of other state services. The law requires access to buildings
for persons with disabilities. In practice only a few buildings were
accessible, such as the National Registry of Persons and the offices of
the Property Institute. In May government responsibility for protecting
the rights of persons with disabilities passed from the Public
Ministry's Office of the Special Prosecutor for Children and Persons
with Disabilities to its Office of the Special Prosecutor for Human
Rights.
Indigenous People.--Approximately 621,000 persons, constituting 9
percent of the general population, were members of indigenous and other
ethnic groups. These populations, including the Miskitos, Tawahkas,
Pech, Tolupans, Lencas, Chortis, Nahual, Islanders, and Garifunas,
lived in 362 communities and generally had little or no political power
to make decisions affecting their lands, cultures, traditions, and the
allocation of natural resources.
Most indigenous lands were owned communally, providing land use
rights to individual members of the ethnic group. Indigenous land
titles often were defined poorly in documents dating back to the mid-
19th century. Lack of clear title fostered encroachment and
expropriation conflicts between landless nonindigenous settlers and
powerful business elites and government entities interested in
exploiting coastlines, forests, and other lands traditionally occupied
or utilized by indigenous and other ethnic groups. Indigenous and
nonindigenous communities criticized the Government's alleged
complicity in the exploitation of timber and other natural resources on
these lands. Amnesty International (AI) reported the use of politically
motivated criminal charges to detain indigenous people. AI stated that
these detentions often were intended to ``obstruct the efforts of
indigenous leaders to secure recognition of their communities' claim to
communal land titles.''
By year's end there were several protests by indigenous groups
regarding land rights disputes and perceived government discrimination.
On November 30, the Government purchased indigenous community lands and
transferred them to the Chorti, pursuant to a commitment the Government
made in 1997.
In early April Congressman Romualdo Bueso Melghem allegedly tried
to strangle a journalist to prevent her from recording threats he was
making to Lenca indigenous leader Salvador Zuniga. An investigation
took place after journalist Marta Vasquez filed a complaint with the
Public Ministry's special prosecutor for minority groups. One of the
witnesses was Dr. Orizon Velasquez, then secretary of health, who had
said he had been at the meeting where Melghem supposedly had committed
the aggression; however, the Office of the Prosecutor was not able to
present its case because the video tape of the aggression mysteriously
disappeared, and Dr. Velasquez later declared that he had no comment on
this case.
Garifuna leaders continued to petition the Government regarding
their concerns about large-scale commercial development undertaken on
coastal lands traditionally occupied and utilized by their communities.
The Government permitted tourism development by private local and
foreign business interests on the disputed lands using 100-year leases
designed to revert to the Garifuna after the expiration of that period
of time. During the year Garifuna leaders reported harassment, threats,
and assaults. Many Garifuna rights activists continued to oppose the
Government's attempts to provide individual land titles to community
members on lands traditionally held in common by the Garifuna people.
In February the Inter-American Court of Human Rights criticized the
Government for having held Garifuna leader Alfredo Lopez Alvarez in
deplorable prison conditions without any evidence against him. Alvarez
was released from prison in July 2004.
In July Garifuna leader Jessica Garcia said she was forced at
gunpoint to sign a document surrendering land and rights to a powerful
real estate company. After refusing to accept a bribe to endorse the
document, she claimed a company representative threatened to kill her
and her children. The case, which was sent to the court by the local
prosecutor's office and was considered a felony, followed the killing
of two Garifuna community members in San Juan and violent attacks
against the San Juan community by security guards working for a major
real estate development company. The three cases involving the Garifuna
were investigated by the office of the prosecutor and presented to the
criminal court in Tela. At year's end the accused were in prison
pending their court date.
In July National Party Congressman Miguel Angel Gamez publicly
stated that the election of three Liberal Party congressmen
``bothered'' him. In a March 30 interview, Gamez said that he was a
racist and ``did not like blacks.'' The Garifuna community denounced
the congressman, urging the Government to punish him under the laws
against racism. The Public Ministry's special prosecutor for minority
groups opened an investigation, following which Congressman Gamez
publicly apologized and promoted congressional motions to benefit the
Garifuna community.
Two Garifuna youths, Castillo and Lopez, were found killed after an
incident at a party on February 25. Witnesses said they had argued with
six naval officers of the First Naval Batallion. At the crime scene, M-
16 casings were found. The prosecutor's office issued orders of arrest
against the six officers. Their first court appearance took place in
March, and they remained imprisoned in the Tamara jail at year's end.
Mirna Isabel Santos Thomas, a young Garifuna woman, was killed in
San Juan, Tela, and the court of Tela issued an arrest order for three
individuals who were clearly identified as the culprits. The first
court hearing took place in September, and the judge ordered preventive
prison terms for the three individuals pending a new court hearing.
CONADEH reported that police agents fraudulently took natural
resources such as wood from indigenous groups and that Monsignor Luis
Alfonso Santos, who has led protests against strip mining, reported
receiving death threats; however, no charges were brought against the
mining companies.
The Government undertook minimal efforts to work with indigenous
groups to address concerns regarding ownership and use of traditional
lands.
The courts commonly denied legal recourse to indigenous groups and
often favored nonindigenous parties of means and influence. Failure to
obtain legal redress frequently led indigenous groups to attempt to
regain land through invasions of private property, which gave the
authorities occasion to retaliate forcefully.
Human rights organizations, including AI, continued to complain
about alleged poor treatment, police beatings, and denial of adequate
medical care for indigenous brothers Marcelino Miranda Mendoza and
Leonardo Miranda Mendoza, members of the Civic Council of Indigenous
and Popular Organizations of Honduras. In 2003 a court convicted and
sentenced the brothers to 29 years' imprisonment for the 2001 murder of
Juan Reyes Gomez. The Supreme Court of Justice overturned the sentence
in 2003 and ordered the appeals court to reconsider the case. The two
brothers were released during the year and absolved of charges of
murder, theft, and damages. The Special Prosecutor's Office of Ethnic
Affairs opened a case against 22 police officials for abuse of power,
torture, and damages against the Lenca brothers. The court put the case
on hold, but the prosecutor's office requested that it be reopened.
Daniel Martinez Montes from the Toulepan tribe was murdered at the
El Palmar tribe in Morazon, Yoro. The prosecutor for ethnic affairs and
the police captured three men accused of the crime, who were put in
prison.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--During the Maduro
administration, legal recognition and registration was granted to
lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender rights group. There were no
discriminatory laws based on sexual orientation, but in practice social
discrimination against persons based on sexual orientation was
widespread. Representatives of the sexual diversity rights NGOs Violet
Collective, the San Pedro Gay Community, Kukulcan, and the Transvestite
Sex Workers Collective of San Pedro Sula asserted that their members
regularly experienced abuses, beatings, killings (see section 1.a.),
and other physical and verbal mistreatment from authorities. In cases
where lesbians, gays, and transgenders were found dead, the
prosecutor's office often encountered serious difficulties because the
victims were either concealing their identity or sexual orientation or,
in many cases, were hiding from their families. Criminal investigations
were categorized by female or male gender and not transgenders. The
Inter-American Commission of Human Rights documented approximately 200
cases, but continuing technical problems made these cases very
difficult to document and process correctly. Gay rights groups also
asserted that there was antigay discrimination by security forces and
government agencies and that employers used illegal discriminatory
hiring practices. These groups also reported that due to intimidation,
fear of reprisal, and police corruption, gay and lesbian victims of
abuse were reluctant to file charges or proceed with prosecutions.
The NGO Red de Hombres Gay Positivos alleged that employers
routinely ignored antidiscrimination employment laws and used testing
supposedly for syphilis among employees and job applicants as a means
to detect HIV status to screen persons testing positive. The NGO also
alleged that some Protestant churches fueled prejudice against HIV-
positive persons because there are no regulations in the matter.
Certain Protestant churches called for the elimination of the legal
representation of gay and lesbian groups.
Job-related age discrimination was a serious problem.
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, and workers exercised
this right in practice. The law prohibits members of the armed forces
and the police force from forming labor unions and also prohibits
public service employees from presenting union-organizing petitions or
participating in collective bargaining. According to July statistics
from the Ministry of Labor, approximately 8 percent of the work force,
excluding the agriculture sector, and approximately 13 percent of the
133,000 maquiladora work force was unionized.
The law prohibits coexistence of more than two trade unions at a
single enterprise, requires 30 or more workers to constitute a trade
union, prohibits foreign nationals from holding union offices, requires
that union officials be employed in the economic activity of the
business the union represents, and restricts unions in agricultural
enterprises with less than 10 employees.
A number of private firms continued to maintain solidarity
associations that provided credit and other services to workers who
were members of these associations. Representatives of organized labor
groups criticized these associations, asserting that they did not
permit strikes, had inadequate grievance procedures, were meant to
displace genuine, independent trade unions, and were employer-
dominated.
Although the law prohibits retribution by employers for engaging in
trade union activity, retribution was a common practice with employers
threatening to close unionized companies and harassing or dismissing
workers seeking to unionize. Some foreign companies closed operations
when notified that workers sought union representation.
The Ministry of Labor can reach administrative decisions and fine
companies over allegations of unfair dismissal, but only a court can
order reinstatement of workers. Employers often failed to comply with
court orders requiring them to reinstate workers fired for engaging in
union activity, and failure to reinstate workers was a serious problem.
Although the law prohibits blacklisting, there was credible
evidence that maquiladora employers blacklisted employees seeking to
form unions. There were 46 reports of maquiladora workers allegedly
fired for union activity who were hired for one or two weeks and then
dismissed with no explanation. Maquiladora employees reported seeing
computer records that included previous union membership in personnel
records. Some employers informed previously unionized workers that they
were unemployable because of their previous union activity.
The Ministry of Labor frequently failed to provide effective
protection to labor organizers. Corruption and unethical behavior of
inspectors included the selling of names of employee union organizers
to company management before government recognition of the union.
During the year the new minister of labor fired many of these
inspectors.
On September 28, the NGO Women's Group of Honduras complained that
the Golden National Group maquila in Choloma closed operations without
paying legally mandated salaries to 250 employees, mostly women.
The complaint that 30 maquiladora workers filed, which alleged that
they were fired in February 2005 for trying to form a union at their
workplace at the Olga de Villanueva company, remained under
investigation by the Ministry of Labor at year's end.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to organize and to bargain collectively, but the
Government did not protect this right in practice. Although the law
requires that an employer begin collective bargaining once workers
establish a union, employers often refused to engage in bargaining.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice. On August 1, public school teachers held a
national strike. After a violent demonstration on August 9, in which
security forces demonstrated due restraint, the strike ended on August
11 when the Government agreed to a raise in salaries due to a campaign
pledge. The law, however, prohibits strikes in a wide range of economic
activities deemed essential services and any others that in the
Government's opinion affect individual rights to security, health,
education, economic, or social life. Essential services include air and
water transportation, electrical energy production, telecommunications,
hospitals and clinics, refuse collection and cleaning services,
production of primary necessities affecting public services, social and
charitable associations, animal and plant hygiene and scientific
investigation of illnesses, as well as petroleum production, refining,
transport, and distribution.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) criticized the law's
denial of the right to strike to workers in the petroleum sector and to
all government workers, other than employees of state-owned
enterprises. At times civil servants engaged in illegal work stoppages
without experiencing reprisals. In such cases, however, the Ministry of
Labor has the power to declare the protest illegal at the request of
the employer or public service sector management and dismiss the
protesting workers. The legal restrictions on strikes include a
prohibition on labor federations and confederations from calling
strikes and a requirement that a two-thirds majority of the votes of
the total membership of the trade union call a strike, rather than a
simple majority.
The same labor regulations apply in the export processing zones
(EPZs) as in the rest of private industry, with the exception that that
the law provides additional restrictions on strikes in EPZs. There were
45 free zones established in the country and 18 industrial parks
operating as EPZs. An additional 26 companies had their own free zones,
outside the industrial parks. In the absence of unions and collective
bargaining, several companies in the EPZs instituted solidarity
associations that, to some extent, functioned as company unions for the
purposes of setting wages and negotiating working conditions. Other EPZ
companies used the minimum wage to set starting salaries and adjusted
wage scales by negotiating with common groups of plant workers and
other employees, based on seniority, skills, categories of work, and
other criteria.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Although the law
generally prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children,
it permits compulsory labor for convicted criminals. Additionally,
there were credible allegations of compulsory overtime at maquiladora
plants, particularly for women, who comprised approximately 65 percent
of that sector's workforce.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law regulates child labor and provides that minors under age 16 or
students age 16 and older cannot work unless authorities determine that
the work is indispensable for the family's income and will not conflict
with schooling. The constitution and law establish the maximum work
hours for children under 17 years as six hours daily and 30 hours
weekly. Parents or a legal guardian can request special permission from
the Labor Ministry to allow children between the ages of 14 and 15 to
work, so long as the ministry performs a home study to ensure that the
child demonstrates economic necessity to work and that the child will
not work outside of the country or in hazardous conditions, including
offshore fishing. In practice the Ministry of Labor conducted few home
studies.
The law prohibits night work and overtime for minors under age 16
and requires that employers in areas with more than 20 school-age
children working at their business facility provide a location for a
school. In practice the vast majority of children worked without
ministry permits.
Approximately 57 percent of the country's population was under age
15. The Government did not devote adequate resources or inspectors at
the institutions to follow-up, prevent, or monitor compliance of labor
laws.
The Ministry of Labor did not effectively enforce child labor laws
outside the maquiladora sector, and there were frequent violations of
the child labor laws in family farming, agricultural export, including
the melon, coffee, and sugarcane industries, and in small-scale
services and commerce. Many children worked out of economic necessity
alongside other family members.
A 2004 survey by the National Institute of Statistics managed by
the ILO's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor
(IPEC) determined that approximately 360,000 children, constituting 14
percent of children between the ages of five and 18, worked either
part-time or full-time. IPEC estimated that during the year the number
may have risen to 500,000. Many boys between the ages of 13 and 18
worked as lobster divers with little safety or health protection.
Children who worked on melon and sugarcane farms were exposed to
pesticides and long hours. Although legally off limits to children,
large numbers of minors worked at the garbage disposal sites.
Casa Alianza conducted a study in 20 cities throughout the country
and found that 10,000 children were victims of commercial sexual
exploitation crimes or trafficking in persons (see section 5). The NGO
stated that 300,000 youngsters under the age of 15 worked, 78 percent
of whom were boys. Approximately 20,000 children served in households
as housekeepers, and 34 percent of child laborers did not go to
schools.
There were isolated cases of children under the legal working age
working in the maquiladora sector. Younger children sometimes obtained
work permits by fraud or purchased forged permits.
The Ministry of Labor continued a campaign to increase industry
awareness on the worst forms of child labor. The IPEC program
identified the worst forms of child labor in the country as commercial
sexual exploitation particularly in tourist areas along the North
Coast, fireworks production, offshore diving from boats for commercial
lobster fishing, limestone quarrying and lime mining, garbage dump
picking, melon and other commercial agriculture production involving
handling of pesticides, wood-cutting in saw mills, and construction
activities.
The Government undertook social and educational programs to reach
at-risk children, including a school grant program of the Ministry of
Education to provide money for school supplies for very poor families,
and an alternative schooling program using radio and long-distance
learning for children in distant rural areas with few schools.
Government measures had minimal impact on diminishing child labor in
light of extreme poverty, famine conditions in rural areas, and a lack
of jobs for school graduates.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The daily minimum wage scale,
which was updated during the year, is broken down by sector and size of
business: small (one to 15 workers) and large (16 or more workers). The
scale ranges from $3.58 (68 lempiras) for workers in small agriculture
to $5.63 (107 lempiras) for workers in financial and insurance
companies and workers in export-oriented businesses, including
maquiladoras and commercial agriculture such as tobacco, coffee,
bananas, and seafood production. Workers in areas such as construction,
services, mining, transportation, and communication had minimum wages
between these two rates. The minimum wage did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. The Ministry of Labor and
the Minimum Wage Commission were responsible for enforcing the minimum
wage.
The law prescribes a maximum 44-hour workweek and at least one 24-
hour rest period for every six days of work. The law requires overtime
payment for hours in excess of the standard, and there are prohibitions
on excessive compulsory overtime. Employers frequently ignored these
regulations due to the high level of unemployment and underemployment
and the lack of effective enforcement by the Ministry of Labor. Foreign
workers enjoyed equal protection under the law, although the process
for a foreigner to obtain a work permit from the Ministry of Labor was
cumbersome.
The Ministry of Labor was responsible for enforcing national
occupational health and safety laws but did not do so consistently or
effectively. Worker safety standards were enforced poorly, particularly
in the construction industry and in agriculture production activities.
There were complaints that foreign factory managers in EPZs and other
private industrial facilities failed to comply with occupational health
and safety regulations (see section 6.b.). Workers in pineapple
production and other commercial agriculture enterprises alleged
blacklisting by employers if they made complaints to the authorities
about working conditions. During the year the Ministry of Labor trained
labor inspectors to integrate and unify inspection capacity. The
ministry also undertook with the National Autonomous University of
Honduras a technical assistance workshop diploma course on workplace
risk prevention that trained 24 inspectors.
A 2005 case filed by the NGO Association of Crippled Mosquito
Divers with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called on the
Government to adhere to a 2004 agreement with the association requiring
employers to create better working conditions for divers. A July report
by CONADEH indicated that 50 divers had died in recent years and nearly
20 percent suffered paralysis. The minister of labor called upon
employers to comply with security measures for the divers. The
Commission of Divers was formed in order to follow up on training of
divers and inspectors and to establish the minimum required equipment
for divers in order to prevent accidents. Agreement was not reached on
assigning responsibility for payment of damages in accident cases.
The law does not provide workers with the right to leave a
dangerous work situation without jeopardy to continued employment.
__________
JAMAICA
Jamaica is a constitutional parliamentary democracy with a
population of approximately 2.7 million. In the generally free and fair
2002 elections, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson's People's National Party
(PNP) won 34 of the 60 seats in the House of Representatives. In March
Portia Simpson-Miller replaced Patterson as prime minister and
President of the party in an internal PNP election. The civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
While the Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, there were serious problems in some areas, including:
unlawful killings committed by members of the security forces; mob
violence against and vigilante killings of those suspected of breaking
the law; abuse of detainees and prisoners by police and prison guards;
poor prison and jail conditions; continued impunity for police who
commit crimes; an overburdened judicial system and frequent lengthy
delays in trials; violence and discrimination against women;
trafficking in persons; and violence against suspected or known
homosexuals.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including: Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--While the Government
or its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings,
security forces committed some unlawful or unwarranted killings during
the year.
The police frequently employed lethal force in apprehending
criminal suspects, which resulted in 189 deaths (including 10 police
officers) as of early December, compared with 160 deaths (including 13
police officers) for the same period in 2005. While allegations of
``police murder'' remained frequent, the validity of some allegations
was suspect. The country faced a critical crime situation with a
homicide rate exceeding 45 per 100,000 persons, a reduction from the
2005 rate of 62 per 100,000. Well-armed gangs that trafficked in
narcotics and guns controlled many inner-city communities. The gangs
often were equipped better than the police force and conducted
coordinated ambushes of joint security patrols.
On August 19, police killed four men in Alexandria, Chapelton.
Police stated that a shoot-out led to their deaths. Residents of the
community protested the killings, claiming that there was no shoot-out
and that guns were planted on the dead men. At year's end the police
Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI) was investigating the case.
During the year one detainee died while in police custody. On April
5, a police officer set fire to a detainee who was in custody at the
St. James police headquarters lock-up in Montego Bay. The police
commissioner suspended five police officers the next day, and the case
was under review by the Jamaica Constabulary Force's (JCF) Professional
Standards Branch at year's end.
BSI concluded its investigation into the August 2005 killing of 16-
year-old Jeff Smellie by police in Kingston. At year's end the case was
being reviewed by the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
At year's end BSI continued its investigation of the December 2005
police killing of Nichols Weir and Donald Allen in Portmore, St.
Catherine.
The 2004 police killing of three men in Burnt Savannah,
Westmoreland, was before the coroner's court to determine whether
criminal charges should be brought against any members of the JCF.
Similarly, the 2004 killing by Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldiers
of Sandra Sewell and Gayon Alcott in August Town, St. Andrew, went
before the coroner's court in July, but no verdict was reached by
year's end.
No formal charges were filed in the 2004 police killing of 15-year-
old Donovan Hayles and 7-year-old Shakeira Thompson in Old Braeton, St.
Catherine, which was sent to the DPP in 2005.
The six members of the JCF's disbanded Crime Management Unit,
including Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams, charged in connection
with the 2003 killing of four people at a home in Crawle, Clarendon,
were reinstated to the JCF, after a judge ordered charges dropped
against three of them, and a jury found the remaining three officers
not guilty.
Authorities tried five police officers for the 2003 police killing
of two elderly men in the community of Flankers, St. James. In July the
judge released one of the officers based on lack of evidence, and a
jury found the four others not guilty.
It can take many years to bring police officers to trial for
unlawful killings. Authorities set a trial date of March 15, 2007 for
three police officers charged with the 2001 killing of Richard
Williams. A fourth officer involved in the killing was reported to be
``on the run.'' Authorities also set a trial date of March 19, 2007 for
the three police officers charged in 2003 with the 1999 killing of Noel
Barnes in a shoot-out with police.
In the case of the 2000 police killing of Janice Allen, her family
appealed the dismissal of the case against the responsible police
officer. In June the case went before an appeals court panel of judges.
On December 20, the Court of Appeal upheld the original ruling, and the
case was being taken to the Privy Council.
Vigilantism and spontaneous mob killings in response to crime
continued to be a problem. There were 14 vigilante killings during the
year, with varying motives. On April 1, a vigilante mob killed a man
thought to have stolen a cow the preceding week.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
In December 2005 authorities charged Lawrence Clayton, a police
officer, with false imprisonment for his role in the 2004 police
abduction of two men in Kingston. At year's end the case was before the
court. The victims had not been found.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the law prohibits such practices, reports of
physical abuse of prisoners by guards continued, despite efforts by the
Government to remove abusive guards and improve procedures.
At year's end police were reviewing the case of one correctional
officer under investigation for aiding with a 2005 prison escape.
The Ministry of National Security reviewed 2005 charges by a former
prison doctor for the St. Catherine Adult Correction Center in Spanish
Town, who alleged that mass rapes, particularly of mentally ill inmates
and inmates serving time for nonviolent offenses, occurred at the
prison during the year. The corrections commissioner referred to the
doctor as ``disgruntled'' and noted that he quit work in 2002. The
investigation found one case reported in 2004 in which one inmate who
claimed he was victimized by another was of ``unsound mind,'' and it
could not corroborate the other allegations made by the doctor.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor, primarily due to overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions. The
Department of Correctional Services took measures during the year to
improve catering services and also entered into a new contract for
insect and rodent control for all facilities. Medical care also was
poor; primarily a result of having few doctors on staff.
Men and women were incarcerated in separate facilities under
similar conditions, except that women's prisons were generally not
overcrowded.
Although the law prohibits the incarceration of children in adult
prisons, some juveniles were held with adults in jails. Adults and
juveniles were segregated in the prison system. The majority of
pretrial detainees were held in police custody either in police
stations or in remand centers, generally separate from convicted
prisoners.
When prisoners raise allegations of abuse by correctional officers,
the charges are first reviewed by corrections officials, then by an
inspector from the Ministry of National Security, and finally by the
police. Authorities file charges against correctional officers for
abuse if evidence is found to support the allegations.
In general the Government allowed private groups, voluntary and
religious organizations, local and international human rights
organizations, and the media to visit prisons and monitor prison
conditions, and such visits took place during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law permits the arrest of
persons ``reasonably suspected'' of having committed a crime. While the
law prohibits arbitrary arrest, security forces performed ``cordon and
search'' operations, during which they detained persons and took them
into custody for processing.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The JCF has primary
responsibility for internal security and is assisted by the Island
Special Constabulary Force. The JDF is charged with national defense,
marine narcotics interdiction, and JCF support. The JDF has no mandate
to maintain law and order and no powers of arrest (with the exception
of the JDF coast guard in the maritime domain) unless so ordered by the
Prime Minister. The Jamaica Regiment (JDF infantry forces) was detached
as part of a joint internal security operation to assist the JCF in
patrolling certain communities. The Prime Minister occasionally
authorized the JDF to cordon and search with the JCF. The Ministry of
National Security oversees the JCF and the JDF.
The JCF is headed by a commissioner who delegates authority through
the ranks to its constables. The force maintains divisions focusing on
community policing, special response, intelligence gathering, and
internal affairs. Faced with a high rate of killings, the JCF generally
was not effective. Although the homicide rate declined from 2005, the
country still experienced one of the highest levels of violent crime in
its history, and the perception of corruption and impunity within the
force was a serious problem that contributed to a lack of public
confidence in the institution. The Professional Standards Branch of the
JCF, with responsibility to tackle corruption in the force, has never
been able to charge or have dismissed even one senior police officer.
Human rights groups identified systematically poor investigative
procedures and weak oversight mechanisms.
In March 2005 Mark Shields, formerly of the London Metropolitan
Police, joined the JCF as deputy commissioner of police in charge of
crime, hired for a four-year period with primary responsibility to
reduce the homicide rate. During the year two additional officers from
the United Kingdom joined the JCF and assumed the organized crime,
firearms, and coastal security portfolios.
The JCF conducted both administrative and criminal investigations
into all incidents involving fatal shootings by the police. The JCF's
BSI, which employed 23 investigators, specifically addressed police
shootings. The BSI completed 452 investigations and sent 280
investigations of shooting incidents to the DPP during the year. The
DPP ruled on 238 cases and sent an undetermined number to criminal
courts. No officer was found criminally liable during the year. The BSI
supplemented the JCF Office of Professional Responsibility, which
investigated police corruption and other misconduct, and the civilian
Police Public Complaints Authority, which oversaw investigations by the
other two bodies and could initiate its own investigations.
The JCF continued an initiative of community policing to address
the problem of long-standing antipathy between the security forces and
many poor inner-city neighborhoods. The initiative included assigning
JCF officers to targeted schools as resource officers to stem school
violence and serve as liaison between the students, faculty, parents,
and the police. The police academy includes training for policemen on
citizens' rights and human rights.
Human rights advocates contended that police did not consider
killings by vigilante mobs a priority and expressed concern that the
perpetrators rarely were charged (see section 1.a.).
Arrest and Detention.--Arrests normally require warrants signed by
a police officer of the rank of station sergeant or higher; however,
arrests may be made without warrants. The law requires detained
suspects to be charged or released within 24 hours of arrest. The law
also requires police to contact duty counsel (a private attorney who
volunteers to represent detainees at police stations and until cases go
to trial), if requested by the detainee upon detention; however,
authorities continued to wait until after detainees had been identified
in an identification lineup before contacting duty counsel for them.
There was a functioning bail system. The state provides indigent
detainees access to counsel through the legal aid program, and
detainees were provided with prompt access to family members.
There were reports of arbitrary arrest during the year, and the
authorities continued their cordon and search policy in neighborhoods
where they believed certain suspects may be present. During these
operations, conducted by the JCF sometimes in conjunction with the JDF,
authorities detained groups of people and took them to a police station
or other safe area where they were processed and held pending
determination whether they were the suspects the police were looking
for. By law, unless special permission is granted by a justice of the
peace or a resident magistrate, persons must be released within 24
hours if they have not been charged with a crime.
Although the law requires police to present a detainee in court
within a reasonable time period, in practice authorities continued to
detain suspects for lengthy periods (often up to two or three years),
which the Government attributed to an overburdened court system (see
section 1.e.). Magistrates were required to inquire at least once a
week into the welfare of each person listed by the JCF as detained.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice. However, the judicial system was overburdened
and operated with inadequate resources. Most judges were appointed
after serving in the public prosecutor's office, and it was very
difficult for a private attorney or one who specialized in defense to
be appointed as a judge. Human rights groups stated that this made the
independence of the judiciary very fragile, owing to judges' strong
ties to the prosecutor's office.
The judiciary's lack of sufficient staff and resources hindered due
process, and the BSI also had a large backlog. Trials in many cases
were delayed for years, and other cases were dismissed because files
could not be located or had been destroyed. A night court continued to
operate in an effort to reduce the backlog of cases. The Supreme Court
used mediation through the Dispute Resolution Foundation as an
alternative to traditional trials, which alleviated some of the backlog
in that court. The resident magistrate's courts also used alternative
dispute resolution in limited cases.
There was a general lack of confidence in the police's witness
protection program, which led to the dismissal of a number of cases
involving killings. In a culture in which it is widely believed that
``informers will die,'' some criminal trials were dismissed because
witnesses failed to come forward as a result of threats and
intimidation. Some of those who came forward qualified for the witness
protection program, but many either refused protection or violated the
conditions of the program. According to the JCF, no participant in the
witness protection program who abided by the rules of the program has
ever been killed.
The court system includes justices of the peace, resident
magistrate's courts, and the Supreme Court, which has unlimited
jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters. Defendants have the right
to appeal a conviction in any of the three trial courts to the Court of
Appeal, which is the highest court in the country. The Privy Council in
the United Kingdom is the final court of appeal.
Trial Procedures.--Most trials are public and use juries.
Defendants are presumed innocent, have the right to counsel, and have
the right to confront witnesses against them. Legal Aid attorneys were
available to defend the indigent, except those charged with certain
offenses under the Money Laundering Act or Dangerous Drugs Act. The
public defender may bring cases for persons who have had their
constitutional rights violated. Although the Public Defender's Office
contracted private attorneys to represent clients, funds were
insufficient to meet the demand, and such attorneys sometimes requested
payment from clients.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial civil judiciary process. Complainants may bring human
rights abuse cases for civil remediation to the courts, but awards can
be difficult to collect. The civil authority does not always have
enough money to award each case and, consequently, a backlog of awards
developed. There is a process to undertake pretrial negotiations
between the complainant and the state in order to avoid trial. However,
local human rights lawyers complained that the state did not take full
advantage of this alternative.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--Although the constitution prohibits such actions, the
Constabulary Force Act gives security personnel broad powers of search
and seizure. This act allows search without a warrant of a person on
board or disembarking from a vehicle, ship, or boat, if a police
officer has good reason to be suspicious. In practice the police
conducted searches without warrants. There were no allegations of
unauthorized wiretapping by 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 Government generally respected these
rights in practice.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. However, some local media professionals
expressed concern that the country's libel laws limited their freedom
of expression. Specifically, news outlets reported the need to self-
censor investigative reports because of the potential for courts to
award high damages in cases of defamation. In one case the Privy
Council awarded a libel judgment of approximately $540,000 (J$35
million). That case led one media professional to bring a challenge to
government libel laws at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
in 2005. The Press Association of Jamaica and the Media Association of
Jamaica continued to advocate changes in the libel laws, which they
stated had a ``chilling effect'' on the media's ability to report
effectively, especially on political issues.
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.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Members of the Rastafarian
community complained that law enforcement officials unfairly targeted
them. However, it was not clear whether such complaints reflected
discrimination on the basis of religious belief or were due to the
group's illegal use of marijuana as part of Rastafarian religious
practice. In 2003 a parliamentary joint select committee on marijuana
recommended decriminalization of possession of small quantities of
marijuana. In April the Senate passed a resolution to have the
committee reconvene and conclude its deliberations, but by year's end
the committee had not met.
There was a small practicing Jewish congregation in the country.
There were no reports of societal abuses or discrimination, including
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 there were no reports that it
occurred.
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, 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 handled refugee or asylum cases administratively. 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 provided temporary protection to a number of persons
who did not qualify as refugees under the UN treaties. Immigration
officers interviewed all Haitians who arrived during the year,
determined that none qualified for refugee status, and repatriated all
of them.
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.
Elections and Political Participation.--All citizens age 18 and
over have the right to vote by secret ballot. However, in recent
elections voters living in ``garrison communities'' in inner-city areas
dominated by one of the two major political parties often faced
substantial influence and pressure from politically connected gangs and
young men hired by political parties, which impeded the free exercise
of their right to vote.
In 2002 P.J. Patterson's PNP won 34 of the 60 seats in the
popularly elected House of Representatives. In March the PNP annual
conference elected Portia Simpson-Miller to replace Patterson as party
President, and on March 30 she was sworn in as the seventh prime
minister (and the first woman to hold the office). At year's end, the
PNP held 34 seats in the House of Representatives and 13 of the 21
seats in the appointed Senate.
There were seven women in the 60-seat House of Representatives, and
five women in the 21-seat Senate. Including the Prime Minister, three
of the 14 cabinet members were women.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
public perception of corruption in the executive and legislative
branches of government, as well as in the ranks of the JCF. The
nongovernmental organization ( NGO) Transparency International reported
a serious level of perceived corruption in the country. According to a
media poll, the public believed over half of the JCF was corrupt and
considered nearly 50 percent of all government employees corrupt. A
newspaper article carried a police officer's account of drug-
trafficking (and protection of drug traffickers), bribery, and close
connections between JCF members and the gang leaders in the garrison
communities.
In August the national security minister said that ``there is no
doubt that we have suffered from the confluence of criminality and
politics. Violence became an element too closely linked with political
life and that brought unsavory elements into the political process.''
He also expressed concern that individuals with criminal connections
could influence both the political process and even be elected to
parliament.
On February 8, unknown assailants shot and killed Andrew Hope, a
local ``don,'' or gang leader in a garrison community. In 2004 it was
discovered that a prominent politician had an automobile coregistered
in her name and that of Hope. The politician, a member of parliament,
represents the district where the gang is based. At year's end the JCF
had not identified any suspects in the killing.
On July 24, Vin Lawrence, former chairman of the government-
operated Urban Development Corporation (UDC) resigned from the UDC and
several other government boards, after the contractor general accused
the UDC of deliberately withholding information regarding cost overruns
at the Sandals Whitehouse hotel project. The UDC was the project
manager and a one-third partner in a $70 million (J$4.6 billion)
project that incurred cost overruns of $43 million (J$2.8 billion). At
year's end the Public Accounts Committee of parliament was
investigating the incident.
In October Colin Campbell resigned as minister of information and
development and PNP general secretary but retained his position as a
senator after it was revealed that he may have presented Trafigura, a
Dutch company, with a government invoice for services that had not been
rendered. Trafigura then paid approximately $500,000 (J$31 million) to
an account entitled ``Colin Campbell Our Candidate,'' funds that were
used to pay for the PNP's annual conference. The PNP later agreed to
repay the funds to Trafigura but had not done so by year's end.
Reports indicated that more than 5,000 civil servants failed to
file, or filed late or incomplete, financial declarations that are
required under the Corruption Prevention Act.
The Access to Information Act (ATI), which went into effect in
January 2005, provides public access to information held by government
ministries and agencies. However, there were reports that some
legitimate requests for information were not granted, and in January a
Joint Select Committee of parliament undertook a review of the ATI to
consider its effectiveness from the standpoint of end-users as well as
that of the public officials providing service under the act. The ATI
Advisory Stakeholders Committee submitted recommendations for
amendments to the law and changes in procedure to the Joint Select
Committee, but the committee had not submitted its views to parliament
by year's end.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups and
other international bodies generally operated without government
restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human
rights cases. Government officials often were cooperative and
responsive to their views.
The Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights was the country's
only formal organization concerned with all aspects of human rights.
The NGO Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) focused on the issues of police
impunity, extrajudicial killings, and excessive use of force by the
police and wrote a weekly newspaper column. JFJ reported that
undercover police regularly attended its meetings. Some members of the
police and the DPP were outspoken in their criticism of the
organization. The group used to sit on the board of the Ministry of
Justice's Justice Consultative Committee; however, that committee
reportedly has not met since 2004.
The Public Defender's Office brings cases on behalf of those who
charged that their constitutional rights were violated. The office
contracted private attorneys to bring suits against the Government on
behalf of private citizens.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, place of
origin, political opinions, color, or creed. The Government generally
enforced these prohibitions in practice, although there continued to be
widespread discrimination on the basis of political opinion in the
distribution of scarce governmental benefits, including employment,
particularly in the garrison communities.
Women.--Social and cultural traditions perpetuated violence against
women, including spousal abuse. Violence against women was widespread,
but many women were reluctant to acknowledge or report abusive
behavior, leading to wide variations in estimates of its extent. The
law provides remedies for domestic violence, including restraining
orders and other noncustodial sentencing. Breaching a restraining order
is punishable by a fine of up to approximately $166 (J$10,000) and six
months' imprisonment. There was a general reluctance by the police to
become involved in domestic issues, which led to cases not being
pursued vigorously when reported. The Bureau of Women's Affairs
operated crisis hot lines and shelters and managed a public education
campaign to raise the profile of domestic violence.
Rape was illegal and carried a penalty of up to 25 years'
imprisonment with hard labor. By early December, 635 incidents of rape
were reported (not including statutory rape), a decrease of 7 percent
over the same period in 2005, but NGOs stressed that the vast majority
of rapes were not reported. Moreover, these statistics may be
misleading because the decrease may have been due to a lack of
confidence in the police. The JCF rape investigative and juvenile unit,
which was headed by a female deputy superintendent, handled sex crimes.
Although the law prohibits prostitution, it was widespread,
particularly in tourist areas. Trafficking in women for prostitution
was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
There is no legislation that addresses sexual harassment, and it
was a problem. There were reports of sexual harassment of women by the
police, but some observers believed that women often did not report
such incidents because there was no legal remedy.
Although the law accords women full legal equality including equal
pay for equal work, in practice women suffered from discrimination in
the workplace and often earned less than their male counterparts. The
Bureau of Women's Affairs, reporting to the minister of development,
oversaw programs to protect the legal rights of women. These programs
had limited effect but raised awareness of problems affecting women.
There was an active community of women's rights groups, including
Women's Media Watch, the Women's Political Caucus, the St. Peter Claver
Women's Housing Cooperative, the Women's Construction Collective, the
Sistren Theatre Collective, Woman Inc., and the Centre for Gender and
Development Studies at the University of the West Indies. Among the
major concerns of these groups was the protection of victims of sexual
abuse, participation of women in the political process, and legislative
reforms affecting women.
Children.--The Government was committed to improving children's
welfare. The Ministry of Education, Youth, and Culture is responsible
for implementation of the Government's programs for children. In
January the Government established an Office of the Children's
Advocate, mandated under the 2004 Child Care and Protection Act. The
position has broad responsibilities for reviewing laws, policies,
practices, and government services affecting children; providing legal
services and investigating complaints against government; and
publishing reports and issuing best practice guidelines regarding any
matter concerning the rights or best interests of children. At year's
end, however, staffing shortages and lack of infrastructure limited the
office's ability to address all the reports and calls it received.
Public primary education was free, universal, and compulsory for
students between the ages of six and 11, and the Ministry of Education
reported that 99 percent of children in that age group were enrolled in
school. However, economic circumstances obliged thousands of children
to stay home to help with housework and avoid school fees. As a result,
attendance rates at primary schools averaged 78 percent, although some
rural areas reported attendance as low as 50 percent. More than 70
percent of children between the ages of 12 and 16 had access to
secondary school, and the UN Children's Fund reported that most
children completed secondary education.
Medical care was widely available, and boys and girls enjoyed equal
access.
There was no societal pattern of abuse of children; however, there
were numerous reports of rape and incest, particularly in inner cities.
NGOs reported that inner city gang leaders and sometimes even fathers
initiated sex with young girls as a ``right.'' As of early December,
there were 397 cases of carnal abuse reported, a 31 percent increase
over the same period in 2005. However, this may have been in part due
to increased reporting and not necessarily an increase in the number of
crimes. The Government expressed concern about child abuse and
acknowledged that incidents were underreported. The Child Development
Agency (CDA) held training sessions to familiarize police officers with
the rights of children and to prepare them to enforce the Child Care
and Protection Act.
Child prostitution and trafficking for the purposes of sexual
exploitation were problems (see section 5, Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--The country was a source for women and
children trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation and labor. In a
2005 exploratory assessment, the International Organization for
Migration (IOM) stated that some trafficking occurred in the country,
primarily for sexual exploitation. The report also stated there may be
trafficking, including that of children, within the country for
domestic servitude and forced labor.
Although the law did not specifically prohibit trafficking in
adults, there were laws against assault and fraud, and other laws
established various immigration and customs regulations that could be
used against this practice. On December 5, the lower house of
parliament approved a comprehensive new antitrafficking law and sent it
to the Senate, which was scheduled to consider it in January 2007.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that several
hundred minors were involved in the country's sex trade.
Groups at a special risk for trafficking included migrants from
rural areas who sought work in cities and tourist areas, usually in the
sex industry.
The Child Care and Protection Act specifically prohibits the sale
or trafficking of minors and provides that violators receive the
maximum penalty under the law. This law subjects convicted traffickers
to a fine or imprisonment with hard labor for a term not exceeding 10
years, or both. It also provides that no person under the age of 18
years may be employed in a night club. Police raided some night clubs
and charged six persons with trafficking during the year. Authorities
rescued nine trafficking victims during the year, six over age 18 and
three between the ages of 13 and 17.
The CDA managed facilities for at-risk children, and the Government
provided funding to NGOs that worked to reintegrate child laborers who
were victims of trafficking.
In August 2005 the Government launched a year-long educational
campaign to educate citizens regarding the dangers of trafficking in
persons; the campaign continued throughout the year. The Government
formed a National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons and created
a specialized police antitrafficking unit within the Organized Crime
Division of the JCF. A main focus of this unit was to compile data on
trafficking investigations and related legal proceedings. Six officers
staffed the unit. The new officers did not receive IOM training, but
they were trained by other officers who had been exposed to IOM
training. Three major crime hot lines were available to receive reports
of trafficking 24 hours per day.
Persons With Disabilities.--There were no laws prohibiting
discrimination against persons with disabilities nor any laws mandating
accessibility for persons with disabilities, and such persons
encountered discrimination in employment and denial of access to
schools. Health care and other state services were reported to be
universally available. Several government agencies and NGOs provided
services and employment to various groups of persons with disabilities,
but there was no government agency specifically charged with assisting
persons with disabilities.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The Offenses Against the
Person Act prohibits ``acts of gross indecency'' (generally interpreted
as any kind of physical intimacy) between men, in public or in private,
which are punishable by 10 years in prison.
The Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All Sexuals, and Gays (J-FLAG)
continued to report human rights abuses, including police harassment,
arbitrary detention, mob attacks, stabbings, harassment of homosexual
patients by hospital and prison staff, and targeted shootings of
homosexuals. Police often did not investigate such incidents. J-FLAG
documented a number of instances of homophobic violence during the
year, some of which resulted in charges brought to court, while others
were never reported to authorities by reason of fear.
On April 4, an angry mob of students chased and beat a man accused
of making homosexual advances toward a male student at the University
of the West Indies Mona campus. Campus security extracted the alleged
homosexual from the mob scene and took him to the police station. At
year's end no charges had been made, nor had there been a police
investigation into the incident.
On June 29, two women believed to be lesbians, Candice Williams and
Phoebe Myrie, were killed. It was reported that an estranged male
partner of Williams was the primary suspect in the killings and that
the relationship between the women may have been the motive. However,
no arrests were made.
In November 2005 Lenford ``Steve'' Harvey, who operated Jamaican
AIDS Support for Life, was killed on the eve of World AIDS Day.
Authorities arrested six suspects for the robbery and murder of Harvey
and held the same suspects in connection with a similar robbery/murder
in which a heterosexual man was killed. Police cited this as evidence
that Harvey's murder was not a hate crime, but civil society groups
maintained that Harvey would not have been killed had he been
heterosexual. Authorities set an early 2007 trial date for the four
male suspects; at year's end no date had been set to try the two female
suspects.
In December 2005 a homophobic mob allegedly chased homosexual Nokia
Cowen off a pier at Kingston Harbor where he drowned. At year's end the
police had not identified any suspects in the killing, and the case was
no longer being investigated.
In May a court sentenced Dwight Hayden to life imprisonment for the
2004 killing of Brian Williamson, a prominent homosexual rights
activist and founding member of J-FLAG.
On January 16, a court acquitted famous dancehall artist Mark
Myrie, a.k.a. Buju Banton, of all charges related to a 2004 assault in
a house in Kingston when a group of armed men beat six men while
shouting homophobic insults.
Male inmates deemed by prison wardens to be homosexual were held in
a separate facility for their protection. The method used for
determining their sexual orientation was subjective and not regulated
by the prison system, although inmates were said to admit their
homosexuality for their own safety. There were numerous reports of
violence against homosexual inmates, perpetrated both by the wardens
and by other inmates, but few inmates sought recourse through the
prison system.
Homosexual men were hesitant to report incidents against them
because of fear for their physical wellbeing. Human rights NGOs and
government entities agreed that brutality against homosexuals, both by
police and private citizens, was widespread in the community.
No laws protected persons living with HIV/AIDS from discrimination.
Human rights NGOs reported severe stigma and discrimination against
this group. The ILO worked with the Ministry of Labor on a program to
reduce the stigma of HIV/AIDS in the workplace and to assist employers
in designing policies for workers with HIV/AIDS. Although health care
facilities were prepared to handle patients with HIV/AIDS, health care
workers often neglected such patients.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right to
form or join a trade union, and unions functioned freely and
independently of the Government. Approximately 20 percent of the work
force of 1.2 million was unionized. Some union workers charged that
private sector employers laid them off and then rehired them as
contractors with reduced pay and benefits, a practice that was legal as
long as workers received severance pay.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law permits
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. An independent Industrial
Disputes Tribunal (IDT) hears cases when management and labor fail to
reach agreement. Any cases not resolved by the IDT pass to the civil
courts. The IDT generally handled 35 to 40 cases each year. Most were
decided within 90 days, but some took longer to resolve due to the
complexity of the dispute or delays requested by the parties.
Collective bargaining is denied to a bargaining unit if no single
union represents at least 40 percent of the workers in the unit in
question or when the union seeking recognition for collective
bargaining purposes does not obtain 50 percent of the votes of the
total number of workers (whether or not they are affiliated with the
union). The ILO Committee of Experts (COE) considered that, where there
was no collective bargaining agreement and where a trade union did not
obtain 50 percent of the votes of the total number of workers, the
union should be able to negotiate at least on behalf of its own
members.
The law neither authorizes nor prohibits the right to strike, and
strikes occurred: of 220 disputes reported to the Ministry of Labor, 21
resulted in strikes. Striking workers could interrupt work without
criminal liability but could not be assured of keeping their jobs,
although there were no reports of any workers losing their jobs over a
strike action during the year. Workers in 10 broad categories of
``essential services'' are prohibited from striking, a provision the
ILO repeatedly criticized as overly broad. However, despite this
prohibition, some workers who provide essential services went on strike
by staging a ``sick-out.''
Domestic labor laws applied equally to the ``free zones'' (export
processing zones), but there were no unionized companies in any of the
three publicly owned zones. Organizers attributed this circumstance to
resistance to organizing efforts by foreign owners in the zones,
asserting that there was an unwritten agreement among them to prevent
free zone workers from participating in trade unions.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law does not
specifically prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by
children, but other than child prostitution, there were no reports that
such practices occurred (see section 5).
The COE's annual report reiterated its recommendation that the
Government amend prison rules so as to ensure that no prisoners may
work for private individuals or companies except under conditions of a
freely accepted employment relationship, which would bring the rules
into conformity with ILO Convention 29 on Forced Labor. The Ministry of
Labor stated that prisoners do not work privately unless they have
approval from the commissioner, and those prisoners who work privately
freely accept the employment and receive normal wages.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Child Care and Protection Act provides that children under the age of
12 shall not be employed except by parents or guardians and that such
employment may be only in domestic, agricultural, or horticultural
work. It also prohibits children under the age of 15 from industrial
employment. The police are mandated with conducting child labor
inspections, and the CDA is charged with finding places of safety for
children. However, according to CDA officials, resources to investigate
exploitative child labor were insufficient. Children under the age of
12 peddled goods and services or begged on city streets. There were
also reports that underage children were employed illegally in fishing
communities and in prostitution (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government sets the minimum
wage, after receiving recommendations from the National Minimum Wage
Advisory Commission. The minimum wage was approximately $42 (J$2,800)
per week for all workers except private security guards, whose minimum
was approximately $62 (J$4,140) per week. The minimum wage did not
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family, but most
workers were paid more than the legal minimum. The Ministry of Labor
administered and enforced the minimum wage.
The law provides for a standard 40-hour workweek and mandates at
least one day of rest per week. Work in excess of 40 hours per week or
eight hours per day must be compensated at overtime rates, a provision
that was observed widely, except by some security guard companies. The
law does not prohibit excessive compulsory overtime, and some
employees, including security guards, regularly were required to work
12-hour shifts without overtime compensation. There were differing
practices among security guard companies, but workers were generally
not paid for overtime unless they worked more than 12 hours.
The Ministry of Labor's Industrial Safety Division sets and
enforces industrial health and safety standards, mainly through factory
inspections. Insufficient staffing in the Ministries of Labor, Finance,
National Security, and the public service contributed to the
difficulties in enforcing workplace regulations. At year's end the
Industrial Safety Division had 16 officers, who conducted 2,333 planned
inspections, 31 special inspections, and 40 accident investigations.
Violators were warned and given a time period in which to correct the
violation. If the violation was not corrected within that time, the
violator was taken to court.
The law provides workers with the right to remove themselves from
dangerous work situations without jeopardy to their continued
employment if they are trade union members or covered by the Factories
Act. The law does not specifically protect other categories of workers
in those circumstances.
__________
MEXICO
Mexico, with a population of 107 million, is a federal republic
composed of 31 states and a federal district, with an elected President
and bicameral legislature. In July Felipe Calderon of the National
Action Party (PAN) was elected President to a six-year term in
generally free and fair multiparty elections. 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.
Although the Government generally respected and promoted human
rights at the national level by investigating, prosecuting, and
sentencing public officials and members of the security forces, a
deeply entrenched culture of impunity and corruption persisted,
particularly at the state and local level. The following human rights
problems were reported: unlawful killings by security forces;
kidnappings, including by police; torture; poor and overcrowded prison
conditions; arbitrary arrests and detention; corruption, inefficiency,
and lack of transparency in the judicial system; statements coerced
through torture permitted as evidence in trials; criminal intimidation
of journalists, leading to self-censorship; corruption at all levels of
government; domestic violence against women often perpetrated with
impunity; criminal violence, including killings against women;
trafficking in persons, sometimes allegedly with official involvement;
social and economic discrimination against indigenous people; 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 acting both within and outside the line of duty killed
numerous persons during the year.
On April 20, in an attempt by state and federal police to end a
miners' strike in Michoacan, miners Hector Alvarez Gomez and Mario
Castillo were killed and 53 other striking workers injured (see section
6.a.). On October 11, the semiautonomous National Commission for Human
Rights (CNDH) published a report placing responsibility for the
killings on federal and state security forces due to their excessive
use of force, violating the victims' right to life and physical
integrity. The Secretariat for Public Security rejected the CNDH
recommendation, disagreeing with the commission's interpretations and
conclusions. An official investigation continued at year's end.
During confrontations on May 3 and 4 with armed protesters in San
Salvador Atenco (see section 1.c.), police fatally shot 14-year-old
Javier Cortes Santiago. Ollin Alexis Behumea Hernandez was struck in
the head by a tear gas grenade and died on June 5 from her injuries. A
CNDH investigation, published on October 16, concluded that government
authorities were responsible for both deaths. The State Attorney
General's Office made no conclusions in its investigations by year's
end (see section 1.c.).
A prolonged conflict in the state of Oaxaca began in May when
members of the 70,000-member state teachers union initiated an annual
strike to demand higher wages. The teachers' position hardened after
Oaxaca's state governor, Ulises Ruiz, ordered state police to break up
a sit-in in the city's historic center. Oaxaca became paralyzed by
organized protests led by teachers and an umbrella organization, the
Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO). Unidentified gunmen
allegedly linked to the governor and members of the APPO periodically
clashed. According to CNDH, the resulting conflict directly or
indirectly caused 20 civilian deaths, including the August 10 killing
of demonstrator Jose Jimenez Colmenares, the August 20 killing of
protester Lorenzo San Pablo Cervantes, and three killings on October
27, including the shooting of a freelance journalist (see section
2.a.). By year's end, state and federal investigations had not
identified the perpetrators of any of these killings, although human
rights groups asserted that persons linked to state security forces
were responsible. Following the October 27 killings, the Government
deployed to Oaxaca City approximately 3,000 Federal Preventive Police
(PFP), who remained there until December 17. During this period there
were allegations of human rights violations connected to federal police
as well as to unidentified gunmen believed linked to the governor.
Between June 2 and year's end, CNDH received more than 1,200 complaints
of human rights violations in Oaxaca, including torture, homicide, and
disappearances.
On August 27, Jose Gabriel Velazquez Perez died in the custody of
municipal police in Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas. In the afternoon two
police officers arrested Velazquez Perez, in response to a call from
his mother who complained that he was in her house inebriated. The
officers used tear gas after Velazquez Perez reportedly resisted, and
they beat him en route to the municipal jail. Subsequently, he was
denied medical treatment by the subcommander and guard at the jail.
Velazquez Perez died before midnight of internal bleeding. Four
officers--Bernardo Montejo Vicente, Rubicel Velasquez Flores, Carlos
Antonio Cuesta Hernandez, and Luis Antonio Perez Hernandez--were
arrested on September 27 on charges of homicide. While the suspects
remained in jail, the case was pending at year's end.
Throughout the year there were numerous reports of executions
carried out by rival drug cartels, whose members allegedly included
both active and former federal, state, and municipal security forces.
Organized military-style groups were also associated with the cartels,
including a group of former special forces soldiers (known as the
Zetas) as well as a growing presence of former Guatemalan special
forces soldiers known as Kaibiles, trained in unconventional
counterinsurgency tactics. More than 2,000 persons were killed in
crime-related violence throughout the country. In the state of
Michoacan alone, there were reportedly more than 500 execution-style
killings. On July 15, local police in Tabasco State arrested ``El
Comandante'' Mateo Diaz Lopez, one of the leaders and founders of the
Zetas; he was in jail awaiting trial at year's end. On December 8,
President Calderon sent nearly 7,000 military and federal police forces
to Michoacan to combat violence in the state.
The killing of police officers nationwide continued to be a serious
problem, with more than 123 such killings reported from January through
November. Violence against police officials was particularly severe in
many northern cities, including Monterrey, Nuevo Laredo, and Tijuana.
In Tijuana, according to the State District Attorney's office, the
number of killings of police officers during the year (33 at year's
end) tripled compared with the previous year. The Tijuana Homicide
Division opened investigations into the killings of the law enforcement
officers, but no suspects were named and no arrests made by year's end.
On August 17, unknown assailants fatally shot federal Judge Rene
Hilario Nieto Contreras in his car. Judge Nieto had handled cases
involving the Gulf and Juarez cartels. The Attorney General reported
that the investigation of the killing was ongoing and included
examining links to the Gulf cartel.
There were no new developments in the Office of the Attorney
General's (PGR) investigation of the May 2005 killing of three
university students in Tamaulipas by PFP officers.
There were no developments concerning the case of the August 2005
death of American citizen Pauline Baeza, who died while in police
custody in Tijuana.
On July 14, authorities arrested two municipal police officers in
Zapotitlan Tablas, Guerrero, on charges of homicide and abuse of
authority in connection with the 2004 death while in custody of
Socrates Tolentino Gonzalez Genaro. The mother of Gonzalez Genaro
complained of threats received before and after the July arrests. The
case was pending at year's end.
Special Prosecutor Ignacio Carillo Prieto, charged with the
responsibility to investigate crimes against past political and social
movements, issued a report on November 18 through the Attorney
General's Office on the Government's crimes committed during the so-
called dirty war that occurred between 1960 and 1980. The report
included the names of 645 persons who ``disappeared,'' 99 victims of
extrajudicial killings, and more than 2,000 victims of torture.
Moreover, the report held the administrations of three Presidents
accountable for crimes, while dismissing the theory that atrocities
were committed by rogue police or military units. Some of the authors
of the report held reservations about the final version, and other
critics noted that the Special Prosecutor's Office failed to convict
any of the suspected criminals. Nevertheless, the report marked the
first time the Government assumed responsibility for its actions in the
``dirty war.''
On June 30, former President Luis Echeverria was placed under house
arrest on charges of genocide, related to the 1968 killings of student
demonstrators at Tlatelolco (see section 1.b.), marking the first
arrest of a former President. Although a judge ruled on July 8 that the
statute of limitations for the crime had expired, the special
prosecutor won an appeal on November 29 that reinstated the arrest
warrant. However, officials postponed a medical evaluation required to
advance the court proceedings, due to Echeverria's reported poor
health. The case remained pending at year's end.
On December 26, the state attorney general of Chiapas appointed a
special prosecutor to investigate the 1997 killings of 45 Tzotzil
Indians in Acteal, Chiapas, a case in which irregularities have been
cited by lawyers and human rights groups. On July 27, a federal judge
handed down sentences to 32 Tzotzil Indians for their roles in the
massacre, while 51 others waited trial at year's end; 35 arrest
warrants were outstanding.
There were no developments, and none were expected, regarding a
2004 vigilante attack on three PFP agents in the Tlahuac neighborhood
of Mexico City. Twenty-six persons remained in prison, awaiting trial
for their involvement in the crime.
In August the state government of Guerrero made a one-time payment
of up to $5,000 (55,100 pesos) to victims' families of the 1995
massacre of 17 indigenous farmers in Aguas Blancas.
Societal violence against women, including killings, remained a
serious problem nationwide (see section 5).
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances; however, there were credible allegations of police
involvement in kidnappings. Local police, including high-level officers
and also sometimes in collusion with federal agents, kidnapped
civilians and demanded ransom from their families. According to media
reports, the Attorney General's Office (PGR) released information
through the Federal Institute of Access to Public Information (IFAI)
indicating that PGR employees were allegedly involved in 39 cases of
forced disappearance during the Fox administration that took office in
2000.
In several cases of reported disappearances, police had detained
the missing person incommunicado for several days (see section 1.d.).
There were no developments in the case against a PGR agent and two
counternarcotics agents accused in the September 2005 kidnapping and
extortion of a nightclub manager in Mexico City.
There were no developments in the April 2005 disappearance of
Hermosillo investigative reporter Alfredo Jimenez Mota (see section
2.a.).
The Federal Special Prosecutors Office Against Organized Crime
(SIEDO) continued investigating a case into drug-related disappearances
and killings committed by Chihuahua State Judicial Police personnel
arrested in 2004. At year's end nine officers awaited sentencing, while
the former commander of the Chihuahua homicide unit, Miguel Angel Loya
Gallegos, and three other former agents, remained at large. The
Chihuahua state government offered more than $9,200 (100,000 pesos) for
the arrest of Loya.
On October 20, PGR agents arrested Jorge Bustos, a former commander
in the former Federal Security Directorate, in connection with the 1974
disappearance of six members of the Brigada Lancandona, a guerilla
organization. The case remained pending at year's end. The office of
Special Prosecutor Carrillo Prieto arrested other former government
officials connected to crimes during the dirty war, but the charges
often failed to hold (see section 1.a.).
Kidnapping continued to be a serious problem for persons of all
socioeconomic levels. Many cases went unreported, as families
negotiated directly with kidnappers. Security forces made several high-
profile kidnapping arrests and rescues, with the Mexico City government
having claimed to resolve approximately 60 percent of nearly 900
reported kidnapping cases over the last six years; although the number
of reported cases was believed to be far less than the actual number of
kidnappings. Express kidnapping, in which a victim is detained for a
short period to extract payment, often through forcing the victim to
use an ATM card to drain his bank account, was a serious problem, with
varying unofficial estimates that far surpassed the estimated number of
traditional kidnappings.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the law prohibits such practices, they persisted,
and torture in particular continued to be a serious problem. Despite
the law's provisions to the contrary, confessions obtained by torture
often were admitted as evidence (see section 1.e.). Many citizens
distrusted law enforcement officials and the justice system in general
and were reluctant to register official complaints. PGR officials
stated that arrested criminals often registered false complaints of
torture as a legal defense.
Authorities continued to use torture with near impunity in large
part because confessions were the primary evidence in many criminal
convictions (see section 1.e.). Human rights groups linked torture to
the pervasiveness of arbitrary detention: police and prosecutors often
attempted to justify an arrest by forcibly securing a confession to a
crime (see section 1.d.).
The Government took steps to implement preventive measures against
the practice of torture. The federal government and some states
implemented the Istanbul Protocol, the UN guidelines to investigate and
document torture.
CNDH received six torture complaints during the year, not including
alleged torture cases linked to the events in San Salvador Atenco and
Oaxaca. CNDH and other human rights groups charged that authorities
employed sophisticated psychological torture techniques as well as
traditional methods to extract confessions.
On May 3 and 4, in San Salvador Atenco, state of Mexico, the state
police and PFP attempted to evict flower vendors illegally installed in
the town square, resulting in an armed confrontation with the
protesting vendors and supporters from a local activist group, the
Popular Front for the Defense of Land. Police and protesters sustained
injuries; two protesters were killed (see section 1.a.); and 12 police
were taken hostage, beaten, and later released by protesters. Police
detained but soon released all but 33 of approximately 200 protesters.
Subsequently, protesters and human rights groups registered complaints
against the police through CNDH and government authorities, which
included charges of excessive force, beatings of detainees, and sexual
assaults of prisoners. State and federal investigations were pending at
year's end. On August 17, the Supreme Court agreed to investigate the
alleged human rights violations at Atenco but had made no ruling by
year's end. The CNDH received 211 complaints of abuse and on October
16, released a report confirming complaints of sexual assault and
torture against 26 detainees during and after the Atenco confrontation.
The Secretary of Public Security, which is responsible for the PFP,
rejected CNDH's recommendations, stating that federal agents responded
legitimately to the protesters' attacks. The UN Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the UN Committee
Against Torture held sessions on Mexico, in August and November,
respectively, and both expressed strong concerns about the acts of
violence committed by security forces in Atenco, especially against
women.
During the Oaxaca conflict (see section 1.a.), human rights
organizations raised many complaints of alleged torture and
maltreatment by state and federal police, both of protesters and
bystanders. A coalition of local and international human rights
organizations, including Fray Bartolome de las Casas and the Christian
Association for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT), reported several
arrests and beatings by armed individuals in civilian clothing during
mid-August. On August 9, German Mendoza Nube, a kidney dialysis
patient, and a member of the APPO-affiliated Popular Revolutionary
Front, was allegedly removed from his wheelchair, stripped of his
dialysis equipment, and forced to spend the night in jail without food
or adequate medical attention. He was arrested for attempted murder (a
charge from a previous year, unconnected to the current conflict) and
other offenses. In the early hours of August 10, Ramiro Aragon Perez
and two companions were detained, beaten, and delivered to Zimatlan
municipal jail in Oaxaca State. The State Attorney General's Office
charged Aragon Perez with a federal weapons offense. The PGR
interviewed Aragon Perez and requested the local Attorney General's
office to investigate charges of possible torture. On August 11,
Erangelio Mendoza Gonzalez, a member of the Oaxaca teachers' union and
its leader between 1992 and 1995, was apprehended and brought to
Cuicuatlan jail. Human rights organizations claimed that he was
physically abused in detention, denied medical attention, and held
incommunicado for more than 72 hours before learning of the charges of
robbery and property damage (the burning of a bus) against him.
Human rights organizations claimed that the charges against Mendoza
Nube, Aragon Perez, and Mendoza Gonazalez were fabricated or without
merit. The three were released on October 30 as a result of
negotiations between the Interior Ministry and the Oaxaca teacher's
union. CNDH interviewed Mendoza Nube, Aragon Perez, and Mendoza
Gonazalez; CNDH's conclusions had not been published by year's end.
On November 25, a particularly violent clash occurred in Oaxaca
between the PFP and APPO. During an APPO protest, the PFP responded to
attacks against its security corridor in the city center by firing tear
gas on protesters and wielding clubs. That night the APPO set its own
encampments ablaze and burned several state and federal buildings. The
PFP detained 141 protesters and transported them to a federal prison in
Nayarit State. Despite the Attorney General's denial of any human
rights violations by federal forces, reports emerged of the
mistreatment of detainees by federal and state police. By year's end,
most of the protesters were released and the remaining detainees were
transferred to state-run jails in Oaxaca. According to media reports,
66 protesters remained detained at the end of the year. CNDH reported
that it interviewed and conducted medical checks of all 141 detainees
and in some cases conducted examinations according to Istanbul Protocol
guidelines to identify whether they were tortured.
In March the Chihuahua Supreme Court approved the appeal and
reversed the conviction, based on lack of evidence, of a Ciudad Juarez
police officer arrested in September 2005 for the rape of an American
citizen in August 2005. No other suspects were sentenced or under
arrest for the crime at year's end.
On July 29, David Meza, arrested in 2003 for the rape and murder of
his cousin and tortured by police into confessing to the crime, was
released due to lack of evidence.
There were reports of vigilante behavior, especially in Oaxaca when
state and local police vanished from the capital during the months-long
crisis. On October 24, according to media reports, dozens of residents
in the Libertad neighborhood of the capital tied a local prison guard,
Jose Manuel Dominguez, to a pole and beat him until he nearly lost
consciousness. They left him bound to the pole through the night and
turned him over to local authorities the following morning.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor. The CNDH reported that corruption, overcrowding, alcoholism, and
drug addiction were prevalent in most facilities. Poorly trained,
underpaid, and corrupt guards staffed most prisons. Health and sanitary
conditions were poor, and most prisons did not offer psychiatric care.
Authorities occasionally placed prisoners in solitary confinement for
indefinite periods; prisoners often had to bribe guards to acquire
food, medicine, and other necessities. Prison overcrowding continued to
be a common problem; as the occupancy in the country's 455 penal
facilities was estimated on average to be at more than 130 percent
design capacity. Mexico City's prison system calculated its facilities
to be occupied at more than 160 percent design capacity.
In many prisons, inmates exercised significant authority,
displacing prison officials and creating general insecurity, leading to
numerous inmate deaths, often at the hands of other prisoners. During
the year there were at least 115 deaths, including 13 killings and 26
suicides, among a nationwide federal prison population of nearly
125,000. The Jalisco State Attorney General's Office investigated human
rights violations in the Jalisco penitentiary system following an
inmate's suicide in August. In the first four months of the year, seven
inmates reportedly died in Jalisco's jails or holding cells. The
Jalisco capital of Guadalajara installed video cameras in some of its
municipal jails to promote transparency and comply with a
recommendation from the State Commission of Human Rights concerning
allegations of prisoner abuse.
CNDH noted that conditions for women prisoners were inferior to
those for men, particularly for children who lived with their mothers
in the jails. A 2006 study by the Christian Association for the
Abolition of Torture-Mexico (ACAT) of a prison for women in Mexico City
found that 81 percent of the prisoners reported mistreatment when
apprehended or in custody: 51 percent received threats; 44 percent were
beaten; and 12 percent were sexually abused or raped.
Pretrial detainees were routinely held together with convicted
criminals.
The Government permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions by nongovernmental organizations (NGO) and human rights
organizations. The International Committee of the Red Cross, the CNDH,
and state human rights commissions visited detainees during the year.
The CNDH made 139 visits through October.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention as well as sponsoring or covering up an illegal
detention; however, police routinely ignored these provisions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The federal, state, and
municipal police forces included approximately 330,000 officers. The
federal and state police are divided into preventive and judicial
police. Preventive police maintain order and public security and
generally do not investigate crimes. Judicial police serve as the
investigative force under the authority and command of the public
ministries (prosecutor's offices). The military is responsible for
external security but also has significant domestic security
responsibilities, particularly in combating drug trafficking and
maintaining order.
Corruption continued to be a problem, as many police were involved
in kidnapping, extortion, or providing protection for, or acting
directly on behalf of organized crime and drug traffickers. Impunity
was pervasive to an extent that victims often refused to file
complaints. Responsibility for investigating federal police abuse falls
under the purview of the PGR and the Secretariat of Public
Administration (SFP), depending on the type of offense. The CNDH also
can receive complaints, but its recommendations are nonbinding and
carry no legal weight. A similar mechanism exists at the state level.
The CNDH provided human rights training for security and military
forces, and the Government continued professional training of its law
enforcement officials. Between January and October, in conjunction with
the CNDH, the National Defense Secretariat (SEDENA) trained more than
25,000 employees, and the Secretariat for Public Security (SSP) trained
more than 11,000 employees in human rights issues.
On December 7, the PFP raided the Oaxaca ministerial police
headquarters, confiscating more than 340 guns to investigate whether
any had been used in attacks against protesters. The investigation
continued at year's end.
Arrest and Detention.--Police arbitrarily arrested and detained
persons suspected of crimes, in many cases without a warrant. In the
legal system a suspect is deemed guilty until proven innocent. A
prosecutor may hold a person up to 48 hours (96 hours in cases of
organized crime) before presenting the suspect to a judge and
announcing charges. The law provides that authorities must sentence an
accused person within four months of detention if the alleged crime
carries a sentence of less than two years' imprisonment, or within one
year if the crime carries a longer sentence; in practice, judicial and
police authorities frequently ignored these time limits (see sections
1.c. and 1.e.). A financial bond may be placed as bail only in cases
that carry penalties of five years or less; otherwise, release is not
available. Detainees were usually allowed prompt access to family
members and to counsel, although in some cases, police detained persons
incommunicado for several days (see section 1.c.). CNDH received 276
complaints of arbitrary detention from January to October.
On January 12, Martin Barrios, coordinator of the Tehuacan Valley
Human and Labor Rights Commission, was released from a Puebla city jail
after being arrested and detained in December 2005 by Puebla state
police on charges of blackmail connected with a labor dispute at a
textile factory.
Human rights organizations charged that federal police arbitrarily
detained many of the 141 protesters in Oaxaca on November 25 (see
section 1.c.).
In December 2005 Puebla state police arrested independent
journalist Lydia Cacho in Cancun and took her across state lines to
Puebla, where she was held for 30 hours on charges of libel filed by a
prominent businessman. The Supreme Court was investigating whether
violations of human rights were committed (see section 2.a.).
There were no developments in the case concerning the August 2005
detention and alleged ill treatment of more than 500 demonstrators in
Cancun, Quintana Roo.
Lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem. Slightly more than
90,000 inmates, or 43 percent, awaited sentencing nationwide. The media
reported that detainees were sometimes held several years without a
trial.
Amnesty.--According to CNDH, the federal government did not grant
amnesty to any prisoners during the year. Although not officially
considered amnesty, the PGR's Special Unit for Indigenous Affairs did
grant freedom to 819 members of the indigenous community, with priority
to the old and sick, between 2000 and year's end.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the law provides for an
independent judiciary, government authorities occasionally influenced
court decisions, particularly at the state and local level. Corruption,
inefficiency, and lack of transparency continued to be major problems
in the justice system.
The federal court system consists of the Supreme Court, 91 circuit
courts of appeal, 49 courts of appeal, and 185 district courts.
Trial Procedures.--Based on the Napoleonic Code, the trial system
consists of a series of fact-gathering hearings during which the court
receives documentary evidence or testimony. A judge in chambers reviews
the case file and then issues a final, written ruling. The record of
the proceeding is not available to the general public; only the parties
involved have access to the official file, but only by special motion.
The law provides for the right of the accused to attend the
hearings and challenge the evidence or testimony presented, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice. In most cases,
court hearings were open to the public.
During the year Chihuahua State passed comprehensive criminal
procedural codes that permit oral trials for all crimes, improve
investigation techniques, strengthen victim's rights, and provide for
alternative sentencing. From August through December, the state
provided intensive training for defense attorneys, prosecutors, judges,
and investigative police, in preparation for the initiation of oral
trials in January 2007. In August the state of Mexico began using oral
trials in two courts for minor crimes.
Although the law provides defendants with the right to an attorney
at all stages of criminal proceedings, in practice this only meant that
authorities had to appoint a ``person of confidence,'' who was not
required to meet any particular legal qualifications, to represent a
defendant. The public defender system was not adequate to meet demand.
Public defender services were placed either in the judicial or
executive branch; there were no autonomous public defender services.
Although the law provides for translation services from Spanish to
indigenous languages to be available at all stages of the criminal
process, this generally was not done. Consequently, indigenous
defendants who did not speak Spanish sometimes were unaware of the
status of their cases, and suspects frequently were convicted without
fully understanding the documents they were required to sign.
Judges continued to allow statements coerced through torture to be
used as evidence against the accused (see section 1.c.), a practice
particularly subject to abuse because confessions were the primary
evidence in nearly all criminal convictions. NGOs asserted that judges
often gave greater evidentiary value to the first declaration of a
defendant, thus providing prosecutors an incentive to obtain an
incriminating first confession and making it difficult for defendants
to disavow such declarations.
The law provides for military jurisdiction for crimes or offenses
involving any violation of military discipline. In cases in which a
member of the military commits a crime and is arrested by civil
authorities, the military has the right to request the immediate
transfer of the case to military jurisdiction, a practice condemned by
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no developments
regarding the 2005 review by the Guerrero State Secretary of government
Armando Chavarria Barrera of the cases of nine potential political
prisoners held in the state's penitentiaries.
A coalition of local and international human rights groups
categorized some arrested leaders of APPO and the Oaxaca teachers'
movement as political detainees (see section 1.c.), a concern they
raised with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Human rights
groups expressed concern that state officials in civilian dress
arrested prominent APPO leaders for political motives, filing charges
that lacked merit, and failing to follow due process. Prisoners were
reportedly visited by family, lawyers, and local and international
human rights groups, although at times with difficulty (see section
1.c.).
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, including access to a court
to seek damages for a human rights violation. There were no such cases
reported during the year.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--Although the law prohibits such practices and requires
search warrants, authorities occasionally disregarded these provisions.
The CNDH received 206 complaints of illegal searches from January to
October.
Although the law permits wiretapping that is conducted pursuant to
a judicial order in organized crime investigations, it cannot be
submitted as evidence in a court of law without an order.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice.
While the federal government usually tolerated criticism, state and
local level officials occasionally responded to unfavorable news
articles by threatening their authors with libel and defamation
lawsuits. There were approximately 300 privately owned newspapers, and
most radio stations were privately owned.
Despite federal government support for freedom of the press, many
journalists worked in an extremely dangerous environment. On February
15, in response to the increasing violence, the federal government
established the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes Committed
Against Journalists. Although his jurisdiction does not cover
activities of drug cartels or organized crime, the special prosecutor
identified drug trafficking, abuse of political power, and economic
interests as the greatest threats to journalists, noting that since
1982, 53 journalists were murdered or had disappeared because of their
profession.
During the year Reporters without Borders listed 10 journalists
killed and one disappeared, although the Committee to Protect
Journalists reported seven journalists killed and one disappeared.
Other journalists were harassed, threatened, or attacked. The Special
Prosecutor's Office received 78 complaints of harassment of journalists
between March and August. The CNDH received 34 complaints between
January and August. With the exception of the infringement of press
liberties in Oaxaca, most threats against journalists related to
reporting on organized crime. By year's end, state and federal
authorities had not concluded their investigations into the killing of
American citizen Bradley Will, a reporter working in Oaxaca without
national press credentials (see section 1.a.).
During the crisis in Oaxaca, there were reports of numerous
violations of press freedom committed by groups allegedly linked to the
state government as well as by the APPO (see sections 1.a. and 1.c.).
On July 14 and August 11, respectively, unidentified individuals used
acid to destroy the transmission equipment of Radio Planton and Radio
Universidad, stations sympathetic to the protesters. On August 10,
armed assailants in Oaxaca attacked the newspaper Noticias, seriously
injuring two employees. The newspaper continued to publish outside its
main office. On August 22, state police allegedly fired on
photographers from the newspapers Milenio and Reforma. There were
reports that a Oaxaca-based station, known as Radio Ciudadana and
reportedly linked to the governor, incited violence against protesters.
APPO commandeered numerous radio stations, forcing them to
broadcast its message. On August 3, APPO threatened attacks on the
newspapers Tiempo and Extra, alleging that they maintained close ties
with the governor; both publications closed their offices. On August
16, APPO members physically attacked a Milenio journalist, accusing him
of inaccurate reporting. On September 24, APPO members temporarily
detained well-known Mexican journalist Ricardo Rocha in a hotel and
took his equipment, including a camera and video tapes.
Reporters covering the various drug cartels and associated corrupt
public officials acknowledged practicing self-censorship, recognizing
the dangers investigative journalism presented to themselves and their
families. In February an armed gang raided the offices of Nuevo
Laredo's newspaper El Manana, firing bullets in the newsroom and
beating two members of the editorial staff. In August the newspaper Por
Esto was the target of attacks, with bombs and grenades, at its Cancun
and Merida offices. The publication investigated drug trafficking in
the region.
International press organizations contended that federal and state
criminal defamation and libel laws violated freedom of expression and
advocated their repeal.
In December 2005 authorities arrested Lydia Cacho in Cancun on
charges of failing to respond to a libel and defamation summons filed
by a wealthy businessman, Kamel Nacif Borge. Cacho, who claimed she was
never informed of the summons, was then taken to Puebla and detained
for 30 hours until released on bail. Her 2004 book, The Demons of Eden,
documented a child pornography and prostitution ring, with alleged
collusion between wealthy businessmen and public officials. While not
accusing Nacif of wrongdoing, Cacho wrote of close business ties
between Nacif and a central figure implicated in the ring, Jean Succar
Kuri (see section 5). In February Mexico City media released recorded
telephone conversations, apparently between Nacif and Puebla Governor
Mario Marin, in which the two appeared to collude in Cacho's arrest. On
April 18, the Supreme Court agreed to investigate the potential human
rights violations involved in her detention, invoking a rarely
exercised constitutional jurisdiction. On September 19, the court
rejected a motion claiming insufficient evidence and resolved to
continue investigating the case.
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. Groups that wish to meet in public
areas must inform local police authorities in advance. Organized,
peaceful demonstrations occurred frequently throughout the country.
Several times during the year demonstrators clashed with police, and
subsequent arrests led to complaints of arbitrary detention, use of
excessive force, torture, rape, and sometimes killings (see sections
1.a., 1.c., and 1.d.).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. However,
poor enforcement mechanisms allowed local authorities to discriminate
against persons based on their religious beliefs, especially in the
south. Federal and local governments often failed to punish those
responsible for acts of religious discrimination. The constitution bars
members of the clergy from holding public office, advocating partisan
political views, supporting political candidates, or opposing the laws
or institutions of the state.
Religious associations must register with the Government to apply
for official building permits, receive tax exemptions, and hold
religious meetings outside of their places of worship. Although the
Government may reject applications because of incomplete documentation,
the registration process was routine. More than 6,600 religious
associations were registered.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In the central and southern
regions, some leaders of predominantly Catholic indigenous communities
regarded evangelical groups as unwelcome outside influences and as
economic and political threats. These leaders sometimes acquiesced in
or ordered the harassment or expulsion of individuals belonging chiefly
to Protestant evangelical groups. Whether a group was displaced
forcibly with violence or left voluntarily to avoid harassment, it
often found itself living on the outskirts of another local community
in circumstances even worse than the extremely poor conditions common
to the region. As in previous years, village officials imposed
sanctions on evangelicals for resisting participation in community
festivals or refusing to work on Saturdays.
While state government officials claimed to have resolved the March
2005 conflict between Catholics and Protestants in the town of
Zinacantan, civil society members disagreed and reported an inclination
towards violence persisted. On August 22, tensions emerged again during
the gubernatorial campaign. According to media reports, groups of
Catholics and Protestants, allegedly associated with the political
parties Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Party of the
Democratic Revolution (PRD), respectively, clashed when Protestant
parents reportedly were not allowed to participate in election-day
festivities. A PRD-linked Protestant reportedly shot and killed a PRI-
linked Catholic; two were wounded, and several members of both groups
were detained. The state government Office for Religious Affairs
attributed the events to social and political rather than religious
tensions. Four remained in jail, and the case was pending at year's
end. In July in San Juan Chamula, Chiapas, the media reported that a
group of PRI-affiliated Catholics destroyed an illegally constructed
evangelical church that was attended by members of the PRD; the
Catholics threatened to expel or kill the eight evangelical families if
they attempted to rebuild. According to state officials, on July 28,
the parties involved resolved the dispute and signed an agreement to
respect local authority and religious freedom.
According to the Hidalgo State Commission for Human Rights, the 40
families threatened with expulsion in October 2005 from San Nicolas,
Hidalgo, remained in the town, and religious tensions had significantly
diminished.
The Jewish community numbered approximately 50,000 persons. 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 does not permit forced exile, and it was not practiced.
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. From January to August, the Government granted refugee
status or asylum to 61 applicants of 493 pending cases.
Although in many instances the National Migration Institute (INM)
eventually released Cuban migrants, in some cases they were returned to
Cuba. Among the more than 3,000 presumed Cubans who entered the country
illegally during the year, 184 were identified as Cuban nationals and
deported; the remaining were released, and it was assumed they applied
for asylum in the United States.
The Government in the past provided temporary protection to
individuals who may not have qualified as refugees under the 1951
Convention and its 1967 Protocol but did not do so 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 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 Presidential and
congressional elections of July 2 tested the country's electoral
institutions. They were determined to be generally free and fair by the
majority of neutral observers, including European Union representatives
and local and international civil society organizations. However, PRD
Presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador vigorously disputed
PAN candidate Felipe Calderon's razor-thin victory margin in the
electoral courts. The PRD also staged nonviolent protests and civil
disobedience activities, including the blockage of streets in the
capital as well as smaller demonstrations in several regional cities,
demanding a full recount of ballots nationwide.
The Federal Electoral Tribunal ruled to recount approximately 9
percent of voting stations, principally those in which the PRD
presented some evidence of inconsistencies. This partial recount had
minimal impact on Calderon's 0.56 percent margin of victory.
On September 5, the tribunal declared Felipe Calderon President-
elect, ending rival candidate Lopez Obrador's two-month-long legal
challenge of the election results. In its final decision, the tribunal
ruled that while it found no evidence of fraud, it had found a number
of irregularities, including a large number of apparently random
counting and arithmetic errors. It also rebuked President Fox for his
thinly veiled endorsements of Calderon and criticism of Lopez Obrador,
as well as pro-Calderon television ads sponsored by a business group.
The tribunal determined, however, that these irregularities provided
insufficient grounds to invalidate the election. Lopez Obrador refused
to accept the tribunal's decision, declared himself the ``legitimate
President,'' established a ``parallel government,'' and vowed to
continue acts of civil disobedience.
The results of concurrent congressional and state-level elections
were far less controversial than the Presidential election, although
the results in several individual races were challenged, as routinely
occurs. The PAN won three gubernatorial races and approximately 40
percent of congressional seats. The PRD retained the significant office
of mayor of Mexico City and won the second largest number of seats in
the lower house of Congress. Although its Presidential candidate ran
more than 10 percentage points behind the two leading candidates, the
PRI came in second place in the upper house of Congress and finished in
a close third place in the lower house. In addition, two recently
established political parties secured enough votes to guarantee their
status as national parties entitling them to government funding.
During the year political parties, opposition groups, and
independent associations functioned freely without government
interference or restriction. National political parties needed Federal
Electoral Institute (IFE) recognition based on having won at least 2
percent of the vote in the last national election. The IFE recognized
eight national political parties. On October 3, the Supreme Court
struck down state electoral laws barring independent candidates from
running for public office.
There were 22 women in the 128-seat Senate and 116 women in the
500-seat lower house. Two female justices sat on the 11-member Supreme
Court. President Calderon appointed four women to his 21-member
cabinet. One woman held a position in former President Fox's cabinet.
Many state electoral codes provide that no more than 70 to 80 percent
of candidates can be of the same gender. All political parties
continued their efforts to increase the number of women running for
elected office. Some utilized quotas requiring that a certain
percentage of candidates on a party list be female.
There were no statistics available regarding minority participation
in government.
The law provides for the right of indigenous people to elect
representatives to local office according to ``usages and customs''
law, rather than federal and state electoral law. Voter intimidation
and conflict was not uncommon during elections in some indigenous
communities (see section 2.c.). Traditional customs varied by village.
In some villages, women did not have the right to vote or hold office;
in others they could vote but not hold office (see section 5).
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was a problem
at all levels of government as public officials continued to be
involved frequently in bureaucratic abuses and a variety of criminal
acts with impunity (see sections 1.b., 1.c., 2.a., 5, and 6). In recent
years all major political parties have been fined for illegal campaign
funding. Paying bribes to administrative officials and security forces
continued to be routine.
In February Mexico City media released recorded telephone
conversations, apparently between businessman Kamel Nacif and Puebla
Governor Mario Marin, in which the two appeared to collude in
journalist Lydia Cacho's arrest (see section 2.a.). In the
conversation, the voice identified as Nacif expressed thanks and
offered the governor two ``beautiful'' bottles of cognac. On April 18,
the Supreme Court agreed to investigate the potential human rights
violations involved in Cacho's detention, invoking a rarely exercised
constitutional jurisdiction. The case was under the review of the
Supreme Court at year's end.
Since enactment of a 2002 law providing for public access to
government information, transparency in public administration at the
federal level has improved noticeably. Foreign media, citizens, and
foreigners have successfully used the law, with an annual number of
requests increasing from 24,000 in 2003 to more than 50,000 in 2005. At
the state and local level, transparency remained mixed. According to
the Federal Institute for Access of Information, the Federal District
and 27 of the country's 31 states enacted transparency laws; 70
municipalities in the country had enacted transparency rules.
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. Although federal
government officials often were cooperative and responsive to their
views, state and municipal authorities frequently harassed human rights
defenders. UN agencies and other international bodies freely operated
in the country and publicly criticized the Government without
restriction or sanction.
The semi-autonomous CNDH, which receives full funding from the
federal government, has the authority to investigate allegations of
human rights and did so in practice. CNDH operated without government
or party interference, received adequate resources, and enjoyed the
Government's cooperation. During the year, CNDH issued 46
recommendations, although nonbinding and without legal weight (see
section 1.d.), which were directed towards government entities on
aspects related to human rights violations for which they were deemed
responsible. While some recommendations were accepted and implemented,
others were rejected (see sections 1.a. and 1.c.).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
or religion. While the Government continued to make progress enforcing
these provisions, significant problems, particularly violence against
women, persisted.
Women.--Domestic violence was pervasive and vastly underreported.
The law prohibits domestic violence, including spousal abuse, and
stipulates fines equal to 30 to 180 days' pay and detention for up to
36 hours; however, actual sentences were normally lenient. On the state
level, laws sanctioning domestic violence, if any, are weak. Seven
states have not criminalized domestic violence, and 15 states sanction
family violence only when it is a repeated offense. Victims generally
did not report abuse for a variety of reasons, including fear of
reprisal by their spouses, fear of becoming economically destitute if
their spouses are imprisoned, and the general disinterest of
authorities in prosecuting such offenses. The special federal
prosecutor for crimes against women, Alicia Elena Perez Duarte,
reported that 1,600 women were killed annually, mostly from domestic
violence. On December 19, the Senate passed a comprehensive bill aimed
at preventing violence against women, including prevention and
assistance measures provided by all levels of government.
The Government's cabinet-level National Institute of Women
(INMUJERES) reported that its national hot line established under the
National Plan for a Life without Violence received more than 27,000
calls between January 1 and October 31, a dramatic increase since it
was established in 2002. Although there were some government-funded
shelters, civil society organizations and women rights groups
maintained the vast majority of available shelters.
The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape, imposing penalties
of up to 20 years. However, rape victims rarely filed complaints with
police, due to seeing the widespread impunity for rape in the justice
system. In February 2005 Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on
Human Rights on Violence Against Women Yakin Erturk stated that
violence against indigenous women, in particular, was often ``dismissed
or justified within the context of cultural specificity.''
Other forms of violence against women within relationships were
similarly widespread and unpunished. On October 10, the Attorney
General's Office of the Federal District reported that on average it
received 60 complaints of sexual violence per day.
During the May 3 confrontation between PFP and citizens in San
Salvador Atenco, CNDH confirmed 26 reports of sexual violence that
occurred during the police operation (see section 1.a. and 1.c.).
Gender-based violence in Ciudad Juarez and the state of Chihuahua,
which have registered the unsolved killings of more than 350 women and
young girls since 1993, continued with 18 killings of women registered
in Ciudad Juarez during the year. Of the 17 cases opened to investigate
the 18 killings, state authorities solved 12 cases, and the
perpetrators were awaiting sentencing at year's end. According to the
State Special Prosecutor's Office on Women's Homicides, the 18 women
killed in Ciudad Juarez were not victims of sexual crimes, although
approximately three quarters were victims of family violence in which
the aggressor was a spouse, parent, or as in two cases, the victim's
child.
David Meza, arrested in 2003 for the rape and murder of his cousin
in Ciudad Juarez and tortured by police into confessing to the crime,
was released on July 29, due to lack of evidence (see section 1.c.).
On December 12, the Fourth State Penal Court in Ciudad Juarez
sentenced four men for the 2005 murder and rape of seven-year-old Airis
Estrella Enriquez Pando. Luis Garcia Villalbazo was sentenced to 92
years' imprisonment for the murder and rape of Airis and the rape of
three other girls; Eustacio Aleman Zendejas, Juan Manuel Alvarado
Saenz, and Rogelio Sandoval Carrasco were sentenced to 40 years'
imprisonment.
In January the PGR issued its final report from the Unit of the
Special Prosecutor for the Attention to Crimes Related to the Homicides
of Women in the Municipality of Juarez, Chihuahua, drawing on much of
the work by the state's attorney general. The report concluded that 379
women were killed between 1993 and 2005, of whom 345 had been
identified. The report stated that 125 of the homicides (33 percent)
occurred in the home of either the victim or perpetrator, and that
``the great majority of the homicides were perpetrated by a person
close to the victim's circle of family or affection.'' According to the
report, 31.5 percent of the murders were attributed to social violence
in a border area, including drug dependency, drug trafficking, high
rates of crime, gang violence, and prostitution. Authorities arraigned
289 persons and sentenced 177; 21 were found not guilty; and 91 awaited
trial. Of the 47 women the PGR determined missing, 13 were located
(three of whom were dead). The report detailed the various types of
incompetence and irregularities committed in the investigations by
state authorities, although the responsible officials were not
sanctioned. The Government established a fund of approximately $2.7
million (30 million pesos) to assist the victims' relatives. The
Government also provided psychological, medical, and legal aid to
relatives.
On November 8, the College of the North Border and the Commission
to Prevent and Eradicate Violence Against Women in Ciudad Juarez
presented publicly an academic study that categorized the nature of the
murders of women from 1993 to 2005. By drawing from the cases of 442
murders of women, the study found that 28.5 percent were committed by a
close male friend, boyfriend, or spouse; 33.9 percent involved sexual
violence, entailing kidnap, torture, mutilation, and rape.
On February 17, the PGR appointed Alicia Elena Perez Duarte, a new
special prosecutor with a nationwide mandate to examine the issue of
violence against women.
While the killings in Ciudad Juarez drew international attention,
violence against women remained a widespread phenomenon throughout the
country. Special Prosecutor Perez Duarte reported that on an annual
basis approximately 1,600 women were killed nationwide, mostly
resulting from domestic violence. According to 2004 statistics, the
rate of women homicide victims over age 15 was highest in the states of
Nayarit (5.4 per 100,000 persons), Oaxaca (5.3), Mexico (4.8), Guerrero
(4.7), Baja California (3.6), and Chihuahua (3.6). In August the UN
Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women said that
there were no visible results from government efforts to prevent gender
violence.
Prostitution is legal for adults, and it continued to be practiced
widely. While pimping and prostitution by minors under age 18 are
illegal, these offenses also were practiced widely, often with the
collaboration or knowledge of police. The country is a destination for
sexual tourists and pedophiles, particularly from the United States.
Apart from state laws against trafficking in persons, there are no
specific laws against sex tourism, although federal law criminalizes
corruption of minors, of which is punishable by five to 10 years'
imprisonment. Trafficking in women and minors for prostitution remained
a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment and provides for fines of up to
40 days' minimum salary, but victims must press charges. Reports of
sexual harassment in the workplace were widespread, but victims were
reluctant to come forward, and cases were difficult to prove.
The law provides that women shall have the same rights and
obligations as men, and that ``equal pay shall be given for equal work
performed in equal jobs, hours of work, and conditions of efficiency.''
While women earned less than men, the salary gap was decreasing.
According to the National Institute for Geographic and Informational
Statistics (INEGI), the average salary for women was 7.4 percent less
than that of men, compared with 12.6 percent less in 2004. However,
according to INMUJERES, in some occupations the disparity reached 50
percent.
Labor law provides protection for pregnant women, which some
employers reportedly sought to avoid by requiring pregnancy tests in
pre-employment physicals and by continuing to make inquiries into a
woman's reproductive status. In April 2005 INMUJERES and several other
government agencies launched a national campaign to raise awareness of
laws protecting women against pregnancy testing.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare. Although the Government maintained programs to support
maternal and infant health, provide stipends for educating poor
children, subsidize food, and provide social workers, problems in
children's health and education remained pervasive. Public education is
offered through the university level, including advanced degrees. Nine
years of education are compulsory, and parents are legally responsible
for their children's attendance. The 2002 INEGI census showed that 91
percent of children between ages six and 14 attended school, but only
68 percent of all children entering the first grade completed all nine
years of compulsory education. In 2003 average educational attainment
among the population 15 years of age and older was 7.9 years.
The Government provided numerous health care programs for boys and
girls on the basis of equal access. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)
reported 98 to 99 percent immunization rates for one-year-old children.
Government statistics for 2000 (the most current available)
recorded the following rates of reported violent treatment in the home:
28 percent of those aged six to nine, 9 percent of those aged 10 to 13,
and 10 percent of those between 14 and 17.
Child marriage remained a problem. UNICEF reported in a 2003 survey
that 28 percent of women 20 to 24 years of age had been married or in a
union before the age of 18. In 2003, according to INEGI, 12 percent of
men and 27 percent of women married between the ages of 15 and 19.
Trafficking in children for the purpose of sexual exploitation was
a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a problem, particularly among migrant farming
families (see section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--While the law prohibits aspects of
trafficking in persons, persons were trafficked to, from, or within the
country, and there were credible reports that police, immigration, and
customs officials were involved (see section 2.d.).
The country was a point of origin, transit, and destination for
persons trafficked for sexual exploitation and labor. The vast majority
of non-Mexican trafficking victims came from Central America; lesser
numbers came from Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, China, Taiwan, India, and
Eastern European countries. Victims were trafficked to the United
States as well as to various destinations in the country. Although
there were no reliable statistics on the extent of trafficking, the
Government estimated that 20,000 children were sexually exploited each
year. Sexual tourism and sexual exploitation of minors were significant
problems in the northern border area and in resort areas. Undocumented
migrants from Central America and the poor were most at risk for
trafficking.
Often poor and uneducated, trafficking victims were promised
employment, but once isolated from family and home, were forced into
prostitution or to work in a factory or the agriculture sector. Other
young female migrants recounted being robbed, beaten, and raped by
members of criminal gangs and then forced to work in table dance bars
or as prostitutes under threat of further harm to them or their
families. Many illegal immigrants fell prey to traffickers along the
Guatemalan border, where the growing presence of gangs such as Mara
Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 made the area especially dangerous for
unaccompanied women and children migrating north.
While no federal law prohibits all forms of trafficking in persons,
two states enacted antitrafficking legislation, and there are 21
different state and federal laws that criminally sanction certain
aspects of trafficking. At the federal level, corruption of minors,
child prostitution and child pornography are felonies; anyone convicted
of a crime related to a minor under age 18 can be sentenced from five
to 10 years' imprisonment. If the illicit activity involved a minor
under 16 years of age, the sentence is increased by one third; if it
involved a minor under 12 years of age, the sentence is increased by
half. Persons who direct or facilitate the above illicit activity for
purposes of financial gain may be imprisoned for six to 10 years. When
physical or psychological violence is used for sexual abuse or to
profit from exploitation of a minor, the penalties are increased by up
to one half. The law also forbids forced or compulsory labor (see
section 6.c.). While Baja California Norte in 2005 became the first
state to approve a law specifically to combat trafficking in persons,
the state legislature had to rescind it due to alleged incompatibility
with federal laws. Michoacan and Chihuahua passed state antitrafficking
legislation in July and November, respectively.
The Government faced structural inefficiencies but made notable
improvements in collecting data and fostering investigations,
prosecutions, and convictions of trafficking cases. PFP and Save the
Children entered into a formal collaborative relationship, which
included a project to manage a Web-based database to track missing
persons, including potential trafficking victims.
Authorities disrupted smuggling operations, which affected the
movement of trafficking victims through the smuggling corridors, and
arrested a number of suspected traffickers during the year. The
Government pursued approximately eight trafficking cases, all of which
were active at year's end. As a result, the Government conducted
several rescues of potential trafficking victims, issued one active
state arrest warrant, and made one arrest under federal charges of
child pornography. Nonetheless, securing convictions remained a
challenge for the Government.
On April 28, the PGR prevailed on appeal in a significant
prosecution for trafficking in persons. The seven defendants, members
of the Carreto family, were convicted, fined, and received prison
sentences ranging from 19 to 27 years. The Carreto family filed a
subsequent appeal, which was pending at years' end.
In April CNDH issued its first formal recommendation on
trafficking, addressing the INM and Secretary of Labor in regard to a
case involving two Chinese trafficking victims working in a Guanajuato
factory. In following the recommendations, INM fined the company for
activities unauthorized under the work visas granted. INM granted visas
for the two victims to remain in the country, contingent on their
assistance in a prosecution case.
On July 15, Jean Succar Kuri was extradited from the United States
to Mexico on charges of corruption of minors and child pornography,
among others. He was waiting trial in a Cancun jail at year's end.
Extradited from Thailand in August 2005, Thomas Frank White was
detained in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, awaiting trial for corruption of
minors and child prostitution.
The PFP, as the predominant federal law enforcement agency, is the
new lead operational and coordinating agency for antitrafficking
efforts. The INM, PGR, Center for Research on National Security, CNDH,
the Foreign Ministry, and the Integral Development of the Family (DIF)
also played key roles in combating trafficking, protecting victims, and
prosecuting traffickers. During the year, PFP appointed a director
general directly responsible for trafficking cases and dedicated five
investigative units exclusively to such cases; two units already
initiated investigations. More than 60 PFP officers received a 40-hour
training course on the conduct of trafficking investigations, and 300
PFP officers attended a four-hour module at its training academy. The
Government also participated in international investigations of
trafficking during the year.
There were credible reports that individual police, immigration,
and customs officials participated in, facilitated, or condoned
trafficking, primarily for money. Poorly paid frontline officials
frequently extorted money from victims and traffickers.
In September 2005 a judge issued arrest warrants for seven INM
agents in connection with their participation in a human smuggling
ring; however, none were charged.
In September INM authorized the issuance of visas to trafficking
victims to remain in the country, contingent upon their cooperation
with law enforcement in prosecuting traffickers. By year's end, INM
reported that it issued nine such visas to trafficking victims.
Several NGOs, including the Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition,
Casa Alianza, Fundacion Infantia, and Sin Fronteras, as well as IOM and
ILO, assisted trafficking victims with prevention programs and
protection services. However, NGOs had limited entry to INM detention
centers (while CNDH enjoyed complete access). Although DIF operated
shelters nationwide, the country lacked shelters exclusively dedicated
to trafficking victims.
The Government supported general trafficking prevention campaigns
for children and women and administered special assistance programs for
children repatriated to the country. While a partial framework existed
to protect and provide social services to the victims of trafficking,
undocumented migrants usually were deported before they could be
identified and removed from the detention system. The Government
increased cooperation with NGOs and international organizations to
build a network of trafficking victims' services and to identify
potential trafficking victims. Bilateral cooperation against
trafficking increased with programs to combat trafficking, increase
protection for victims, and promote awareness.
Persons With Disabilities.--Although the law prohibits
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities in
employment, education, access to health care, and the provision of
other services, the Government did not effectively enforce all these
provisions. Most public buildings and facilities in Mexico City did not
comply with the law requiring access for persons with disabilities. The
federal government stated that entrances, exits, and hallways in all of
its offices had been made accessible to persons with disabilities, and
in May 2005 it began a program to improve access in 13 airports. The
education system fell short of providing special education for children
with disabilities, serving approximately 400,000 students of an
estimated two million with disabilities in 2004; only 42 percent of
municipalities in the country provided special education.
Although the Government made progress in treating persons with
mental health illnesses, problems remained. According to the Pan
American Health Organization, no more than 25 percent of those with a
mental illness received adequate treatment. The World Health
Organization reported that psychiatric hospitals overused electroshock
treatment. The Ministry of Health stated that it investigated claims of
abuse and spent three million dollars (33 million pesos) in 2005 to
improve mental health treatment in four states.
During the Presidential and congressional elections, the federal
and state governments provided ballots, including ballots in Braille,
ballot boxes, and a special ballot holder and marker for voters with
vision and motor skill disabilities.
The secretary of health collaborated with the secretaries of social
development, labor, and public education, as well as with DIF and the
Office for the Promotion and Social Integration of the Disabled, to
protect the rights of persons with disabilities. The Government
established offices and programs for the social integration of persons
with disabilities, including a program to enhance job opportunities and
launch an online portal to disseminate information and assistance.
Indigenous People.--The indigenous population has been long subject
to discrimination, repression, and marginalization. Indigenous
communities, located principally in the central and southern regions,
represented 37 percent of the population in the states of Oaxaca and
Yucatan. These groups remained largely outside the political and
economic mainstream, due to longstanding patterns of social and
economic discrimination. In many cases their ability to participate in
decisions affecting their lands, cultural traditions, and allocation of
natural resources were negligible.
There were numerous allegations of the use of excessive force
against indigenous people. During the year, the Government maintained
troops in selected areas of Chiapas and Guerrero, which was a
continuing point of concern for many NGOs and indigenous rights groups,
who complained of intimidation and threats from soldiers. Federal
forces were also dispatched to Oaxaca to help restore order and to
Michoacan in a large-scale antinarcotics operation (see sections 1.a.,
1.b., and 1.c.).
Sporadic outbursts of politically motivated violence continued to
occur in indigenous communities in the states of Chiapas, Guerrero, and
Oaxaca. Historic land disputes also caused tensions in the indigenous
regions.
Indigenous people did not live on autonomous reservations, although
some indigenous communities exercised considerable local control over
economic, political, and social matters. In the state of Oaxaca, for
example, 70 percent of the 570 municipalities were governed according
to the indigenous regime of ``usages and customs'' law, which did not
follow democratic norms such as the secret ballot, universal suffrage,
and political affiliation. These communities applied traditional
practices to resolve disputes and choose local officials. While such
practices allowed communities to elect officials according to their
traditions, ``usages and customs'' laws tended to exclude women from
the political process and often infringed on other rights of women.
The law provides some protection for indigenous people, and the
Government provided support for indigenous communities through social
and economic assistance programs, legal provisions, and social welfare
programs. Budget constraints, however, prevented these measures from
meeting the needs of most indigenous communities, as severe shortages
in basic infrastructure as well as health and education services
persisted.
The law provides that educational instruction shall be conducted in
the national language, Spanish, without prejudice to the protection and
promotion of indigenous languages. However, many indigenous children
spoke only their native languages, and the Government did not provide a
sufficient number of native language or bilingual teachers.
The Government generally showed respect for the desire of
indigenous people to retain elements of their traditional culture.
During the year, the CNDH's Office of the Fourth Inspector General
investigated more than 1,800 complaints of violations of human rights
among the indigenous population during the year, concluding that more
than 400 were credible. More than 130 NGOs were dedicated to the
promotion and protection of indigenous rights.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--While homosexuals
experienced a growing social acceptance, the National Center to Prevent
and Control HIV/AIDS (CONASIDA) stated that discrimination persisted.
Homophobic beliefs and practices were common, reflected principally in
entertainment media programs and everyday attitudes. Reports of attacks
against homosexuals and transsexuals were frequent.
The law prohibits several types of discrimination, including bias
based on sexuality, and requires federal agencies to promote tolerance.
In April 2005 the Government launched a radio campaign to fight
homophobia with material prepared by CONASIDA.
On November 9, the Mexico City legislative assembly passed a bill,
later signed into law, which authorizes homo- and heterosexual couples
to register their union with municipal authorities, according them
inheritance and certain other rights normally accorded only to spouses.
There were several incidents of harassment and violent attacks
against homosexuals. In the case of the June 2005 murder of Octavio
Acuna, an activist for the rights of persons with HIV/AIDS, police
arrested a minor on the charge of homicide; he remained in juvenile
detention awaiting his trial at year's end. The state Attorney
General's office charged with the case, however, said that the
investigation lacked any evidence that suggested the crime was
connected to homophobia.
There were credible reports that police, immigration, and customs
officials frequently violated the rights of undocumented migrants,
including rape. Robbery and killings by the criminal gangs, such as the
Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18, intensified on the southern border and
spread northward. Undocumented migrants rarely filed charges in such
cases because the authorities generally deported such persons who came
to their attention.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Federal law provides workers the
right to form and join trade unions of their choice, and workers
exercised this right in practice. According to INEGI, there were 43.6
million workers in the workforce, with 15 million in the formal
sector--those paying taxes to the Mexican Institute for Social Security
(IMSS). Approximately 25 percent of the formal sector was unionized.
By law, 20 workers can form an independent union with a formal
registration. Administrative procedures for registration are complex
and burdensome, and government labor boards frequently rejected
independent unions' registration applications on technicalities. A new
union also must challenge the government-sanctioned union, if one
exists, for control of the labor contract. Representation elections are
traditionally open, which means management and officials from the
existing union are present with the presiding labor board official when
workers openly and individually declare their votes. Open elections
resulted in intimidation of pro-union workers.
In late December 2005, Puebla labor rights activist Martin Barrios
was jailed for two weeks after a local garment factory owner accused
him of blackmail (see section 1.d.).
In February the Labor Secretariat withdrew the legal recognition
(toma de nota) from Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, general secretary of the
Mine and Metal Workers' Union, charging him with corruption, although
no legal charges had been filed. The secretariat then recognized Elias
Morales as the new general secretary. Gomez's attorneys argued that
there was no basis in the law or the union statutes for withdrawing
recognition, and two union congresses subsequently reaffirmed support
for Gomez. His supporters called strikes at several key mines and steel
mills around the country.
In an April 20 confrontation between striking workers and Michoacan
state police, two union members were killed (see section 1.a.). Gomez
fled to Canada after criminal charges were filed in the state courts of
Sinaloa and San Luis Potosi alleging that he misallocated $55 million
(605 million pesos) of union funds. In August the union workers and the
Government negotiated a compromise, including a salary raise, which
ended the 141-day strike.
The CNDH and human rights activists criticized the Government's
treatment of undocumented immigrant workers. On June 25, CNDH issued a
report concerning INM abuses of 19 undocumented migrants from Central
America who were apprehended in Coahuila in April 2005. The abuses
included the beating of one migrant and the order that all 19 remove
their shoes and walk one mile to a waiting vehicle.
b. The 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
contracts covered approximately 7 percent of workers. The law provides
for the right to strike in both the public and private sector, and
workers exercised this right. Although few formal strikes actually
occurred, informal stoppages of work were common.
There are no special laws or exemptions from labor laws in export
processing zones. Management in the maquila (in-bond export) sector and
elsewhere sometimes used protection contracts to discourage workers
from forming authentic unions at a company. Such contracts were
collective bargaining agreements negotiated by management and a
representative of a so-called labor organization without the knowledge
of the workforce, sometimes even prior to hiring a single worker in a
new factory. The NGO Human Rights Watch attributed the problem to the
lack of independent unions that could negotiate strong and fair
collective bargaining agreements.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Although the law
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, such
practices commonly persisted in both rural and industrial sectors.
Migrants and children were the most vulnerable.
Forced labor by children was a problem (see section 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace, including a
prohibition of forced or compulsory labor; however, the Government did
not effectively enforce such prohibitions. The law prohibits children
under age 14 from working, and those between ages 14 and 16 may work
only limited hours with parental permission, with no night or hazardous
work. According to UNICEF's most recent statistics, 16 percent of
children age five to 14 were involved in child labor activities.
The Secretariat of Labor (STPS) is charged with protecting worker
rights. Government enforcement was reasonably effective at large and
medium-sized companies, especially in the maquila and other industries
under federal jurisdiction. Enforcement was inadequate at many small
companies and in the agriculture and construction sectors, and it was
nearly absent in the informal sector in which most children worked.
During the year, STPS, the Secretariat of Social Development, and
DIF carried out programs to prevent child labor abuses and promote
child labor rights, including specific efforts to combat the commercial
sexual exploitation of children (see section 5). UNICEF stated that,
despite the Government's progress in reducing its incidence over the
past 10 years, child labor remained a significant problem.
It was not uncommon to find girls under the age of 15 working in
prostitution. Trafficking in children for sexual exploitation was a
problem (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law provides for a daily
minimum wage, which is set each December for the coming year. For the
year the minimum daily wages, determined by zone, were: $4.46 (49
pesos) in Zone A (Baja California, Federal District, State of Mexico,
and large cities); $4.28 (47 pesos) in Zone B (Sonora, Nuevo Leon,
Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and Jalisco); and $4.19 (46 pesos) in Zone C (all
other states). The minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of
living for a worker and family, and only a small fraction of the
workers in the formal workforce received the minimum wage. STPS is
charged with protecting worker rights, including minimum wage
provisions in the law, and it did so effectively.
The law sets six eight-hour days as the legal workweek. Any work
over eight hours in a day is considered overtime for which a worker
receives double the hourly wage. After accumulating nine hours of
overtime, a worker earns triple the hourly wage, and the law prohibits
compulsory overtime. However, there were labor rights disputes filed
with labor boards and international labor organizations during the year
with complaints that workers did not receive overtime pay they were
owed.
The law requires employers to observe occupational safety and
health regulations, issued jointly by STPS and the IMSS. Legally
mandated joint management and labor committees set standards and were
responsible for workplace enforcement in plants and offices. Individual
employees or unions may complain directly to inspectors or safety and
health officials. Workers may remove themselves from hazardous
situations without jeopardizing their employment. Plaintiffs may bring
complaints before the federal labor board at no cost to themselves.
While STPS and IMSS officials reported that compliance was
reasonably good at most large companies, there were not enough federal
inspectors to enforce health and safety standards at smaller firms. On
February 19, 65 miners died in an explosion at the Pasta de Conchos
mine in Sabinas, Coahuila. A CNDH investigation found fault with the
Government's inspection procedures and the employer's efforts to meet
safety standards. The congressional commission determined that no
conclusions could be drawn concerning culpability or the cause of the
incident. Commission members from the PRD and Workers' Party issued a
dissenting report that laid blame on both the Government and employer.
At year's end, the Coahuila attorney general was investigating the
employees of the mining company and local employees of STPS on charges
of negligence for failure to ensure safe working conditions at the
Pasta de Conchos mine. At year's end, at least three other
investigations related to this mining accident were still ongoing.
__________
NICARAGUA
Nicaragua is a constitutional democracy with a population of
approximately 5.4 million. The Presidential term of Enrique Bolanos
Geyer, who ran as the candidate of the Liberal Constitutionalist Party
(PLC), was to expire in January 2007. On November 5, Sandinista
National Liberation Front (FSLN) Presidential candidate Daniel Ortega
was elected in generally free and fair elections and was to assume
office on January 10, 2007. While civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces, there were some
cases of human rights abuses reported involving the police.
The most significant human rights abuses during the year included
harsh prison conditions; widespread corruption and politicization of
the judiciary, the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), and other
government organs; harassment and abuse of journalists;
ineffectiveness, corruption, and politicization of the Office of Human
Rights Ombudsman (PDDH); domestic violence; abuse and exploitation of
women; violence against children; widespread child labor; and violation
of worker rights in free trade zones.
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. Police received a number of allegations from nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs), the media, and private citizens of unlawful
killings or excessive use of force by police officers. Although the
courts rarely found officers guilty of wrongdoing, the Office of the
Police Inspector General (IG), which makes determinations independently
of court rulings, conducted parallel investigations and administered
punishments including demotion and dismissal of officers.
During the year the IG investigated allegations of police abuses
and remanded to the courts for review 41 cases in which police
allegedly used excessive force. As of year's end the courts had not
rendered decisions on any of these cases.
On May 31, district court judges sentenced Byron Leonel Canteno,
the personal driver of Managua Police Chief Carlos Bendana, and Lenin
Alberto Calderon, the son of William Calderon, a close personal advisor
to Police Chief Bendana, to 18 years in prison for the March 28 killing
of nightclub owner Jeronimo Polanco. Police investigations revealed
that the pistol used to kill Polanco belonged to Chief Bendana. Several
days later Police Commissioner Edwin Cordero and other senior officials
agreed to suspend Bendana, but shortly afterwards Cordero rescinded
that decision. On September 29, Aminta Granera ordered Bendana to
retire based on suspicion of corruption, bribery, and obstruction of
justice. At year's end there was no further investigation regarding
Calderon (see section 1.d.).
In September 2005 police officers Francisco Javier Gonzalez and
Mayra Ines Altamirano were cleared of all charges in connection with
the killing of three squatters in a February 2005 land occupation
confrontation near Chinandega.
On August 28, former police officer Delvin Jiron was sentenced to
30 years in prison for the 2004 killings of four police officers at the
police station in Bluefields. In October the Bluefields Appellate Court
added seven years to Jiron's sentence.
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, the IG reported
35 cases of injuries inflicted on criminal suspects by police during
the arrest process (see section 1.d.), in comparison with 79 cases
reported during the same period in 2005. In addition, the IG reported
that during the year it had received from detainees 536 complaints of
human rights violations by police officers, 70 of which were found to
have merit. Most cases were related to excessive use of force and
unnecessary use of weapons. The IG's office punished 177 officers for
violating human rights through dishonorable discharges, demotions, and
other measures.
In November a Cuban detainee who escaped from the immigration
detention center in Managua alleged that while in detention, he
witnessed immigration officers and senior immigration officials engaged
in bribery for special privileges, extortion, and prolonged detention
without access to legal counsel. He also alleged that female detainees
could avoid deportation or obtain early release in exchange for sexual
favors provided to immigration officials. At the end of the year there
was no information available regarding a police investigation of the
matter.
By year's end a court found Leonel Duarte Sequeira, who was
dishonorably discharged in 2005 from the Nicaraguan National Police
(PNN) for raping a fellow officer in May 2005, not guilty of any
wrongdoing.
Prison and Prison Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
remained harsh. A study conducted by the Government's National
Penitentiary System (SPN) reported that the prison population increased
by 6 percent during the first half of the year. According to government
statistics, through December there were 6,060 inmates in prisons
designed to hold 4,567 prisoners. Some prisons and police holding cells
were significantly overcrowded and lacked proper sanitation. The
Bluefields prison held 100 inmates in a prison designed to hold 40
prisoners.
The prison system remained underfunded and continued to lack
adequate medical supplies. For the country's nine penitentiaries and
6,060 prisoners, the authorities maintained a staff of 28 medical
specialists. Prison authorities reported that 30 percent of prisoners
slept on metal bunks or mattresses directly on floors. The SPN reported
that for each of 511 prisoners with serious mental and physical
illnesses, the prison system had an average budget of only $0.18 (three
cordobas) per month to purchase medicine.
The SPN study also reported that the quality of prison food
remained poor, and malnutrition remained a problem in local jails and
police holding cells. Many prisoners received additional food, medical
supplies, and medical attention from visitors and some religious and
charitable organizations. Conditions in jails and holding cells
remained harsh; many facilities had deteriorated infrastructure, lacked
potable water, and had inadequate electric and sewage systems. Holding
cells were poorly ventilated, unhygienic, and overcrowded. Suspects
regularly were left in holding cells during their trials because
budgetary shortfalls restricted the use of fuel for transfers to
distant courtrooms.
On January 23, seven inmates at the Modelo Prison in Tipitapa
attacked and held hostage a guard, took his keys, and opened the cells
of three rival gang members whom they beat severely. The seven inmates
also demanded better living conditions and access to medicine. After
four hours of failed negotiations, counterterrorism police troops
discharged 15 sound bombs and rubber bullets to subdue the prisoners
and rescue the prison guard and the beaten prisoners. Police
investigated the incident and submitted the case to the prosecutor's
office, which charged the prisoners with disorderly conduct. At year's
end the court had not made a ruling regarding the case.
The Bluefields prison, which the general director of the
penitentiary system characterized as ``obsolete, deplorable, and
inhuman,'' had two showers and four toilets for approximately 100
prisoners and was designed to hold 40 inmates. The authorities
occasionally released detainees when they could no longer feed them.
During the year two inmates died, one from an apparent suicide and the
other from a long-term illness.
In March a women's prison with capacity for 60 inmates was
completed in the department of Esteli, making it the second all-female
prison in the country along with the women's prison in Managua.
Elsewhere, women were held in separate wings of prison facilities and
were guarded by female custodians. Although juveniles were generally
held in prison wings separate from adults, in March SPN opened a small
detention facility for juveniles, which employed a social worker, a
psychologist, and a sociologist.
The Government permitted prison visits by local and international
human rights observers, and such visits took place 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 PNN is a single,
unified force responsible for law enforcement throughout the country
and is controlled by the Ministry of government. There were 9,410
officers and civilian personnel in the PNN and 1,866 voluntary police,
who filled staffing gaps in some areas. Through December the IG
reported 18 complaints involving 34 members of the voluntary police, of
whom 11 were punished.
Under the joint control of the PNN and the municipal governments,
municipal police are trained by the PNN, but their equipment and
salaries are paid by the local governments. Municipal police are
charged with protecting public property that is directly controlled by
the municipality, and they have legal authority to arrest and detain
suspects.
Inadequate budget support, including low salaries, for the PNN
hampered efforts to improve police performance and resulted in a
continuing shortage of officers. The army provided limited support in
rural areas, primarily to support counternarcotics efforts. Problems
and rivalries between the PNN and the army undermined operational
efficiency. Although the IG investigated and remanded to the court
system or punished through internal administrative measures cases
involving lower-level officers, corruption and impunity continued to be
a problem at senior levels within the police force.
In August an M&R poll revealed that only 15 percent of respondents
expressed a high degree of confidence in the police, and only 34
percent expressed a high degree of confidence in the military.
Approximately 32 percent of respondents perceived police corruption as
a serious problem.
Police Commissioner Aminta Granera forced the retirement of three
senior police officials--the Managua police chief, the head of the
national drug unit, and the head of the judicial police--based on
suspicion of corruption, bribery, and obstruction of justice (see
section 1.a.).
Police trainees are required to receive human rights instruction to
graduate from the police academy and become officers, and police
officers must be recertified in human rights annually. Police reported
that during the year many officers completed training focusing on
attitude change that addressed protection of individual human rights.
The army included human rights training in its core training curriculum
(see section 4).
Arrest and Detention.--Persons are apprehended openly, and the law
requires police to obtain a warrant from a judicial authority prior to
detaining a suspect and to notify family members of the detainee's
whereabouts within 24 hours. The law requires that a prosecutor
accompany police making an arrest. Detainees have the right to an
attorney as soon as they are arrested. Police may hold a suspect
legally for 48 hours before they must bring the person before a judge
to decide if charges should be brought. The judge then must order the
accused released or transferred to jail. Few prisoners were held
illegally beyond the 48-hour deadline (see section 1.c.). After the
initial 48 hours, the suspect has access to bail, visits from family
members, and legal representation. The IG investigated 127 reported
cases of arbitrary detention and took administrative action against 69
officers responsible in accordance with police disciplinary
regulations.
Statistics from the NPS indicated that the number of pretrial
detainees increased during the year, with approximately 21 percent of
prisoners awaiting final verdicts, compared with 16 percent in 2005.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the law provides for an
independent judiciary, the judicial system remained susceptible to
corruption and politicization. Many judicial appointments were made
based on nepotism, influence, or political affiliation. Once appointed,
many judges were subject to political and economic pressures that
affected their judicial independence.
The PLC and FSLN continued to manipulate the judiciary, with the
FSLN utilizing its political control of the judiciary to impede the
resolution of property claims. By year's end the property appeals court
had not effectively resolved approximately 1,000 outstanding property
claims. Many trial courts continued to render controversial judgments
in cases involving alleged drug traffickers. Appellate courts and the
Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) overturned convictions of persons found
guilty of drug trafficking and other defendants with ties to organized
crime.
While civil and criminal courts continued to expedite the judicial
process for those in prison awaiting a final verdict, human rights and
lawyers' groups continued to complain about the delay of justice caused
by judicial inaction.
In June and August Judge Ivania McCrea signed releases for two
convicted narcotraffickers from Bluefields prison on the grounds that
they suffered from hemorrhoids and hypertension. According to media
reports, however, the Bluefield's prosecutor prevented the release of
the two narcotraffickers.
On September 26, FSLN Deputy Chief Justice of the CSJ Rafael Solis
appointed 10 judges to the trial bench. He acknowledged that he made
these appointments in violation of the provisions of the Judicial
Career Law.
On October 17, pursuant to a search warrant, police seized firearms
from the residence of Juan Carlos Lanuza, who claimed the weapons
belonged to Nestor Moncada Lau, a former member of the Sandinista state
security force in the 1980s. At a preliminary hearing on October 20,
Judge Maria Concepcion Ugarte, who had issued the search warrant,
dismissed the charges against Lanuza on grounds of alleged
incongruities in the timing of the operation and procedural
discrepancies by the police and prosecution.
Former President Arnoldo Aleman, convicted in 2003 of money
laundering, fraud, and corruption, remained on medical parole following
a court decision to release him from house arrest in September 2005.
The judicial system comprises both civil and military courts. The
16-member CSJ is the system's highest court, administers the judicial
system, and nominates all appellate and lower court judges. The CSJ is
divided into specialized chambers on administrative, criminal,
constitutional, and civil matters. The law requires that the Attorney
General investigate crimes committed by and against juveniles. The
military code requires that the civilian court system try members of
the military charged with common crimes.
Trial Procedures.--Trials are public and juries are used.
Defendants have the right to legal counsel and are presumed innocent
until proven guilty. The law provides public defenders to represent
indigent defendants. Defendants can confront and question witnesses who
testify against them and also have the right to appeal a conviction.
The Napoleonic legal process continued to be used for some old cases,
particularly those which had been on appeal many times.
The country continued to lack an effective civil law system, with
the result that private litigants often filed their cases as criminal
complaints to force one party to concede to the party with more
influence over the judge rather than face the prospect of detention in
jail. This civil-based criminal caseload diverted resources from an
overburdened prosecutor's office.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law provides that
persons can bring lawsuits seeking damages for human rights violations
before civil courts. In practice, many members of the judiciary did not
render impartial judgments in civil matters and were not independent of
political or other influence. The law also permits litigants to resolve
civil claims through mediation. Due to bureaucratic inefficiencies,
litigants unable to resolve claims through mediation often had to wait
months or years for the courts to process their claims, including
enforcing domestic court orders. The system was subject to corruption;
citizens often paid bribes to judicial officials to expedite their
cases.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family 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.--Although the constitution provides
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice, several constitutional provisions
potentially qualify freedom of the press. The constitution stipulates
that citizens have the right to accurate information, which means that
the Government could abridge information that the Government deems
inaccurate. Although the right to information cannot be subject to
censorship, the law establishes a retroactive liability, implying the
potential for sanctions against the press. During the year the
Government did not invoke these provisions to suppress the media.
In December the National Assembly overrode a Presidential veto and
passed the Organic Law, which includes an article empowering
commissions of the National Assembly to subpoena any resident for any
reason deemed necessary by the commission. Persons failing to comply
with a request are subject to between one and three years'
imprisonment. NGOs complained that the law represented a substantial
threat to freedom of speech and press.
Journalists asserted that it remained extremely difficult to
produce balanced, nonpartisan media content, because political
interests owned or directly financed most radio and television
stations. The Presidential election campaign during the year further
contributed to a sharp narrowing of space for independent journalism. A
number of station owners pressured journalists to sell advertisement
space to their candidate or to party-affiliated businesses.
On January 4, CSJ Justice Rogers Camilo Arguello sent a letter to
the National Assembly waiving his right to immunity and also publicly
apologized to journalist Eloisa Ibarra for his December 2005 verbal
attack on Ibarra for questioning him about alleged involvement in
embezzling $609,000 (10.44 million cordobas) of drug money the court
had seized in 2004. On January 16, Ibarra filed a criminal complaint
against Arguello for slander, but on February 20, the case was
dismissed on appeal. The President of the Nicaraguan Journalists Union
criticized the dismissal, alleging that it demonstrated unwillingness
by the courts to protect journalists from harassment.
On February 23, the FSLN mayor of Granada, Alvaro Chamorro Mora,
and approximately 200 supporters blocked the entrance to La Prensa,
demanding that the newspaper stop publishing articles from
correspondent Arlen Cerda regarding alleged irregularities in the
Granada municipal government. On February 28, while Cerda and
photographer Guillermo Flores covered a meeting of the Granada City
Council, a number of people surrounding the mayor verbally insulted
Cerda and tried to assault Flores as he was filming them. The Inter
American Press Association condemned the Granada mayor's harassment of
La Prensa and its journalists and called on government authorities to
guarantee press freedom.
On two occasions in April unidentified persons in unmarked cars
stopped El Nuevo Diaro journalist Heberto Rodriguez and threatened him
with a gun (see section 4). Between January and March Rodriguez had
published several articles reporting financial abuses and corruption
concerning Human Rights Ombudsman Omar Cabezas.
On August 24, the station owner of Univision affiliate Canal 10
cancelled the airing of a prerecorded interview between correspondent
Tifani Roberts and Zoilamerica Narvaez, regarding Narvaez's sex abuse
lawsuit against her stepfather Daniel Ortega, because the station owner
had reportedly received death threats (see section 5).
On October 24, journalists Miguel Figueroa Rugama, Famnuel Ubeda
Henriquez, and Leonidas Rodriguez of Esteli Vision Radio 94.9 FM
received death threats from a group of FSLN supporters while covering a
preelection Ortega campaign caravan. The journalists filed a complaint
with the SEC, the public prosecutor, and the Public Ministry. At year's
end there were no developments regarding any investigation of the
matter.
In November FSLN supporters beat and forcibly removed Canal 2
reporter Martha Irene Sanchez as she attempted to approach a stage
where Daniel Ortega was speaking during the FSLN's Presidential
campaign closing rally in Matagalpa.
On November 9, the CSJ upheld the 25-year sentence of Eugenio
Hernandez, under appeal since March 2005, for the 2004 killing of La
Prensa journalist Maria Jose Bravo Sanchez.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chartrooms. 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 recognizes the right to public assembly,
demonstration, and mobilization in conformity with the law and requires
demonstrators to obtain permission for a rally or march by registering
its planned size and location with the police.
On September 30, following the breakdown of three weeks of labor
negotiations with company management, employees of the Arrocera
Altamira company took over the company and blocked the main access
roads (see section 6). Ten police and three workers were injured, and
14 workers were detained when police reopened the roads. Police
released five suspects and filed charges against the remaining nine
workers for crimes against a governmental authority and its agents. The
IG's investigation found that the police officers had not committed any
offense.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for the right to organize
or affiliate with political parties, and the Government generally
respected this right in practice. Private associations do not have
legal status to conduct private fundraising or receive public financial
support until they receive authorization from the National Assembly.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
All religious organizations, regardless of denomination, are
required to register for legal standing. The Government's requirements
for legal recognition of a church are similar to its requirements for
other private associations (see section 2.b.). A church must apply for
legal standing, which the National Assembly must approve. Following
approval, a church must register with the Ministry of government as an
association or a foundation and with the tax office to obtain tax-free
status. The registration process was at times lengthy and bureaucratic.
The Government considers foreign missionary groups seeking to engage in
activities related to religious work to be temporary residents and
requires them to obtain a religious worker visa, which the authorities
routinely provided.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts. The
Jewish community had fewer than 50 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 law provides for freedom of movement
within the country and freedom to travel and emigrate abroad, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice. The right of
citizens to return to the country is not established in the
constitution, but the Government did not restrict its citizens' return
in practice.
Statutory provisions prohibit forced exile, and the Government did
not employ it.
There were no reports of political violence against citizens
returning from civil-war-era, self-imposed 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. There was no information available on the number people
granted refugee status or asylum by the Government 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 held on the basis of universal
suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--On November 22, the CSE
declared Daniel Ortega of the FSLN the winner in the Presidential
elections with 38 percent of the popular vote in elections described by
international observers as generally free and fair. Ortega's victory
was facilitated by a 1999 legislative change that lowered the minimum
threshold for a first-round victory from 45 percent to 35 percent. Tens
of thousands of persons were precluded from voting in the Presidential
elections because the CSE delayed the printing and distribution of
voter identification documents. In simultaneous legislative elections,
the FSLN won 38 deputy seats, the PLC 25, the Nicaraguan Liberal
Alliance (ALN) 22, and the Sandinista Renewal Movement five.
There were 22 women in the 90-seat National Assembly, four women on
the 16-member CSJ, and two female ministers of the 12 cabinet-level
posts. No specific National Assembly seats were set aside for women or
minorities. As a result of the November 5 election, women were elected
to 24 out of 92 seats in the National Assembly.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was widespread
public perception of corruption and political deal making in many
government institutions, including the judiciary, the National
Assembly, the CSE, the Office of the Controller General, the PDDH, and
the Office of the National Prosecutor (see section 1.e.). The law does
not specify particular corruptive practices or make it a crime to cause
monetary damage to the state.
On September 21, the five-year statute of limitations expired in a
criminal case involving then solicitor general for property Denis
Maltez's 2001 forgery of official government documents and theft of
government funds through the undervaluation of $120,000 (2.04 million
cordobas) of government property. Maltez's undervaluing of the property
circumvented a legally mandated National Assembly vote and facilitated
his donation of the property to an NGO operated by then first lady
Maria Flores de Aleman. In September, after the expiration of the
statute of limitations for the case, the CSJ appointed Maltez as a
magistrate for the National Property Court, giving him immunity from
prosecution.
There was evidence of pervasive corruption in immigration services.
In October the Attorney General opened a criminal investigation,
resulting in the reported suspension of the Director of Immigration
Services Fausto Carcabelos for facilitating the illegal entrance into
the country of more than 100 immigrants from various countries,
authorizing the release of illegal immigrants from custody, and
conspiring to embezzle more than $600,000 (10,020,000 cordobas) from an
immigrant repatriation fund. An investigation in November revealed that
Carcabelos was involved in widespread trafficking of falsified visas
involving several of the country's embassies and consulates. On
December 11, President Bolanos reinstated Carcabelos as director of
immigration services, alleging a lack of progress in the investigation.
Although the constitution provides for public access to government
information, no law defines a mechanism for the transmission of the
information. There were no formal procedures for requesting
information, explaining why access to information was denied, or
appealing the denial of a request for access. In practice the
Government sometimes provided such access for citizens and noncitizens.
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
often were cooperative and responsive to their views with some
exceptions.
The NGO Permanent Human Rights Commission of Nicaragua (CPDH)
alleged discrimination by the CSJ and CSE due to CPDH's involvement in
a human rights lawsuit brought in June by members of the Miskito
indigenous community against several former Sandinista government
officials (see section 5). CPDH reported that the CSJ refused to
certify Miskito witness testimonies for an October hearing before the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and that the CSE
refused to accredit CPDH's electoral observers for the November
Presidential elections. CPDH reported that police authorities did not
investigate anonymous death threats that CPDH staff and their families
received throughout the year.
The autonomous, government-financed PDDH suffered from financial
problems, politicization, and loss of credibility among civil society
and was not effective. In March the media produced evidence that Human
Rights Ombudsman Omar Cabezas used nearly $3,000 (51,000 cordobas) in
PDDH funds to pay his personal assistant's medical bills. In July the
comptroller opened an investigation of the PDDH for mismanagement of
public funds, but as of year's end the PDDH had not complied with the
comptroller's requests for documents. During the year the ombudsman did
not publish any reports related to human rights violations.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Although the law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race,
gender, disability, language, or social status, in practice the
Government made little effort to enforce it. Few discrimination suits
or formal complaints were filed with government officials.
Women.--The most prevalent violations of women's rights involved
domestic and sexual violence, including spousal abuse, which was
widespread and underreported. The law criminalizes domestic violence
and provides up to six years' imprisonment for those found guilty. The
law provides for the issuance of restraining orders for women who fear
for their safety.
According to police statistics, 30,000 crimes against women were
reported during the first six months of the year compared with 32,000
reported for 2005, an increase of approximately 88 percent. There was
no information available for the second half of the year. More than 50
percent of complaints involved domestic violence, and more than 30
percent of crimes registered with the police were sex crimes. Police
stated that an unknown proportion of the increase resulted from
initiatives by police and NGOs to increase public awareness of family
violence (see section 5).
Between January and June the Ministry of Family reported a 58
percent increase in the number of sex abuse cases it handled. The NGO
Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH) received 216 complaints of
domestic violence in the first six months of the year compared with 197
for 2005. The NGO Network of Women Against Violence reported that 63
women were killed during the year due to domestic violence, estimated
that 60 percent of the country's women had suffered some kind of
violence, and also reported that only 3 percent of cases of violent
crimes against women were prosecuted.
Although laws specifically criminalize intrafamily violence,
studies released during the year by the Spanish Agency for Cooperation
and the NGO Ixchen indicated that the law was rarely enforced. Although
the law forbids mediation in intrafamily violence cases, the SAC study
reported that authorities referred 57 of the gravest abuse cases to
mediation.
The law criminalizes rape. While the law does not treat spousal
rape as a separate category, the law covers all forms of rape,
regardless of the relationship between the victim and the accused.
Women can seek to have the law against rape applied against spouses who
have sexually assaulted them. The PNN reported receiving 1,066 rape
complaints between January and October, compared with 1,212 reported
rape complaints in 2005. Many women were reluctant to report abuse or
file charges due to the social stigma attached to rape. NGOs asserted
that the law against rape was not effectively enforced.
In September Police Commissioner Aminta Granera announced a ``Break
the Silence'' campaign to raise public awareness about intrafamily
violence, and help victims of domestic abuse identify themselves as
crime victims and denounce perpetrators. According to the PNN, the
campaign trained 5,914 persons to provide victim support. With the
assistance of police, civil society, and educational institutions it
also undertook approximately 1,400 awareness-raising educational and
media information activities. Media and NGO sources reported that
although the campaign and related efforts encouraged more women to
speak out about abuse situations, leading to an increase in reported
cases, the actual number of cases of violence and abuse remained
underreported.
During the year the number of women's commissariats increased from
23 to 27. The commissariats trained 2,080 students, teachers, and
police on identifying and handling domestic violence situations through
60 workshops. The commissariats also facilitated 129 discussions on
related topics involving more than 4,500 persons. The commissariats
provided social and legal help to women, mediated spousal conflicts,
investigated and helped prosecute criminal complaints, and referred
victims to other governmental and nongovernmental assistance agencies.
As of September 32,165 women had sought help from the commissariats,
and 10,964 of them had pressed charges against their alleged abusers,
an increase of 38 percent from 2005.
There was no resolution by the IACHR of the 2003 complaint of
Zoilamerica Narvaez that the Government had denied her due process in
2002 by dropping sexual molestation, harassment, and rape charges
against her stepfather, President elect Daniel Ortega (see section
2.a.). In May Narvaez petitioned CPDH and the IACHR to assist in
reviving her case. The IACHR agreed to hear the case in October but
postponed and later canceled the hearing. By year's end the IACHR had
not issued a ruling in the case.
Prostitution is legal for persons 14 years of age and older, but
the law prohibits its promotion, including procurement. Prostitution
was common, and in Managua most prostitutes worked on the streets or in
nightclubs and bars or offered sexual services in massage parlors.
According to the PNN there were no reported cases of sex tourism during
the year. The National Assembly approved a law criminalizing sex
tourism, imposing a penalty of five to seven years' imprisonment for
convicted offenders.
The law prohibits sexual harassment, and those convicted face
between one and three years' imprisonment, or between three and five
years' imprisonment where the victim is under 18 years old. During the
year police reported 298 cases, and the PDDH reported 278 cases, of
sexual harassment. The Network of Women Against Violence reported that
the law was rarely enforced and that police statistics did not fully
reflect the extent of the problem.
The PDDH and the Nicaraguan Women's Institute (Instituto
Nicaraguense de la Mujer) are the two principal government entities
charged with ensuring the legal rights of women. In addition, the PNN's
Office of the Superintendent of Women is responsible for enforcing the
law to protect women. According to women's advocacy NGOs, the office
was the most effective advocate available on behalf of women. Under the
law, women enjoy the same rights as men, including with regard to
family and property matters.
While the Ministry of Family established shelters for children,
there were no government-operated shelters dedicated for women victims
of violence and other forms of abuse. The Network of Women Against
Violence operated the only three shelters in the country that were set
up to assist women.
Children.--Although the Government publicly expressed its
commitment to children's human rights and welfare, it did not
adequately fund children's programs and primary education.
The law provides for free and compulsory education through the
sixth grade. Although some schools continued to require that students
pay voluntary fees for registration, exams, and other services, by
year's end the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports (MECD)
reported that these fees had been eliminated in 90 percent of primary
schools. According to MECD statistics approximately 800,000 school-age
children did not attend school. Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
data reported that 18 percent and 60 percent of primary and secondary
school-age children, respectively, did not attend school. Approximately
19 percent of the population over six years of age was illiterate,
especially on the Atlantic Coast. According to a report released during
the year by the Nicaraguan Coordinator of NGOs Working with Children
and Adolescence (CODENI), although nationwide 66 percent of enrolled
children finished primary school, on the Atlantic Coast and in the
Central Region, children completed on the average only 2.1 and 2.7
years of schooling, respectively.
PAHO reported that 20 percent of children under the age of five
suffered from chronic malnutrition. Approximately 25 percent of
children did not receive adequate medical treatment. Although medical
care was often limited, boys and girls had equal access.
Violence against children remained a significant problem. According
to the Center for Prevention of Violence, one of three girls and one of
five boys had been the victim of sexual abuse. Between January and
October police reported approximately 1,322 cases of physical and
sexual assault, statutory rape, and incest against minors. Additionally
police reported that 736 minors between 13 and 17 years and 1,230
minors under 13 were rape victims compared with 639 and 219,
respectively, throughout 2005. NGOs held that the increase in numbers
reported reflected a greater willingness among mothers to report
domestic violence. Government statistics showed that during the year,
82 minors between 13 and 17 years old died as result of violent crimes.
The PNN estimated that 10 percent of these victims were younger than
13.
Child prostitution remained a problem. The law permits juveniles 14
years of age or older to engage in prostitution (see section 5,
Trafficking).
Child labor was a serious problem (see section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law states that recruiting or
enrolling victims for the purpose of prostitution, within or outside
the country, constitutes trafficking. There were no official statistics
regarding the scope of trafficking in the country during year. NGOs
reported that persons were trafficked to, from, or within the country.
The country was a source for women and children trafficked for
sexual exploitation, with Costa Rica and Guatemala the primary
destinations for victims. Victims were also trafficked to Canada, the
United States, and El Salvador. Persons trafficked from the country to
foreign destinations usually were women and girls from poor
neighborhoods in urban areas; recruited ostensibly as domestic
servants, nannies, and waitresses; and then forced to work as
prostitutes in the countries of destination. Between January and June
the Ministry of Family repatriated 23 trafficking victims from El
Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States. The
PNN, army, and immigration authorities confirmed media reports that
young men from southern border areas were trafficked to Costa Rica for
labor exploitation.
Trafficking within the country usually involved poor rural women
and girls drawn to major urban centers to work as prostitutes. Young
women from poor areas of Managua and border towns were at greatest risk
from internal and external trafficking. According to PNN and media
reports, the victims of external trafficking were often approached by
acquaintances who offered lucrative job offers in neighboring
countries.
NGOs reported that many victims were trafficked using legal
migration procedures. Traffickers sometimes utilized the minimal
documentation requirements within the C-4 countries of El Salvador,
Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Honduras to transport Nicaraguan trafficking
victims. Traffickers also took advantage of the low price of falsified
immigration documents to move victims through the country. Unlike in
the previous year, NGOs indicated that there were no reports of
trafficking of victims through smuggling by boat across the Gulf of
Fonseca to Honduras and El Salvador.
Trafficking carries a sentence of between four and 10 years in
prison. The maximum penalty is applied against perpetrators in cases
where the victim is married, less than 14 years of age, or living as a
concubine with the perpetrator. There is no penalty for attempted
trafficking. Labor trafficking is not criminalized, and laws against
commercial sexual exploitation of minors do not protect all adolescents
under 18 years old.
During the year the Government initiated seven trafficking
investigations and closed down businesses where minors were sexually
exploited. Many victims remained unwilling to assist in investigations
or prosecutions. According to a report released by the PNN in November,
traffickers were rarely detained or prosecuted.
Between January and September the Ministry of Family coordinated
with the Salvadoran Institute for the Integral Development of Childhood
and Adolescence to return three girls victimized by traffickers in El
Salvador. The NGO Casa Alianza reported that it had information about
eight cases of trafficking during the year. Seven of these cases
involved children. In one of the cases a trafficker in Chinandega was
sentenced. Another case was closed due to lack of evidence. A third
case was ongoing at the end of the year. The Government was not able to
provide complete information on the number of persons prosecuted or
convicted for trafficking during the year.
The Ministry of Family and Ministry of government collaborated with
civil society organizations to launch a public awareness campaign to
prevent trafficking in persons. The ministries designated an emergency
24-hour hot line staffed by social workers, lawyers, and healthcare
workers to encourage reporting of trafficking incidents, and they
provided a vehicle to bring victims to safety. By year's end there were
reports that the hot line service was not fully operational and that
transportation was often not available.
The Ministry of government has primary responsibility for combating
trafficking through its antitrafficking liaison office, which
coordinates efforts with 16 ministries and autonomous government
agencies as well as with national and international organizations. The
Government worked with the International Organization for Migration and
the NGO Save the Children on investigations of trafficking cases. By
law the Government is not authorized to extradite its own citizens,
regardless of the crime.
The women's commissariats investigate abuse against women and
children, including trafficking allegations (see section 5). The
Ministry of government is in charge of the National Coalition Against
Trafficking in Persons, and the Office of the National Prosecutor is
charged with prosecuting trafficking cases.
The Ministry of government continued its awareness and capacity-
building activities throughout the country and held an education
program in Granada with the Ministry of Tourism to train hotel owners
and taxi drivers to encourage zero tolerance of commercial sexual
exploitation of children.
The Ministry of government reported that during the year the PNN
had increased its efforts to combat and prevent trafficking in persons
by disrupting operations, increasing police presence, and targeting
massage parlors, nightclubs, and other suspected areas of trafficking
activity.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical and mental disabilities, but in practice
such discrimination was widespread in employment, education, access to
health care, and in the provision of state services. The Government did
not effectively enforce the law with regard to protection of persons
with disabilities. The Government had not legislated or otherwise
mandated accessibility to buildings for persons with disabilities.
According to the Ministry of Education, 926 schools offered
integrated educational programs to approximately 5,000 children with
special needs compared with 2,500 in 2005. However, only 65 students
with disabilities were enrolled in regular secondary programs.
According to the Nicaraguan Institute of Statistics and Census,
10.25 percent of the population had some type of disability, few of
whom received adequate medical treatment. Government clinics and
hospitals provided care for war veterans and other persons with
disabilities, but the quality of care was generally poor. The
Government continued a public relations campaign focusing on greater
integration into society of persons with disabilities. The Ministry of
Family is responsible for the protection and advancement of rights for
persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Various indigenous and other
ethnic groups from the Northern and Southern Autonomous Atlantic
Regions (RAAN and RAAS) sometimes attributed the Government's lack of
resources devoted to the Atlantic Coast to discriminatory attitudes
toward ethnic, racial, and religious minorities that predominate in
those regions. In contrast with the rest of the country, the regions'
racial makeup tended to be black and Amerindian. Its religious
composition was principally Protestant.
Indigenous People.--Indigenous people constituted approximately 5
percent of the country's population and lived primarily in the RAAN and
RAAS. The four major identifiable indigenous groups were the Miskito,
the Sumo, the Garifuna of Afro-Amerindian origin, and the Rama.
In March the political party of the indigenous Miskito community,
Yatama, won 13 and six seats in the regional parliamentary elections in
the RAAN and RAAS, respectively. On March 14, Yatama supporters took
over the airport, and the office of the Regional Electoral Council
(CER) in Bilwi and blocked the major east-west road in the RAAN when
the CER initially awarded the party only 12 of the 13 seats earned in
the election.
In June CPDH filed a lawsuit with the CSJ on behalf of the Miskito
indigenous community. The lawsuit alleged genocide and other serious
human rights violations against several former leaders of the
Sandinista regime for the Red Christmas operation and related actions
taken against the Miskito and other Atlantic Coast communities during
the 1980s. Those cited in the complaint included then President Daniel
Ortega, his brother and former head of the Sandinista army Humberto
Ortega, former Sandinista minister of the interior Tomas Borge, former
Sandinista director of state security Lenin Cerna, and Omar Cabezas,
former deputy at the Ministry of the Interior and current human rights
ombudsman. In October CPDH presented the case before the IACHR (see
section 4).
By year's end the Government had not paid an $80,000 (1.36 million
cordobas) penalty imposed by the IACHR to be paid to Yatama before
December 31. The penalty was imposed pursuant to the commission's July
2005 ruling against the CSE's decision to prohibit Yatama from
participating in the 2000 elections.
In September the Mayangna indigenous community of Musawas in the
RAAN became the first indigenous group to complete the registration
process required by the National Commission of Demarcation and Titling
to demarcate, title, and register their territory. On the Atlantic
Coast there were 17 indigenous territories seeking formal demarcation,
titling, and registration.
Although the law requires that the Government consult indigenous
people regarding the exploitation of their areas' resources, as in
previous years some indigenous groups and organizations, including
Yatama, complained that government authorities excluded Atlantic Coast
indigenous people from meaningful participation in decisions affecting
their lands, cultures, traditions, and the allocation of natural
resources. Representatives of autonomous regions and indigenous groups
regularly complained to the Government, media, and NGOs that the
Government made no effort to invest in infrastructure for the benefit
of those who lived in those regions.
The majority of indigenous people in rural areas did not have
access to modern health care, and deteriorating roads made medicine and
health care almost inaccessible for many communities. The rates of
unemployment, illiteracy, and absenteeism of school-age children were
among the highest in the country. Most of the indigenous population on
the Atlantic Coast was engaged in subsistence fishing, farming, and
mining.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Although sexual
orientation is not mentioned specifically, the constitution states that
all persons are equal before the law and have the right to equal
protection. The penal code criminalizes homosexual acts with a penalty
of between one and three years' imprisonment, but this prohibition was
not enforced.
The law provides specific protections for persons with HIV/AIDS
against employment and health services discrimination. During the year
there were no reports of police or other authorities perpetrating or
condoning violence against persons based on sexual orientation or HIV/
AIDS status, and there were no reliable statistics on the extent of
societal discrimination based on sexual orientation or HIV/AIDS status.
The Government undertook minimal effort to address discrimination based
on sexual orientation or HIV/AIDS status.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of all
public and private sector workers, with the exception of those in the
military and police, to organize voluntarily in unions, and workers
exercised this right in practice. Workers are not required to notify
either the employer or the Ministry of Labor in advance of their
intention to organize a union.
Although employers are legally required to reinstate workers fired
for union activity, the Ministry of Labor cannot legally order
employers to rehire fired workers. Formal reinstatement requires a
judge's orders. The law allows employers to obtain permission from the
Ministry of Labor to dismiss any employee, including union organizers,
provided the employer agrees to pay double the usual severance pay. In
practice, employers often did not reinstate workers due to weak
enforcement of the law.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to bargain collectively. A collective bargaining
agreement cannot exceed two years and is automatically renewed if
neither party requests its revision. While the Government protected
this right, in practice it often sought to foster resolution of labor
conflicts through informal negotiations rather than formal
administrative or judicial processes. Companies engaged in disputes
with employees must negotiate with the employees' union if the
employees are organized. The possible existence of more than one union
at a place of employment means that several unions, each with different
demands, may coexist at any one enterprise. The law permits management
to sign collective bargaining agreements with each union operating at
the enterprise.
Although the law recognizes the right to strike, according to labor
ministry information, there were no legal strikes during the year. The
law contains burdensome and lengthy conciliation procedures for calling
a strike. During a strike, employers cannot hire replacement workers.
If a strike continues for 30 days without resolution, the Ministry of
Labor will suspend the strike and submit the matter for arbitration.
On September 30, following the breakdown of three weeks of labor
negotiations with company management, employees of the Arrocera
Altamira company began a strike, took over the company and blocked
access roads. The strike was declared illegal and the police entered
the facility to restore order. As a result of these actions, police
arrested nine workers. The IG reported that the police released the
arrested workers without pressing charges shortly after order had been
restored (see section 2.b).
There were repeated allegations of violations of the right to
organize, especially in the free trade zones (FTZ), where employers
fired or harassed employees who were trying to form unions. Labor
organizers reported that these incidents increased in the FTZs after
the country implemented legislation for the Central America Free Trade
Agreement in April.
There were credible reports that the Ministry of Labor issued
registrations to employer-backed unions within a few days while
delaying issuance of registrations to independent employee unions for
months. The ministry also reportedly failed to take corrective action
for labor violations reported by its inspectors, favored employers in
union disputes, and revealed the names of union leaders to employers,
facilitating the leaders' dismissal. There were no statistics
available, however, to document these patterns.
Between June and August the FTZ garment factory Atlantics fired 26
workers affiliated with a union formed in June. The company rehired six
of the workers on condition that they sign contracts prohibiting them
from labor organizing. Following an appeal brought by the union, on
August 31, the Ministry of Labor ordered the factory to ``unfire'' the
workers, issuing a return to work resolution. On September 1, the
factory appealed the decision claiming the ministry lacked legal
authority to reinstate the workers. On September 12, the ministry
upheld the September 1 appeal by the employer without notifying the
union of the ministry's reversal of the August 31 order.
In August the Ministry of Labor reversed a reinstatement order on
appeal regarding the firing of workers at the FTZ garment factory
Calypso Apparel. On September 20, the Ministry of Labor referred the
Atlantics and Calypso Apparel cases, along with a similar dispute at KB
Manufacturing, where 35 union organizers were fired, to the Labor
Issues Commission in the National Assembly. In October a special
subcommission convened to negotiate agreements with Atlantics and
Calypso Apparel by which the workers were reinstated. At year's end the
National Assembly had not negotiated a reversal of the firing of the
union organizers at KB Manufacturing.
By year's end the FTZ garment factory Mil Colores had fulfilled
most of its outstanding financial obligations, including providing
severance payments to workers fired in 2004.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the 41 FTZs. While many workers in the FTZs were represented by one of
approximately 35 different union organizations associated with five
labor confederations, less than 10 percent of FTZ workers were union
members. A number of these unions did not have effective collective
bargaining power.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
any type of forced or compulsory labor but does not specifically
address forced or compulsory labor by children, and such practices
occurred (see section 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Whereas the law provides for the protection of children's rights and
prohibits any type of economic or social exploitation of children,
child labor was a widespread problem. According to a study published
during the year by the National Survey of Adolescent and Child Labor
(ENTIA), the number of working children under the age of 18 had
declined by more than 5 percent since the year 2000 to approximately
239,000, of which approximately 36 percent were under the age of 14. A
study by the International Labor Organization reported that more than
25,000 children worked as domestic employees.
ENTIA statistics revealed that child labor occurred in both urban
and rural areas and that 76 percent of children were employed in the
informal sector. More than 60 percent did not receive direct
compensation for their labor, working instead for a family venture or
goods in kind. More than 135,000 children worked in agriculture,
forestry, fishing, and hunting, with the majority working in coffee
plantations or at a subsistence level to support their families.
Approximately 22 percent worked in restaurants, hotels, and other
commercial businesses. The incidence of children engaged in garbage
scavenging, street vending, and prostitution continued to be a serious
problem in urban areas (see section 5).
The labor law sets the minimum age for employment at 14 years and
limits the workday to six hours. Children between 14 and 16 must have
parental approval to work. Although the law imposes fines for violators
and permits inspectors to close facilities employing child labor, rules
controlling child labor rarely were enforced except in the small formal
sector.
The National Commission on Child Labor, which includes government
ministries, local and international NGOs, and the private sector,
continued its campaign to raise awareness about the problem of child
labor and its social implications for the country over time. The
Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing child labor laws, but
the Government did not allocate adequate resources to enable the
ministry to perform its duties effectively.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The statutory minimum wage is
set through tripartite negotiations involving business, government, and
labor and must be approved by the National Assembly. Each key sector of
the economy has a different minimum wage, which must be reviewed every
six months. A new minimum wage scale took effect on March 2, ranging
from $50 (869 cordobas) in the agricultural sector to $117 (2018
cordobas) in the financial sector. A Central Bank comparison at the
time of the minimum wage increase revealed that average wages in six of
the 10 key sectors were above the minimum wage. Agricultural and
fisheries workers, however, earned an average of only 30 and 19
percent, respectively, of the mandated monthly salary. In general the
minimum wage was enforced only in the formal sector. The national
minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker
and family. In every sector, the minimum wage was between 30 and 70
percent below the $174 (3,000 cordobas) that the Government estimated
an urban family needed monthly for a basic basket of goods.
Although the standard legal workweek is a maximum of 48 hours, with
one day of rest, this provision was routinely ignored by employers who
often claimed that workers readily volunteered for these extra hours
for additional pay. While the law mandates premium pay for overtime and
prohibits excessive compulsory overtime, these requirements were not
always effectively enforced.
The law establishes occupational health and safety standards, but
the Office of Hygiene and Occupational Security in the Ministry of
Labor lacked adequate staff and resources to enforce these provisions.
Working conditions often did not meet acceptable international
standards. Workers in some factories in the FTZs complained of poor
working conditions, unsafe drinking water, forced unpaid overtime, and
of being told when they could not go to the toilet. In one factory,
several pregnant women complained that management would not allow them
to visit the doctor for medical appointments during work hours. The law
provides workers with the right to remove themselves from dangerous
workplace situations without jeopardizing their continued employment,
but many workers were unaware of this right. In the first half of the
year, CENIDH received 244 complaints related to working conditions from
various sectors.
During the year eight lobster divers on the Atlantic Coast died and
approximately 600 others suffered decompression sickness injuries
resulting from the failure of employers to provide appropriate
occupational health and safety training and adequate diving equipment.
NGOs reported that the Government had not inspected diver working
conditions during the year. The President of the Divers and Mariners
Union in the Northern Autonomous Region reported to the media that
employers had provided basic technical diving training to only
approximately 2 percent of the 4,000 lobster divers. At year's end the
Ministry of Health declared that lobster fishing should be suspended,
and local governments of the Atlantic Coast coordinated with PAHO to
begin funding a basic lobster diver training program.
__________
PANAMA
Panama, a representative multiparty democracy with an elected
executive composed of a President and two vice Presidents, has a
population of approximately three million. In 2004 national elections,
which were considered by international and domestic observers to be
generally free and fair, voters elected as President Martin Torrijos of
the Democratic Revolutionary Party. The civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
Although the Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, there continued to be serious problems in several areas. The
most significant human rights problems included harsh prison
conditions, with reports of abuse by prison guards; prolonged pretrial
detention; corruption, ineffectiveness, and political manipulation of
the judicial system; political pressure on the media; discrimination
and violence against women; trafficking in persons; discrimination
against indigenous people and other ethnic minorities; 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.
There were no developments concerning the 2004 request of the
Fourth Superior Prosecutor that two off-duty Panamanian National Police
(PNP) officers be tried for homicide in the 2001 killings of two men
whose bodies were found on the beach in Punta Chame.
Pursuant to the country's acceptance of responsibility before the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for certain crimes
committed during the 1968-1989 military dictatorship, the Government
continued to evaluate these cases on an individual basis. By year's end
the Government had discussed settlement with two families.
In March the Public Ministry ordered the detention of Ricardo
Garibaldo in connection with the 1970 disappearance and death of
Heliodoro Portugal, the subject of a 2002 petition before the IACHR.
Garibaldo surrendered, was brought to trial, and died on July 6, the
day the judge was scheduled to rule on his case.
The Office of Truth Commission Continuation continued its request
to the Public Ministry to open or reopen 16 cases and to pursue 17
other cases of killings during the 1968-89 military dictatorship.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
In January the Attorney General named a temporary prosecutor to
follow up on the Office of the Truth Commission Continuation's 2004
request to investigate 33 cases, including the 33 cases that the office
had requested the Public Ministry to open or reopen, of killings or
disappearances during the 1968-89 military dictatorship. There were no
new developments regarding the identification of 16 to 20 human bodies
found in 2004 buried in the former penal island of Coiba. The Office of
the Truth Commission Continuation and the Public Ministry continued to
lack funds to conduct DNA tests to identify the remains, and the area
continued to be unguarded by authorities. Due to bureaucratic delays,
the Public Ministry did not disburse assigned funds to support
excavations and investigations regarding the 1971 disappearance of
Colombian-born Catholic priest Hector Gallego. The commission
questioned why this particular case received special funding while
other cases received no additional resources.
In contrast with 2005 there were no reports from indigenous groups
of alleged kidnapping or disappearances due to Colombian insurgents in
Darien Province. In January Colombian insurgents kidnapped and later
released two Spanish nongovernmental organization (NGO) workers near
Jaque in Darien Province.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits treatment or punishment that
harms the physical, mental, or moral integrity of persons.
Prison guards sometimes physically abused inmates. As of September
the PNP Office of Professional Responsibility (DRPO) had investigated
eight cases of police abuse against prison inmates. During the year the
Office of the Ombudsman (Defensoria del Pueblo) received 17 complaints
of abuse against PNP guards.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh and, in some cases, life-threatening. Many of the problems within
the prisons continued to be due to overcrowding and lack of separation
of inmates according to the type or severity of the crime committed. By
year's end the prison system, which had an official capacity of 7,271
persons, held 11,575 prisoners. Most prisons remained dilapidated and
overcrowded. Despite the ombudsman's 2004 recommendation that the
Government begin closing La Chorrera prison due to overcrowding and
very unsanitary conditions, it remained open. Abuse by prison guards,
both PNP and civilian, was a recurrent problem. Between January and
November police officials received and investigated eight cases of
alleged abuse by prison guards. DRPO investigations resulted in
administrative sanctions against 15 agents. As of December the Public
Ministry was considering the prosecution of two superior officers for
alleged abuses.
Medical care for prisoners was inadequate. AIDS, tuberculosis,
hepatitis B, and other communicable diseases were common among the
prison population.
The La Joya and La Joyita prisons resolved water shortage problems
experienced in 2005. During the year prisoners had access to potable
water 24 hours per day. By year's end 18 inmates had died due to
various causes including AIDS, suicide, stabbing, heart attack,
intoxication, and asphyxiation.
The General Penitentiary Inspection Directorate (DGSP) replaced 22
civilian correction officers who were discharged for corruption.
The DGSP largely depended on 1,200 PNP officers to supply both
internal and perimeter security at all prisons. There were 610
custodians for the entire prison system. As in previous years the DGSP
continued to use regular PNP officers to fill staffing gaps. PNP
officers sometimes were untrained for prison duty. In prisons
controlled by the PNP, prisoners complained of ongoing human rights
violations, such as limited time outside of cells and limited access to
family visits. Civilian custodians handled inmates within Nueva
Esperanza, Tinajitas, El Renacer, and the central women's prisons in
Panama and Chiriqui provinces. The women's prisons used only female
guards. The DGSP did not have authority to discipline prison guards
with criminal or civil sanctions but submitted complaints against PNP
custodians before the PNP. Only the PNP disciplinary board could
sanction a PNP agent or a custodian.
Small jails attached to local police stations around the country
sometimes held prisoners for the entire length of their sentences, but
police officers who guarded them lacked the necessary custodial
training to prevent abuses.
A pilot program for classifying inmates based on type of crime
committed, which began in El Renacer in 2005, was extended during the
year to Tinajitas, Nueva Esperanza, and the women's prisons in Panama
and Chiriqui provinces.
Even though conditions at women's prisons and at juvenile detention
centers were noticeably better than at adult male prisons, female
prisoners, especially in primary detention areas, reportedly suffered
from overcrowding, poor medical care, and lack of basic supplies for
personal hygiene.
With the exception of one modern facility near Panama City,
juvenile pretrial and custodial detention centers throughout the
country suffered from inadequate resources to provide for education or
supervision.
By year's end 7,153 inmates who had not been convicted remained in
prison. Pretrial detainees often shared cells with sentenced prisoners
due to lack of space.
In contrast with 2005, there were no reports of independent human
rights groups denied or otherwise impeded access to prisons. The
ombudsman's office had an established prison visit program, and the
Government generally allowed ombudsman staff to speak with prisoners
without monitoring. Prisoners expressed fear of retaliation if they
complained. The NGO Justicia y Paz, the Catholic Church's human rights
monitoring group, brought prison abuses to the attention of the
authorities.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions. The law permits exceptions when an officer apprehends a
person during the commission of a crime, or when an individual
interferes with an officer's actions. The law provides that suspects be
brought promptly before a judge. Lack of prompt arraignment, however,
continued to be a problem. The law requires arresting officers to
inform detainees immediately of the reasons for arrest or detention and
of the right to immediate legal counsel. There is a functioning bail
system, and detainees were allowed prompt access to family members.
Police arrested and detained children for minor infractions during
neighborhood sweeps, but there were no credible statistics reported
during the year on the number of children arrested in these operations
(see section 5).
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Judicial Technical
Police (PTJ) and PNP are the only police agencies in the country.
Although its primary mission is law enforcement, the PNP was also
detailed for prison and border security. The country has no army. The
PNP is under the civilian authority of the Ministry of government and
Justice. There were approximately 15,211 police officers. The PTJ, a
semiautonomous body with leadership appointed by the Supreme Court of
Justice, is a separate branch of law enforcement and perform criminal
investigations in support of public prosecutors. The law includes
specific guidelines for the use of force, including deadly force;
requires that police officers respect human rights; and prohibits
instigation or tolerance of torture, cruelty, or other inhuman or
degrading behavior.
Corruption among police officers remained a problem. Although PNP
and PTJ directors sometimes enforced disciplinary measures against
officers with proven involvement in illicit activities, in general both
organizations took corrective actions only in reaction to cases of
egregious abuses. In December the Attorney General dismissed PTJ Deputy
Director General Eric Bravo following a March 2005 request by
authorities to dismiss Bravo on charges of manipulating an
investigation to favor his personal friends.
The PTJ and the PNP had offices of professional responsibility to
act as internal affairs organs for holding officers accountable for
their actions. Both had staffs of independent investigators,
administrative authority to open internal investigations, and a defined
legal process. During the year the PNP increased its internal affairs
staffing and trained nine investigators to conduct polygraph
examinations.
The PNP's deputy director and the secretary general addressed human
rights problems that arose in the police force. Between January and
September the PTJ received an average of 26 complaints per month. The
human rights ombudsman also received complaints against the police for
abuse of authority but did not provide statistics (see section 4). As
of December the DRPO had received 1245 complaints against police,
including 295 cases of abuse of office or unprofessional behavior and
135 cases of physical mistreatment. Through December the DRPO imposed
penalties on 330 officers, including reductions in rank, criminal
prosecutions, and dismissals.
By year's end the PNP had removed one officer from his job, and the
criminal court had dismissed provisionally charges against three other
officers relating to alleged sexual abuse of minors in 2005 in Darien
Province. The minors were not in police custody or detention at the
time of the alleged abuses (see section 5).
The PTJ received complaints from the public, and officers could
make anonymous complaints of corruption and other problems. By the end
of the year the PTJ Office of Professional Responsibility had opened
206 new cases. The PTJ dismissed 31 agents, 14 for abandonment of duty,
as a result of investigations by its professional responsibility office
and the human resources office.
Although the PNP provided some training during the year, including
physical tactics training in the use of force, not all PNP staff
members were trained in the use of force. All PNP physical tactics
trainers received an updated course on the use of non- and less-lethal
force. The course was adapted to entry level and in-service PNP
training. The ombudsman's office provided human rights and legal
training to PNP officers assigned as prison guards.
Arrest and Detention.--The law provides for judicial review of the
legality of detention, mandates the immediate release of any person
detained or arrested illegally, and prohibits police from detaining
suspects for more than 24 hours without bringing them before a judge.
The preliminary investigation phase may last from eight days to two
months and the follow-on investigation phase another two to four
months, depending on the number of suspects. The courts and the Public
Ministry frequently granted extensions of time limits, leaving the
accused in detention for long periods without formal charges. Court
officials and other observers criticized judges and prosecutors for
excessive use of this measure. While the law provides for bail, in
practice judges often declined to grant it. Detainees were allowed
prompt access to legal counsel and family members, and the Government
provided indigent defendants with a lawyer.
Extended pretrial detention continued to be a serious human rights
problem, due in part to the use of a written inquisitorial system.
According to government statistics, approximately 62 percent of
prisoners were pretrial detainees. The average period of pretrial
custody was 24 months, and pretrial detention in excess of the maximum
sentence for the alleged crime was common.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the law provides for an
independent judiciary, the judicial system was susceptible to
corruption and outside influence, including manipulation by other
branches of government. The President appoints nine Supreme Court of
Justice magistrates to 10-year terms, subject to National Assembly
ratification. The Supreme Court of Justice magistrates in turn appoint
appellate (Superior Tribunal) judges, who appoint circuit and municipal
court judges in their respective jurisdictions. Although these judicial
appointments were supposed to be made under a merit-based system, the
system was undermined by political influence and undue interference by
higher-level judges.
At the local level, mayors appoint administrative judges
(corregidores), who exercise jurisdiction over minor civil cases and
who hold wide powers to arrest and to impose fines or jail sentences of
up to one year. Outside of Panama City, this system had serious
shortcomings. Defendants lacked adequate procedural safeguards.
Administrative judges usually were not attorneys, had not completed
secondary education, and in some cases were corrupt. In practice appeal
procedures were nonexistent. Affluent defendants often paid fines while
poorer defendants went to jail, contributing to prison overcrowding
(see section 1.c.).
Trial Procedures.--The law provides that all citizens charged with
crimes have the right to counsel, to be presumed innocent until proven
guilty, to refrain from incriminating themselves or close relatives,
and to be tried only once for a given offense. If not under pretrial
detention, the accused may be present with counsel during the
investigative phase of the proceeding.
Trials are open to the public. The law provides for trial by jury
at the defendant's election but only in cases where at least one of the
charges is murder. Judges may order the presence of pretrial detainees
for the rendering or amplification of statements or for confronting
witnesses. Trials are conducted on the basis of evidence presented by
the public prosecutor. Whereas defendants have the right to be present
and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner, the law permits
trials without the accused being present under limited circumstances.
Defendants can confront or 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 a right of appeal.
The law obliges the Government to provide public defenders for the
indigent. Many public defenders were appointed late in the
investigation, after the prosecutor already had evaluated the bulk of
the evidence and decided either to recommend trial or to dismiss the
charges. Public defenders' caseloads remained extremely high, averaging
over 450 cases per attorney per year. Ten new attorneys were added to
the staff during the year, bringing the total number to 47.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution and the
judicial code establish an independent judiciary in civil matters.
Political manipulation of the judicial system remained a problem, and
bureaucratic delays hindered access to judicial and administrative
remedies for human rights violations. There were problems in enforcing
domestic court orders.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--Whereas the law prohibits such actions and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions, there were
complaints that in some cases, law enforcement authorities failed to
follow legal requirements and conducted unauthorized searches.
In an effort to prevent unauthorized searches, the Public Ministry
maintained a representative to approve searches in each of the PTJ's
divisions. The representative approved several searches during the
year.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press. In practice individuals generally enjoyed
freedom of expression, although there were some attempts to impede it.
The independent media were active and expressed a variety of views
without restriction. The Government owned one educational television
station, SERTV/11, and one radio station, Radio Nacional. The law
prohibits newspapers from holding radio and television concessions and
vice versa. International media operated freely in the country.
Journalists and press freedom advocacy organizations reported that
the Government engaged in substantial manipulation of the free flow of
information. Journalists alleged that the Government purchased
advertising space to reward news organizations for publication of
stories favorable to the Government and withdrew advertising funding
from news organizations engaged in unfavorable coverage of the
Government. There remained pending legal actions against many
journalists. The IACHR, the Inter-American Press Association, Reporters
Without Borders, and other groups criticized these measures as efforts
to censor the press.
The ombudsman office delegate position responsible for freedom of
expression and access to information became vacant on February 15.
Journalists alleged that the absence of a functioning delegate deprived
them of an important advocate. At year's end no progress had been made
in 15 libel cases pending against journalists since 2005. There were no
new developments in the two-million-dollar civil damage lawsuit filed
by Supreme Court Justice Winston Spadafora against El Panama America
journalists for defamation of character. Spadafora objected to their
reporting of his use of public funds to construct a road near his home.
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 the right of freedom of assembly and association and the Government
generally respected it in practice.
There were no further developments and none were expected regarding
cases filed with the Public Ministry relating to alleged police
brutality of 22 persons held in detention as a result of a 2004
incident in Bocas del Toro involving attempts by antiriot police to
open roads closed by protesting local residents.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion
provided that ``Christian morality and public order'' are respected,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
The law prohibits clerics from holding public office, except as
related to social assistance, education, or scientific research. Roman
Catholicism enjoyed certain state-sanctioned advantages over other
faiths, including the teaching of Catholic theology in public schools.
Parents had the right to exempt their children from religious
instruction.
The ombudsman received one complaint from a Rastafarian child
denied access to public school because of his refusal to cut his hair
on religious grounds. The case remained pending at year's end.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses, discrimination, or anti-Semitic acts. There was a
Jewish population of approximately 10,000 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 law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice. A 9:00 p.m. curfew
directed at unaccompanied minors in Panama City and San Miguelito
remained in effect.
The law prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports of its
use.
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 sometimes granted refugee status or asylum.
A 1998 decree grants protection to all persons entering the country
due to ``state persecution based on race, gender, religion,
nationality, social group, or political opinion.'' The decree grants
two months' temporary protection to ``displaced persons'' in the case
of a large influx. In practice the Government did not enforce the two-
month time limit. The 1998 decree provides for a meeting by the
Government's refugee commission every three months to determine the
status of persons seeking refugee status. The commission met three
times during the year and granted asylum to 135 persons. In December
the commission granted refugee status to 42 persons from the indigenous
Wounaan community who came to the country in May from Colombia's Darien
Province.
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 901 persons during the year.
According to the Office of the UN High Commission for Refugees
(UNHCR), there were 901 displaced Colombians under temporary protective
status in the country. Many of them had given birth to children in the
country. There often were problems in registering these children as
citizens due to lack of documentation. The Government did not permit
displaced Colombians to move or work outside of their assigned
villages. Although the Government was reluctant to classify displaced
Colombians as refugees, it took some steps with the Government of
Colombia and UNHCR to regularize the status of these Colombians under
other immigration categories. Some of the Colombians had lived in the
country for years without formal refugee status. The 901 displaced
Colombians who remained in the country informed the Government and
UNHCR that they did not want to return to Colombia due to family and
cultural ties with local communities among whom they lived.
The Government cooperated with UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. UNHCR had a
permanent office for the country operating out of Panama City and was
granted unimpeded access to refugees and UNHCR project sites.
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. The law
provides for direct popular election by secret ballot of the President,
the vice President, legislators, and local representatives every five
years. Naturalized citizens may not hold certain categories of elective
office.
Elections and Political Participation.--Democratic Revolutionary
Party candidate Martin Torrijos won the presidency in 2004 national
elections characterized by domestic and international observers as
generally free and fair.
The law requires new political parties to meet strict membership
and organizational standards to gain official recognition and
participate in national campaigns. The law also requires political
parties to be structured democratically, permits independents to
campaign for the National Assembly, increases the autonomy of the
Electoral Tribunal, and limits the immunity of representatives in the
National Assembly by permitting the Supreme Court of Justice to
prosecute criminal cases against representatives.
Women held 11 of 78 seats in the legislature. There were three
women in the 13-member cabinet and two female judges on the Supreme
Court of Justice, one of whom was black and appointed as chief justice.
The Attorney General was a woman.
There were five dedicated seats in the 78-seat legislature to
represent the country's recognized indigenous regions. In general
deputies in the legislature, the cabinet, and the Supreme Court of
Justice did not identify themselves as members of ethnic or racial
minorities.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--According to the NGO
Transparency International, a perceived level of serious domestic
corruption worsened during the year. Political parties, the National
Assembly, police and the judiciary were perceived as the most corrupt
government entities.
During the year the Attorney General's office and the comptroller
general's office implemented broad institutional reforms to improve
their capacity to prosecute corruption through a multidisciplinary
anticorruption task force.
The transparency law provides public access, including from foreign
media, to information from and about public entities, with the
exception of cabinet meeting minutes. When requests were denied, the
reasons for the denial were given. Requesters can appeal access
decisions to the Supreme Court of Justice.
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.
The human rights ombudsman's office had moral but no legal
authority. It operated without government or party interference and had
adequate resources. The Government cooperated with the ombudsman.
During the year the office received one anonymous complaint against a
local government official for corruption.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuse, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender,
disability, language, or social status, but there were allegations that
these prohibitions were not always effectively enforced.
Although the law specifically prohibits discrimination involving
entry to public or commercial establishments and sets fines from $250
to $1,000 (250 to 1000 balboas) for violations, many commercial
establishments continued openly to operate a ``right of admission''
policy, discriminating against dark-skinned individuals of lower social
status. Cases of discrimination were difficult to prove, with
complicated, time-consuming, and costly legal remedies for victims.
Women.--Domestic violence against women continued to be a serious
problem. The Family Code criminalizes rape, spousal rape, and family
violence, including psychological, physical, or sexual abuse, and
provides prison terms of one to five years. Convictions for rape were
rare, and statistics on convictions were not available. There were few
convictions for domestic violence because victims generally chose
spousal therapy over prosecution. Abusers were commonly convicted of
unintentional killing in cases of spousal death. Between January and
September the PTJ had registered 1,224 cases of domestic violence, 588
cases of rape, and 120 cases of attempted rape. The PTJ reported that
it investigated every case it received during the year. Between January
and December the DRPO reported that it had received 336 cases of
domestic violence and one case of rape committed by officers. The DRPO
dismissed the officer accused of rape.
Spouses or other family members frequently perpetrated domestic
violence. The Foundation for the Promotion of Woman and the Center of
Colon Women, among other women's advocacy groups and government
agencies, operated programs to assist victims of abuse and to educate
women on their legal rights.
Prostitution was legal and regulated, but there was no information
available during the year on the extent to which it occurred.
Trafficking in women was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment in cases of established
employer/employee and teacher/student relations, and violators can
receive one- to three-year prison sentences. The extent of the problem
was difficult to determine because convictions for sexual harassment
were rare, and pre-employment sexual harassment was not actionable. Due
to the small number of cases brought before the courts, effectiveness
of law enforcement could not be ascertained.
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender, and women
enjoy the same rights as men, including rights under the family law,
the property law, and the judicial penal system. Although the law
recognizes joint or common property in marriages, the Government did
not allocate sufficient resources to enforce the law effectively.
The law mandates equal pay for men and women in equivalent jobs,
but in practice women on the average received wages that were 30 to 40
percent lower than those received by men. Although women constituted
the majority of workers in many service jobs, they occupied only 40
percent of management and executive positions. There were some reports
of irregular hiring practices based upon age and appearance.
The Ministry of Social Development, through the National
Directorate of Women, promoted equality of women in the workplace and
equal pay for equal work, attempted to reduce sexual harassment, and
advocated legal reforms. A number of private women's rights groups
disseminated information about the rights of women, countering domestic
abuse, enhancing employment and other skills, and pressing for legal
reforms.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare. Education is compulsory through the ninth grade, and the law
establishes free public education through high school. Children did not
always attend school due to traditional attitudes, financial and
economic constraints, lack of transportation, and scarcity of secondary
schools. The problem was most extreme in Darien Province and among
indigenous groups. According to the 2000 census, the most recent
available, 65 percent of persons nationally between the ages of 15 and
19 had some schooling beyond the sixth grade. In the Embera and Ngobe-
Bugle indigenous regions, however, only approximately 18 percent of
persons ages 15 to 19 had schooling beyond the sixth grade.
Schools did not differentiate in their treatment between boys and
girls. School attendance figures were identical for boys and girls
through elementary school. Beginning at the junior high level, more
girls attended schools than boys (130,000 versus 125,000).
The Government furnished basic health care for boys and girls on an
equal basis through local clinics run by the Ministry of Health, but
clinics were difficult to reach from rural areas and often lacked
medicine. Malnutrition and inadequate medical care were generalized
problems and were most severe among rural indigenous groups. A central
children's hospital in Panama City operated with government funds and
private donations.
Through September the PTJ registered 505 cases of child abuse and
neglect. Sexual abuse, including incest, accounted for 201 of these
cases. Lack of reporting remained a problem, often because of parental
involvement or complicity. Sexual abuse of children was reported in
both urban and rural areas, as well as within indigenous communities.
The Ministry of Social Development received complaints regarding
physical abuse of children. The ministry maintained a free phone line
attended by psychologists and social workers for children to call to
report abuses and implemented a television campaign encouraging its
use. By June the ministry had received an average of 424 calls per day
mainly related to neglect and physical and emotional abuse. Victims
were directed to police authorities, hospitals, and protection centers
for support.
Due to inadequate government resource allocations and training,
family courts continued to render controversial decisions, including
the return of children to abusive situations. The juvenile penal courts
in Panama and Colon provinces reported 143 new cases against juveniles.
Gang recruitment of minors by young adults, especially in Panama
City and San Miguelito, continued to increase, with recruiters focusing
on procuring youth to engage in killing for hire. Police arrested and
detained children for minor infractions during neighborhood sweeps.
At year's end charges were dismissed provisionally against three
high-ranking police officers under investigation since 2005 for sexual
abuse of minors in Darien Province (see section 1.d.).
Trafficking in children and child labor were problems (see sections
5, Trafficking, and 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits trafficking in
persons, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, and
within the country. The magnitude of the problem was difficult to
determine because the country was a transit point for illegal economic
migrants who were not forced into prostitution or debt bondage but who
used similar smuggling routes. It was thought that women and children
were trafficked during the year within the country for purposes of
sexual exploitation, but there were no statistics available on numbers
of persons actually trafficked within the country.
The Ministry of government and Justice is responsible for
developing policies to reduce trafficking in persons, and the Ministry
of Social Development has responsibility for protecting victims through
shelters and related services. The PTJ Sex Crimes Unit is charged with
investigating and arresting persons involved in trafficking.
The law criminalizes trafficking and pornography and proscribes the
promotion of sex tourism and use of the Internet for soliciting victims
for trafficking and sexual exploitation. Persons who engage in human
trafficking for purposes of sexual activity can receive five to eight
years in prison, or in the case of a minor, eight to 10 years. The law
permits undercover operations and the monitoring of suspects' computers
in sex crime cases. There were no convictions during the year of any
individuals engaged in trafficking of persons.
The National Committee for the Prevention of Sexual Crimes
(CONAPREDES) provided additional funding for combating trafficking and
for victims' assistance.
There was evidence that rural children were trafficked internally
to work as domestic servants in urban areas. The country also was a
destination point for trafficked women. Colombia remained the primary
country of origin for trafficked women. Although many Colombians came
willingly to the country apparently intending to become prostitutes,
anecdotal evidence suggested that some were forced to continue as
prostitutes after they sought to end their involvement.
The country was a transit point for persons in prostitution from
Colombia to other Central American countries and the United States.
Although some of these women were assumed to be trafficking victims,
the Government could not verify numbers. Alien smuggling remained a
widespread problem. Most aliens came from Ecuador, Peru, Colombia,
China, and India. They transited the country by means of smuggling
networks in route to the United States. Some were trafficked for debt
bondage, including Chinese debt bondage in the country. The
Government's consular officers in Jamaica, Guatemala, and Mexico
provided assistance to Panamanian trafficking victims in those
countries.
The Government allocated inadequate funding and resources to the
PTJ Sex Crimes Unit. As of December the unit had investigated five
cases of sexual trafficking, 24 cases of child pornography, 21 cases of
procurement of persons for commercial sexual activities, four cases of
sexual tourism, and eight cases of child molestation. The prosecutor's
office initiated its own investigations. The Government did not provide
the prosecutor with adequate resources to conduct undercover
investigations or to perform its other duties. The Public Ministry
received three reported cases of trafficking in persons in Panama City.
Information sharing between the Government and other countries
occurred, but it needed to be strengthened as did coordination among
the PTJ Sex Crimes Unit, the PNP, and immigration authorities.
The PNP and the Immigration Department conducted raids every two to
three months on bars and brothels, but lack of government funding
limited undercover operations. There were no further developments in
the case of a foreign national who owned a club with female dancers and
was charged with procurement in May 2005, nor were there further
developments regarding the May 2005 investigation by immigration
authorities and the PTJ of a massage club where Colombian workers
complained that the owners seized their passports.
In many of the cases investigated for possible trafficking
violations, defendants alleged that the purported trafficking victim
could not have been trafficked because that person entered the country
as a visitor and then applied for an alternadora visa. The holder of an
alternadora visa is legally permitted to engage in commercial sexual
activities. During the year the Immigration Department reinstated the
alternadora visa despite opposition from the Attorney General's office.
Commercial sexual exploitation of minors continued to be a problem.
Commercial sexual exploitation remained primarily an internal issue.
Perpetrators, however, included foreigners, and there continued to be
limited evidence of international trafficking networks of minors to or
through the country.
The law does not hold trafficking victims criminally responsible
for prostitution or immigration crimes. The law provides for
indemnification of victims of trafficking, even if they return to their
native country, and for costs of medical and psychological treatment,
temporary housing, legal fees, and emotional suffering.
The Ministry of Social Development continued providing shelter and
other services to victims of commercial sexual exploitation, using
substitute families, its own shelter, and the shelter of an NGO it
subsidized.
During the year the Government worked with the International Labor
Organization (ILO) on trafficking issues, including the production of
1,056 pamphlets on sexual exploitation and trafficking for distribution
to public school educators. On August 31, the ILO and CONAPREDES held a
workshop for media owners on awareness of trafficking issues and victim
protection. Throughout the year the ILO and CONAPREDES conducted a
media campaign on trafficking awareness including two television
commercials and four posters.
NGO and government efforts in prevention and education remained
limited by inadequate allocation of governmental resources and
coordination problems.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination based
on physical or mental disability. While awareness of disability issues
increased under the Torrijos administration, substantial discrimination
continued against persons with disabilities in employment, education,
access to health care, and in the provision of other state services.
Most public schools did not have adequate facilities for children with
special needs. The Government took some steps, including installing
ramps in schools and some mainstreaming of children with disabilities,
to decrease discrimination. The law mandates access to new or remodeled
public buildings for persons with disabilities and requires that
schools integrate children with special needs. During the year
approximately 175 public schools built ramps and admitted children with
mental and physical disabilities. Children with severe disabilities
were not included in the mainstreaming effort. Most public schools did
not have adequate facilities for children with special needs. Private
schools built ramps to comply with the law mandating access. Very few
private schools, however, admitted children with special needs. During
the year the ombudsman's office received 22 complaints of violations of
the rights of persons with disabilities.
The National Secretariat for the Social Integration of Persons with
Disabilities (SENADIS) was responsible for protecting the rights of
persons with disabilities. It coordinated and provided technical
assistance to government and civil society efforts to decrease
discrimination against and increase inclusion of persons with
disabilities. The Council for the Social Integration of the Disabled
supported SENADIS and consisted of members of civil society and several
ministries. The Ministry of Education was responsible for educating and
training minors over the age of four with disabilities, while the
Ministry of Social Development provided training to children under
four. Pursuant to a January commitment by several government agencies
to fund rehabilitation centers, in July authorities opened two new
centers for children with disabilities in Chiriqui and Veraguas
provinces.
The Ministry of Labor was responsible for placing workers with
disabilities in suitable jobs. Placement remained difficult due to
employer reluctance to hire workers with disabilities despite a legal
requirement that at least 2 percent of personnel be persons with
disabilities. Persons with disabilities also tended to be paid less
than employees without disabilities for performing the same job.
Panama City's building code requires that all new construction
projects meant to serve the public shall be accessible to persons with
disabilities, with fines for the public sector between $100 and $500
(between 100 and 500 balboas) for noncompliance. A national law with
similar requirements for new construction projects generally was not
enforced, and in some cases the ramps built did not comply with the
minimum legally required lengths and widths. Some handicapped-
designated parking spaces were not wide enough to allow for exit and
entry of wheelchairs from vehicles. SENADIS began a campaign to
increase voluntary compliance.
During the year the Government began a project to train 800 low-
income families with at least one member with disabilities to open
microbusinesses. The Government also inaugurated the remodeled
facilities of the city's largest rehabilitation center at a cost of
$150,000 (150,000 balboas). The Government also began disbursing one
million dollars (one million balboas) in subsidies to 800 low-income
parents of children with disabilities. The Government donated
rehabilitation equipment, including crutches, wheelchairs, and cerebral
palsy chairs to persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Minority groups generally have
been integrated into mainstream society, but there remained problems
with discrimination against blacks, indigenous people, and other ethnic
communities. Discrimination against the country's newer immigrants,
especially Chinese, sometimes was overt. There were an estimated 150
thousand to 200 thousand persons of Chinese descent. Cultural
differences and language difficulties hindered many Chinese immigrants
from fully integrating into mainstream society. Racial slurs directed
at Asians continued to be used openly among the general population, and
substantial numbers of first-generation resident Chinese frequently
were subject to discrimination. Second- and third-generation Chinese
were seen as distinct from recent immigrants and generally were
accepted in society if they assimilated.
Along with the Chinese, Middle Eastern and Indian residents also
continued to suffer from discriminatory treatment. All three groups
often worked in the country's retail trade, particularly in urban
areas. Immigrants were accorded fewer legal protections than citizens
for their trade activities. A constitutional provision reserving retail
trade for citizens of the country was not enforced generally. By law,
however, immigrants are not permitted to own their businesses as sole
proprietorships and sometimes encountered bureaucratic difficulties in
practicing their professions.
Racism against blacks was generally subtle and often connected with
admission or entry to restaurants, clubs, and other commercial
establishments. Blacks comprised at least 14 percent of the population
but were underrepresented in the highest positions of political and
economic power. Many blacks remained clustered in the economically
depressed province of Colon and poorer neighborhoods of Panama City.
The country's lighter-skinned elite discriminated against citizens
with darker skin through preferential hiring practices in the private
sector and manipulation of government resources in the public sector.
Racial discrimination against various ethnic groups was evident in
the workplace. In general lighter-skinned persons were represented
disproportionately in management positions and jobs that required
dealing with the public, such as bank tellers and receptionists.
Indigenous People.--The law affords indigenous persons the same
political and legal rights as other citizens, protects their ethnic
identity and native languages, and requires the Government to provide
bilingual literacy programs in indigenous communities. Indigenous
persons, comprising approximately 9.5 percent of the population, have
the legal right to take part in decisions affecting their lands,
cultures, traditions, and the allocation of natural resources. There
were indigenous regions governed by tribal chiefs for five of the
country's seven indigenous groups, including the Embera-Wounaan, Ngobe-
Bugle, and Kuna. The much smaller Bri-Bri and Naso communities,
residing near the border with Costa Rica, did not have officially
recognized indigenous regions.
The Ministry of government and Justice maintained an Office of
Indigenous Policy. Although federal law is the ultimate authority on
indigenous reserves, local groups maintained considerable autonomy. The
Government recognized traditional Kuna marriage rites as the equivalent
of a civil ceremony. Laws protect intellectual property rights of
indigenous artwork and establish regulations for artisan fairs. Despite
legal protection and formal equality, indigenous people generally had
higher levels of poverty, disease, malnutrition, and illiteracy than
the rest of the population. The poverty rate among the indigenous
population was estimated at between 90 and 98 percent, depending on the
group.
With the exception of the Kuna Yala, whose leaders enforced their
territorial boundaries and maintained their cultural integrity,
indigenous groups had not succeeded in using their autonomy to preserve
their culture or develop economic independence.
Because many indigenous persons did not have an adequate command of
Spanish, they often misunderstood their rights and failed to employ
legal channels when threatened. The Government did not provide legal
tribunals in indigenous areas and failed to attend to specific
indigenous property and resource use rights problems. The Kuna of the
Madugandi indigenous region complained of encroachment by settlers who
were deforesting their lands. The Ngobe were under threat due to the
isolation of their reserve, encroachment by settlers, and generalized
poverty. The Embera-Wounaan struggled to protect their intellectual
property rights concerning medicinal plants.
Social and employment discrimination against indigenous people was
widespread. Employers frequently did not afford indigenous workers
basic rights provided by the labor laws such as minimum wage, social
security benefits, termination pay, and job security. Indigenous
laborers in the country's sugar, coffee, and banana plantations
continued to work under worse conditions than their nonindigenous
counterparts. Indigenous migrant workers were unlikely to be provided
with quality housing or food, and their children were much more likely
to work long hours of heavy farm labor than nonindigenous children (see
section 6.d.).
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--A law prohibiting
homosexuality was not enforced. The March gay pride parade was headed
by former Miss Universe Justine Pasek, who asked for tolerance. The NGO
New Men and Women of Panama averred that employers discriminated
against openly gay people.
The law prohibits discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS in
employment and education, but discrimination continued to be common due
to ignorance of the law and of HIV/AIDS. The Government provided
treatment for HIV/AIDS in at least 80 percent of cases through the
Ministry of Health and Social Security, but the Government had problems
maintaining retroviral medication in stock.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law recognizes the right of
private sector workers to form and join unions of their choice, subject
to the union's registration by the Government. The law sets the minimum
size of private sector unions at 40 workers and permits one union per
establishment. Umbrella unions based on skill groups may also operate
in the same establishment. The law provides that if the Government does
not respond to a registration application within 15 days, the union
automatically gains recognition with all rights and privileges under
the law. Union associations complained that such automatic registration
did not function in practice. Employees of small companies may organize
under a larger umbrella group of employees with similar skills and form
a union as long as they number at least 40 persons. The law also allows
labor leaders to keep their union positions if fired from their jobs.
There were no developments regarding the 2005 request by the ILO
Committee of Experts that the Government take measures to amend
national legislation requiring a minimum of 50 public servants to
establish a union.
By year's end there were no reliable statistics on the percent of
the total labor force that was organized.
There were no developments during the year regarding demands by 270
dismissed public-sector electricity and telecommunications workers for
compensation additional to the Government's November 2005 payment of
$800,000 (800,000 balboas) to them resulting from a 2001 ruling of the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
The Government and political parties exercised political,
ideological, or financial influence over some unions.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides all private sector and most public sector workers with the
right to organize and bargain collectively, and private worker unions
exercised this right widely. The law establishes a conciliation section
in the Ministry of Labor to resolve private labor complaints and
provides a procedure for mediation.
Public workers had an association consisting of 21 public worker
associations, but this association did not strike or negotiate
collective bargaining agreements because only approximately 14.5
percent of government workers were protected from arbitrary dismissal
as certified career employees. During the year the ombudsman's office
reported that it had received 214 complaints of alleged unjustified
dismissal from public employees. The law grants some public employees a
limited right to strike, except for those in areas vital to public
welfare and security such as police and health workers. At least 25
percent of the workforce must continue to work to provide minimum
service in the case of administrative workers, and 50 percent of
workers providing ``essential public services,'' such as
transportation, firefighting, telecommunications, and mail, must
continue to provide those services. There was no information regarding
whether the Government had responded to the ILO Committee of Experts
2005 comments that inclusion of transport workers under the law
regarding limitation on strikes in essential services sectors went
beyond essential services in the strict sense of the term.
The law prohibits federations and confederations from calling
strikes. There were no developments regarding the request by the ILO
Committee of Experts in 2005 that legislation be amended to permit
federations and confederations to enjoy the right to strike.
The law governing the autonomous Panama Canal Authority prohibits
the right to strike for its 9,000 employees but does allow unions to
organize and to bargain collectively on such issues as hours and safety
and provides for arbitration to resolve disputes.
Employers in the retail industry commonly hired temporary workers
to circumvent labor code requirements for permanent workers. In lower-
skilled service jobs, employers often hired employees under three-month
contracts for several years, sometimes sending such employees home for
a month, and later rehired them. Employers also circumvented the law
requiring a two-week notice for discharges by dismissing some workers
one week before a holiday. Due to labor laws that made it difficult to
fire employees who had worked two years or more, it was not uncommon to
hire workers for one year and 11 months and subsequently lay them off.
Employers increasingly negotiated directly with unorganized workers
before unions formed or had a majority presence in the workplace.
According to data from the Ministry of Labor, since 1990 approximately
645 of 998 collective agreements were negotiated directly between
employers and workers.
Unions and collective bargaining are permitted in export processing
zones (EPZs). There was no information regarding any response by the
Government to the ILO Committee of Experts 2005 request that the
Government confirm whether workers in EPZs have the right to strike. A
strike is considered legal only after 35 workdays of conciliation are
exhausted; otherwise, striking workers can be fined or fired. The law
regarding EPZs does not mention arbitration or specify procedures to
resolve labor disputes in the courts.
The same labor laws governing EPZs apply to call centers. There
were approximately 945 employees in the country's 13 EPZs and up to
10,000 employees in 34 call centers. Minimum wage provisions apply in
the EPZs and call centers, and wages were generally higher in the call
centers than in the economy as a whole. In the EPZs, workers could
agree to take the law's compulsory Sunday rest period on another day
and to receive overtime compensation based on a straight 25 percent
differential, compared to a complex and costlier system under the Labor
Code.
The law establishing the special economic area in the former Howard
Air Force Base contains provisions intended to facilitate greater labor
flexibility along the lines of the minimum wage and required rest day
provisions employed in the EPZs. Workers in this special economic area
have the right to strike, organize, and engage in collective
bargaining.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by adults and children, and there
were no reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law contains provisions to prevent exploitation of children in the
workplace. The Ministry of Labor has responsibility for enforcement.
Although the Government allocated inadequate staffing and funding, the
ministry was reasonably effective in enforcing the law regarding child
labor in the formal sector. As of December the ministry had performed
369 inspections of businesses in Panama City to ensure compliance with
child labor regulations, as well as 139 inspections in the interior of
the country. Child labor in agriculture and in the informal sector of
the economy, however, remained a problem.
On June 12, the Government issued a decree identifying the worst
forms of child labor in the country, and proscribing child labor
involving inherently dangerous activities, including work performed
underground, using dangerous chemicals, using heavy machinery, as well
as work involving construction, selling alcoholic beverages, garbage
collection, and domestic service in homes.
The law prohibits the employment of children under 14 years of age,
with the exception that children age 12 and over are permitted to
perform light farm work for up to six hours per day that does not
interfere with their school hours. The law prohibits the employment of
children under age 15 if the child has not completed primary school.
Child labor was a problem in some provinces and some economic sectors.
Children under age 18 legally cannot work more than six hours per
day and cannot work at night. The law includes a prohibition on
employment of minors under the age of 18 in hazardous labor. The
Ministry of Labor enforced these provisions in response to complaints
and could order the termination of unauthorized employment. The
Government acknowledged that it was unable to enforce some child labor
provisions in rural areas, and it conducted only limited inspections
due to insufficient staff (see section 6.e.).
Child labor violations occurred most frequently in rural areas, in
both subsistence and commercial agriculture, especially during the
harvest of sugar cane, coffee, palm, melons, and tomatoes. Farm owners
often paid according to the amount harvested, leading many laborers to
bring their young children to the fields to help with the work. Unlike
last year, there were no credible reports that child labor continued in
the commercial banana sector.
The problem of child labor in agricultural areas fell most heavily
on indigenous families, who often migrated out of their isolated
reserves in search of paid work (see section 5). These frequent
migrations interrupted schooling.
Child domestic labor was a problem. According to the 2000 census,
more than 6,000 children between the ages of 10 and 17 worked as
domestic servants. Government enforcement of domestic labor violations
was traditionally weak because the place of work was a private
residence.
Many children continued to work in the informal sector of the
economy as street vendors, shoe shiners, car window washers, grocery
baggers in supermarkets, trash pickers, or beggars. A 2005 ILO survey,
the most recent available, estimated that 52,000 children between the
ages of five and 17 worked in the informal sector. The Government
estimated that there were 15,000 children employed or working on their
own informally in urban areas. Approximately 45 percent of these
children did not attend school.
The Government, the ILO, and the NGO Casa Esperanza funded a
campaign of television commercials and advertising to stop child labor.
Casa Esperanza operated 56 centers throughout the country to reduce
child labor, and through its DESTINO project it operated 41 educational
centers for children and youth.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law establishes minimum wage
rates for specific regions and for most categories of labor, excluding
public sector workers. The minimum wage ranged from $0.89 (0.89
balboas) to $1.68 (1.68 balboas) per hour, depending on the region and
sector. This wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family. The estimated annual poverty income level was $953
(953 balboas), which was below the minimum wage level. Most workers
formally employed in urban areas earned the minimum wage or more.
Approximately 40 percent of the population, however, worked in the
large informal sector and earned far below the minimum wage. This was
particularly the case in most rural areas, where unskilled laborers
earned from three to six dollars (three to six balboas) per day without
benefits. The Government did not enforce labor laws in most rural
areas.
The law establishes a standard workweek of 48 hours; provides for
at least one 24-hour rest period weekly, limits the number of hours
worked per week, provides for premium pay for overtime, and prohibits
excessive or compulsory overtime. The Ministry of Labor generally
enforced these standards in the formal sector.
The Ministry of Labor is responsible for setting and enforcing
health and safety standards and generally did so. As of December the
Ministry of Labor had conducted 2,179 workplace inspections in Panama
City and 5,331 inspections in the interior to verify compliance with
labor laws.
Although inspectors from the Ministry of Labor and the occupational
health section of the Social Security Administration conducted periodic
inspections of hazardous employment sites and responded to complaints,
the Government failed to enforce adequately health and safety
standards. Construction workers and their employers were lax about
conforming to basic safety measures. Workers have the right to remove
themselves from situations that present an immediate health or safety
hazard without jeopardizing their employment. They generally were not
allowed to do so if the threat was not immediate but could request a
health and safety inspection to determine the extent and nature of the
hazard.
__________
PARAGUAY
Paraguay is a constitutional republic with a population of
approximately 6.3 million. The President is the head of government and
head of state. In 2003 voters elected Nicanor Duarte Frutos of the
Colorado Party as President in generally free and fair elections. The
country has a multiparty electoral system but has been governed by the
Colorado Party for 60 years. The civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
Although the Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, there were serious problems in some areas. There were reports
of killings by the police and military, which the Government
investigated. Convicted prisoners, other detainees, and conscripts were
subject to abuse by government authorities. Prisons were routinely
overcrowded and violent. In isolated cases, the civil rights of
citizens were violated by arbitrary arrest and detention and lengthy
pretrial detention. The judiciary remained inefficient and subject to
corruption and political influence. Police occasionally used excessive
force against illegal but generally peaceful demonstrations. Violence
and discrimination against women remained a problem, as did trafficking
in persons, discrimination against persons with disabilities and
indigenous persons. Protections for worker rights and child labor were
inadequately enforced.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--While the Government
or its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings,
security forces were responsible for killings involving the use of
unwarranted or excessive force. There were reports of police officers
killing persons while acting outside the scope of their duties and of
deaths in custody.
Members of the National Commission for Citizen Security (CONASEG),
which was created by Presidential decree to give citizens a role in
supporting the National Police, were accused of killings, robbery,
assault, harboring and protecting drug and arms traffickers in cities
located in the Alto Parana Department such as Ciudad del Este,
Presidente Franco, Minga Guazu, and Hernandarias. CONASEG units in
these cities and two other jurisdictions were under investigation for
killings; however, no CONASEG members had been prosecuted by year's
end.
On July 11, CONASEG members in San Jose del Norte, San Pedro
Department, allegedly killed Luis Martinez and injured Zacarias Vega,
who managed to escape. Martinez and Vega were community activists who
campaigned for peasants' rights and against the excessive use of
agricultural pesticides. Family members received death threats and were
warned not to pursue an investigation into the case. The case remained
pending at year's end.
On November 26, Leoncio Piatti, a former member of CONASEG in
Obrero (a neighborhood in Asuncion), killed Josais Adan Valiente Ovelar
(12 years old) with a gun shot to the head. Piatti reportedly suffered
from delirium. He had been expelled from CONASEG but continued his
activities. An investigation remained pending at year's end.
On January 17, police in Arroyo Costa, Paraguari, allegedly
tortured to death Agustin Cristaldo. Police reportedly stopped
Cristaldo as he walked to a friend's home, beat and shot him in the
legs, then took him to the police station where beating continued until
he died. The case remained pending at year's end.
According to a congressional report, on January 9, six police
officers in Iturbe, Guaira Department, beat and tortured to death
Miguel Angel Benitez, whom they had detained for public drunkenness and
making threats. On February 2, more than 200 residents of Iturbe
marched to protest the killing. The Attorney General's investigation
remained pending at year's end.
On February 3, police officers Crispin Brizuela and Gabriel Ramon
Duarte Lopez killed Alberto Escobar Silvero in Tavai, Caazapa
Department, for allegedly driving his motorcycle directly at the
officers. The Congressional Human Rights Commission reportedly heard
evidence questioning the officers' account of the situation and
suggesting that police used excessive force. The case remained pending
at year's end.
An investigation continued in the case of police subcommissioner
Francisco Ramon Rojas Aveiro who was detained in July 2005 on charges
of ordering the killing of three persons in San Pedro in January 2005.
The case of a police officer, a cadet in the Military Academy, and
two others arrested in August 2005 for killing Lucio Luis Vera remained
pending at year's end.
In June 2005 police action to evict families from property claimed
by a Brazilian settler in Tekojoja, Caaguazu Department, resulted in
the deaths of Angel Cristaldo and Leopoldo Torres, who were members of
the Agrarian and Popular Organization, and injuries to five others.
Authorities arrested the settler, Ademar Aloisio Opperman, and several
of his employees for their role in the killings. There were 25 suspects
in the case, three of whom were in prison, and the case remained
pending at year's end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
Enrique Galeano, host of a news and music program on the Horqueta-
based Radio Azotey, disappeared on February 4 while on his way home
from work near the city of Yby Yau, Concepcion Department. On March 29,
National Police Commandant Fidel Isasa Palacios put all police
officials in Yby Yau as well as some officials from nearby Azotey on
administrative leave pending the investigation and named a new lead
investigator. Galeano had reported on and criticized powerful political
figures for corruption and involvement in narcotics trafficking. At
year's end, Galeano was still missing, and the investigation into his
disappearance continued.
Political figures Juan Arrom and Anuncio Marti, members of the
Patria Libre Party (PPL), accused of kidnapping Maria Edith Bordon de
Debernardi in 2001, remained in Brazil, where authorities granted them
political asylum in 2003. In June 2005 the lead prosecutor in the case
stated that the same band of individuals involved in the Debernardi
kidnapping was also responsible for the February 2005 killing of
Cecilia Cubas, daughter of former President Raul Cubas, who had been
kidnapped in 2004. In October 2005, after the Attorney General filed
formal charges, a judge indicted 15 suspects in the case, all of whom
had ties to a militant faction of the PPL. Twelve of the 15 suspects
were found guilty on November 28 and, on December 1, were sentenced to
between five and 35 years' imprisonment. Several other PPL members fled
to Argentina and Bolivia seeking asylum. Five fugitives in Argentina
were in the custody of authorities there awaiting return to the country
(a sixth fled to Bolivia after the others were arrested). Two who fled
to Bolivia obtained refugee status on June 30 by virtue of a Bolivian
Refugee Commission decision. While the Bolivian Supreme Court decided
in August to revoke their refugee status, the two had not yet been
returned to the country and were reportedly missing at year's end. Nine
other suspects in the case remained at large.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the law prohibits such practices, there were
reports that some government officials continued to employ them. The
Paraguayan Human Rights Coordinating group (CODEHUPY)--comprising 37
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), civic organizations, and trade
unions--reported several cases of police torture and other abusive
treatment of persons, including women and children, designed to extract
confessions, punish escape attempts, or intimidate detainees.
CODEHUPY noted increased overcrowding and violence and
deterioration in food safety and medical care in the penal system, as
well as a failure to separate prisoners (accused and convicted persons,
women and men, and adults and children). CODEHUPY highlighted 52 deaths
within the prison system during the year. CODEHUPY reported that
torture and other inhumane acts remained a significant problem within
prisons, acts for which police or prison guards enjoyed impunity.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak noted in a
November 29 statement that torture was widely practiced during the
first days of police custody. ``In particular,'' he reported, ``the use
of torture to obtain confessions is a standard practice in Ciudad del
Este and other regions, where the methods used include beatings,
stripping detainees naked, placing plastic bags over their heads, and
squeezing their testicles.'' The rapporteur cited ``impunity'' as one
of the most important reasons for the continuing practice of torture
and ill-treatment, noting that ``there have been no convictions for
torture, and very few prosecutions, if any, since the criminal code
entered into force in 1999.''
An investigation continued at year's end in the case of Marcial
Martinez Amarilla, a member of the Popular Rural Campesino
Organization, who stated that, in March 2005, police in Valle Pe,
Guaira Department, entered his home, forcibly apprehended him without a
warrant for his arrest, and tortured him for three hours on suspicion
of cattle theft.
There were no known developments in the December 2005 case of Juan
Carlos Silvero Medina in San Juan Nepomuceno, Caazapa Department, who
was detained for more than 10 hours for allegedly disturbing the peace
and severely beaten. An investigation remained pending at year's end.
There were several reports of members of the police harassing, and
beating civilians, particularly while responding to land invasions and
protests.
There were accusations of sexual misconduct and rape by senior
military officials. On May 2, several female cadets claimed they had
been sexually assaulted or raped by their superiors. The military
released a preliminary report in August indicating that some of the
allegations could not be substantiated. The allegations remained under
investigation at year's end.
The law allows the human rights ombudsman to investigate and seek
monetary compensation in cases of human rights abuses stemming from the
1954-89 Stroessner regime. Since his appointment in 2001, the ombudsman
ruled that 1,198 of 2,122 victims who filed petitions were entitled to
compensation and awards ranging from $583 to $17,500 (3.1 million to
94.5 million guaranies). More than 400 victims (or family members)
either already received payments or were due to receive payments,
according to the ombudsman. Since 1993, 3,583 human rights cases have
been filed, predominantly stemming from the Stroessner era. Although
the Truth and Justice Commission continued to investigate and document
human rights abuses between 1954 and October 2004, a tight budget
constrained its progress. On October 4, the Truth and Justice
Commission exhorted President Duarte to release Armed Forces files for
the purpose of clearing up the mystery behind forced disappearances
during the Stroessner dictatorship. Also in October the Inter-American
Court on Human Rights found the Government culpable and stated that it
should pay the victims of Operation Condor who were tortured or killed
under the Stroessner regime.
In his November 29 statement, the UN special rapporteur on torture
noted that he had ``received allegations about the beating of
conscripts and degrading treatment, such as a form of hazing known as
descuereo, which involves forcing individuals to carry out extreme
forms of exercise as a method of punishment.'' The Government
distributed to all military units booklets that the UN resident
representative prepared on human rights practices.
On June 20, Defense Minister Roberto Gonzalez, then commanding
general of the Armed Forces Jose Kanazawa, and then foreign minister
Leila Rachid officially apologized on behalf of the Government for the
deaths in 1989 and 1995 of two minors-Gerardo Vargas Areco and Victor
Hugo Maciel--conscripted into the military.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison facilities were
deficient, and prison conditions were extremely poor. Overcrowding,
unsanitary living conditions, and mistreatment were the most serious
problems affecting all prisoners.
In August a special Senate Committee on Prisons released a report
on its investigation of abuse and conditions at the prisons. The study
found that prisons remained in ``deplorable'' conditions, an assessment
unchanged from the previous year. Most prisons were overcrowded, lacked
sufficient infrastructure to accommodate the inmates, needed additional
security guards, required maintenance, and raised serious health
concerns. Former commission President Senator Ana Maria Mendoza de Acha
also noted that guards forced female inmates of Buen Pastor into
prostitution at the Tacumbu prison.
According to CODEHUPY, Tacumbu prison, the largest in Asuncion, was
built to hold approximately 1,000 inmates but held more than 3,000 for
most of the year, of whom approximately 2,400 were awaiting trial.
Regional prisons generally held approximately three times more inmates
than their intended capacity. The exception is the new prison facility
in Coronel Oviedo, Caaaguazu Department, completed in late 2005, which
has a capacity of 600 but held approximately 400 inmates.
Security was a problem throughout the prison system. There were
only 540 prison guards for 6,530 inmates in the entire prison system,
which consists of 17 penal institutions. The national ratio of one
guard for 12 inmates was much higher at Tacumbu prison in Asuncion,
Central Department, where there were approximately 40 guards for
approximately 3,000 prisoners (or one guard for 75 inmates). Inmates
frequently had weapons, particularly at the Emboscada prison in Minas,
Cordillera Department. Escapes and escape attempts were frequent, while
corruption among prison guards and judicial officials remained a
problem.
On June 25, prisoners attempted an escape at Tacumbu prison, using
a large amount of explosive material, which weakened the prison's
exterior reinforced wall. The military deployed to restore order and
did not allow the National Police or the prison guards to enter. It was
widely believed that some guards were complicit and allowed the
explosive material to be smuggled into the facility.
Sixteen prisoners escaped from Emboscada prison in Minas,
Cordillera Department, on August 26, passing several guard stations
along the way. Several prisoners were recaptured, but most remained at
large at year's end. According to the investigation, the prisoners were
able to escape after bribing some guards $5,000 (26.5 million
guaranies) to look the other way.
A makeshift maximum security facility, not designed as a prison or
officially designated as a prison and known as the ``black hole,'' held
dangerous offenders or those considered high escape risks in solitary
confinement. The UN special rapporteur found that poor detainees in the
``black hole'' were held in extremely overcrowded conditions without
light, ventilation, or basic hygiene while facing the constant threat
of being infected with tuberculosis.
Male and female prisoners generally were held separately. While
some smaller institutions held prisoners of both sexes, it was
government policy to hold them in separate wings, but this was not
always done in practice.
Although juvenile prisoners generally were held separately from
adults, adults and juvenile prisoners continued to be held together in
smaller prisons outside the capital.
Convicted prisoners were usually not separated from pretrial
detainees.
The Government permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions by human rights organizations. Amnesty International and
diplomatic representatives were granted access to prisons for announced
and some unannounced visits. In his November 29 statement, the UN
special rapporteur welcomed the prison inspections conducted by three
inter-institutional commissions and the closures of the Panchito Lopez
Juvenile facility and the Emboscada High Security Prison, which he
stated ``were both notorious for the use of torture and ill
treatment.'' During sensitive periods following unrest in the prisons,
some prison directors required the human rights and diplomatic
representatives to obtain permission from the minister of justice and
labor before discussing prison information.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits detention
without an arrest warrant signed by a judge and stipulates that any
person arrested must appear before a judge within 24 hours to make a
statement; however, arbitrary arrest and detention were problems. The
police may arrest without a warrant persons apprehended in the act of
committing a crime, but they must notify a prosecutor. In practice the
authorities did not always comply with these provisions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police,
under the authority of the minister of interior, have responsibility
for law enforcement and internal security. The police were inadequately
funded, poorly trained, and generally corrupt. The Government took
steps to control and punish human rights violations committed by police
officers; however, the police enjoyed impunity for many of their
actions. Although the National Police incorporated classes on human
rights into its training courses, there were reports of police
involvement in homicide, arms and narcotics trafficking, car theft,
robbery, extortion, and kidnapping. In August more than 120 police
officers in Alto Parana Department were reassigned to various parts of
the country due to allegations of their involvement in illegal
activities. In addition, authorities fired 61 officers for involvement
in criminal activities.
The 1996 Presidential decree creating CONASEG gave its citizen
members a role in supporting the National Police. Participants do not
have arrest authorities or authorization to use weapons. According to
the Ministry of Interior, the CONASEG in Presidente Franco assumed the
functions of the police, particularly in the San Rafael neighborhood
where its members allegedly killed two persons during the year (see
section 1.a.). The ministry also indicated that CONASEG members in San
Rafael carried out vehicular patrols, carried weapons, set up road
blocks, and checked vehicle and personal identification documents, all
of which are legally functions of the National Police. Some members of
Congress called for dismantling CONASEG, while others conveyed support
for CONASEG with a more carefully defined role.
On October 4, National Police Chief Fidel Isasa ordered all police
officials on red alert to combat a perceived escalation of criminal
activity in the country particularly those perpetrated by assailants
using large caliber firearms. Police thereafter made arrests in a
number of high-profile cases. The country's Antinarcotics Secretariat
(SENAD) was effective in antinarcotics efforts.
Arrest and Detention.--The law provides that, after making an
arrest, police have up to six hours to notify the prosecutor's office,
at which point the prosecutor's office has up to 24 hours to notify a
judge whether it intends to prosecute the case.
The law provides a person in detention with the right to a prompt
judicial determination regarding the legality of the detention, and
authorities appeared to respect this right and to inform detainees
promptly of the charges against them. The average time from arrest to
trial was approximately 240 days. The law permits detention without
trial until the accused completes the minimum sentence for the alleged
crime, which often occurred in practice. The law allows judges to
utilize ``substitute measures,'' such as house arrest, in place of bail
for most crimes; however, judges frequently set relatively high bail,
and many accused persons were unable to post bond.
The law grants accused criminals the right to counsel, but the
Government lacked resources to provide counsel to poor defendants, and
many went to trial without representation. The Government permitted
defendants to hire attorneys at their own expense. Inmates were allowed
regular visits from family members, including conjugal visits.
Pretrial detainees constituted approximately 75 percent of the
prison population. Supreme Court justices and staff and many criminal
court judges made periodic visits to the prisons to identify and
release improperly detained individuals.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--While the law provides for an
independent judiciary, courts remained inefficient and subject to
corruption and political influence. Politicians and other interested
parties blocked or delayed investigations and often pressured judges,
although the judiciary was not allied with any political group.
On March 9, the Supreme Court temporarily suspended the Superior
Electoral Court (TSJE) ruling prohibiting President Nicanor Duarte
Frutos from exercising the Colorado Party presidency, which he won in
an election on February 19. The TSJE had based its interpretation on a
constitutional provision that prohibits the country's President from
discharging the responsibilities of another position. Many opposition
leaders and political rivals accused the court's justices of yielding
to Presidential pressure.
On August 30, several Colorado senators discussed with Supreme
Court Justice Raul Torres Kirmser the case against imprisoned coup
leader former colonel Lino Oviedo, who was serving a 10-year prison
sentence for his involvement in a 1996 coup attempt and who was also
charged with the 1999 killing of Vice President Luis Argana. Justice
Torres originally denied discussing Oviedo's case but later asserted
that he only spoke of the case as an anecdote and not from a judicial
viewpoint.
The nine-member Supreme Court appoints lower court judges and
magistrates, based upon recommendations by the Magistrates' Council.
There are five types of appellate tribunals: civil and commercial,
criminal, labor, administrative, and juvenile. Minor courts and
justices of the peace come within four functional areas: civil and
commercial, criminal, labor, and juvenile. The military has its own
judicial system, which is subordinate to the civilian justice system.
Trial Procedures.--All trials are open to the public. The law
stipulates that all defendants have the right to an attorney, at public
expense if necessary; however, this right often was not respected in
practice. Many destitute suspects received little legal assistance, and
few had access to an attorney sufficiently in advance of the trial to
prepare a defense. The 148 public defenders in the country, including
44 in Asuncion, lacked the resources to perform their jobs adequately.
The law requires prosecutors to bring charges against accused
persons within 180 days of arrest. Defendants enjoy a presumption of
innocence, and defendants and the prosecutor may present the written
testimony of witnesses as well as other evidence. Juries are not used;
the judge alone determines guilt or innocence and decides punishment. A
convicted defendant may appeal the sentence to an appeals court, and
the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over constitutional questions.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--While the justice system
provides for an independent civil and commercial judiciary, courts
remained inefficient and subject to corruption and political influence.
Politicians and other interested parties have considerable influence
and often pressured judges. Citizens have access to the courts to bring
lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human rights
violation.
Property Restitution.--In August 2005 the Government expropriated
approximately 129,000 acres of land in Puerto Casado owned by Reverend
Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church purportedly for distribution to
local farmers. The Government held that the land was not in productive
use. Since then, Victoria, S.A., the company owned by the Unification
Church, has not had access to the property. As of August, the land had
not been redistributed to local farmers, but company property on the
lot had been stolen. Victoria, S.A., offered more than 24,000 acres to
avoid expropriation, and congress was considering the offer. The law
requires compensation to the owners, but funding was not allocated by
year's end.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits police entry into private homes
except to prevent a crime in progress or when the police possess a
judicial warrant. While the Government and its security forces
generally did not interfere in the private lives of citizens, human
rights activists credibly claimed that local officials and police
officers abused their authority by entering homes and businesses
without warrants and harassing private citizens. There were credible
allegations that some government officials occasionally spied on
individuals and monitored communications for partisan or personal
reasons.
On May 26, government officials raided the home of Colonel
Heriberto Galeano, former commander of the Presidential Escort Regiment
and former commander of the First Infantry Division, as part of an
investigation into his involvement in illegal telephone tapping
operations from his home. The prosecutor claimed most of Galeano's
communications equipment had been removed prior to the raid, indicating
that he had been tipped off about the pending raid.
Norma Silva Centurion stated that police officers in Ciudad del
Este raided her home on August 24 and stole money, electronics, and her
car. Silva also claimed to have been assaulted by four of the men. The
case remained under investigation at year's end.
There were no developments regarding the March 2005 complaint of
Marcial Martinez Amarilla, a member of the Popular Rural Campesino
Organization that police in Valle Pe, Guaira Department, entered his
home and forcibly apprehended him without a warrant for his arrest (see
section 1.c.).
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, some government agents attempted to
intimidate journalists.
The print and electronic media were independently owned; some media
outlets were tied closely to political parties or business entities.
Many media outlets clearly reflected personal business or political
interests, and ethical and professional standards were low. The
independent media frequently criticized the Government and freely
discussed opposition viewpoints without restriction.
Enrique Galeano, host of a morning news and music program on the
Horqueta-based Radio Azotey, disappeared on February 4. Galeano had
reported on and criticized powerful political figures for corruption
and involvement in narcotics trafficking. The Yby Yau prosecutor was
investigating a possible connection between Galeano's journalistic work
and his disappearance (see section 1.b.).
Application of libel law was irregular. Judges were biased toward
plaintiffs and frequently ruled in their favor regardless of the merits
of a case. Political figures used police or private security officers
to threaten or intimidate journalists. On December 28, 2005, the
Supreme Court unanimously agreed that ABC Color, a leading publication,
was guilty of defamation against Senator Juan Carlos Galaverna of the
ruling Colorado Party. The case stemmed from a series of reports ABC
Color published in 1997 and 1998 that identified Galaverna as an
``influential trafficker'' and a ``looter.'' In 2001 and 2002 lower
courts found ABC Color guilty of defamation, calumny, and slander. On
January 5, the Inter-American Press Association said the Supreme
Court's decision ``limits the ability of the press to independently
investigate alleged wrongdoing by public officials.''
On February 27, private security officers working for alleged drug
traffickers in Itapua Department shot at (but did not injure) Juan
Agosto Roa, an ABC Color correspondent, while Roa was investigating the
alleged traffickers. On March 2, the Paraguayan Journalists Union
issued a declaration holding federal and Itapua government officials
responsible for Roa's well-being. The Government's investigation was
pending at year's end.
On December 7, Colorado mayoral candidate and journalist Julio
Benitez Ruiz Diaz was killed at his home in Pedro Juan Caballero.
Benitez lost the mayoral election to Jose Acevedo, the brother of
Amambay Department Governor Roberto Acevedo. The case remained under
investigation at year's end.
On several occasions, politicians and prosecutors publicly
threatened journalists who revealed embarrassing information about
them, typically related to corruption. In February during a radio
interview in Ciudad del Este, police officer Ever Cantero threatened
reporters who had written articles critical of him.
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 association,
and the Government generally respected these rights in practice. In
some cases, police violently dispersed illegal protests or assemblies.
On November 29, workers from the health sector protested the
proposed health budget and blocked the Senate entrance, effectively
preventing senators from leaving the building for several hours.
Protesters and media observers accused the police of use of excessive
force in dispersing the crowd.
On December 5, a controversial court ruling in the case of the Ycua
Bolanos supermarket fire of 2004 turned a largely peaceful assembly of
victims or their families into immediate rage and rioting in Asuncion.
The National Police responded with force using rubber bullets, batons,
water canons and throwing stones. The riot resulted in injuries to 52
civilians and 16 police officers, as well as the arrest of
approximately 80 individuals.
The law restricts demonstrations in Asuncion to certain times and
places and specifically prohibits meetings or demonstrations in front
of the Presidential palace and outside military or police barracks. The
law also requires that organizers notify the Asuncion police 24 hours
before any rally downtown. In addition, the law prohibits public
gatherings in the congressional plaza in Asuncion, the traditional
focal point for many demonstrations, during daylight hours on workdays.
The police may ban a demonstration but must provide written
notification of the ban within 12 hours of receipt of the organizers'
request. The law permits a police ban only if another party already has
given notice of plans for a similar rally at the same place and time.
This law does not apply to religious processions. The law prohibits
closing roads as a form of protest, but demonstrators did so on many
occasions during the year.
Several campesino organizations held demonstrations during the
year. Members blocked several national highways, and campesinos invaded
and occupied numerous rural properties, mainly calling on the
Government to expropriate farmland for redistribution.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for the right of
citizens to free 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. The Government required all religious groups to register with
the Ministry of Education and Culture but imposed no controls on these
groups, and many unregistered churches existed.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Approximately 70 incidents of
graffiti conveying messages or depicting symbols commonly associated
with anti-Semitism and pro-Nazism occurred in Asuncion during January
and February. Some of the graffiti was spray-painted on the private
property of a well-known radio commentator of Jewish descent and at the
home of the Jewish son-in-law of an ABC Color newspaper executive. The
Government investigated the incidents, but no arrests were made, and
the case remained under investigation at year's end. There were
approximately 350 Jewish families 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. Authorities
frequently prohibited those accused of crimes from leaving the country
and, on occasion, barred those convicted of crimes from traveling
abroad after completing their sentences.
The law expressly 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. The Government provided protection and granted refugee
status to Cubans and Lebanese, on a case-by-case basis.
On November 14, seven Cuban refugees, who were rescued at sea,
requested and received asylum after reaching the country. The
International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Committee of
Churches, a local NGO, and the Government all took part in relocating
and resettling the refugees. 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 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 law mandates general elections every five years with
voting by secret ballot.
Elections and Political Participation.--In the April 2003
multiparty general elections, Nicanor Duarte Frutos of the Colorado
Party won the presidency. Observers from the Organization of American
States characterized the elections as generally free and fair. There
were no reports of systematic nationwide irregularities, although the
NGO Transparency Paraguay cited irregularities at several polling
stations.
There are no legal impediments to women's participation in
government and politics. There were 12 women in congress (four of 45
senators and eight of 80 national deputies), one woman on the Supreme
Court, one woman elected as a departmental governor, one woman heading
a cabinet ministry, and six additional women holding ministerial rank
and heading secretariats. The Electoral Code requires that 20 percent
of each party's candidates in their internal primaries for elective
office be women. On May 6, the Authentic Radical Liberal Party approved
a requirement that 33 percent of its candidates be women.
Although there were no legal impediments to minority groups'
participation in government and politics, there were no indigenous
members of the legislature. An estimated 50 percent of the
approximately 40,000 indigenous persons eligible to vote did so in the
2003 general elections, but members of some indigenous communities
reported that they were threatened and prohibited from fully exercising
their political rights, and indigenous persons continued to hold
rallies protesting limits on their political and human rights.
In December the TSJE's director of technical information,
responsible for overseeing administration of electronic balloting and
voter's lists, was fired in response to pressure brought to bear by
Colorado Senator Juan Carlos Galaverna.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
public perception of corruption in government. The NGO Transparency
International reported that corruption remained a ``serious'' problem
but showed some improvement during the year. Congress was perceived to
be the most corrupt institution followed closely by the judiciary. The
Government maintained working relationships with civil society
organizations to promote transparency in the public sector.
In December the University of Asuncion released a comprehensive
analysis of the fate of economic crime and corruption cases between
2001 and 2005 that revealed extraordinarily long delays at every step
of the process, which in many instances greatly exceeded timeframes set
by law. The analysis found that approximately 77 percent of the cases
merely expired under the statute of limitations, indicating that
wealthy or well-connected defendants often simply played ``beat the
clock,'' filing motions that prevented legal progress and led to
legalized impunity.
On July 23, Colorado Party Deputy Magdaleno Silva sought to lift a
SENAD roadblock, which targeted drug traffickers in Concepcion. Silva
allegedly had links to drug traffickers in the Departments of
Concepcion and Amambay and interfered in judicial proceedings.
On June 5, a court sentenced former President Luis Angel Gonzalez
Macchi to six years in prison for his involvement in the illegal
transfer of $16 million from the liquidated Oriental Bank in 2000. The
decision was overturned on appeal and was pending a final ruling by the
Supreme Court at year's end. In a separate case, a court on December 4
sentenced Gonzalez Macchi to eight years in prison for illegal
enrichment and providing false documents; that case remained under
appeal, and Gonzalez Macchi remained under house arrest at year's end.
Government prosecutors opened a number of high-profile corruption
cases including one against Colorado Deputy Victor Bogado, the
President of the House of Deputies. In October Colorado Party deputies
rejected a motion to lift Bogado's congressional immunity, effectively
obstructing prosecution in the case.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Nearly 50 domestic and international human rights groups operated
without government restriction, investigating and publishing their
findings on human rights cases. Government officials generally were
cooperative with domestic and international NGOs; however, their
response to the views and recommendations of the human rights groups
was mixed.
Local NGO human rights groups included the Committee of Churches
(an interdenominational group that monitored human rights, investigated
refugee claims, and provided legal assistance), Grupo Luna Nueva (a
group dedicated to the protection of children's rights), and Peace and
Justice Service (SERPAJ), a group that defended conscientious objectors
and provided legal assistance to those with grievances arising from
military service. Transparency Paraguay, the local affiliate of
Transparency International, monitored public perceptions regarding
corruption. The CODEHUPY produced an annual report that highlighted
abuses of police authority and other government agents or entities and
mistreatment of military recruits.
The IOM developed reports on various migration problems including
trafficking in persons. The International Labor Organization (ILO)
produced reports on union labor activities, child labor, and indigenous
labor issues. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) developed reports on
children's health, education, labor, and living conditions.
Ombudsman Manuel Paez Monges remained the country's human rights
advocate. The ombudsman's office operated generally without government
interference; however, severe budgetary constraints hindered its
operations and occasionally resulted in months-long delays in paying
employees.
The director general of human rights, located in the Ministry of
Justice and Labor, chaired the National Commission on Human Rights. The
commission sponsored seminars to promote human rights awareness. The
director general's office has access to the congressional, executive,
and judicial authorities. It does not have subpoena or prosecutorial
power, but the commission may forward information concerning human
rights abuses to the Attorney General for action. It served as a
clearing house for information on human rights.
The Foreign Ministry's human rights office organized an inter-
ministerial roundtable on human rights that met periodically throughout
the year. It served as a forum for human rights officials from various
ministries and secretariats to coordinate their efforts and focused
principally on combating trafficking in persons. Domestic and
international NGOs also participated in the roundtable.
In November 2005 the Truth and Justice Commission issued a report
holding the Stroessner regime accountable for 60 instances of human
rights violations. Investigations continued into the more than 8,000
cases submitted, although resource constraints restricted the
commission's effectiveness. The commission released its preliminary
findings in December and projected issuing its final report in 2007.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
While the law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender,
disability, language, or social status, certain groups, such as
indigenous persons, faced significant discrimination in practice.
Women.--The most pervasive violations of women's rights involved
sexual and domestic abuse. Spousal abuse was common. The Attorney
General's Office reported that there were 12 domestic violence
convictions during the year and many others in process. Although the
law criminalizes spousal abuse, it stipulates that the abuse must be
habitual before being recognized as criminal and then is punishable by
a fine. Thousands of women were treated for injuries sustained in
violent domestic altercations. Between January and August, the
Secretariat of Women's Affairs recorded 1,004 cases of domestic
violence. Despite an apparent trend toward increased reporting of
complaints, such complaints were often withdrawn soon after filing due
to spousal reconciliation or family pressure, including from the
attacker who is often the spouse. According to the Attorney General's
Office, in 13 years there have been only four cases prosecuted where
the wife continued with the case. In addition, the courts allow
mediation of some family violence cases, although not provided for in
the law. The Secretariat of Women's Affairs' Office of Care and
Orientation receives reports on violence against women and coordinates
responses with the National Police, primary health care units, the
Attorney General's Office, and NGOs. Although these services were
available only in Asuncion, the secretariat partnered with several NGOs
in other cities to assist in the protection of victims. The NGOs
provided health and psychological assistance, including shelter, to
victims and communicated with the authorities on behalf of the victims.
The secretariat also conducted training courses for the police, health
care workers, prosecutors, and others in assisting victims of
trafficking and domestic violence. In August the secretariat organized
a conference attended by 248 police officers on protecting victims of
domestic violence.
The NGO Women's November 25th Collective operated a reception
center where female victims of violence received legal, psychological,
and educational assistance. The NGO Kuna Aty also offered services to
abused women. There were no shelters for battered and abused women
outside of Asuncion. In April Asuncion's mayor opened the country's
first municipal shelter to care for victims of domestic violence. The
shelter has the capacity to provide housing, medical, social, and
psychological support to 30 victims and their children.
The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and provides
penalties of up to six years in prison. According to the Office of the
Attorney General, rape was a significant problem. During the year,
there were more than 260 reported cases of rape in Asuncion and many
more in the other departments. The Government generally prosecuted rape
allegations and often obtained convictions; however, many rapes went
unreported because victims feared their attackers or were concerned
that the law did not adequately respect their privacy.
The law prohibits the sexual exploitation of women, but the
authorities did not enforce the prohibition effectively. Prostitution
is legal for persons over the age of 18, and exploitation of women,
particularly underage prostitutes, remained a serious problem (see
section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits but does not criminalize sexual harassment, and
it remained a problem for many women in the workplace. While there are
no penalties specifically for harassment, related violations of the law
are punishable by fines and up to three months' imprisonment. Claims of
abuse may be filed with the courts and the Ministry of Justice and
Labor, but harassment was difficult to prove, and most complaints were
settled privately.
Although women generally enjoyed the same legal status and rights
as men, gender-related job discrimination was widespread and widely
tolerated. Women often were paid significantly less than men for the
same work. The Secretariat of Women's Affairs occasionally sponsored
programs intended to give women equal access to employment, social
security, housing, ownership of land, and business opportunities.
According to CODEHUPY, unemployment rates for women (15 percent) were
nearly double those for men (8 percent). Women generally were employed
as domestic workers, secretaries, and in other traditional roles.
Children.--The law protects certain children's rights and
stipulates that parents and the state should care for, feed, educate,
and support children.
Public schooling was provided through the age of 17, and education
was compulsory until the age of 14. According to the Ministry of
Education and Culture, in 2005 the enrollment rate for children between
the ages of six and 14 was 89 percent and 50 percent for those between
the ages of 15 and 17. On July 19, the National Advisory Committee of
Education and Culture reported that more than 230,000 adolescents
between the ages of 15 and 17, or 60 percent of that age group, were
not in school. The law entitles boys and girls to equal educational
access; enrollment among girls at all ages was slightly greater than
enrollment among boys. Rates of overall enrollment in urban areas were
slightly higher than rates of enrollment in rural areas. Approximately
59 percent of indigenous children between the ages of six and 14 were
enrolled in school. The national literacy rate was 92 percent.
According to UNICEF, 48 percent of children age 14 or younger lived
in poverty (20 percent in extreme poverty), and 11 percent of those
suffered from chronic malnutrition, with both figures trending upward.
Boys and girls generally had equal access to state-provided medical
care. The Government provided free consultation for children under the
age of five, but medical services must be paid by the parent or
guardian.
Abuse and neglect of children was a serious problem. A local NGO
attributed a rise in the number of complaints of mistreatment of
children to the increased awareness of child abuse and neglect. The
Government has a National Plan to Prevent and Eradicate the
Exploitation of Children. The Secretariat of Children and Adolescents
is responsible for this five-year program, for identifying and
providing assistance to abused and neglected children, and for
educating the public to prevent abuse. According to the Institute of
Comparative Studies in Punitive and Social Sciences and UNICEF, 2,573
children lived in 56 shelters largely because of poverty. Some children
in these facilities were victims of sexual abuse.
Sexual exploitation of children also was a problem. UNICEF reported
that two-thirds of sex industry workers were minors, the majority of
whom began working between the ages of 12 and 13. In addition, UNICEF
reported frequent sexual exploitation of the 40,000 criadas (domestic
servants) between the ages of six and 12 (see section 6.d.). In April
the ILO estimated that during 2005 more than 3,500 children between the
ages of five and 17 years of age had been sexually exploited in Ciudad
del Este and that there were 250 minor girl prostitutes in the city.
During the year the Secretariat of Children and Adolescents
registered more than 25,000 children not previously included in the
Civil Registry; the secretariat estimated that more than 600,000
children remained to be registered. The secretariat also participated
in or organized programs related to combating trafficking in persons,
abuse of children, and child labor issues, such as children who are
domestic servants.
There were reports of trafficking in girls for the purpose of
sexual exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking).
The Government requires that all military officers responsible for
recruiting ensure that all conscripts meet the legal minimum age of 18.
Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits trafficking in
persons, persons were trafficked from and within the country for sexual
purposes.
Anecdotal evidence suggested that several hundred women and
children were trafficked abroad annually. There were no estimates
available on the extent of trafficking within the country because the
Government kept no relevant statistics, and the extent of international
trafficking was unknown. The Government reported there were 64
confirmed victims of international trafficking in 2005. According to
the IOM, the trafficking of women and children in the country increased
27 percent in the last five years. On July 5, the country's ambassador
to Spain announced that more than 1,500 Paraguayan prostitutes, many
believed to have been trafficked, lived in Spain.
Most victims came from the rural interior of the country,
particularly the departments of Alto Parana, Canindeyu, Caaguazu, and
Itapua, which border Argentina and Brazil and where international
organized crime groups had a heavy presence. The borders were very
porous, and there were few border officials. Within the country,
victims were trafficked primarily to the two largest cities, Asuncion
and Ciudad del Este; the most significant foreign destinations were
Argentina and Spain; smaller numbers of victims went to Brazil.
Trafficking victims within the country worked in the sex industry.
Underage girls reportedly also were forced to work as criadas, both
domestically and in neighboring countries. According to the Secretariat
for Children and Adolescents, many of these children were sexually
abused. Government and NGO studies showed that most of the girls
trafficked were working as street vendors when traffickers targeted
them and that 70 percent of victims had drug addictions.
The trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation was a
high-profit, low-risk activity for traffickers who moved easily across
the borders with Argentina and Brazil. The traffickers took advantage
of the poor who lived in the border departments, promising women, and
in many cases young girls, jobs in the retail industry. In some cases,
the parents were fully aware that their daughters planned to work in
other cities or countries but were unaware of the conditions and actual
job.
On several occasions, Spanish and Argentine police rescued
Paraguayan women from brothels, where they had been forced to work as
prostitutes. In June governmental authorities announced that Spanish
police rescued 39 Paraguayan female trafficking victims. In May and
June, Spanish police raids on clubs in four cities discovered 146 women
working as prostitutes, many of whom were Paraguayan.
In July three victims returned from Argentina with the assistance
of IOM. The women had been promised jobs as waitresses and hotel
workers, but upon arrival in Buenos Aires they were informed they were
to work as prostitutes. They later escaped with assistance from a local
good samaritan.
The law punishes trafficking in persons with up to 10 years in
prison; the law also forbids compelling anyone to travel outside the
country or to enter the country for the purpose of prostitution or
compelling a minor under 18 to work as a prostitute. At year's end,
there were more than 50 transnational cases under investigation, 23 of
which had entered judicial proceedings. There were 34 persons in prison
on trafficking-related offenses; 11 of these individuals had been
convicted of trafficking and associated crimes, 23 were charged with
these crimes, and five were in restrictive custody. Others remained at-
large and were still sought by authorities. The Secretariat of Women's
Affairs noted it processed 53 female victims during the year, nine of
whom were minors.
The Secretariats of Women's Affairs and Children and Adolescents
were responsible for combating trafficking, and the Secretariat for
Repatriations had a mandate to assist victims who were trafficked
abroad; however, the secretariats' small budgets limited their
effectiveness. Foreign governments and international organizations
provided additional assistance.
On September 6, police arrested Bolivian citizen Jorge Antonio
Cortes Villena for recruiting young girls to work in Santa Cruz,
Bolivia, as prostitutes. Other members of Cortes' group who were
arrested included Bolivian citizen Ramiro Noguer Garcia and Paraguayan
citizens Juana Rocio Adorno Silguero and Jorge Kraufer Gimenez. The
case remained pending at year's end.
On July 27, authorities arrested Claudia Lorena Martinez and Andres
Eligio Ponce, both of Spanish descent, for trafficking children to
Spain. Because of their Spanish ancestry, the couple had no trouble
taking the children to Spain where they were to be adopted for $6,000
to $10,000 per child. The case remained pending at year's end.
The case of Carolina Maidana Duarte, who was extradited from Spain
in July 2005 for her involvement in the trafficking of Lurde Resquin,
was closed because the victim, whose testimony is required, left the
country; Carolina Maidana Duarte was released from custody.
Resource constraints limited government assistance to trafficking
victims. Victims received some legal, medical, and psychological
support for limited periods of time. The Government's primary focus in
protecting victims was the repatriation of its own citizens. Provision
for the physical and mental health of those repatriated, as well as for
their transportation home, was limited. The lack of resources also
prevented periodic follow-up after repatriation.
The Itaipu Binational Authority, a public utility company jointly
owned by the country and Argentina, supported the NGO Children's and
Adolescents' Care and Assistance Center, which operated a hot line and
shelter for trafficking victims in Ciudad del Este.
Efforts to prevent trafficking included interministerial
roundtables organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss
trafficking in persons. A national communications campaign, organized
by the Secretariat of Women's Affairs with foreign government and NGO
support, sought to prevent women and girls from becoming victims of
trafficking.
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. Nonetheless, many persons with disabilities faced significant
discrimination in employment; others were unable to seek employment
because of a lack of accessible public transportation. The law does not
mandate accessibility for persons with disabilities, and most of the
country's buildings, public and private, were inaccessible.
The Ministry of Health noted that half of all children with
disabilities did not attend school because public buses could not
accommodate them. Many bus drivers reportedly refused boarding to
persons with disabilities or required them to be accompanied.
Conditions for the more than 400 residents at the Neuropsychiatric
Hospital in Asuncion remained substandard, and patients continued to
have inadequate physical and mental health care. Parasitic and skin
infections were widespread, and outbreaks were not treated effectively.
Children continued to be housed in the institution, despite the
Government's pledge to move them to placements in the community. The
Government took minimal steps to implement reforms that it had
committed to undertake in a March 2005 agreement with the NGOs Mental
Disability Rights International (MDRI) and Center for Justice and
International Law. According to MDRI, the Government remodeled the
hospital and increased its budget; however, patient treatment had not
improved. In addition, the hospital remained severely overcrowded.
Indigenous People.--The law provides indigenous people with the
right to participate in the economic, social, political, and cultural
life of the country; however, the indigenous population (officially
estimated at more than 90,000) was unassimilated and neglected. Low
wages, long work hours, infrequent payment (or nonpayment) of wages,
job insecurity, lack of access to social security benefits, and racial
discrimination were common. Weak organization and lack of financial
resources limited access by indigenous persons to the political and
economic system. The law protects the property interests of indigenous
people, but these rights were not fully codified. The law allows public
ministry officials to represent indigenous people in matters involving
the protection of life and property.
Lack of access to sufficient land hindered the ability of
indigenous groups to progress economically and maintain their cultural
identity. In addition, there was insufficient police and judicial
protection from persons encroaching on indigenous lands, and many
indigenous people found it difficult to travel to the capital to
solicit land titles.
Other significant problems facing the indigenous population
included lack of shelter and medical care, economic displacement
resulting from other groups' development and modernization, and
malnutrition. Scarce resources and limited government attention slowed
progress in dealing with these problems.
On June 30, leaders from the country's 10 indigenous nations
founded a National Indigenous Movement with the goal of advancing their
rights and working to gain political representation. In September the
leaders presented candidates for the November municipal elections, but
none of them were elected.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows both private and
public sector workers (with the exception of the armed forces and the
police) to form and join unions without government interference, and
workers exercised this right in practice. The law contains provisions
that protect fundamental worker rights, including an antidiscrimination
clause, provisions for employment tenure, severance pay for unjustified
firings, collective bargaining, and the right to strike. Approximately
121,000 (15 percent) of workers were organized in approximately 1,600
unions. These numbers excluded the informal sector, which represented a
significant segment of the economy.
All unions must be registered with the Ministry of Justice and
Labor. Although the official registration process was cumbersome and
could take more than a year, the Ministry of Justice and Labor issued
provisional registrations within weeks of application. Employers who
opposed the formation of a union can delay union recognition by filing
a writ, but almost all unions requesting recognition eventually
received it.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination, but it was not always
enforced. Harassment of some union organizers and leaders in the
private sector continued. Fired union leaders may seek redress in the
courts, but the labor tribunals were slow to respond to complaints. A
number of cases involving union leaders fired as many as nine years ago
remained pending in the courts. Although the courts typically favored
employees in disputes, backlogs in the judicial system delayed cases
for several years. As a result, most employees could not afford the
time and expense of seeking judicial redress. The courts were not
required to order the reinstatement of workers fired for union
activities. In some cases, when judges ordered the reinstatement of
discharged workers, employers continued to disregard the court order
with impunity. The failure of employers to meet salary payments also
frequently precipitated labor disputes.
There were also complaints that management created parallel or
``factory'' unions to compete with independently formed unions. In
several cases, workers allegedly chose not to protest due to fear of
reprisal or anticipation of government inaction.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for collective bargaining, and this provision generally was
respected in practice. According to the Ministry of Justice and Labor,
there were approximately 30 collective bargaining agreements in place,
covering approximately 10 percent of private sector employees and 60
percent of public sector employees; however, the agreements typically
did little more than reaffirm minimum standards established by law.
When wages were not set in free negotiations between unions and
employers, they were made a condition of individual offers of
employment.
Although the law provides for the right to strike, bans binding
arbitration, and prohibits retribution against strikers and leaders
carrying out routine union business, employers often took action
against strikers and union leaders. Voluntary arbitration decisions are
enforceable by the courts, but this mechanism rarely was employed.
Senior Ministry of Justice and Labor officials were available to
mediate disputes.
There were numerous strikes by members of all three worker centrals
and smaller unions. Many of the strikes were related to management
violations of a collective contract, management efforts to prevent the
free association of workers, or demands for benefits such as payment of
the minimum wage or contribution to the social security system. Others
were directed at broader economic problems.
There are no export processing zones. Factories that assemble
imported parts for re-export (maquiladoras) operated in the eastern
part of the country. The Mercosur trade association accepted the
country's maquiladoras into its automotive regime. The country's labor
laws apply to maquila operators.
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). Unlike last year,
there were no reports of conscripts forced to work for military
officers in their private enterprises.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
director general for the protection of minors in the Ministry of
Justice and Labor is responsible for enforcing child labor laws. In
practice the Government did not enforce minimum working age
regulations, and child labor was a problem in both the legal and
illegal economy of the country.
Minors between 15 and 18 years of age may work only with parental
authorization and may not be employed in dangerous or unhealthy
conditions. Children between 14 and 15 years of age may work only in
family enterprises, agriculture, or apprenticeships. The Labor Code
prohibits work by children under age 14. On April 28, the ILO reported
that more than 322,000 children participated in various economic
activities and an additional 687,000 did domestic work, mostly in rural
areas.
The 2001 census reported that 5 percent of the workforce was under
the age of 14. According to the NGO Organization for the Eradication of
Child Labor (COETI), 265,000 children, or 13.6 percent of those between
the ages of five and 17, worked outside their homes, many in unsafe
conditions. In supermarkets, boys as young as age seven bagged and
carried groceries to customers' cars for tips. Thousands of children in
urban areas (an estimated 15,000 in Asuncion alone) many of them
younger than 12 years of age, were engaged in informal employment, such
as selling newspapers and sundries and cleaning car windows. Many of
the children who worked on the streets suffered from malnutrition and
disease and lacked access to education. Despite new initiatives to
combat child street labor, exploitation and abuse of children
persisted.
According to the Secretariat for Children and Adolescents, many of
40,000 criadas were also sexually abused. Some employers of the
estimated 11,500 young girls working as criadas in Asuncion denied them
access to education and mistreated them. In rural areas, children as
young as 10 years of age often worked beside their parents in the
fields; according to COETI, 88 percent of rural children in the labor
force worked at home or with family members. Local human rights groups
did not regard families harvesting crops together as an abuse of child
labor. UNICEF reported that 25 percent of children between the ages of
10 and 17 worked, of whom almost 50 percent were below age 15. Forty-
seven percent worked on family farms, 22 percent in construction, 13
percent work in the street, and 11 percent operated machinery or were
artisans. The children worked approximately five hours per day.
According to the General Office of Statistics, Surveys, and Census,
2005 statistics indicated that economic participation by those ages 10
to 14 increased to 16.4 percent.
While the Government took some steps in implementing its 2003 plan
to eliminate child labor, including the worst forms of child labor,
these efforts have not been accompanied by strong public institutions
and programs nor translated into changes of social practices.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Ministry of Justice and
Labor established a mandatory national private sector minimum wage,
approximately $221 per month (1.198 million guaranies), sufficient to
maintain a minimally adequate standard of living for a worker and
family. According to an analysis by the local economic think tank
Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD), the median wage in the
formal economy was $165.45 (893,430 guaranies) per month, reflecting
lower public wages, but in the informal sector the median wage was
$36.36 (196,344 guaranies) per month, which is well below the mandated
minimum. FSD estimated that 80 percent of workers were employed in the
informal sector with urban poverty rates on the rise.
There was no public sector minimum wage. In practice most
government agencies paid government workers on an hourly basis at a
rate comparable to the private sector minimum wage. The minimum salary
is adjusted whenever annual inflation exceeds 10 percent. However, the
Ministry of Justice and Labor did not enforce the minimum wage and
estimated that 50 percent of government workers earned less than the
minimum wage, while 48 percent of private sector workers earned less.
The law requires that domestic workers be paid at least 40 percent of
the minimum wage and allows them to work up to a 12-hour day.
The law allows for a standard legal workweek of 48 hours (42 hours
for night work), with one day of rest. The law also provides for an
annual bonus of one month's salary and a minimum of six vacation days a
year. The law requires overtime payment for hours in excess of the
standard. However, many employers violated these provisions. There are
no prohibitions on excessive compulsory overtime. Workers in the
transport sector routinely staged strikes to demand that their
employers comply with the law's provisions on working hours, overtime,
and minimum wage payments.
The law also stipulates conditions of safety, hygiene, and comfort.
The Government did not allocate sufficient resources to enable the
Ministry of Justice and Labor and the Ministry of Health to enforce
these provisions effectively.
Workers have the right to remove themselves from situations that
endanger their health or safety without jeopardy to their continued
employment, but they may not do so until the Ministries of Justice and
Labor and Health recognize such conditions formally. While there are
laws intended to protect workers who file complaints about such
conditions, many employers took disciplinary action against such
workers.
__________
PERU
Peru is a multiparty republic with a population estimated at 28
million. On June 4, Alan Garcia of the Popular Revolutionary Party
Alliance (APRA) won the presidency in elections that were generally
free, fair, and transparent. The civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the Government continued efforts begun during the Toledo
administration to expand and consolidate labor law and to prosecute
those responsible for gross human rights violations.
The terrorist organization, Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso), was
responsible for killings and other human rights abuses.
The following human rights problems were reported: beatings, abuse,
and torture of detainees and inmates by police and prison security
forces; inability to protect witnesses involved in criminal cases; poor
prison conditions; prolonged pretrial detention and inordinate delays
of trials; attacks on the media by local authorities and organized
crime; violence and discrimination against women; violence against
children; including sexual abuse; trafficking in persons;
discrimination against indigenous people and minorities; significant
obstacles to persons with disabilities; failure to either apply or
enforce labor laws; and child labor in the informal sector.
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 January 24, the Penal Court on Anticorruption extended the time
limit for detention without sentencing in the La Colina case involving
56 military officers charged with participating in the massacre of
civilians at Barrios Altos in 1991, La Cantuta in 1992 and del Santa in
1992 and the disappearance of Pedro Yauri in 1992. The accused had been
detained for 36 months, and the court extended their detention for
another 36 months.
On February 20, authorities filed homicide charges in criminal
court in Huanta against two military officers in the 2004 case of Peter
Vasquez Chavez, a 23-year-old recruit found dead at the Cangari Huanta
Military Base in Ayacucho.
On March 16, the International Commission on Human Rights presented
the La Cantuta case to the anticorruption court and asked that army
officers be retried for the murder of nine students and a professor at
the National University of Education in 1992.
On May 31, the National Penal Court charged policemen Flavio
Roberto Vasquez Burga and Walter Ochoa Magallanes for their role in the
death of Ricardo Huaringa Felix, who died in police custody in 2004.
According to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, witnesses
in the case continued to receive threatening phone calls.
On June 16, a mass grave containing 80 bodies was discovered in
Pichari in northern Cusco. The Public Ministry began investigating the
case.
On July 12, superior prosecutor Luz Ibanez Carraza notified the
Government that he would begin investigations into 516 cases of alleged
human rights violations committed by the state over the past 20 years.
In August the prosecutor's office dropped the case against Alan
Garcia and members of his cabinet for their alleged roles in the 1986
El Fronton prison massacre. (Garcia's first term as President lasted
from 1985-1990). The Human Rights Commission (COMISEDH) appealed the
decision, and the First Supraprovincial Court continued investigating
the possibility of issuing charges against the officials allegedly
responsible for the loss of life at El Fronton.
On August 20, the Second Supranational court began an investigation
into charges that former President Alberto Fujimori ordered the killing
of 41 members of Shining Path in May 1992 at the Ramon Castro
penitentiary.
On August 21, opposition leader Ollanta Humala was charged with
human rights violations and was prohibited from leaving the country.
Humala was charged with participating in disappearances, torture, and
murder at the Madre Mia military base in 1992.
On October 11, the Superior Attorney of the Third Penal Court on
Anti-Corruption asked for sentences of 20 years for former Intelligence
Service Director Vladimiro Montesinos, former Armed Services Chief
General Nicolas Hermoza, Colonel Roberto Huaman, and Colonel Jesus
Zamudio, who remained in custody. The case involved charges of
extrajudicial killings in the 1997 rescue of 74 hostages at the
Japanese ambassador's residence.
The court of Puquio in Ayacucho continued investigations into the
role of four military officers in the 2004 death of Army Corporal Edgar
Ledesma Lopez, who was found dead in his barracks.
On April 26, oral proceedings began in the National Criminal Court
for the 1980 case of eight peasants in Chuschi, who were reportedly
tortured and killed by soldiers. In 2004 the Supreme Court of Justice
had ruled that civilian courts should try the soldiers because the case
involved allegations of human rights violations. The proceedings
continued at year's end.
On October 13, a civilian court in Lima found Abimael Guzman, the
71-year-old leader of Shining Path, guilty of terrorism. Guzman
received a life sentence, as did Shining Path's second-in-command,
Elena Iparraguirre. Nine other Shining Path leaders received lesser
prison sentences.
b. Disappearance.--According to the Peruvian National Police (PNP),
the terrorist group Shining Path killed five police officers and eight
civilians and were responsible for 92 serious terrorist incidents
during the year. Unlike in 2005, there were no reports of kidnappings
committed by the Shining Path.
On March 21, PNP Colonel Juan Carlos Mejia Leon was sentenced to 16
years in prison for the 1990 kidnapping and disappearance of Ernesto
Rafael Castillo Paez. Two low-ranking military officials and an officer
were sentenced to 15 years in prison while 12 others were absolved of
the crime. At year's end the defendants were appealing the decision.
On July 21, the Public Defender's Office officially recognized that
150 cases of missing persons were actually political disappearances.
The Public Defenders office continued its investigations into an
additional 941 cases.
There were no new developments in the trial of 11 policemen for the
2003 disappearance of Andy Williams Graces.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the law prohibits such practices, reports
surfaced of excessive use of force by security officials. The
authorities seldom punished those who committed abuses.
Allegations of torture most often arose immediately following an
arrest, when families were prohibited from visiting suspects and when
attorneys had limited access to detainees (see section 1.d.).
In some cases police and security forces allegedly threatened or
harassed victims, their relatives, and witnesses to prevent them from
filing charges of human rights violations. According to COMISEDH, a
nongovernmental organization, some victims were reluctant to pursue
judicial proceedings for fear that abusers would be released without
being charged. COMISEDH reported 13 cases of aggravated torture by
security forces. Three victims died from their wounds. The PNP were
involved in seven cases. Municipal security units were involved in two
cases, as were penitentiary guards and military units, for a total of
six cases.
On February 7, authorities filed homicide charges in criminal court
in Huanta against two military officers in the 2004 case of Peter
Vasquez Chavez, a 23-year-old recruit found dead at the Cangari-Huanta
Military Base in Ayacucho.
On February 15, the national superior penal prosecutor charged five
police officers for the crime of simple torture. Oral proceedings began
in the National Penal Court.
On February 21, the presiding judge in Ancash found six prison
guards guilty of beating inmate Alfonso Valle Oquendo in 2002. The
defendants' continued their appeal in the superior court.
On March 31, 20 police officers allegedly beat Luis Alberto Saravia
to death. The Public Defender's Office continued to investigate the
case.
On April 3, Cristhian Rolangelo Contreras Atco charged that three
policemen had beaten him unconscious. The Fifth Supraprovincial Penal
Prosecutor of Lima continued its investigation into the case.
The April 2005 case of the alleged police beating of Wilmer Cubas
Carranza remained at year's end in the preliminary investigation stage
with the Second Supraprovincial Prosecutor of Lima.
In June the Public Defender's Office began an investigation into
the May 28 riot at La Asuncion prison in Junin. Guards were accused of
allowing prisoners access to alcohol and prostitutes within the
penitentiary and of beating prisoners after the riot.
In July the director of Sarita Colonia Prison, Manuel V squez
Coronado, allegedly beat inmate Samuel David Flores Valdivia. An
investigation by the Fifth Prosecutor's Office of Callao continued at
year's end.
The 11th provincial prosecutor of Lima's Northern Cone continued to
investigate the case of army soldier Misael Mendoza Carrion, who was
allegedly beaten by a superior officer in 2004 and suffered a loss of
hearing.
The National Penal Courts absolved the policeman involved in the
2002 beating of Jair Martin Rodriguez and his brother. COMISEDH
appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
harsh. Prisoners with money had access to cellular telephones, illicit
drugs, and meals prepared outside of the prison, but conditions were
poor to extremely harsh in all facilities for prisoners lacking funds.
Overcrowding, poor sanitation, and inadequate nutrition and health care
were serious problems. Inmates had intermittent access to running
water; bathing facilities were inadequate; kitchen facilities were
unhygienic; and prisoners slept in hallways and common areas for lack
of cell space. Illegal drugs were available in many prisons, and
tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS were reportedly at near epidemic levels.
Prison authorities budgeted approximately one dollar (3.18 soles) per
prisoner per day for food. At Lima's San Juan de Lurigancho men's
prison, the country's largest; more than 8,500 prisoners lived in a
facility built for 1,500. The National Penitentiary Institute (INPE),
with support from the Red Cross (ICRC) and the NGO Doctors without
Borders, provided diagnostic equipment and updated technology to
improve the healthcare services provided to inmates.
The INPE runs 55 of the country's 84 prisons; the PNP controls the
rest. In June the congress passed laws requiring the INPE to take
charge of all prisons within three years. Congress also authorized INPE
to hire 400 additional prison guards.
The ICRC reported a shortage of trained medical personnel,
inadequate legal representation for prisoners, a lack of social workers
and psychologists, and a disorganized system of administration.
Conditions were especially harsh in maximum-security facilities
located at high altitudes. The Government responded to criticisms from
human rights monitors, including Amnesty International, and permanently
closed the Challapalca Prison in Tarata, Tacna in 2005. The Yanamayo
prison in Puno was also closed. The high-security prison in Iquitos was
in poor condition, with the physical infrastructure of the building
near collapse. The prison facility in Maynas was in such disrepair that
rubble prevented guards from reaching some watchtowers.
Prison guards and fellow inmates routinely victimized and abused
prisoners. Guards received little or no training or supervision.
Corruption was a serious problem, and some guards cooperated with
criminal bosses, who oversaw the smuggling of guns and drugs into
prison facilities.
The total prison population was 35,600 (33,200 males), only 11,200
of whom had been sentenced. Detainees were held temporarily in pretrial
detention centers located at police stations, judiciary buildings, and
the Ministry of Justice. In most cases, pretrial detainees were held
with convicted prisoners.
In June Jose Gamboa Mendoza, director of the Piedras Gordas
penitentiary was caught on tape negotiating bribes. By year's end
Gamboa is in prison awaiting trial
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, including the ICRC. The ICRC made 74 unannounced visits to
inmates in 46 different prisons, detention centers, and juvenile
detention facilities.
In July the Human Rights Ombudsman and the Institute of Legal
Defense (IDL) released a report stating that 75 of 84 prisons were in
poor condition and that 12 had reached a critical state of
overcrowding, with populations 300 per cent larger than intended. The
report called for improving prison infrastructure by building two more
prisons, increasing the budget for existing prisons, eliminating
corruption, and reducing sentences for thousands of detainees held for
petty crimes.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution, criminal code,
and antiterrorist statutes prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention,
although the law permits police to detain persons for investigative
purposes. The law requires a written judicial warrant for an arrest
unless the perpetrator of a crime is caught in the act. Only judges may
authorize detentions, including in corruption cases. Authorities are
required to arraign arrested persons within 24 hours. In cases of
terrorism, drug trafficking, or espionage, arraignment must take place
within 30 days. Military authorities must turn over persons they detain
to the police within 24 hours; in remote areas, arraignment must take
place as soon as practicable.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The PNP, with a force
of 90,385, is responsible for all areas of law enforcement and
functions under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior. The
PNP's personnel structure follows that of the military, with an officer
corps and enlisted personnel. The organizational structure is a mixture
of directorates that specialize in specific areas (such as kidnapping,
counternarcotics, and terrorism) and local police units. Each
department, province, city, and town has a PNP presence.
Observers noted that the PNP was undermanned and suffered from a
lack of training, professionalism, and an inability to counter criminal
activity or fulfill its responsibilities, such as witness protection.
Corruption and impunity remained problems. On December 4, minister of
interior Pilar Mazzetti estimated that 20 percent of PNP officers were
corrupt.
On July 13, the PNP and Interior Ministry completed work on a human
rights training manual, which was distributed to all police academies
and stations in the country. The manual teaches the latest techniques
for conducting arrests, disbursing crowds, and controlling riots while
emphasizing the importance of respecting human rights.
The PNP is charged with witness protection for the entire country.
The witness protection law is thorough and well written, but the PNP
lacked resources to provide training for officers, conceal identities,
and offer logistical support to witnesses. Officers assigned to witness
protection cases often brought witnesses into their homes to live.
COMISDH was processing 106 cases of serious threats against witnesses,
lawyers, and human rights activists.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires police to file a report
with the Public Ministry within 24 hours after an arrest. The Public
Ministry, in turn, must issue its own assessment of the legality of the
police action in the arrest. The law also provides for the right to
prompt judicial action. The time between an arrest and an appearance
before a judge averages 20 hours. Judges then have two hours to decide
whether to release a suspect or continue detention. A functioning bail
system exists, but many poor defendants lacked the means to post bail.
By law, detainees are allowed access to a lawyer and to family members.
The Justice Ministry provided indigent persons with access to an
attorney at no cost. Persons detained for espionage, drug trafficking,
corruption, and terrorism may be held for up to 15 days. Police may
detain suspected terrorists incommunicado for 10 days. The Public
Ministry oversees the detention centers, which are also monitored by
the Ombudsman's Office.
In practice, lengthy pretrial detention was a problem. According to
a study prepared by the Technical Secretary of the Special Commission
for Integral Reform of the Justice System, only 31 percent of the
persons in prison had been sentenced, with 69 percent awaiting trial.
If prisoners are held more than 18 months without being sentenced--36
months in complex cases--under the law they must be released.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The three-tier court structure consists of lower courts, superior
courts, and a Supreme Court of Justice of 30 judges. A seven-person
Constitutional Tribunal operates independently of the judicial branch.
The independent and autonomous National Judicial Council (CNM)
appoints, disciplines, and evaluates all judges and prosecutors who
have served in their position for at least seven years (excluding those
chosen by popular election). Lack of certification from the CNM
permanently disqualifies a judge or prosecutor.
Trial Procedures.--The justice system is based on the Napoleonic
Code. The prosecutor investigates cases and submits an opinion to a
first instance judge, who determines if sufficient evidence exists to
open legal proceedings. The judge conducts an investigation, evaluates
facts, determines guilt or innocence, and issues a sentence. All
defendants are presumed innocent; they have the right to be present at
trial, call witnesses, and be represented by counsel, although in
practice the public defender system often failed to provide indigent
defendants with qualified attorneys. Defendants may appeal verdicts to
the superior court and then to the Supreme Court of Justice.
Under the military justice system, judges in the lower courts must
sentence and pass judgment within 10 days of the opening of trial.
Defendants can appeal convictions to the Superior Military Council,
which has 10 days to issue a decision. A final appeal may be made to
the Supreme Council of Military Justice, which must issue a ruling
within five days. At the Superior Military Council and Supreme Council
levels, a significant number of judges are active-duty officers with
little or no professional legal training.
In 2004 the Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the military-
political commands created to maintain order during states of national
emergency were unconstitutional. A commission created by the executive
branch continued to make the revisions necessary to bring the Code of
Military Justice in line with this decision.
The Special Terrorism Court, in accordance with decisions of both
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Constitutional
Tribunal, continued to retry defendants previously convicted by
military tribunals. The National Penal Court found 768 persons guilty
and absolved 236 persons. At year's end between 20 to 25 cases were
still pending. Approximately 77 percent of individuals tried were found
guilty; 23 percent were absolved. Approximately 1,400 persons remained
in prison for acts of terrorism.
The National Penal Court continued investigations into cases
involving allegations of human rights abuses by security forces during
the war against the Shining Path in the 1980s and 1990s. The court had
a total of 47 cases; 26 involved active investigations.
The NGO, IDL continued its efforts to reduce the large case backlog
involving those officially sought for acts of terrorism. In November
the IDL complained about the slow pace of judicial investigations,
noting that 389 judicial investigations, most dating from before 2002,
were ongoing and that no member of the military had been convicted of
human rights violations, suggesting members of the armed forces may not
be punished for human rights violations.
More than 9,000 invalid arrest warrants for terrorism, involving
more than 1,500 persons, were eliminated as a result of IDL's efforts.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The country has an
independent judiciary that enables citizens to bring lawsuits for
violations of their rights. Nonetheless, significant problems affected
this branch, which has been a frequent target of reform efforts. Court
cases often dragged on for years, making it difficult for some
plaintiffs, particularly those of limited economic means, to pursue
legal redress. In addition, press reports, NGO sources and others
alleged that judges were frequently subject to corruption and/or
influence by powerful outside actors.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions, although reports surfaced that
authorities did not always obtain warrants before entering private
dwellings.
COMISEDH received no reports of forced military recruitment.
The Shining Path continued to coerce indigenous persons to join its
ranks (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. There were, however, reports of
press harassment by provincial authorities and by private groups such
as coca growers (cocaleros). Harassment took the form of attacks on
journalists, illegal arrests, and threats of judicial action.
The independent media were active and expressed a variety of views.
All media outlets were privately owned except for one government-owned
daily newspaper, two television networks, and one radio station.
Journalists and media outlets reportedly suffered intimidation. The
National Journalists Association reported 133 cases of harassment
(mainly in the provinces). The Press and Society Institute issued 298
alerts. Both statistics were higher than the figures for 2005. The
majority of incidents took the form of violent attacks, threats,
judicial pressure, illegal arrests, and theft of broadcasting equipment
and of journalists' files. Many cases occurred for lack of an effective
government presence in parts of the country, a factor that rendered
journalists vulnerable to attacks.
There were approximately 70 incidents in which government
authorities were reported to have harassed reporters.
On January 6, police officer Javier Matta allegedly beat Jorge
Catanded, a reporter with Lima's Channel 5 television news program 24
Horas, as he was filming a prison riot at Miguel Castro prison.
On January 9, the mayor of Nuevo Chimbote, Valentin Fernandez, sued
Alfonso Ego, the editor of Channel 4's Sunday program Cuarto Poder, and
reporters Raul Tola and Carola Miranda for defamation, for broadcasting
a report accusing the mayor of using public funds to help finance
President Garcia's 2006 Presidential campaign.
On February 28, Carlo Magna Pasqual, the manager of the San Martin
Provincial Municipality, tried to hit two reporters filming a protest
in Tarapoto with a motorcycle.
On March 8, Justion Montes, the mayor of the Chavin de Huantara
District in Huari, Ancash, attacked three reporters who had tried to
interview him about a missing electrical generator.
On March 9, police captain Bernardo Andrade attacked Walter Acuna,
a radio journalist. Acuna was reporting from the scene of a violent
confrontation between police and protestors near the Tumbes River.
On March 18, journalists Rory Huaney and Carlos Miranda of Huaraz
said that Jean Carlos Leon, the son of Yungay Mayor Amaro Leon, had
made death threats against them for their reporting on the legal case
against their father. In 2004 the mayor had allegedly asked David
Moises Julca to kill journalist Antonio de la Torre. Moises was
acquitted of the charges, but Leon received a 17-year prison sentence
in December 2005. On July 12, Leon was released from prison and
acquitted of the charges. De la Torre's widow then brought charges
against the Government to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
for the release and acquittal of Leon. Leon failed to win re-election
in November.
Congressman Jorge Mufarech's 2004 lawsuit against Correo journalist
Pedro Salinas for alleged defamation continued. In 2004 a court
acquitted Salinas, but Mufarech appealed the decision.
The Pucallpa court continued its investigation into the 2004
killing of radio announcer Alberto Ramirez.
On July 25, Francisco Rodriquez, a radio journalist, was beaten by
a worker of the municipality of Huaraz. Rodriquez was attacked while
interviewing the mayor, Lombardo Motion.
On August 9, television reporter Ronald Marquez said he received
death threats after reporting the illegal purchase of a motorcycle by
police.
On August 23, two armed men entered the radio station Alegra in
Huarez and threatened Angel Duran, who had criticized Caesar Alvares, a
candidate for regional President.
On August 24, Superior Prosecutor Pedro Angulo brought charges
against journalist Humberto Ortiz for concealing a tape of an
interview. Angulo subsequently sought and received political asylum in
the United States.
On September 11, three journalists accused police captain Manuel
Vareda, of Huaranchal police headquarters, for seizing equipment and
for preventing them from completing an interview at Ciena mining
company.
The defamation case against foreign reporters Jane Holligan and
Sally Bowen, filed by alleged narcotrafficker Fernando Zevallos,
continued at year's end.
On March 19, Adam Pollca, a friend of President Toledo, withdrew
his 2001 defamation suit against journalist Alvaro Vargas Llosa.
On April 5, television reporter Marilu Gambini left the country
after receiving death threats. Gambini had investigated businessmen
involved in drug trafficking.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individual and groups engaged in the free
expression of views via the Internet, including the use of electronic
mail. The chief impediment to Internet access was a lack of
infrastructure.
The Government led a campaign to promote e-commerce, focusing on
educating the public on investing money over 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
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
Freedom of Assembly.--The constitution provides for the right of
freedom of assembly, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice. The law does not require a permit for public
demonstrations, but organizers must inform the Interior Ministry's
political authority (prefect) about the type of demonstration and its
location. Demonstrations may be prohibited for reasons of public safety
or health. The police used tear gas and occasional force to disperse
protesters in various demonstrations. Although most demonstrations were
peaceful, protests in some areas turned violent.
During the year the Human Rights Ombudsman reported 98 individual
cases of social unrest in 2006; social unrest precipitating conflict
was continuing in 12 of these cases at year's end.
On May 28, 250 PNP officers clashed with 3,500 cocaleros protesting
coca eradication in the town of Puerto Pizana, San Martin. Nine farmers
and nine policemen were injured. The Ombudsman's Office was continuing
an investigation at year's end.
On August 2 in Cajamarca, demonstrators protesting the proposed
expansion of the Yanacocha mine clashed with security guards; one
protestor was killed, and mining operations were suspended. The local
government brokered an agreement between the mine and local communities
that ended the protest on September 3.
On September 11, 37 persons (31 police and six civilians) were
injured in Campanilla, San Martin, when cocaleros tried to stop
eradication efforts. The police officers were injured by protestors
throwing bricks. Police used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse
the protesters.
In October the Government officially formalized the Multi-Sector
Commission for the Prevention of Social Conflicts to anticipate,
prevent, and contribute to the resolution of dangerous conflicts.
Demonstrations against outgoing Apurimac Regional President Rosa
Suarez turned violent in December. One person was killed and the
Government declared a 30-day state of emergency on December 6.
Opposition parties accused Suarez of illegally transferring money
belonging to the city of Abancay.
The Ombudsman's Office continued to issue monthly reports noting
the prevalence of rural unrest regarding a variety of issues, including
mining operations, border disputes between communities, strikes, and
road blockages.
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.
Laws favoring the Roman Catholic Church remained in force. The
Catholic Church and clergy received extra benefits from the Government
in education, salary, and taxation of personal income and institutional
property. By law, the military may hire only Catholic clergy as
chaplains, and Catholicism is the only recognized religion for military
personnel. The Education Ministry requires that Catholic religion
courses be taught in all public and private primary schools. Parents
may request an exemption by writing to the school principal.
Although Catholicism remains the official state religion,
Protestantism has grown throughout the country, and approximately 15
percent of the population identified themselves as non-Catholic
Christians. Protestants gained high-level leadership positions in
society.
Churches may register voluntarily with the Office of Ecclesiastical
Affairs in the Ministry of Justice to receive tax benefits and
exemption from import duties on religious materials.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses, discrimination, or anti-Semitic acts. The 4,000-member
Jewish community was integrated into the larger society.
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 the right
of free movement, authorities may restrict persons with pending
criminal cases or civil charges from leaving the country. Police have
the right to check documents at control points throughout the country.
The Shining Path at times interrupted the free movement of persons
by establishing roadblocks in sections of the Upper Huallaga, Apurimac,
and Ene River valleys. Farmers occasionally blocked roads in an attempt
to pressure the Government to purchase surplus crops.
The law prohibits forced internal and external exile, and the
Government did not engage in such activity.
Although the law prohibits the revocation of citizenship,
naturalized citizens may lose their citizenship for committing crimes
against the state or for jeopardizing national defense or public
security, as well as for reasons that ``affect the public interest and
the national interest.''
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 also provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
prosecution, and laws exist allowing individuals to apply for refugee
status or asylum.
The Government cooperated with the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees and recognized the Catholic Migration Commission (CMC) as the
official provider of technical assistance to refugees. The CMC also
advised citizens who feared persecution and sought asylum abroad. The
Government provided protection to political refugees on a renewable,
year-to-year basis, in accordance with CMC recommendations. The CMC
granted refugee status to 47 persons.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides for the right of citizens to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
mandatory voting and universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--On July 28, Alan Garcia
Perez assumed the presidency after two rounds of Presidential elections
that were free and fair. The two principal parties represented in the
120-member congress were the Union for Peru and Nationalist Party of
Peru coalition with 42 seats and the President's party, APRA, with 36
seats.
Nationwide municipal elections were held November 19. Independent
candidates captured 21 of 25 regional governments and the majority of
provincial capitals. Only 26 out of 194 incumbent mayors were re-
elected. APRA won only two of the 25 regional governments (down from
12) and only one provincial capital. The party of Presidential runner-
up Ollanta Humala of the Nationalist Party of Peru won no regions and
only one provincial capital. The new regional leaders came to power
with limited support and highly divided councils, complicating an
already fragmented political system. Domestic and international
observer delegations declared the elections to be fair and transparent,
despite a few localized incidents of violence.
Registration of a new political party requires the signature of one
per cent of the voters who participated in the past election.
Presidential and congressional terms are five years, and the law
prohibits the immediate reelection of a President. Groups that advocate
the violent overthrow of government are barred from participating in
the political process.
There were 35 women in the congress, including the President and
two vice-Presidents. No female regional Presidents were elected in
2006, compared to three in 2002. Five out of a total of 194 mayors were
women. There were six women in the cabinet, and there was one woman on
the Supreme Court of Justice. The Law on Political Parties mandates
that at least 30 percent of candidates on the party lists be women.
While parties abided by the legislation, many women candidates were
included at the bottom of the party lists, reducing their likelihood of
winning seats on regional and municipal councils.
Indigenous persons comprise approximately 33 percent of the
population. Twenty-three Quechua speakers and one Aymara speaker were
elected to the national congress. One congressman was a native speaker
of the indigenous Chipiyo language.
One congressperson represented the Afro-Peruvian minority,
estimated at 3 to 5 percent of the population, but no Afro-Peruvians
were in the cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained a
serious problem, and widespread public perception existed that
corruption was pervasive in all branches of government.
From 1991 to 2000, authorities accused 1,742 persons of corruption
and released 1,541. Approximately 43 percent of the remaining cases
were in the instruction or investigation stage as of October. Since
2001, 8,598 total cases of corruption have been processed at the state
level. Human rights activists and civil society actors noted that the
law permits 36 months of detention without sentencing, opening the
possibility that some of those accused could be freed unless their
cases were handled promptly. During the year, authorities detained 43
persons and placed another 37 under house arrest.
The law provides for public access to government information, and
most ministries and central offices provided key information on
Websites. Implementation of the law was incomplete, particularly in
rural areas, where few citizens exercised or understood their right to
information. The Ombudsman's Office encouraged regional governments to
adopt more transparent practices for releasing information and
monitored the compliance of regional governments with a law that
requires public hearings at least twice a year.
The Government did not act on a request by the Peruvian Press
Council (CPP) to modify the Law of the National Intelligence System,
enacted in 2005. The CPP said the law defined national security in
ambiguous terms and mandated excessive prison terms for the publication
of confidential government information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A large number of domestic and international human rights groups
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing
their findings on human rights cases. Government officials generally
were cooperative and responsive to their views. There was considerable
controversy surrounding a law, signed by President Garcia on December
8, which required all NGOs to register with the Government and to
provide an annual financial statement listing sources of income and how
funds were spent. The law also contains loosely worded provisions that
could require NGOs to align their development programs with those of
the Government and gives the Government wide discretion to impose
sanctions. NGOs planned to appeal the law to the Constitutional
Tribunal.
According to COMISEDH, military commanders continued to deny access
to military facilities to human rights observers. To obtain information
about activities in those areas, NGOs had to work through the
Ombudsman's Office.
The Government continued to implement recommendations in the 2003
Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation report and established a commission
of reparations to identify those persons who had suffered during the
conflict with the Shining Path between 1980 and 2000 and were eligible
for reparation. The Government also identified 562 communities that
have suffered from the violence and required some type of compensation.
On October 24, the Government created the National Council for
Reparations to aid the victims of the violence from 1980 through 2000.
The law provides for a percentage of taxes from mining companies to
help fund the reparations.
A human rights Ombudsman's Office exists and operated without
government or party interference.
The Government continued to seek extradition of former President
Fujimori from Chile to face charges of human rights abuses and
corruption.
In October Prime Minister Jorge del Castillo requested that the
Office of the National Electoral Process investigate the charge that
Ollanta Humala received four million dollars (12.7 million soles) from
the Venezuelan government for his campaign. There was no movement on an
investigation 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, but enforcement lagged, and discrimination
against women, persons with disabilities, indigenous people, and racial
and ethnic minorities persisted.
Women.--Violence against women and girls, including rape, spousal
abuse, and sexual, physical, and mental abuse was a problem. Abuses
were aggravated by insensitivity on the part of law enforcement and
judicial authorities toward female victims.
The law prohibits domestic violence, and penalties range from one
month to six years in prison. The law gives judges and prosecutors the
authority to prevent the convicted spouse or parent from returning to
the family's home and authorizes the victim's relatives and unrelated
persons living in the home to file complaints of domestic violence. It
also allows health professionals to document injuries. The law requires
police investigation of domestic violence to take place within five
days and obliges authorities to extend protection to women and children
who are victims of domestic violence.
Ministry of Women and Social Development (MIMDES) centers reported
25,036 cases of domestic violence. The centers helped an average of
2,067 men and women per month. MIMDES also operated a toll-free hot
line, which handled 7785 requests for assistance regarding family
disturbances during the year.
Women's organizations noted that alcohol abuse and traditional
attitudes toward women aggravated the problems of rape and sexual
abuse, particularly in rural areas. On November 30, the World Health
Organization reported that 69 percent of women said they had suffered
from some form of physical violence in their lives.
MIMDES and NGOs stated that many domestic abuse cases went
unreported. NGO sources stated that the majority of reported cases did
not result in formal charges because of fear of retaliation or because
of the expense of filing a complaint. The legal and physical
protections offered were limited because of legal delays, ambiguities
in the law, and the lack of shelters for victims. MIMDES ran the
Women's Emergency Program, which sought to address the legal,
psychological, and medical problems facing victims of domestic
violence. MIMDES operated 39 centers, bringing together police,
prosecutors, counselors, and public welfare agents together to help
victims of domestic abuse.
MIMDES continued efforts to sensitize government employees and the
citizenry to domestic violence, but the Ombudsman's Office continued to
complain that police officers reacted indifferently to charges of
domestic violence, despite legal requirements to investigate the
complaints. However, female community leaders, former members of
congress, and local media outlets launched awareness campaigns to
provide citizens with more information about domestic violence.
The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and the
Government enforced the law effectively. The law provides penalties for
those who derive financial benefits from trafficking in persons,
Internet child pornography, and sexual tourism involving children.
Penalties for procurers and clients of underage prostitutes range from
four to eight years in prison.
Prostitution is legal for women over 18 years of age if they
register with municipal authorities and carry a health certificate. In
practice the vast majority of prostitutes worked in the informal sector
where they lacked health protection. NGOs reported that traffickers
lured increasing numbers of underage women into prostitution (see
section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment was a problem. The law defines sexual harassment
as a labor rights violation subject to administrative punishment.
Punishments differ depending on the professional situation where the
violation took place.
The law provides for equality between men and women and prohibits
discrimination against women with regard to marriage, divorce, and
property rights. Racial and sexual discrimination in employment or
educational advertisements is prohibited, although in practice
discrimination continued. The law prohibits the arbitrary dismissal of
pregnant women.
Traditional assumptions often impeded access to leadership roles
for women in both the public and private sectors. Women from the upper
and upper-middle classes have assumed leadership roles in companies and
government agencies; by law they receive equal pay for equal work, but
because of societal prejudice and discrimination, women historically
suffered disproportionately from poverty and unemployment.
Children.--The Government was committed to the welfare and rights
of children.
Education was free and compulsory through secondary school and
generally was available throughout the country, although a shortage
existed of qualified teachers, primarily in jungle regions. The
Ministry of Education provided books to all public schools. An
estimated 12 percent of children did not attend schools, for a variety
of reasons; the most common was a desire work to help the family
economically. Children living in poverty averaged 7.8 years of
education, compared with 9.4 years for children living above the
poverty line. The 2004 National Institute of Statistics and Information
report, for 2004, indicated a decline in the rate of extreme poverty,
from 33 percent in 2002 to 26 percent in 2004. Based on 2005 population
data from the National Institute for Statistical Information (INEI), 55
percent of children from three to five years old attended school, 92
percent of children ages six to 11 and 69 percent of adolescents
between 12 and 16. Absenteeism was highest in rural and jungle areas.
The Education Ministry operated night schools for working
adolescents and offered a tutorial program where teachers provided
extra help to working students. The ministry also began a program to
teach children their rights, in order to lessen the incidence of
exploitation.
The Government's health security program continued to offer poor
mothers and infants, as well as school-age children, access to basic
health care. The program included children not attending school. Boys
and girls had equal access to health services under this system.
The Ministry of Health led a vaccination campaign against rubella
and estimated that 90 percent of citizens were vaccinated.
Violence against children and the sexual abuse of children were
serious problems. MIMDES reported that there were 544 cases of violence
or sexual abuse of children five years of age and under and 1,067 cases
of children ages six to 11.
NGOs noted that many abuse cases went unreported because societal
norms viewed such abuse as a family problem that should be resolved
privately. The Women's Emergency Program worked to help children who
were victims of violence.
The Children's Bureau of MIMDES coordinated government policies and
programs for children and adolescents. At the grassroots, 1,312
Children's Rights and Welfare Protection Office resolved complaints
ranging from physical and sexual abuse of children to abandonment and
failure to pay child support. Provincial or district governments
operated approximately 46 percent of these offices, while schools,
churches, and NGOs ran the remaining 54 percent. Law students staffed
most of the units; only the offices in the wealthiest districts of the
country had professionally trained lawyers, psychologists, and social
workers. When these offices could not resolve disputes, officials
usually referred cases to the local prosecutors' offices of the Public
Ministry. Settlements adjudicated by these offices were legally binding
and had the same force as judgments entered by a court of law.
Trafficking of children was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a serious problem (see section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked from and
primarily within the country.
No authoritative estimates existed on the extent of trafficking,
but NGOs and international organizations reported that significant
domestic trafficking occurred, notably in districts located in the
highlands or in the Amazon jungle. These activities brought underage
women into cities to work as prostitutes or domestics.
The trafficking took place through informal networks, including
family friends, boyfriends, and even the families of the victims.
Trafficking to Spain, and particularly to Japan, operated through
organized criminal networks.
Trafficking laws provide penalties from five to 12 years'
imprisonment for those who move a person, either within the country or
to an area outside the country, for the purposes of sexual exploitation
(including prostitution, sexual slavery, or pornography). If the victim
is less than eight years old, the punishment is 10 to 15 years'
imprisonment. Laws prohibiting kidnapping, sexual abuse, and illegal
employment of minors were also enforced and used to punish those who
trafficked persons. Press reports estimated there were 700 underage
prostitutes working in Lima.
The PNP repeatedly raided clandestine brothels, resulting in the
rescue of a number of young women, who were returned to their families.
However, the raids resulted in few arrests for trafficking crimes. Most
persons were charged for sexual exploitation and related crimes. The
PNP unit that investigates trafficking crimes reported four cases
through July that were passed to prosecutors for further investigation
and trial.
In February Arndt Huber Kupper, a German citizen, and his wife Eva
La Torre Alonso de Kupper, a Peruvian, were arrested for trafficking
children to Europe.
In July the PNP arrested Carlos Arturo and 20 others for
trafficking infants to France. In July charges were brought against
seven of the accused; the other cases remained under investigation at
year's end.
Prosecutors were processing six cases from 2005. On December 27,
Edwin Sanchez Aguilar was convicted of trafficking in persons for the
purpose of sexual exploitation. He received a 10-year jail sentence and
must pay $1,550 (5,000 soles) to each of his three victims. The PNP
arrested Sanchez in March for domestic and international trafficking of
women from the northern highlands. This case was the only trafficking
trial or conviction reported during the year.
The Government coordinated its antitrafficking activities with
NGOs. A Catholic order of nuns, the Sisters of Adoration, operated
three programs for underage female prostitutes: a live-in center for
approximately 75 girls (and 20 children of the victims) in Callao and
two drop-in centers--one each in Lima and Chiclayo. All facilities
offered medical attention, job training, and self-esteem workshops
designed to keep underage girls from the streets. The Government's
Institute for Adolescents and Children provided the building in Callao
and paid for upkeep, utilities, and food.
On March 13, the Ministry of Interior established a nationwide,
toll-free trafficking crimes hot line within its Office of Human
Rights, which received an average of 1,000 calls per month.
Approximately 15 percent of the calls could be considered trafficking
related. The hot line staff also received support from the
International Organization for Migration (IOM). The IOM provided
assistance for informational campaigns and training of government
officials in trafficking issues.
The NGO Capital Humano y Social designed and installed, in eight
police districts, a computerized tracking system for trafficking cases.
PNP officers were trained to operate the system and instructed on the
law enforcement aspects related to trafficking crimes.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities and provides for ``protection, care,
rehabilitation, and security.'' The law also mandates that public
spaces be free of barriers and accessible to the disabled. The law
provides for the appointment of a disability rights specialist in the
Ombudsman's Office; however, the Government devoted limited resources
to enforcement, and many persons with disabilities remained
economically and socially marginalized.
The law prohibits discrimination in the workplace, but the
Government did not fund programs to train workers with disabilities. As
a result, persons with disabilities and the private agencies serving
them generally relied on public charity and on funding from
international organizations to maintain programs.
The Government made little effort to ensure access to public
buildings. There were no interpreters for the deaf in government
offices and no access to recordings or to Braille for the blind. On May
25, the Government published a law requiring public organizations and
universities to make Web pages available to the blind by employing
software that would read pages aloud. The law gave institutions 120
days to implement changes or face a $2,000 fine (6,500 soles).
Observers worried that the law, while well-intentioned, might not be
enforced.
Two persons with disabilities served in Congress.
According to officials of the Institute for Social Security, less
than 1 percent of persons with severe disabilities actually work. Some
private companies operated programs to hire and train persons with
disabilities, and a private foundation provided small loans to persons
with disabilities to start businesses. Nevertheless, discrimination
remained a problem.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law provides all citizens
equality before the law and forbids discrimination on the basis of
race, national origin, or language.
The population includes large minorities of persons of Asian and
African descent. Afro-Peruvians faced discrimination and social
prejudice and were among the poorest groups in the country. Afro-
Peruvian civil rights groups contended that official surveys did not
accurately reflect their numbers. Afro-Peruvians generally did not hold
leadership positions in government, business, or the military, although
one Afro-Peruvian woman was elected to congress. Few Afro-Peruvians
served as officers in either the navy or the air force. Although the
law prohibits mentioning race in job advertisements, NGOs alleged that
employers often found ways to refuse Afro-Peruvians jobs or relegate
them to low-paying service positions. Employers, for example, often
required applicants to submit photos. Although the law prohibits
discrimination against customers in stores, discriminatory practices
against Afro-Peruvians continued. Afro-Peruvians often were portrayed
in the media as stereotypes.
Indigenous People.--The law prohibits discrimination based on race
and provides for the right of all citizens to speak their native
language. Spanish and Quechua are the official languages; the
Government also recognizes 49 other indigenous languages.
Most indigenous persons and those with indigenous features faced
pervasive societal discrimination and prejudice. Several factors
impeded their ability to participate fully in the political process,
including language barriers and inadequate infrastructure in indigenous
communities. Many indigenous persons lacked identity documents and
could not exercise basic rights.
The geographic isolation of highland and Amazon jungle communities
also disadvantaged indigenous persons. The UN Children's Fund reported
that indigenous persons in rural areas often did not have access to
public services, particularly health care and education. Ninety percent
lived in poverty, and only 39 percent had completed primary school.
Child mortality rates were higher in indigenous areas, and only 20
percent of births took place in public health centers.
The indigenous population of the Amazon region, estimated at
200,000 to 300,000 persons, faced discrimination. Local culture and
tradition rejected the idea of land as a marketable commodity. Although
local communities retain the legal right of ``unassignability,'' which
prevents the title of indigenous lands from being reassigned to non-
indigenous tenants, in practice the marketing and sale of the lands
took place. Indigenous groups continued to resist encroachment on their
native lands but often lacked legal title to the land. Mineral or other
subsoil rights belong to the state, a situation that often causes
conflict between mining interests and indigenous communities.
On October 23, the Government and the Argentine-run oil company,
Pluspetrol signed an agreement with the Native Federation of the
Corriente River to end the dumping of contaminated oil waste into the
rain forest by July 2008. The regional government of Loreto would
contribute $11 million (35 million soles) and Pluspetrol $40 million
(127 million soles) to finance the basic needs of the population in the
area.
In the congress, native speakers of Quechua conducted some debate
in Quechua (translators were available for non-Quechua speakers).
The Shining Path continued to violate the rights of indigenous
persons by coercing individuals into its ranks as military conscripts
and by demanding war taxes.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law provides all
citizens with the right to a name, nationality, and legal recognition
and guarantees other civil, political, economic, and social rights.
However, more than one million citizens, including at least 312,000
women, however, lacked identity documents and could not fully exercise
these rights. An estimated 15 percent of births were unregistered, and
95,000 persons each year are born without a birth certificate. Poor
indigenous women and children in rural areas were disproportionally
represented among those lacking identity documents. Undocumented
citizens were marginalized socially and politically and faced barriers
in accessing government services, including running for public office
or holding title to land.
Obtaining a National Identity Document requires a birth
certificate, but many births in rural areas take place at home. In an
effort to lower infant mortality rates, the Health Ministry fines women
who do not give birth in clinics or hospitals, but poor women often
cannot pay the fines and cannot register their children retroactively.
The NGO CARE continued working with local authorities in the
department of Huancavelica in a project designed to help the rural
population obtain identity documents and to increase local
participation in the political process. More than 1,500 persons have
received identity documents as a result of the program.
The Ombudsman's Office investigated complaints about the unlawful
practice of charging fees to issue identity documents and facilitated
refunds when such fees had been paid. The Ombudsman's Office also
helped citizens obtain documents quickly.
Homosexuals faced extensive discrimination, although homosexual
rights gained a higher profile. On July 16, for the fifth year,
hundreds of persons, including public officials, union leaders,
lesbians, homosexuals, and bisexuals marched in downtown Lima.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of
association. Regulations allow workers to form unions on the basis of
their occupation, employer affiliation, or geographic territory.
Workers are not required to seek authorization prior to forming a trade
union, and employers cannot prevent employment because of union
membership. Judges, prosecutors, and members of the police and military
are not permitted to form or join unions.
Many businesses, contracted workers who are legally not permitted
to participate in the same unions as full-time employees. Although the
law forbids businesses from hiring more than 20 percent of the
workforce as temporary workers, some unions reported that some
employers hire excess temporary workers.
While the law establishes fundamental rights for domestic workers,
the Ministry of Labor possessed limited ability to enforce these
provisions.
The local office of the AFL-CIO reported that during the year union
membership grew by approximately 0.5 percent of the labor force.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
recognizes the right of public and private sector workers to organize
and bargain collectively but specifies that this right must be
exercised in harmony with broader social objectives. A union must
represent at least 20 workers to become an official collective
bargaining agent. Union representatives have the right to participate
in collective bargaining negotiations and establish negotiating
timetables.
Although a conciliation and arbitration system exists, union
officials complained that the high cost of arbitration made it
difficult to use. In an effort to address this complaint, on July 4
then President Toledo signed a supreme decree designed to cap
arbitrators' fees to prevent employers from unilaterally changing
previous collective bargaining agreements. The decree also establishes
a system for defining arbitrator compensation. The Ministry of Labor
estimated that the new system would reduce arbitration costs by 50
percent, but unions feared that the reduction may not be enough to
speed arbitration. In the past, arbitrations often lasted two years or
longer.
The constitution provides the right to strike but aims to balance
this right with broader economic objectives. Unions in essential public
services, as determined by the Government, must provide a sufficient
number of workers during a strike to maintain operations. The law bans
government unions, in essential public services, from striking. It also
requires strikers to notify the Labor Ministry in advance before
carrying out a job action. According to the Labor Ministry, four legal
strikes and 49 illegal strikes took place during the year. According to
labor leaders, permission to strike was difficult to obtain, in part
because the Labor Ministry feared harming the economy.
There are four EPZs and no recognized unions in the EPZs. All labor
in the EPZs was sub-contracted and no utilities (profit-sharing
mechanisms) existed.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including labor by children; although there
were reports of such practices (see section 5).
On May 12, the International Labor Organization (ILO) stated that
nearly 30,000 persons are involved in forced labor in Peru,
particularly in the logging industry located in the Amazonia provinces.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--Laws
exist to protect children from exploitation in the workplace and
prohibit forced or compulsory labor. The legal minimum age for
employment is 14. However, if they obtain special permission from the
Labor Ministry and certify that they are attending school, children
between 12 and 14, however, may work in certain jobs for up to four
hours per day. In practice, child labor remained a serious problem, and
the laws were violated routinely in the informal sector.
Narcotics traffickers and Shining Path terrorists continued to hold
indigenous families captive in remote areas, using their labor--
including child labor--to grow food crops and coca (see section 5).
Credible press reports surfaced that illegal loggers employed forced
labor in the Amazon region.
In certain sectors of the economy, higher minimum ages were in
force: age 15 in industrial, commercial, or mining and age 16 in
fishing. The law prohibits children from engaging in certain types of
employment, such as working underground, lifting or carrying heavy
weights, accepting responsibility for the safety of others, or working
at night. The law prohibits work that jeopardizes the health of
children and adolescents, puts their physical, mental, and emotional
development at risk, or prevents regular attendance at school.
In January the Ministry of Labor created a special Office of Labor
Protection for Minors (PMT). The PMT issued permits authorizing persons
under age 18 to work legally. The PMT granted 1,326 permits for jobs in
the formal sector to children between 12 and 17. The majority of
permits, 1,086, went to children between 16 and 17. Parents must apply
for the permits, and employers must have a permit on file to hire a
child. The PMT conducts on-site inspections to ensure compliance with
the legal codes.
INEI estimated that 2.3 million children between 6 and 17 years of
age were engaged in work; 1.9 million worked in the informal sector.
The Santa Filomena mine in Ayacucho eliminated child labor during
the year.
Forms of child labor varied. In rural areas, many children worked
on small farms with their parents, in the mining sector, or as
domestics. In urban areas, children often worked on the streets
providing entertainment, selling candy, begging, shining shoes, or
scavenging in municipal dumps. Children on the outskirts of Lima also
worked in brick-making, which the Government labeled one of the worst
forms of child labor. The Government worked with the private sector to
return hundreds of children working in brick-making to schools in
metropolitan Lima.
Employers frequently required long hours from domestics and paid
wages as low as $20 to $30 (75 to 105 soles) per month.
NGOs and other observers maintained that the country suffered a
serious problem with adolescent prostitution, although no reliable
statistics existed. To combat child prostitution in Iquitos, a popular
tourist destination, the Government created a video warning of the
legal sanctions against child prostitution (see section 5).
The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing child labor
laws, and its inspectors have the legal authority to investigate
reports of illegal child labor. Inspectors conducted routine visits
without notice to areas where child labor problems were reported. Firms
found guilty of violating labor laws were fined and had operations
suspended.
Inspectors maintained contact with a wide variety of local NGOs,
church officials, law enforcement officials, and school officials.
There were 236 labor inspectors, with 150 working in Lima. Inspectors
focused on the formal sector.
The Office of the Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents (DEMUNA)
works with the Ministry of Labor to document complaints regarding
violations of child labor laws. More than 1,000 thousand DEMUNA offices
were located in communities throughout the country. DEMUNA also
operated a decentralized child labor reporting and tracking system to
insure compliance with the Palermo Protocol. MIMDES administered a
``street educator'' program, which sent specialized teachers to the
streets to provide education and support to minors involved in begging
or work as shoe-shiners.
In 2004, Peru's Labor Ministry inaugurated a pilot program in Lima
to provide legal assistance to domestics regarding labor rights. In
2006, the Labor Ministry signed a contract with the Center of Social
Studies and Publications to expand the project beyond Lima over the
next five years. At year's end 23 practitioners had been trained to
register and train domestic laborers under this program.
Narcotics traffickers routinely violated the rights of children by
using them to produce illegal drugs. In 2004 the National Commission
for Development and Life Without Drugs estimated that 5,000 children
were employed in the illegal narcotics industry, work that exposed them
to a variety of toxic chemicals, with effects ranging from blisters and
burns to permanent damage to the nervous system and even death.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law states that workers
should receive a just and sufficient wage determined by the Government
in consultation with labor and business representatives, as well as
adequate protection against arbitrary dismissal. On January 1 the
minimum wage was increased on January 1 from $134 (426 soles) to $153
(486 soles) per month. Many workers in the formal sector received the
minimum wage, which was based on a 48-hour week. The wage did not
provide a decent standard of living for many families. The Government
estimated the poverty line to be approximately $65 (207 soles) a month
per person, a figure that varied by region. INEI's 2004 survey showed
the poverty line at $80 (254 soles) a month per person in Lima,
compared with $57 (181 soles) for the rural regions in the Amazon
jungle. The Ministry of Labor enforced the minimum wage only in the
formal sector, less than 25 percent of the labor force, and many
workers in the unregulated informal sector received less.
Inspectors made 33,874 visits to work sites and levied 4,500 fines
for violations of labor laws, including child labor laws. With regard
to health and safety violations, inspectors made approximately 4,800
visits and levied fines against 182 firms.
The law provides for a 48-hour workweek and one day of rest and
requires companies to pay overtime for more than eight hours of work
per day and for additional compensation for work at night. Labor,
business, and the Government reported that the majority of companies in
the formal sector complied with the law.
In May the Labor Ministry issued a decree compelling businesses to
maintain a registry of employee hours to ensure workers received
overtime. The law also requires employers to document a 45-minute lunch
break and to make these records available to workers and union
representatives.
Occupational health and safety standards exist, and the Government
attempted to enforce them. Nevertheless, the Government often lacked
the resources, ability, or authority to enforce compliance with labor
laws. The Labor Ministry's budget for fiscal year was reduced by $5.1
million (16 million soles). Local AFL-CIO officials claimed that many
inspectors were forced to pay for transportation to sites and were
often harassed or refused entry by businesses. Many fines went
uncollected, in part because the Labor Ministry lacked an efficient
tracking system.
To address these concerns, the Government issued a supreme decree
in July designed to strengthen and professionalize labor inspections by
establishing standards and a national office to oversee the inspection
process. The laws also created a separate office to collect funds.
In cases of industrial accidents, compensation was usually
determined by an agreement between the employer and worker. The worker
did not need to prove an employer's culpability in order to obtain
compensation for work-related injuries.
__________
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS
Saint Kitts and Nevis is a multiparty, parliamentary democracy and
federation, with a population of approximately 39,200. In the 2004
national elections, Prime Minister Denzil Douglas's Saint Kitts and
Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) won seven seats in the 11-seat legislature.
International observers considered the electoral process flawed. The
constitution provides the smaller island of Nevis considerable self-
government under a premier, as well as the right to secede from the
federation in accordance with certain enumerated procedures. In July
voters in Nevis elected Joseph Parry of the Nevis Reformation Party
(NRP) as premier. The civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.
Although the Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, problems included poor prison conditions, lack of opposition
access to government-controlled media, corruption, and violence 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.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
security forces shot and killed one person. Authorities had not made
any determination regarding possible culpability in this killing by
year's end.
On October 1, police shot and killed Nigel Langley Sweeney after he
fired shots at them, killing one police officer. According to media
reports, the officers were responding to a report of a robbery in
progress when the suspect, who had been the focus of a nationwide
manhunt, opened fire on them. According to the assistant police
commissioner, police conduct internal investigations whenever
warranted, but there is no time frame in which the investigations must
be completed.
The investigation and inquests into 2005 killings by police of
Rechalieu Henry and Garnet Tyson had not yet been completed 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 prohibits such practices, and there were
no reports that government officials employed them. Corporal punishment
is legal; a court can order that an accused person receive lashes if
found guilty.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prisons were overcrowded,
and resources remained limited. The prison on Saint Kitts had a
capacity for 150 prisoners but held 204 prisoners at year's end,
including three women; some prisoners slept on mats on the floor. There
were separate facilities for men and women. A low-security prison on
Nevis held 33 inmates. The prison staff periodically received training
in human rights.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, although no such visits were known to have occurred 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 security forces
consist of a 400-officer police force, including a paramilitary Special
Services Unit, a coast guard, and a small defense force. Military
forces patrolled jointly with the police. The military and the police
report to the Ministry for National Security, Justice, and Labor.
Senior police officers investigated complaints against members of
the police force, and criminal offenses were referred to the director
of public prosecutions.
Arrest and Detention.--Police may arrest a person based on the
suspicion of criminal activity without a warrant. The law requires that
persons detained be charged within 48 hours or be released. If charged,
a detainee must be brought before a court within 72 hours. There is a
functioning system of bail. Family members, attorneys, and clergy were
permitted to visit detainees regularly.
There were 43 prisoners in pretrial detention and 17 awaiting a
court hearing at year's end. Detainees may be held for a maximum of
seven days awaiting a bail hearing. Those accused of serious offenses
are remanded to custody to await trial, while those accused of minor
infractions are released on their own recognizance.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The court system includes the High Court and four magistrate's
courts at the local level, with the right of appeal to the Eastern
Caribbean Court of Appeal. Final appeal may be made to the Privy
Council in the United Kingdom.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for a fair, speedy,
and public trial, and these requirements generally were observed.
Defendants have the right to be present and to consult with counsel in
a timely manner. There is a presumption of innocence, and defendants
may question or confront witnesses. Free legal assistance was available
for indigent defendants in capital cases only.
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.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such practices, 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.
While the independent media were active and expressed a wide
variety of views, the opposition People's Action Movement (PAM) party
continued to allege that the ruling SKNLP blocked PAM's access to the
government-controlled media. The PAM acknowledged, however, that it had
access to independent media outlets.
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.
Rastafarians complained that the use of marijuana, an aspect of
their religious ritual, was prohibited.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Rastafarians complained of
widespread discrimination, especially in hiring and in schools. There
were no other reports of societal abuses or discrimination, including
anti-Semitic acts. There was no organized 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 these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law does not address forced exile, but the Government did not
use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a signatory of the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, but not to its 1967
Protocol. The Government has not established a system for providing
protection to refugees or asylum seekers. In practice the Government
provided protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a
country where they feared persecution, but did not routinely grant
refugee status or asylum.
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 elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In the October 2004 general
elections, Prime Minister Denzil Douglas's SKNLP was returned to office
after winning seven of eight Saint Kitts-assigned seats in the 11-seat
National Assembly. The PAM party won one seat after nearly five years
without representation. The Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) party won
two of the three assembly seats assigned to Nevis. The Commonwealth
observer team categorized the electoral rules as ``followed but
flawed,'' and there were reports of vote fraud, intimidation, and
foreign influence. During and after the election, government
information services touted the SKNLP and criticized the opposition.
The island of Nevis exercises considerable self-government, with
its own premier and legislature. In July voters in Nevis ousted
incumbent Vance Amory and elected Joseph Parry of the NRP as premier.
A multiparty political system existed, in which political parties
were free to conduct their activities; however, the PAM continued to
allege that the ruling party restricted access to the media (see
section 2.a.). The PAM also alleged widespread employment
discrimination by the SKNLP against public sector employment of persons
perceived to be PAM supporters.
The governor general appoints three senators, two on recommendation
of the Prime Minister and one on the recommendation of the leader of
the opposition. There were no women in the parliament or the cabinet;
three of four magistrates were women, the court registrar was a woman,
and six of 11 permanent secretaries were women. In Nevis one member of
parliament and the President of the House of Assembly were women.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were a number of
allegations of corruption in the Government. The opposition PAM party
continued to allege corrupt electoral practices and brought a civil law
suit against an SKNLP candidate. In July the High Court dismissed the
case for lack of compelling evidence.
While no laws provide for public access to government information,
the Government maintained a Web site with limited information
concerning government actions.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
While there are no governmental restrictions on human rights
groups, no local human rights groups operated in the country. There
were no requests for investigations or visits by international human
rights groups during the year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, place of
origin, birth out of wedlock, political opinion or affiliation, color,
gender, or creed, and the Government generally respected these
prohibitions in practice.
Women.--Violence against women was a problem. The law criminalizes
domestic violence, including emotional abuse, and provides penalties of
up to $5,000 (EC$13,500) and/or six months in prison. Although many
women were reluctant to file complaints or pursue them in the courts,
the Department of Gender Affairs reported 29 cases of domestic violence
during the year, commensurate with the average of 25-30 reports
received during each of the last few years. The departmental director
believed that the true number was higher, but that due to the nature of
the crime, many women did not feel comfortable reporting it. There is
no central database of the reports, and she plans to create a mechanism
to centralize all the reports. The department offered counseling for
victims of abuse and conducted training on domestic violence and gender
violence for officials in the police and fire departments, nurses,
school guidance counselors, and other government employees. In addition
the department's permanent secretary participated in a weekly radio
program to discuss gender issues, including domestic violence.
The law prohibits rape, but does not address spousal rape.
Penalties for rape range from two years' imprisonment for incest
between minors to life imprisonment for statutory rape or incest with
someone under 16. Indecent assault has a maximum penalty of seven
years' imprisonment. Incest with a person 16 or older carries a penalty
of 20 years' imprisonment.
Prostitution is illegal and was not considered to be a problem.
The law does not specifically address sexual harassment, and it
remained a problem.
The role of women in society is not restricted by law but was
circumscribed by culture and tradition. There was no overt societal
discrimination against women in employment, although analyses suggested
that women did not occupy as many senior positions as men did. The
Department of Gender Affairs conducted programs addressing poverty and
health and promoting institutional mechanisms to advance the status of
women and attain leadership positions for women. One such program, the
Viola Project, focused on teenage mothers and enabled them to finish
their education and learn life skills. According to the UN Children's
Fund, there were over a dozen participants from five high schools, and
six alumnae of the program were studying in higher education
institutions. The program had strong support from the private sector
and was being expanded to include fathers as well.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare. Education is compulsory, free, and universal, up to the age of
16. More than 98 percent of children completed secondary school.
The Government provides free medical care for children.
Child abuse remained a problem. The law sets the age of consent at
16. Authorities brought charges in two cases involving alleged sexual
activity with minors (indecent assault). Unlike the previous year there
were no charges of incest (which includes sexual activity with any
member of the household).
According to the police, juveniles committed 10 percent of crimes
detected in the country, including malicious damage, possession of
controlled drugs, larceny, robbery, shooting with intent, and attempted
murder.
Trafficking in Persons.--While no laws address trafficking in
persons specifically, there were no reports that persons were
trafficked to, from, or within the country.
The country continued an economic citizenship program, whereby
foreign investors were permitted to purchase passports through loosely
monitored procedures requiring an investment of at least $250,000
(EC$675,000) in real estate and an additional registration fee of
$35,000 (EC$94,500) for the head of household (amounts varied for other
family members). This process reportedly facilitated the illegal
immigration of persons from China and other countries to North America,
where, in some instances, criminal organizations that provided the
funds to such persons forced them to work under conditions similar to
bonded labor until the debt was repaid. The Government denied any
knowledge of illegal immigration facilitated through this program and
asserted that applicants were screened adequately.
Persons With Disabilities.--While the law prohibits discrimination,
it does not specifically cite discrimination against persons with
disabilities. There was no reported discrimination against persons with
disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, or in the
provision of other state services. The law does not mandate access to
buildings for persons with disabilities.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers exercised their legal right
to form and join trade unions. Employers were not bound legally to
recognize a union, but in practice employers did so if a majority of
workers polled wished to organize. Approximately 10 percent of the
workforce was unionized. The end of the sugar industry, which was
largely unionized, caused a drop in union membership. The law permits
the police, civil service, and other organizations to organize
associations that serve as unions. The major labor union, the Saint
Kitts Trades and Labour Union (SKTLU), was associated closely with the
SKNLP and was active in all sectors of the economy. The opposition PAM
party alleged that the ruling party used its influence to stifle other
unions that would threaten the SKTLU in the workplace.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination but does not require
employers found guilty of such action to rehire employees fired for
union activities. However, the employer must pay lost wages and
severance pay to employees who had worked at least one year, based upon
their length of service.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Labor unions
have the legal right to organize and to negotiate for better wages and
benefits for union members, and the Government protected these rights
in practice. A union that obtains membership of more than 50 percent of
employees at a company can apply to be recognized by the employer for
collective bargaining. There are no export processing zones.
The right to strike, while not specified by law, is well
established and respected in practice. Restrictions on strikes by
workers who provide essential services, such as the police and civil
servants, were enforced by established practice and custom, but not by
law. Foreign companies that recently opened reportedly discouraged
workers from organizing.
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.
Prisoners were required to work if their sentence was more than 30
days and stipulated ``hard labor.'' They received a small stipend for
this work, paid upon discharge.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
constitution prohibits slavery, servitude, and forced labor of
children, and the Department of Labor effectively enforced this law in
practice. There were no reported complaints of child labor during the
year. The minimum legal working age is 16 years. The Department of
Labor relied heavily on school truancy officers and the Community
Affairs Division to monitor compliance, which they generally did
effectively.
Juveniles worked in agriculture, domestic service, and illicit
activities. In rural areas where families engaged in livestock farming
and vegetable production, children often were required to assist as
part of family efforts at subsistence. Girls often engaged in domestic
service. Such labor included family-oriented work where children were
made to look after younger siblings or ailing parents and grandparents
at the expense of their schooling. Children often worked in other
households as domestic servants or babysitters. In general society did
not consider domestic work exploitive child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Minimum wage rates for various
categories of workers, such as domestic servants, retail employees,
casino workers, and skilled workers, were last updated in 1994, and
manufacturing sector wages were revised in 1996. The minimum wage for
full-time domestic workers was $56 (EC$150) per week and $74 (EC$200)
per week for skilled workers. However, average wages were considerably
higher in these and all other categories, and there was no need to
enforce the outdated legal minimum wages, which would not provide a
decent standard of living for a worker and family. Many workers
supplemented wages by keeping small animals such as goats and chickens,
or other activities. The Labor Commission undertook regular wage
inspections and special investigations when it received complaints; it
required employers found in violation to pay back wages.
The law provides for a 40- to 44-hour workweek, but the common
practice was 40 hours in five days. Although not required by law,
workers receive at least one 24-hour rest period per week. The law
provides for premium pay for work above the standard workweek. There
was no legal prohibition of excessive or compulsory overtime, although
local custom dictated that a worker could not be forced to work
overtime.
While there were no specific health and safety regulations, the law
provides general health and safety guidance to Department of Labor
inspectors. The Labor Commission settles disputes over safety
conditions. Workers have the right to report unsafe work environments
without jeopardy to continued employment; inspectors then investigate
such claims, and workers may leave such locations without jeopardy to
their continued employment.
__________
SAINT LUCIA
Saint Lucia is a multiparty, parliamentary democracy with a
population of approximately 168,000. In generally free and fair
elections on December 11, former Prime Minister Sir John Compton
returned to power when his United Workers Party (UWP) defeated the
previously ruling Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP), winning 11 seats in
the 17-member House of Assembly. The civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
While the Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, there were problems in a few areas, primarily abuse of
suspects and prisoners by the police, long delays in trials and
sentencing, violence against women, and child abuse.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Although the
Government or its agents did not commit any politically motivated
killings, security forces killed three persons during the year.
On September 15, an officer shot twice and killed 20-year-old Troy
Jn Jacques. According to the press, eyewitnesses claimed that Jn
Jacques posed no threat to the police but was shot deliberately and
with intent to kill. The official police report, however, claimed that
police were attempting to arrest Jn Jacques for two burglaries that
happened previously that day and that Jn Jacques pulled a knife on the
police while resisting arrest. At year's end the police investigation
was complete, and the case was before the director of public
prosecutions (DPP).
On October 21, two plain-clothes police shot at a commuter bus with
shotguns, killing 70-year-old Maurison Flavius and wounding two other
passengers. The police officers tried to flag down the bus and opened
fire when the bus did not stop. According to eyewitnesses, the driver
and passengers did not know the armed men were police officers. The
police explained that the officers involved were responding to
information about a bus with an armed passenger in possession of
illegal drugs. On November 16, authorities charged the officer who
appeared to have caused the fatality with manslaughter by recklessness.
The other officers involved remained on administrative leave while the
police continued the investigation.
On November 17, police shot and killed escaped convict Perry Jules
in a gun battle. At year's end the investigation was complete, and the
case was before the DPP.
At year's end the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) was
still investigating all four police killings that occurred in 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; however, prisoners and
suspects regularly complained of physical abuse by police and prison
officers. During the year citizens filed 200 complaints against the
police, 96 of which were for assault, 28 for threats or harassment, 18
for abuse of authority, 20 for negligence, and eight for damaging
property.
On January 3, authorities arrested a police officer and charged him
with wounding a member of his community. A court later convicted the
officer.
On May 13, authorities arrested an officer and charged him with two
counts of causing harm, two counts of uttering threatening words, two
counts of unlawful assault, and two counts of assault. At year's end
this case was still before the court.
On September 23, a police officer shot and wounded a 17-year-old
boy who was causing a disturbance. At year's end the case was still
under investigation.
Of the 146 complaints made in 2005, only 26 were still under
investigation at year's end. Most of the completed investigations were
dropped by the complainants or the police department. Where necessary,
the police followed internal disciplinary procedures.
At year's end the CID was still investigating a July 2005 incident
in which a police officer shot Brian Felix during an argument.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met minimum international standards at the three-year-old
Bordelais Correctional Facility, which had a capacity of 500 prisoners
and held approximately that number. There were complaints regarding the
treatment of prisoners at the facility.
On January 30, the Visiting Justices, an independent investigative
body appointed by the Government to oversee and represent inmates in
matters of allegations, concluded an investigation into the September
2005 beating of Wilson Exhale. According to the report, the police
officer who beat Exhale was acting in self-defense in response to a
lashing out by Exhale.
The Boys Training Center, a facility for boys charged with criminal
offenses or suffering from domestic or other social problems, operated
separately from the prison. It held 30 juveniles between 12 and 18
years of age. Of these, 11 were housed for criminal offenses, including
four for murder, and 18 for protection from domestic problems. The boys
in the program normally stay for two years and receive vocational
training while enrolled. There were allegations of poor conditions and
harsh treatment of the juveniles at the facility, including beatings by
police officers.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, who visited early in 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 Royal Saint Lucia
Police numbered 932 officers, which included a Special Services Unit
with some paramilitary training and a coast guard unit. The police
force reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security.
The police commissioner continued a community policing initiative to
increase professionalism, prevent crime, and address customer service
issues. The police force's internal complaints unit received and
investigated complaints made by the public against police officers. The
complaint unit's findings were sent to the Police Complaints
Commission, a civilian body, which reviewed the cases and made
recommendations for internal disciplinary action to the police
commissioner.
In October the Government contracted 10 police officers from the
United Kingdom to enhance intelligence capacity, develop research and
development capability, and improve management systems and processes.
There were rumors of corruption in the police force but little
evidence (see section 3).
Arrest and Detention.--The law stipulates that persons must be
apprehended openly with warrants issued by a judicial authority and
requires a court hearing within 72 hours of detention. Detainees were
allowed prompt access to counsel and family. There is a functioning
bail system.
Prolonged pretrial detention continued to be a problem; 150 of the
nearly 500 prisoners at Bordelais Correctional Facility were on remand
awaiting trial. Those charged with serious crimes spent an estimated
six months to four years in pretrial detention.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
The court system includes magistrate's courts and the High Court,
both of which have civil and criminal authority. The lower courts
accept civil claims up to approximately $1,850 (EC$5,000) and criminal
cases generally classified as ``petty.'' The High Court has unlimited
authority in both civil and criminal cases. All cases may be appealed
to the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal. Cases also may be appealed to
the Privy Council in the United Kingdom as the final court of appeal. A
family court handles child custody, maintenance, support, domestic
violence, juvenile affairs, and related matters.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for public trials, including
trial by jury, before an independent and impartial court and, in cases
involving capital punishment, provision of legal counsel for those who
cannot afford a defense attorney. While there was no requirement for a
speedy trial, the Government used the magistrate's court located in the
prison to reduce processing time for court hearings after detention. In
criminal cases not involving capital punishment, defendants must obtain
their own legal counsel. Defendants are entitled to select their own
representation, are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court, and
have the right of appeal. Defendants have the right to confront or
question witnesses. Authorities observed both constitutional and
statutory requirements for fair public trials.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent,
impartial judiciary in civil matters where one can bring lawsuits
seeking damages for a human rights violation.
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.
On November 7, parliament repealed a section of the criminal code
commonly referred to as the ``spreading false news'' clause. According
to then-prime minister Kenny Anthony, even those who supported the law
accepted that it was difficult to obtain a prosecution under it.
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.
Rastafarians complained that the use of marijuana, an aspect of
their religious ritual, was prohibited.
In April authorities remanded to custody a person accused of
attempting to kill the Eastern Caribbean's Roman Catholic archbishop.
The accused was to be sent for psychological evaluation before being
formally charged. Government officials denounced the attack as
reprehensible and called for tolerance among religious groups.
Leaders from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and
Muslim leaders reported difficulties receiving official government
recognition while the Government was revising its policies on
registration of churches. The issue was still pending at year's end.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Some evangelicals allegedly
criticized Catholics and mainline Protestants for adherence to ``slave
religions'' and for not accepting a literal interpretation of the
Bible. Muslim leaders claimed that some recent converts to Islam hid
their new religion from non-Muslim friends and family to avoid
criticism and discrimination. Rastafarians complained of widespread
discrimination, especially in hiring and in schools.
There were no other reports of societal abuses or discrimination,
including anti-Semitism. There was no organized 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 it was not used.
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 no formal government policy toward refugee or asylum requests
existed. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, but did not routinely grant refugee status or 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 in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--On December 11, Sir John
Compton's UWP defeated Kenny Anthony's SLP by winning 11 of 17 seats
and 52 percent of the popular vote. According to electoral observer
missions from both the Organization of American States and the
Caribbean Community, the elections were generally considered free and
fair.
Four women competed in the elections in a field of 38 candidates
for 17 seats, but none were elected to the House of Assembly. The
appointed speaker of the house was a woman. There were two women in the
11-member appointed Senate, one of whom served as President of the
Senate. Of the 15 members of the cabinet, one was a woman, as was the
governor general.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The public perception of
corruption in government was reportedly low, although there was a
belief that obtaining public sector jobs was linked to political ties
and cronyism.
There were rumors of corruption in the police force, but little
evidence. The strongest statement on police corruption came from former
minister of home affairs and internal security Velon John. In an
address to parliament on October 24, John dismissed the police force as
absolutely corrupt, irreversibly undisciplined, and altogether useless.
The law provides for public access to information, and
parliamentary debates are open to the public. The Government
Information Service disseminated public information on a daily basis,
operated an extensive Web site, and published a number of official
periodicals.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A few domestic human rights groups generally operated without
government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on
human rights cases. Although the Government officially cooperated with
such investigations, observers noted occasional reluctance by
government officials to cooperate, as well as occasional retaliatory
harassment following critiques of the Government.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination, but there was no
specific legislation addressing discrimination in employment or against
persons with disabilities. However, government policy was
nondiscriminatory in the areas of housing, jobs, education, and
opportunity for advancement.
Women.--Violence against women was recognized as a serious problem.
The Government prosecuted crimes of violence against women only when
the victim pressed charges. The family court heard cases of domestic
violence and crimes against women and children and filed 460 cases by
year's end. The Ministry of Health, Human Services, Family Affairs, and
Gender Relations assisted victims. Most of the cases were referred to a
counselor, and the police facilitated the issuance of court protection
orders in some cases.
On January 12, Feliciana Charles and her daughter Maquina Charles
were killed by Feliciana's common-law husband following a heated
argument. On July 8, Sherry Ann Mayers was stabbed several times and
killed by her male companion. The murder was witnessed by Mayers' six-
year-old son. Both perpetrators were awaiting trial at year's end.
On May 15, Anthony Beaubrun was charged with abusing his common-
law wife by punching her several times in the face on the steps of a
probation office on April 18. The court sentenced him to pay $100
(EC$250) to his common-law wife and one year's probation. The
magistrate also sentenced Beaubrun to attend anger management sessions,
to abstain from alcohol during probation, and said that he faced two
months in prison if he broke his probation.
The ministry's Gender Relations Division also ran the Women's
Support Center, which provided a shelter, counseling, residential
services, a 24-hour hot line, and assistance in finding employment. The
center assisted 37 women and 129 children during the year. One of the
greatest successes of the center was its ability to keep its location a
secret, enhancing the security of the women at the center. The center
also engaged in an active community outreach program that included
visits to schools, health centers, and community centers. Various
nongovernmental organizations, such as the Saint Lucia Crisis Center
and the National Organization of Women, also provided counseling,
referral, educational, and empowerment services. The Crisis Center
assisted in approximately 100 cases of physical violence, incest,
nonpayment of child support, alcohol and drug abuse, homelessness,
custody, and visitation rights.
The law allows a judge to issue a protection order prohibiting an
abuser from entering or remaining in the place where the victim is
living. It also allows the judge to order occupation orders, which
remove an abuser's name from housing leases or rental agreements,
revoking the right of the abuser to live in the same residence as the
victim. Of the 460 cases of domestic violence lodged with the family
court during the year, 316 resulted in protection orders and 25
resulted in occupation orders.
Rape, including spousal rape, is a crime punishable by 14 years' to
life imprisonment. Police and courts enforced laws to protect women
against abuse, although police were hesitant to intervene in domestic
disputes, and many victims were reluctant to report cases of domestic
violence and rape or to press charges.
The police force conducted some training for police officers
responsible for investigating rape and other crimes against women. A
special police unit handled domestic violence, and its officers, who
included women, worked closely with the Ministry of Home Affairs and
the Gender Relations Division in the Ministry of Health, Human
Services, Family Affairs, and Gender Relations.
Prostitution is illegal, but it was a growing problem. Although
there was little evidence, various organizations reported rumors of
trafficking tied to prostitution. In response, the Government began
training sessions and established a network of assistance for victims
(see section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment is prohibited under the criminal code; however,
it remained a problem. The Gender Relations Division continued an
awareness program through which it provided training opportunities in
workplaces and assisted establishments in creating policies and
procedures on how to handle sexual harassment. As a result, most cases
of sexual harassment were handled in the workplace rather than being
prosecuted under the criminal code.
Women generally enjoy equal rights, including in economic, family,
property, and judicial matters. Women's affairs were under the
jurisdiction of the Gender Relations Division of the Ministry of
Health, Human Services, Family Affairs, and Gender Relations. The
ministry was responsible for protecting women's rights in domestic
violence cases and preventing discrimination against women, including
ensuring equal treatment in employment. In May the Government fulfilled
its first five reporting obligations under the UN Convention on the
Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.
Children.--The Government gave high priority to improving
educational opportunities and health care for children.
Education was compulsory from age five through 15; registration
fees were required. The Ministry of Education reported attendance rates
of 92 percent for primary school-age children and 86 percent for
secondary school-age children. In September the Government initiated
universal secondary education, upgrading senior primary schools to
secondary schools and starting construction on two additional secondary
schools.
Government clinics provided prenatal care, immunization, child
health care, and health education services. Boys and girls had equal
access to medical care.
Child abuse remained a problem. During the year the Division of
Human Services of the Ministry of Health, Human Services, Family
Affairs, and Gender Relations reported 83 cases of child sexual abuse,
81 cases of physical abuse, 22 cases of psychological abuse, and 83
cases of neglect and abandonment, all in the Castries office alone (the
division has two other regional offices). The media criticized the
Government for failing to respond sufficiently to reports of sexual
abuse of children, including alleged cases of incest. As there was no
welfare system, parents of sexually abused children sometimes declined
to press sexual assault charges against the abuser in exchange for
financial contributions toward the welfare of children born of such
abuse.
On January 27, a court sentenced Gerald Joseph to five years in
prison for indecent assault of a 12-year-old girl in 2003. On June 13,
a judge convicted George Labadee on four counts of incest for multiple
incidents of forceful intercourse with his daughter in 2003. The court
sentenced him to 15 years' imprisonment, but he appealed his case.
On June 21, media reported that a 14-year-old girl had been
repeatedly and severely abused by her police officer father and
stepmother. Abuse of the child was both physical and verbal and
included such humiliation as being forced to urinate in the yard rather
than in the house. Neighbors became involved when the child was found
running down the street with a badly bruised and bleeding back. They
contacted the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action
(CAFRA) for assistance and then took the child to the police for
protection. As soon as the police realized she was the daughter of a
police officer, they returned her to her father, an action that
outraged the neighbors because of the number of times they witnessed
abuse. With CAFRA's assistance, the girl was placed in her aunt's
custody while her father and stepmother were investigated. The case was
still under investigation at year's end.
The Division of Human Services provided a number of services to
victims of child abuse, including counseling, facilitating medical
intervention, finding foster care, providing family support services,
and supporting the child while working with the police and attending
court. Furthermore, the division was involved with public outreach in
schools, church organizations, and community groups. In November the
division ran a foster care and adoption awareness campaign
simultaneously with the Saint Lucia Medical and Dental Association's
``Good Touch, Bad Touch--Know the Difference'' sexual abuse awareness
campaign.
CAFRA also was involved with child abuse issues. In July CAFRA
began a hot line for families suffering from different forms of abuse.
In October CAFRA held a counseling skills workshop for the hot line
volunteers. Through the hot line, CAFRA learned of various cases of
sexual abuse that were never reported to the police. For example, a
mother called in to report that her daughter's 82-year-old grandfather
was molesting her nine-year-old daughter. Another mother called to
report that her children were first sexually abused by their father,
and when she confided in her boyfriend's brother for help, he began
abusing the children as well.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in
persons, and there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from,
or within the country. Although there are laws prohibiting slavery,
forced labor, forced imprisonment, or kidnapping that could be used to
prosecute alleged traffickers, there were no reports of such
prosecutions during the year.
The Government acknowledged that, despite a lack of documented
cases of trafficking, surveys and media reports indicated that it
occurred. The country had a growing sex tourism industry with a number
of strip clubs and brothels, many of which were staffed by women from
the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean islands.
In October the Gender Affairs Division participated with the
International Organization for Migration in training on identifying and
assisting trafficking victims in preparation for Cricket World Cup,
which will be held in the Caribbean in 2007.
Persons With Disabilities.--No specific legislation protects the
rights of persons with disabilities or mandates provision of government
services for them. The Government is obliged to provide disabled access
to all public buildings, and several government buildings had ramps to
provide access. There was no rehabilitation facility for persons with
physical disabilities, although the health ministry operated a
community-based rehabilitation program in residents' homes. There were
schools for the deaf and for the blind up to the secondary level. There
also was a school for persons with mental disabilities.
In August 2005 14-year-old Kevin Jn Baptiste took the Common
Entrance exam for secondary school but was unable to attend his
assigned school because it could not accommodate his wheelchair.
Baptiste and his mother spent months trying to find a way for him to
attend school, and he was allowed to retake the Common Entrance exam on
August 15. He began classes at a different school that month but needed
help from students to climb the stairs to his classes. In September the
school principal declared that the school could no longer accommodate
Baptiste. Reports conflicted as to whether his expulsion was due to the
strain on the school from assisting with Baptiste's mobility or if it
was related to alleged behavioral problems.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was widespread
stigma and discrimination against persons infected with HIV/AIDS,
although the Government implemented several programs to address this
issue, including a five-year program to combat HIV/AIDS. The UN
Population Fund also provided support for youth-oriented HIV/AIDS
prevention programs.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law specifies the right of
workers to form or belong to trade unions under the broader rubric of
the right of association. Most public sector employees and
approximately 25 percent of the total 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 generally protected this right. Collective bargaining is
protected by law and was freely practiced. Unions have a right to
strike, and workers exercised that right. However, the law prohibits
members of the police and fire departments from striking on the grounds
that these professions were ``essential services.'' Workers in other
``essential services"--water and sewer authority workers, electric
utility workers, nurses, and doctors--must give 30 days' notice before
striking.
Labor law is applicable in the export processing zones, and there
were no administrative or legal impediments to union organizing or
collective bargaining in those zones; however, there were no unions
registered in these zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Government
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 provides for a minimum legal working age of 16 years. The minimum
legal working age for industrial work is 18 years. Child labor existed
to some degree in the rural areas, primarily where larger, stronger,
school-age children helped harvest bananas from family trees. Children
also typically worked in urban food stalls or sold confectionery on
sidewalks. However, these activities occurred on nonschool days and
during festivals. The Department of Labor of the Ministry of Labor
Relations, Public Service, and Cooperatives was responsible for
enforcing statutes regulating child labor. Employer penalties for
violating the child labor laws were $3.55 (EC$9.60) for a first offense
and $8.88 (EC$24) for a second offense. There were no formal reports of
violations of child labor laws.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Minimum wage regulations in
effect since 1985 set wages for a limited number of occupations. The
minimum monthly wage for office clerks was $111 (EC$300), for shop
assistants $74 (EC$200), and for messengers $59 (EC$160). The minimum
wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family, but most categories of workers received much higher wages based
on prevailing market conditions. In June the Government named members
of the commission responsible for setting a minimum wage, but it had
not finished its work by year's end.
The legislated workweek is 41 hours, although the common practice
was to work 40 hours in five days. Special legislation covers work
hours for shop assistants, agricultural workers, domestics, and persons
in industrial establishments.
While occupational health and safety regulations were relatively
well developed, there were only two qualified inspectors for the entire
country. The ministry enforced the act through threat of closure of the
business if it discovered violations and the violator did not correct
them. However, actual closures rarely occurred because of lack of staff
and resources. Workers had the legal right to leave a dangerous
workplace situation without jeopardy to continued employment.
__________
SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a multiparty, parliamentary
democracy with a population of approximately 118,000. In December 2005
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves' Unity Labour Party (ULP) was returned
to office in elections that international election observers assessed
as generally free and fair. The opposition questioned the results in
several constituencies citing what they considered to be unfair
electoral procedures. The civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.
Although the Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, there were problems in a few areas, primarily impunity for
police who used excessive force, poor prison conditions, an
overburdened court system, violence against women, and abuse of
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.
In February 2005 a police officer shot and killed Selwyn Moses, and
in December 2005 another officer shot and killed Joel Williams.
Authorities investigated both cases, and at year's end they were before
the director of public prosecution.
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, a local human
rights group noted that a high percentage of convictions were based on
confessions. The nongovernmental organization (NGO) St. Vincent and the
Grenadines Human Rights Association (SVGHRA) asserted that most
confessions, including false confessions, resulted from unwarranted
police practices, including the use of physical force during detention,
illegal search and seizure, and failure to inform properly those
arrested of their rights. The SVGHRA complained that the Government
failed to investigate adequately allegations of abuse or punish those
police officers responsible for such abuses.
During the year citizens filed 27 complaints of assault, 12
complaints of disrespect, and six complaints of negligence, harassment,
or threats by members of the police force. Most of the complaints of
assault involved police making arrests. Police officers investigated
all such complaints and submitted their findings to the police
commissioner. At year's end authorities had brought disciplinary
charges against six police officers, and hearings were pending. All
other cases were still under investigation.
The April 2005 incident of police officers beating Leon Burgin
while in custody was still under investigation at year's end.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor. Prison buildings were antiquated and overcrowded, with Her
Majesty's Prison in Kingstown holding 377 inmates in a building
originally designed for 75, but which after being renovated, was
intended to hold approximately 150 inmates. These conditions resulted
in serious health and safety problems.
On January 16, the Government opened the Belle Isle Prison Farm
that allows inmates to learn and work on the farm on a daily basis.
Despite such reforms, problems such as endemic violence, understaffing,
underpaid guards, uncontrolled weapons and drugs, an increase in the
incidence of HIV/AIDS, and unhygienic conditions persisted. The prison
also suffered from corrupt prison staff who commonly served as a source
of drugs, weapons, and cell phones. Furthermore, the SVGHRA reported
that prison guards routinely beat prisoners to extract information
regarding escapes, violence, and crime committed in the prison.
The Fort Charlotte prison held 10 female inmates in a separate
section designed to hold 50 inmates. Pretrial detainees and young
offenders (16 to 21 years of age) were held with convicted prisoners.
Conditions were inadequate for juvenile offenders.
Boys under the age of 16 were held at the Liberty Lodge Boys'
Training Center, a center that takes in boys who can no longer stay at
home due to domestic problems or involvement with criminal activity. Of
the 30 boys at the center, the majority were there because of domestic
problems, and only a small number were charged with committing a crime.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, and such visits took place during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions; however, complaints continued regarding police practices
in bringing cases to court.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Royal Saint Vincent
and the Grenadines Police, the only security force in the country,
includes a coast guard, a small Special Services Unit with some
paramilitary training, and the fire service. There were approximately
850 members of the police force, all of whom were law enforcement
officers who could be rotated among the various parts of the force. The
police report to the minister of national security, a portfolio held by
the Prime Minister. The Government operated an oversight committee to
monitor police activity and hear public complaints about police
misconduct. The committee reported to the minister of national security
and to the minister of legal affairs and actively participated in
investigations during the year.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires arrest warrants in most
instances, which are issued by judicial authority. Police apprehended
persons openly, and detainees may seek judicial determinations of their
status after 48 hours if not already provided. The bail system
functioned and was generally effective. A local human rights group
reported that most detainees were given prompt access to counsel and
family members, although in some instances, access delays occurred.
Although there were only three official magistrates, the registrar
of the High Court and the presiding judge of the family court
effectively served as magistrates when called upon to do so. Lengthy
delays occurred in preliminary inquiries for serious crimes.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice. However, there were allegations of undue
government influence over a magistrate's contract renewal.
In February Sharon Morris-Cummings' contract as President of the
family court was not renewed; she is married to an activist opposition
politician. Although the Judicial and Legal Services Commission of the
Eastern Caribbean officially renews contracts of magistrates, a number
of observers alleged government involvement in this decision,
speculating that the sole reason Morris-Cummings' contract was not
renewed was her marriage to the opposition politician. As evidence, the
observers pointed out that Morris-Cummings was widely considered a very
good magistrate during a time when there was a shortage of magistrates.
No public explanation was given as to why she was not reappointed, and
the notice that her contract would not be renewed did not provide any
reason for the action.
The judiciary consists of lower courts and the High Court, with
appeal to the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal and final appeal to the
Privy Council in the United Kingdom. There were three official
magistrates, including the chief magistrate, a senior magistrate, and
one other magistrate. In addition the registrar of the High Court has
the authority to sit as a magistrate if called upon. The chief
magistrate also served as President of the family court, which handled
criminal cases for minors up to age 16.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for fair, public trials, and an
independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Juries are used at
the High Court level for criminal matters but are not used for civil
court or crimes at the magistrate level. The court appoints attorneys
only for indigent defendants charged with a capital offense. Defendants
are presumed innocent until proven guilty, may confront and question
witnesses, may appeal verdicts and penalties, and have access to
relevant government-held evidence once a case reaches the trial stage.
A backlog of pending cases continued, because the magistrate's court in
Kingstown lacked a full complement of magistrates. A local human rights
group reported that magistrates were overworked and underpaid.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent,
impartial judiciary in civil matters where one can bring lawsuits
seeking damages for a human rights violation.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
A government official alleged that the Government conducted
wiretapping, which the Prime Minister denied. Other than the original
statement, there was no evidence of such occurrences.
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 independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. There were three major newspapers and
numerous smaller publications; all were privately owned. The sole
television station and six of seven radio stations were privately
owned.
Although the Government did not directly interfere with the press,
there were a number of accounts of the Prime Minister or other
officials rebuking the press for comments critical of the Government.
In 2005 the Government prosecuted and convicted leading radio talk show
host and opposition figure Eduardo Lynch for making false statements
likely to cause public alarm. Lynch appealed the conviction, but on
March 20 the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal upheld it. Lynch paid a
$1,200 (EC$3,000) fine in May.
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.
Rastafarians complained that the use of marijuana, an aspect of
their religious ritual, was prohibited.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Rastafarians complained that
there was widespread discrimination against their members, especially
in hiring and in schools. Tension continued to exist among some
Christian denominations, with evangelical Christians allegedly
criticizing Catholics and mainstream Protestants for adhering to
``slave religions.'' Baha'i representatives noted that some followers
hid their religious affiliation to avoid criticism and discrimination.
There was no organized 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 these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and it was not used.
Protection of Refugees.--Although the country is a signatory of 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 or asylum seekers. In practice the Government
provided protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a
country where they feared persecution, but did not grant refugee status
or asylum.
On January 11, the Prime Minister and cabinet practiced non-
refoulement by issuing official residence status to two Haitians.
According to the Prime Minister, the two women, who had been living in
the country for over a year before receiving official status, worked
for ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and feared they
would be killed if they returned to Haiti.
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 December 2005 the ruling
ULP was returned to office in elections that international observers
declared to be generally free and fair. The opposition New Democratic
Party (NDP), however, claimed there were electoral irregularities that
could have affected the outcome in three constituencies. The NDP
intended to challenge the results in court but chose not to because of
legal technicalities. The nonpartisan SVGHRA also reported
irregularities and questioned the ability of international observers to
declare the election free and fair, citing the limited period of time
that observer missions from both the Caribbean Community and the
Organization of American States were in the country. The NGO
specifically criticized the observers for failing to remain until all
votes were counted. The elections produced no change in the makeup of
the 15-seat parliament, with the ULP maintaining its 12 to three
majority over the NDP.
There were two women in parliament and three women in the cabinet--
the minister of education, the minister of urban development, labor,
culture, and electoral matters, and the Attorney General.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Although the country had a
national anticorruption plan, corruption remained a moderate problem.
There was anecdotal evidence of corruption and nepotism in government
contracting.
The law provides for public access to information, and the
Government provided such access in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were no restrictions on international human rights groups,
but none were known to have expressed interest in or concern about the
country during the year. A domestic human rights group, the SVGHRA,
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing its findings on human rights cases. Government officials
generally were responsive, but the SVGHRA reported that its complaints
regarding allegations of police brutality typically received
perfunctory responses from the Government. The SVGHRA continued to
monitor government and police activities, particularly with respect to
treatment of prisoners, publicizing any cases of abuse. The SVGHRA
participated in training seminars. Other advocacy groups, particularly
those involved with protection against domestic violence and child
abuse, worked closely with their corresponding government offices.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides for equal treatment regardless of race or gender,
and the Government generally enforced this provision in practice.
Women.--Violence against women remained a serious problem. The law
does not criminalize domestic violence but rather provides protection
for victims of domestic violence. Cases involving domestic violence
were normally charged under assault, battery, or other similar laws.
The SVGHRA reported that, in many instances, domestic violence went
unpunished due to a culture in which victims learn not to seek
assistance from the police or the prosecution of offenders.
Furthermore, a number of victims decide not to press charges once
domestic tensions cool down after having already complained to the
police. For this reason, police were often reluctant to follow up on
domestic violence cases.
The Gender Affairs Division of the Ministry of National
Mobilization, Social Development, NGO Relations, Family, Gender Affairs
and Persons with Disabilities provided a referral and information
service to domestic violence victims, educating victims on the role of
the police, legal affairs, and the family court in dealing with
domestic violence, as well as possible assistance from various NGOs.
The Marion House provided counseling to victims of abuse. The SVGHRA
and other organizations conducted numerous seminars and workshops
throughout the country to familiarize women with their rights.
Development banks provided funding through the Caribbean Association
for Feminist Research and Action for a program on domestic violence
prevention, training, and intervention. Police received training on
domestic abuse, emphasizing the need to file reports and, if there was
sufficient evidence, to initiate court proceedings. To counter the
social pressure on victims to drop charges, some courts imposed fines
against persons who brought charges but did not testify.
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal, and the Government
enforced the law. Depending on the magnitude of the offense and the age
of the victim, sentences for rape could be eight to 10 years. The
possible sentence of life imprisonment was very rarely used. On October
17, a court sentenced Alonzo Lewis to three years' probation for raping
a 15-year-old girl in 2004. The public was mystified and dismayed by
this sentence, much lighter than usual for rape. During the year the
police investigated 50 cases of rape, 29 cases of carnal knowledge (or
rape of a minor), and 67 cases of indecent assault.
Although prostitution is illegal, a local human rights group
reported that it remained a problem among young women and teenagers.
The law does not specifically prohibit sexual harassment, although
it could be prosecuted under other laws. A local human rights group
considered these laws ineffective.
Women enjoyed the same legal rights as men. Women received an
equitable share of property following separation or divorce. The Gender
Affairs Division assisted the National Council of Women with seminars,
training programs, and public relations. The minimum wage law specifies
that women should receive equal pay for equal work.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare. Primary and secondary education was compulsory, free, and
universal through age 17, and the Ministry of Education estimated
attendance rates of 98 percent for primary school-age children and 99
percent for secondary school-age children. However, of the secondary
school-age children, 79 percent were in secondary school while 21
percent were still in primary school. As a post-secondary school
program, the Government sponsored Youth Empowerment, an apprenticeship
program for young adults interested in learning a trade. Approximately
500 youths were enrolled in this program, earning a stipend of
approximately $148 (EC$400) a month; private sector employers
contributed additional amounts in some instances.
Child abuse remained a problem. The law provides a limited legal
framework for the protection of children, and the Family Services
Division of the social development ministry monitored and protected the
welfare of children. The Family Services Division referred all reports
of child abuse to the police for action.
On February 22, a court sentenced 20-year-old Augustus Caine-
Andrews to 18 months' incarceration for sexually assaulting a 14-year-
old boy on February 5. On March 3, 49-year-old Myron Brazel was
sentenced to two concurrent three-year sentences for abducting and
indecently assaulting a six-year-old girl in May 2005. On August 23, a
young woman was treated at Milton Cato Memorial Hospital for abuse by a
male, adult relative. The woman beat her younger sibling with a belt,
which angered the male relative who then beat the young woman. However,
the family chose not to bring charges against the perpetrator.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not address trafficking in
persons specifically, but there were no reports that persons were
trafficked to, from, or within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical and mental disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, or in the provision of other state
services, and the Government generally followed these practices. The
law does not mandate access to buildings for persons with disabilities,
and the circumstances for such persons generally were difficult. Most
persons with severe disabilities rarely left their homes because of the
poor road system and lack of affordable wheelchairs. The Government
partially supported a school for persons with disabilities, which had
two branches. A separate, small rehabilitation center treated
approximately five persons daily. The social development ministry is
responsible for assisting persons with disabilities.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There are no laws that
prohibit discrimination against a person on the basis of sexual
orientation. Although no statistics were available, anecdotal evidence
suggested that societal discrimination against homosexuals and persons
with HIV/AIDS occurred.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers exercised the legal right to
form and join unions; however, no law requires employers to recognize
unions. Approximately 11 percent of the work force was unionized.
The Protection of Employment Act provides for compensation and
worker rights, but these were restricted to protection from summary
dismissal without compensation and reinstatement or severance pay if
unfairly dismissed. This act protects workers from dismissal for
engaging in union activities and provides them with reinstatement
rights if illegally dismissed.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Although the
law permits unions to organize and bargain collectively, and the
Government protected these rights in practice, no law requires
employers to recognize a particular union as an exclusive bargaining
agent. The law provides that if both parties to a dispute consent to
arbitration, the minister of labor can appoint an arbitration committee
from the private sector to hear the matter. There are no export
processing zones.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice; however, the Essential Services Act prohibits
persons providing such services (defined as electricity, water,
hospital, and police) from striking.
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 sets the minimum working age at 16, and workers may receive a
national insurance card at that age. The Ministry of Labor monitored
and enforced this provision, and employers generally respected it in
practice. There were five labor officers in the labor inspectorate with
responsibility for monitoring all labor issues and complaints. The
ministry reported no child labor problems. The only known child labor
was work on family-owned banana plantations, particularly during
harvest time, or in family-owned cottage industries. The Government
operated Youth Empowerment, which provided training and increased job
opportunities by employing young people in government ministries for up
to one year.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Wages Council, which is
supposed to meet every two years to review minimum wages, last met in
2003. Minimum wages vary by sector and type of work and are specified
for several skilled categories, including attendants, packers,
cleaners, porters, watchmen, and clerks. In agriculture, the minimum
wage for workers provided shelter was $9.26 (EC$25) per day; industrial
workers earned $11.11 (EC$30) per day. In many sectors, the minimum
wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family, but most workers earned more than the minimum.
The law prescribes hours of work according to category, such as
industrial employees (40 hours per week), professionals (44 hours per
week), and agricultural workers (30 to 40 hours per week). The law
provides that workers receive time-and-a-half for hours worked over the
standard workweek. There was a prohibition against excessive or
compulsory overtime, which was effectively enforced in practice.
Legislation concerning occupational safety and health was outdated,
and enforcement of regulations was ineffective. The law does not
address specifically whether workers have the right to remove
themselves from work situations that endanger health or safety without
jeopardy to their continued employment, but it stipulates conditions
under which factories must be maintained. Failure to comply with these
regulations would constitute a breach, which might cover a worker who
refused to work under these conditions.
__________
SURINAME
Suriname is a constitutional democracy, with a President elected by
the unicameral legislature or by the larger United People's Assembly.
The population is approximately 493,000. After generally free and fair
elections in May 2005, the New Front Plus government, a coalition of
eight parties, was formed. On August 3, 2005, the United People's
Assembly reelected Ronald Venetiaan as President. The civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
While the Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, there were problems in some areas, including police
mistreatment of detainees at the time of arrest; abuse of prisoners by
guards; overcrowded detention facilities; an overwhelmed judiciary with
a large case backlog; lengthy pretrial detention; self-censorship by
some media; increased corruption in the Government; societal
discrimination against women, minorities, and indigenous people;
violence against women; trafficking in women, girls, and boys; and
child labor in the informal sector.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Although the
Government or its agents did not commit any politically motivated
killings, security forces killed two persons during the year.
In October a court sentenced a police officer to eight years'
imprisonment for the January shooting of a 16-year-old barbershop
apprentice during an argument.
In April police shot and killed a man who fled after robbing a
supermarket. A police investigation concluded that there was no
wrongdoing on the officer's part and cleared the officer of all
charges.
In July a court convicted a police officer of manslaughter,
sentenced him to one year in prison, and suspended him from the police
force for two years for the fatal shooting in February 2005 of a 5-
year-old girl while attempting to break up a fight between two men. It
was determined that the officer was under the influence of alcohol when
the incident occurred.
There were no developments in the 2004 case in which two officers
shot and killed a defenseless suspect.
In accordance with a June 2005 ruling by the Inter-American Court
of Human Rights that found the Government guilty of human rights
violations in the 1986 massacre of at least 39 civilians at the N'Djuka
Maroon village of Moiwana, the Attorney General established a
coordination team to investigate the Moiwana massacre and other crimes
committed by the security forces that remain unpunished. In February
the Government established a working group consisting of officials from
various ministries and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to oversee
execution of the court's orders, and the Government paid $13,000 in
reparations to each survivor of the massacre and organized a large
public ceremony in July to offer its apologies to the N'Djuka Maroons.
The Government's failure to fully implement the court's judgment
remained controversial, as demonstrated by protests during November's
commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the massacre.
In 2000 the Court of Justice ordered the prosecutor's office to
investigate the 1982 killings by the Desi Bouterse regime of 15
prominent political, labor, business, and media leaders. In mid-2004
the prosecutor's office completed its investigation and scheduled
trials for more than 20 suspects, including the prime suspect--former
military dictator (and current National Assembly member) Bouterse. The
suspects appealed a military court's ruling on pretrial objections, and
the Court of Justice is scheduled to start the appeal hearings in early
2007; the actual murder trial can only start after the court's ruling.
b. Disappearance.--Although there were no reports of politically
motivated disappearances, the Government had yet to investigate
allegations of certain disappearances that occurred between 1983 and
1991.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--While the law prohibits such practices, human rights
groups continued to express concern about official mistreatment, and
they documented cases of police mistreatment of detainees, particularly
during arrests, and abuse of prisoners by prison officials.
Human rights activists accused the police of using excessive force
during arrests. There were reports that police shot and injured three
suspects, including armed dangerous criminals, during arrests.
In January police shot a man who fled after robbing two people in a
park. In February police officers beat a suspect while arresting him
for possession of marijuana. In November a citizen filed a complaint
against a police officer asserting that he had been assaulted at the
police station. At year's end authorities continued investigations into
the actions taken by the police officers in these cases.
An investigation was still pending into the October 2005 case in
which a police officer shot and injured an unarmed detainee who tried
to escape from the police station.
No information was available about results of other investigations
by the police Personnel Investigation Department (OPZ) into reports
that police beat suspects in 2005. Likewise, no information was
available about any investigation into the December 2005 complaint by a
father and his 13-year-old daughter charging physical abuse by police
when the two entered and refused to leave the motorcade escorting the
visiting Dutch prime minister to the airport in November of that year.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
poor. Most facilities, particularly older jails, remained unsanitary
and seriously overcrowded, with as many as four times the number of
detainees for which jail capacity was intended.
Violence among prisoners was common, and prisoners continued to
complain of mistreatment by guards. In November authorities arrested
eight prison officers in connection with an inmate's death. The
coroner's report showed that his death was due to grievous bodily harm,
and an investigation into this case continued at year's end.
Human rights monitors expressed concern about conditions in
pretrial detention facilities, which remained overcrowded. A steadily
growing number of people who had been convicted, but not yet placed in
prisons due to a lack of space in prison facilities, continued to be
held in these detention cells. Because of staff shortages, police
officers rarely permitted detainees to leave their cells. Detainees and
human rights groups also complained about inadequate meals.
Conditions in women's jail and prison facilities were generally
better than those in the men's facilities. Once sentenced, there was no
separate facility for girls under the age of 18; girls were held in the
women's detention center and in the women's section of one of the
prison complexes.
Juvenile facilities for both boys and girls between the ages of 10
and 18 within the adult prison located outside the city of Paramaribo
were considered adequate and included educational and recreational
facilities. A separate wing of that prison held boys under age 18 who
committed serious crimes. Conditions in a separate youth detention
center in Paramaribo remained inadequate, and prisoners and NGOs
complained about overcrowding and poor ventilation, physical and verbal
abuse by the guards, and unchecked violence among detainees.
In January construction began on a new youth detention center for
Paramaribo. The Welzijns Institute Nickerie, an NGO operating in the
western district of Nickerie, renovated the youth detention center in
that district with financial assistance from a Dutch NGO. The Welzijns
Institute has a cooperation agreement with the police permitting it to
visit and provide counseling for the detainees in the youth detention
center in Nickerie.
The Government permitted visits by independent human rights
observers. Representatives of the NGO Moiwana '86 group reported that,
in general, they had access to prisoners and received cooperation from
prison officials on routine matters.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--While the law prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions, prisoners who appealed their cases often served
their full sentences before the lengthy appeals process could be
completed, as a result of the shortage of judges.
The Attorney General's office reiterated its concern that prisoners
who completed their original sentences were not released on a timely
basis. Defense lawyers often utilized an article of the Code of
Criminal Proceedings that allows a judge to release a suspect if the
case against the accused appears weak.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The armed forces are
responsible for national security and border control, with the military
police having direct responsibility for immigration control at the
country's ports of entry. All elements of the military are under the
control of the minister of defense. Civilian police bear primary
responsibility for the maintenance of law and order and report to the
Ministry of Justice and Police. The OPZ conducts investigations into
complaints of police abuse. Police effectiveness was hampered by a lack
of equipment and training, low salaries, and poor coordination with
other law enforcement agencies. While joint police and military
operations were limited in the past, the ministers of justice and
police and defense formalized their cooperation in October 2005.
Corruption remained a problem, and senior officers met monthly with
the Attorney General's office to review corruption and other cases
against the police.
Through October authorities disciplined 26 officers for various
offenses and jailed 19, including nine officers on narcotics charges,
one for manslaughter, and four for extortion.
In December 2005 authorities dishonorably discharged and jailed two
police officers who stole four machine guns from a police weapons
depot; an investigation remained under way at year's end.
Arrest and Detention.--Individuals were apprehended with warrants
and were promptly informed about the charges against them. The police
may detain for up to 14 days a person suspected of committing a crime
if the sentence for that crime is longer than four years, and an
assistant district attorney or a police inspector may authorize
incommunicado detention. The police must bring the accused before a
prosecutor to be charged formally in that period, but if additional
time is needed to investigate the charge, a prosecutor and, later, a
judge of instruction may extend the detention period an additional 150
days. There is no bail system. Detainees were allowed prompt access to
counsel of their choosing, but the prosecutor may prohibit access if he
thinks that this could harm the investigation. Detainees were allowed
weekly visits from family members.
The average length of pretrial detention was 30 to 45 days for
lesser crimes. Detainees were held in 22 overcrowded detention cells
located at police stations throughout the country. In December there
were 974 persons detained in these cells. In accordance with the law,
the courts freed most detainees who were not tried within the 164-day
period.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the law provides for an
independent judiciary, disputes over the appointment of judges
undermined the independence of the judiciary. The Attorney General is
appointed for life. The President had yet to appoint a President of the
Court of Justice; the acting President had occupied his position since
2000.
The judicial system consisted of three lower courts, two
specialized courts, and the Court of Justice as an appeals court.
The judiciary was significantly hampered by a shortage of judges,
which limited the effectiveness of the civilian and military courts.
There were 11 permanent judges and one deputy judge for the entire
country, a number that human rights groups and lawyers' associations
viewed as inadequate. A government program continued to train 10 new
judges, who were expected to assume their duties in 2008.
Other problems the judiciary faced included financial dependence on
the Ministry of Justice and Police (and hence the executive branch),
lack of professional court managers and case management systems to
oversee the courts' administrative functions, and lack of space. These
contributed to a significant case backlog. The courts required a
minimum of six months to process criminal cases.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair, public
trial in which defendants have the right to counsel, and the judiciary
generally enforced this right. Defendants enjoy a presumption of
innocence and have the right to appeal their verdict. Defendants'
lawyers can question witnesses. There is no jury system. The courts
assign private sector lawyers to defend indigent detainees, paying the
costs from public funds. However, court-assigned lawyers, of whom there
were 14, generally appeared at the trial without prior consultation
with defendants. According to Moiwana '86, these lawyers often did not
appear at all. To remedy this situation for juveniles, a one-year NGO-
funded pilot project was launched in July 2005 giving juvenile
detainees who could not afford a lawyer immediate access to counsel
upon arrest. Although the program was considered successful, it was
discontinued after a year due to a lack of funds.
Military personnel generally are not subject to civilian criminal
law. A member of the armed forces accused of a crime immediately comes
under military jurisdiction, and military police are responsible for
all such investigations. Military prosecutions are directed by an
officer on the public prosecutor's staff and take place in separate
courts before two military judges and one civilian judge. Due to the
shortage of judges, military and civilian judges are selected from the
same pool of 11 permanent judges and one deputy judge by the Court of
Justice, which makes assignments to specific cases. A mechanism exists
to prevent conflicts of interest. The military courts follow the same
rules of procedure as the civil courts. There is no appeal from the
military to the civil system.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Although there are
separate procedures for civil judicial processes, the same pool of
judges is responsible for presiding over these procedures. There is
access to a court to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation
of, a human rights violation. However, the shortage of judges impeded
the expediency of this process; most civil cases were resolved
approximately three to four years after being heard by the courts.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice. The law requires
warrants, which are issued by quasi-judicial officers who supervise
criminal investigations, for searches. The police obtained them in the
great majority of investigations.
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.
Some media members continued to practice occasional self-
censorship, due to a history of intimidation and reprisals by certain
elements of the former military leadership and in response to pressure
by senior government officials and other important community leaders on
journalists who published negative or unflattering stories about the
administration.
In May the Association of Journalists voiced strong protests when a
minister's bodyguard threatened a journalist and took away his camera
when he was taking pictures of the minister's car.
After a radio call-in program alleged corrupt practices with regard
to acquisition of land by a coalition party, the party chairman
threatened to file a lawsuit against the radio announcer but did not
follow up on his threat.
In December 2005 a local newspaper, De Ware Tijd, refused to
publish a court-ordered retraction to an article published in De West,
a competing publication. Journalists voiced their concern about the
precedent the ruling could set, and De West filed an appeal of the
ruling ordering the retraction. Hearings were scheduled to start in
2007.
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.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts. The
Jewish community numbered approximately 150.
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 the law does not address exile, it was not used 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. Under special circumstances, persons may be granted refugee
status, and 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 asylum or
refugee status.
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 in 2005 marked the third such peaceful electoral
transition; however, in its 31 years of independence, the country
experienced two military coups, seven years of military rule, and one
instance in which massive public demonstrations forced an agreement to
hold elections a year early.
Elections and Political Participation.--The constitution provides
for direct election by secret ballot of the 51-member National Assembly
every five years. The National Assembly in turn elects the President by
a two-thirds majority vote. If the legislature is unable to do so, the
constitution provides that the United People's Assembly, composed of
members of parliament and elected regional and local officials, shall
elect the President. After generally free and fair elections in May
2005, the United People's Assembly reelected incumbent Ronald Venetiaan
as President in August of that year.
Historical and cultural factors, such as early, arranged marriages
for Hindu and Muslim women, impeded equal participation by women in
leadership positions in government and political parties. In the past,
participation by women in politics (and other fields) generally was
considered inappropriate. Data from the Ministry of Home Affairs showed
that while women made limited gains in attaining political power in
recent years, political circles remained under the influence of
traditional male-dominated groups. There were 13 women in the 51-seat
National Assembly, and the cabinet included three women. In 2001 the
first female judge joined the Court of Justice. In August 2005 two
women were appointed police commissioners, and in May a woman was
appointed as head clerk, the highest administrative position in the
parliament.
Several factors traditionally limited the participation of
indigenous Amerindians and Maroons--descendants of escaped slaves who
fled to the interior to avoid recapture--in the political process. Most
of the country's political activity takes place in the capital,
Paramaribo, and in a narrow belt running east and west of it along the
coast. The Maroons and Amerindians are concentrated in remote areas in
the interior and therefore have limited access to, and influence on,
the political process. There were three Maroon and one Amerindian
political parties, and voters elected eight Maroons and one Amerindian
to the National Assembly. The opportunity for Maroons to participate in
the political process increased when the three Maroon parties formed a
coalition for the May 2005 election and became part of the governing
coalition, with three Maroons in the cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
perception of corruption in the executive branch of the Government, and
corruption of government officials remained a serious problem. A
shortage of police personnel continued to hamper police investigations
of fraud cases.
In February a court sentenced an official from the Ministry of Home
Affairs to one year in prison for embezzling thousands of dollars
through a pension benefits scheme; in addition, she was ordered to pay
the money back within two years of her release from prison.
In March authorities arrested a customs officer stationed in the
eastern district of Marowijne and charged him with extortion and
embezzlement. In July a judge sentenced the customs officer to one year
in prison and suspended him from the service for two years.
The trial of former minister of public works, Dewanand Balesar, and
16 other suspects on charges of fraud, forgery, and extortion at the
Ministry of Public Works continued at year's end.
Authorities arrested and placed on trial for corruption three
officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and
Fisheries. The trial concluded in December. While the ministry's deputy
director was acquitted due to lack of evidence, the judge sentenced
other suspects in this case to prison terms ranging from 12 to 24
months.
The media reported on alleged corrupt practices with regard to the
acquisition of land by one of the political parties in the governing
coalition.
Although the law provides for public access to government
information, such access was limited in practice for both citizens and
noncitizens, including foreign media. While almost every ministry has
an information service, onerous bureaucratic hurdles made obtaining
information very difficult.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of independent domestic human rights groups, such as the
Organization for Justice and Peace, the Know Your Rights Foundation,
and Moiwana '86, generally operated without government restriction,
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases.
However, government officials often were not cooperative or responsive
to their views. No international human rights groups operated in the
country during the year.
A parliamentary commission on human rights continued operating
throughout the year, but its effectiveness was hampered by resource
constraints. In February parliament established a commission dealing
with women's and children's rights.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race and ethnicity but
does not address discrimination based on disability, language, or
social status. While the law does not specifically prohibit gender
discrimination, it provides for protection of women's rights to equal
access to education, employment, and property. In practice several
societal groups, including women, Maroons, Amerindians, persons with
HIV/AIDS, and homosexuals, suffered various forms of discrimination.
Women.--Violence against women was a common problem, which the
Government had not addressed specifically. The law does not
differentiate between domestic violence and other forms of assault.
There was no information available regarding the number of reports of
domestic violence the police received during the year. The chairwoman
of the NGO Stop Violence Against Women stated that the working
relationship between the police and the various NGOs dealing with this
issue was slowly improving, as attention was now being paid to the
victim, rather than just focusing on the offender. An NGO-driven
network, including police units, continued working to combat domestic
violence. There were four victims' rooms in police stations in
Paramaribo and in Nickerie, and police units were trained on dealing
with victims and perpetrators of sexual crimes and domestic violence.
The law prohibits rape but does not address spousal rape. The
maximum penalty for rape or forcible sexual assault is a 12-year
sentence. The only statistics available covered sex crimes in general:
as of October, authorities had opened 218 new cases against 277
defendants, 212 of whom were imprisoned pending the outcome of their
trials.
Although the law prohibits sexual exploitation, including
prostitution, in practice prostitution generally was tolerated.
Concerns about the link between prostitution and trafficking in persons
resulted in police raids on commercial sex locations and arrests of
several prostitutes. Poverty continued to put young women at risk of
becoming prostitutes. The presence of large groups of illegal miners in
the gold mining sector in the interior drew many young Maroon women and
girls into prostitution. Police allowed many brothels to operate, and
officials asserted that they made random checks on the brothels twice a
month to see if women were being abused, held against their will, or
having their passports retained by brothel owners to ensure fulfillment
of work contract obligations (see section 5, Trafficking).
Women have the legal right to equal access to education,
employment, and property; nevertheless, social pressures and customs,
especially in rural areas, inhibited their full exercise of these
rights, particularly with respect to marriage and inheritance. Social
pressures on families to have their daughters married at or near the
legal age of marital consent frequently interfered with the girls'
education and resulted in the direct passage of all property the women
would have inherited from their parents to their husband and parents-
in-law in accordance with these customs.
Women experienced economic discrimination in access to employment
and in rates of pay for the same or substantially similar work.
According to a report, more than 60 percent of women worked in
traditionally female administrative or secretarial jobs. The Government
did not make specific efforts to combat economic discrimination.
The National Women's Movement, the most active women's rights NGO,
continued assisting women to launch small home-based businesses, such
as sewing and growing vegetables, and provided general legal help. The
Women's Business Group advocated business opportunities for women,
while the Women's Parliament advocated opportunities in the public
sector. Stop Violence against Women provided assistance to victims of
domestic violence, including legal help with dissolving an abusive
marriage. The Maxi Linder Foundation worked with persons in
prostitution, including women and children who were victims of
trafficking, and conducted outreach and informational sessions to
inform victims of human rights abuses about their rights. Resource
constraints continued to limit the effectiveness of these groups. In
March the Women's Rights Center organized a five-day training course
about the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women; participants included government officials, NGOs, journalists,
and academics.
Children.--The Government allocated limited resources to ensure
safeguards for the human rights and welfare of children.
Schooling is compulsory until 12 years of age; however, in practice
some school-age children, particularly in the interior, did not have
access to education due to a lack of transportation, building
facilities, or teachers. Although school attendance was free through
university level, most public schools imposed a nominal enrollment fee,
ranging from $9 to $40 (SRD 25 to SRD 115) a year to cover costs.
Approximately 85 percent of children in cities attended school;
however, as few as 50 percent of children in the interior attended
school. Most children attended school through middle school (age 16).
There was no legal difference in the treatment of girls and boys in
education or health care services, and in practice both were treated
equally.
Government medical care for children was generally adequate, and
vaccination for all children was obligatory. However, the Government
offered very limited mental health care. The NGO Bureau for Child
Development provided mental health care for abused children. There was
a home for HIV/AIDS orphans and abandoned children in Paramaribo.
While there was no societal pattern of abuse directed against
children, some children were abused sexually and physically. Through
December police received reports of 235 cases of sexual abuse of
children and 100 cases of cruelty against children. The police Youth
Affairs Office conducted three visits per week to different schools in
the capital and the surrounding areas on a rotating schedule to provide
outreach and raise awareness about child abuse and to solicit and
investigate complaints. In March a court sentenced an elementary school
principal who had sexually molested and assaulted at least 23 boys to
four years' imprisonment.
Various laws were used to prosecute perpetrators of sexual
harassment, and several cases of sexual abuse against minors came to
trial. Sentences averaged three years in prison. There were several
orphanages and one privately funded shelter for sexually abused
children in the capital, where approximately 49 percent of the
country's population was concentrated.
While the legal age of sexual consent is 14, it was not enforced
effectively. The marriage law sets the age of marital consent at 15 for
girls and 17 for boys, provided parents of the parties agree to the
marriage. Parental permission to marry is required up to age 21. The
law also mandates the presence of a Civil Registry official to register
all marriages.
Trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of minors remained a
problem (see section 5, Trafficking). According to the Mamio Namen
Project Foundation, an NGO working on the well-being of HIV-infected
persons, sex tourism was increasing; boys reportedly were targeted in
particular. The Salvation Army and a Catholic charitable organization
provided shelter for homeless boys.
Children faced increasing economic pressure to discontinue their
education to seek employment, particularly in the interior of the
country, and child labor remained a problem in the informal sector (see
section 6.d.).
In June the Ilse Henar Hewitt Bureau for Legal Assistance for
Women, an NGO, launched a campaign to inform and educate the public
regarding the right of children to be heard in any judicial and
administrative procedure affecting them. In October the Code of Civil
Procedure was amended to include this right.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) continued cooperating with the
Government on the basis of a multiannual plan of action. UNICEF
provided training to officials from various ministries dealing with
children and children's rights. UNICEF coordinates its activities with
the Bureau for Children's Rights and the national steering committee,
which includes representatives from the Ministries of Health,
Education, Regional Development, Planning and Development Cooperation,
and Labor.
Trafficking in Persons.--Although trafficking in persons is
criminalized by law, persons were trafficking to, through, and within
the country, primarily for sexual exploitation.
The country was primarily a transit and destination country for
women and children trafficked internationally for the purpose of sexual
exploitation. Foreign girls and women were trafficked from Brazil, the
Dominican Republic, Guyana, and Colombia for commercial sexual
exploitation; some transited the country en route to Europe. The
majority of these girls and women were reportedly unaware that they
would be working as prostitutes. Authorities noted that ``snake
heads,'' Chinese human trafficking organizations, were active. Chinese
nationals transiting the country risked debt bondage to these migrant
smugglers; men were exploited in forced labor and women in commercial
sexual exploitation. Haitians migrating illegally were also vulnerable
to forced labor exploitation in the country. There also were reports of
underage girls and boys trafficked within the country for prostitution
by recruiters or caretakers.
In March the National Assembly approved a Penal Code amendment to
increase the maximum prison term for human traffickers and human
smugglers from two to four years, make assisting or facilitating human
trafficking a crime, and institute heavy fines for the offenders. The
penalty for sexual exploitation, a criminal felony, is a five-year
sentence; labor exploitation is covered only by labor law and is a
misdemeanor carrying a three- to six-month sentence. Criminal law
prohibits solicitation and brothel operation, but the law was not
enforced.
Government efforts to investigate and prosecute traffickers
intensified significantly.
In two separate instances in January and February, police arrested
four brothel owners, including a woman, and charged them with human
trafficking and participation in a criminal organization. The four
brothel owners were in the business of trafficking women from the
Dominican Republic; the women were unaware that they would be expected
to work as prostitutes. In November a court convicted the female
brothel owner and sentenced her to 18 months' imprisonment; she was
released for time served. At year's end the cases against the other
brothel owners were still pending in the courts.
In March 2005 a court sentenced Marie Bichotte, a Haitian national,
to two and a half years' imprisonment for human smuggling and ordered
her to pay a fine of approximately $3,570 (SRD 10,000). Bichotte and
her husband were reportedly involved in large-scale smuggling and
trafficking of Haitians for eventual transit to French Guiana. At
year's end authorities were seeking the husband and intended to
prosecute him.
In July police arrested a person on charges of trafficking in
persons, assault, and intimidation. The women were trafficked under
false pretenses and were forced to work as prostitutes.
In December a court convicted Henk Kunath and sentenced him to six
months' imprisonment on charges of trafficking in persons. Kunath, who
owned Paramaribo's largest brothel, Diamond, trafficked Brazilian women
to work in his club.
The Government's Antitrafficking Commission had primary
responsibility for combating trafficking; the commission included
representatives from law enforcement (Attorney General's office, police
force, and the military police, which handles immigration), the
Ministries of Justice and Police, Labor, Home Affairs, and Foreign
Affairs. The commission met monthly to assess the Government's progress
in combating trafficking in persons and coordinate new action steps.
Police cooperated with counterparts in Guyana and the Dominican
Republic, and justice officials sought improved mechanisms for
cooperation with Colombia, the Netherlands Antilles, and French Guiana.
The Special Antitrafficking Police Unit conducted limited
investigations and raids throughout the year. The public prosecutor's
office and the police continued a registry of all brothels and their
employees by nationality. The police operated a telephone hot line to
handle all cases involving the commercial sex industry. The police had
informal agreements with many brothel owners allowing them to proceed
with their business. However, police conducted random checks to ensure
that women were not mistreated, that no minors were present, and that
owners did not keep the women's airline tickets and passports. During
the year there were fewer than four reports of brothel owners retaining
passports and airline tickets to enforce contract obligations. In such
cases the police assisted these women to return to their country of
origin at their own expense.
There were reports that government officials, including consular
affairs, customs, and immigration officials, facilitated trafficking in
persons by allowing individuals who were not bona fide visitors to
enter the country. Authorities continued to investigate such reports.
Although the Government continued to lack resources for the direct
provision of services to victims of trafficking, it increased efforts
to work with civil society to shelter and assist these victims.
Authorities extended services provided for domestic violence victims
and worked with civil society contacts and consular representatives of
victims' source countries. As a result, identified foreign victims were
temporarily sheltered and kept safe until their repatriation. Victims
could file suit against traffickers, but few victims came forward.
Women arrested in brothel raids as immigration violators and who did
not indicate they were trafficked were deported, but efforts were made
to treat identified victims as material witnesses needing protection
rather than as criminals. An NGO receiving government funding, the Maxi
Linder Foundation, continued working with trafficking victims,
providing counseling and rehabilitative training.
In February the Government launched an intensive trafficking in
persons awareness campaign, funded by the International Organization
for Migration (IOM). In March two foreign judges visited their
counterparts with whom they held intensive discussions about effective
approaches to handle cases involving trafficking in persons. The judges
also met with government and NGO officials, academics, and members of
the legal community. In June three officials from the Antitrafficking
Commission attended an IOM-sponsored training course on trafficking in
persons for law enforcement officials.
Persons With Disabilities.--There were no laws prohibiting
discrimination against persons with physical or mental disabilities in
employment, education, access to health care, or the provision of state
services. There were no laws, provisions, or programs to ensure access
to buildings for persons with disabilities. Some training programs were
provided for the blind and others with disabilities. In general persons
with disabilities suffered from discrimination when applying for jobs
and services. A Ministry of Social Affairs working group remained
responsible for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities but
made no progress during the year.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law prohibits
discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity, and no discrimination
complaints were filed during the year. Nonetheless, Maroons (see
section 3), who represent approximately 15 percent of the population,
generally continued to be disadvantaged in the areas of education,
employment, and government services. Most Maroons lived in the
interior, where limited infrastructure narrowed their access to
educational and professional opportunities and health and social
services. Maroons in Paramaribo suffered from negative social
stereotypes.
Unlike in previous years, there were no new protests by residents
of neighboring Maroon villages against gold mining activities by the
Gross Rosebel Goldmines Company in the interior. Some forms of
discrimination that affected indigenous Amerindians also extended to
Maroons (see section 5, Indigenous People).
Indigenous People.--The law affords no special protection for, or
recognition of, indigenous people. Most Amerindians (approximately 3
percent of the population) suffered a number of disadvantages and had
only limited ability to participate in decisions affecting their lands,
cultures, traditions, and natural resources. The country's political
life, educational opportunities, and jobs were concentrated in the
capital and its environs, while the majority of Amerindians (as well as
Maroons) lived in the interior, where government services were largely
unavailable.
Official and informal meetings between the parties involved in
implementing the 2001 Lelydorp Accord (which superseded the 1992 peace
accords that formally ended the 1986-91 insurgencies) continued without
substantive results. No former Jungle Commando members were integrated
into the police force, but some obtained jobs with the Government. In
October more than 200 former members of the Jungle Commando complained
to the Government that they were not being integrated into the civil
services as outlined in the 1992 peace agreement.
The Amerindian (and Maroon) populations continued to face problems
with illegal and uncontrolled logging and mining.
Organizations representing Maroon and Amerindian communities
complained that small-scale mining operations, mainly by illegal gold
miners, dug trenches that cut residents off from their agricultural
land and threatened to drive them away from their traditional
settlements. Mercury runoff from these operations also contaminated and
threatened traditional food source areas.
In March the Government established a commission consisting of
officials from various ministries and representatives from Maroon and
Amerindian groups to advise the Government on the issue of land rights.
In 2005 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) heard
a petition filed in 2000 by the Vereniging van Saramakaanse
Gezagdragers, an organization representing 12 Saramaccaner clans with
authority over 60 villages in the Upper Suriname River area, claiming
that lumber operations, mostly by Chinese-owned concessions, threatened
their way of life. After the Government failed to take appropriate
measures, in June the IACHR sent the case to the Inter-American Court
of Human Rights. The court was expected to start hearings in 2007.
Human rights and environmental groups continued monitoring the
joint venture activities of SURALCO and BHP Billiton, which were
exploring the possibility of mining bauxite and generating hydropower
in the western part of the country.
Maroon and Amerindian groups continued to cooperate with each other
in an effort to exercise their rights more effectively. NGOs such as
Moiwana '86 continued working to promote the rights of indigenous
people.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Although the law
prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, there were
reports that homosexuals continued to suffer from employment
discrimination. Persons with HIV/AIDS continued to experience societal
discrimination in employment and medical services. In March local
newspapers reported that a patient infected with HIV/AIDS died because
hospital workers were reluctant to treat him. An NGO working with HIV-
infected persons reported that HIV testing was still part of the hiring
procedures of law enforcement agencies and the fire department.
During the year the National AIDS Program expanded and authorities
filled crucial positions that had been vacant since its inception. The
Ministry of Health also intensified its efforts in prevention of mother
to child transmission. By the end of the year, the ministry expected to
reach 90 percent of pregnant women for voluntary testing. Testing was
also available through hospitals, Primary Health Services' clinics,
family practitioners, and the Regional Health Services. The Government
included combating HIV/AIDS as an issue in its 2006-11 Multi-Year
Development Program, and in December it launched a ``Unite for
Children, Unite Against AIDS'' campaign against AIDS.
In July the Union of Teachers, together with the NGOs Education
International and the Education for All Commission organized a seminar
on HIV/AIDS and prevention for Teacher's College teachers.
In December 2005 the business community launched the Business
Coalition against HIV/AIDS. The coalition wrote a protocol on dealing
with HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment on the work floor and combating
stigma and discrimination. Initially intended to be a three-month
project, the Know Your Status campaign concluded in June after seven
months and produced good results. In an effort to reach as many people
as possible for testing, there were seven voluntary counseling and
testing sites.
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 workers did so in practice. Nearly 60 percent of
the work force was organized into unions, and most unions belonged to
one of the country's seven major labor federations. Unions were
independent of the Government but played an active role in politics.
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. Collective
bargaining agreements covered approximately 50 percent of the labor
force.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers in both
public and private sectors exercised this right in practice.
In July Fernandes Bakery employees went on strike demanding payment
of a previously agreed lump sum from their employer, although a
collective bargaining agreement had already been signed between the
union and the employer. Fernandes fired the 82 employees. In August the
Dismissal Committee of the Ministry of Labor, Technological
Development, and Environment ruled that the decision to fire the
employees was unlawful and that the employees had to be rehired.
However, in September a judge ruled in a summary suit filed by
Fernandes that the company had acted correctly. Fernandes subsequently
rehired approximately 50 percent of the employees.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--While the law
prohibits all forms of 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
law sets the minimum age for employment at 14 years and restricts
working hours for minors to day shifts but does not specify the length
of such day shifts. Children younger than 18 are prohibited from doing
hazardous work, defined as work dangerous to their life, health, and
decency; those younger than 14 are only allowed to work in a family or
special vocational setting or for educational purpose. However, the
Ministry of Labor and the police enforced this law sporadically, and
child labor remained a problem in the informal sector, especially in
the districts of Nickerie and Saramacca in the west.
Children under 14 worked as street vendors, newspaper sellers, rice
and lumber mill workers, packers for traders, or shop assistants.
Working hours for youths were not limited in comparison with the
regular work force. Employers in these sectors did not guarantee work
safety, and children often worked barefoot and without protective
gloves, with no access to medical care. Although government figures
reported that only 2 percent of children were economically active, a
2002 survey conducted by the Institute for Training and Research found
that 50 percent of children between the ages of four and 14 were
economically active, working mainly in the informal sector. The worst
forms of child labor, such as prostitution, remained a problem; there
were reports of commercial sexual exploitation of children and
teenagers by caretakers and older recruiters (see section 5).
The Ministry of Labor's Department of Labor Inspection, with
approximately 40 inspectors, has responsibility to implement and
enforce labor laws, including those pertaining to the worst forms of
child labor. Inspectors covered the entire country, but no data were
available regarding the number of inspections performed during the
year. The Government did not investigate exploitive child labor cases
outside urban areas. As in the past, labor inspectors were not
authorized to conduct inspections in the informal sector, where child
labor remained a problem, as responsibility for controlling the
informal sector lies with police.
The police continued raids on known child labor locations in
Paramaribo, including street spots where underage vendors worked, as
well as nightclubs, casinos, and brothels, to combat the problem.
In December the Government installed the National Commission
dealing with Child Labor, consisting of officials from the Ministries
of Labor, Social Affairs, and Education, and representatives from the
labor unions, the private sector, and NGOs. The commission was
primarily tasked with establishing an authority on child labor, as
provided for the International Labor Organization convention on the
worst forms of child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no legislation
providing for a minimum wage. The lowest wage for civil servants was
approximately $211 (SRD 593) per month, including a cost of living
allowance, which did not provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family. Government employees, who constituted approximately
50 percent of the work force of 100,000 persons, frequently
supplemented their salaries with second or third jobs, often in the
informal sector. The President and the Council of Ministers set and
approved civil service wage increases.
Work in excess of 45 hours per week on a regular basis required
special government permission, which was granted routinely. Such
overtime work earned premium pay. The law prohibits excessive overtime
and requires a 24-hour rest period per week.
A 10- to 12-member inspectorate in the Occupational Health and
Safety Division of the Ministry of Labor was responsible for enforcing
occupational safety and health regulations. Resource constraints and
lack of trained personnel precluded the division from making regular
inspections. There was no law authorizing workers to refuse to work in
circumstances they deem unsafe; they must appeal to the inspectorate to
declare the workplace situation unsafe.
__________
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Trinidad and Tobago is a parliamentary democracy governed by a
prime minister and a bicameral legislature. The population was
approximately 1.3 million. Tobago has a House of Assembly that has some
administrative autonomy over local matters on that island. In the 2002
elections, which observers considered generally free and fair, Prime
Minister Patrick Manning's People's National Movement (PNM) secured a
20 to 16 seat victory over the United National Congress (UNC). 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 killings
during apprehension or custody, inmate injuries in riots over poor
prison conditions and other grievances, high-profile attempts to
pervert the course of justice and cases of alleged bribery, violence
against women, inadequate services for vulnerable children, and unsafe
working 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,
11 persons died during the year while in police custody or at the hands
of law enforcement authorities. Authorities investigated or opened
inquests into all such killings.
On June 21, police shot and killed Sherwin Daniel, a suspect in
five murders and several robberies, after he reportedly opened fire on
police officers who were attempting to arrest him.
On July 29, a coast guard vessel came upon an alleged fishing boat
carrying Shazard Mohammed and two other men. In a confusing series of
events, Mohammed was shot in the head and transported unconscious to a
hospital where he died on August 4. An internal coast guard
investigation found no reason to charge anyone with the shooting, but a
police investigation led to charges of murder against Quincy Allum,
reportedly a defense force mechanic. At year's end the case was still
being heard in magistrate's court.
On August 14, Stefan Mills, a construction worker and alleged gang
member, died in a hospital two days after police officers shot him in
the face and chest, as he attempted to abduct two teenage girls.
On September 21, police shot and killed Noel French near his home,
after he reportedly opened fire on police officers who were attempting
to execute an outstanding arrest warrant.
On January 27, authorities arrested three members of the defense
force and charged them, along with 12 civilian accomplices, with the
April 2005 kidnapping and killing of Balram Bachu Maharaj, whose
dismembered body was found buried in a wooded area. At year's end
extradition hearings in this case continued in magistrate's court.
There was no definitive resolution of most of the investigations
into persons killed by police during 2005 (including Mervyn Caton,
Jameel Alexander, Anthony Ellis, Calvin Campbell, and Damian Gould) or
during 2004 (including Galene Bonadie and Noel Stanley).
In a landmark case, however, police Constable Dave Burnett became
the first officer in the country's history to be convicted of murder
while on duty. In March a judge sentenced him to death after a jury
found him guilty of the 2004 killing of teenager Kevin Cato at a party.
The police had yet to fulfill the director of public prosecutions'
(DPP) 2005 request for a police report of the circumstances surrounding
the 2001 death of Marcel McLeod, allegedly killed in a shootout with
police.
In August 2005 authorities ordered a retrial in the case of a
prison officer charged with the 2001 death of prisoner Anton Cooper,
but it had not taken place by year's end.
In January after losing an appeal of his manslaughter conviction,
police Constable Mihiset Greene began a 10-year sentence for killing
Neil Sutherland in 1995.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances, and there was a sharp decrease in the number of general
kidnappings: during the year, there were 126 such kidnappings, compared
with 235 during 2005. The number of kidnappings for ransom also
decreased dramatically, to 17, as compared with 54 in 2005. This
significant decline was widely attributed to the arrest of the three
defense force members and their accomplices in connection with the
Balram Bachu Maharaj case (see section 1.a.).
At year's end authorities were still investigating the two special
reserve police officers arrested in August 2005 for their alleged role
in a kidnapping characterized by the media as ``high-profile'' because
the two victims were sons of a well-known businessman and one of the
police officers was himself a member of a prominent family.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution and the law prohibit such
practices, there were credible reports of police officers and prison
guards mistreating individuals under arrest or in detention.
At year's end investigations and legal proceedings continued in the
2004 case of Camille Mitchell, who claimed that she suffered a
miscarriage as a result of police mistreatment during a search of her
home.
At year's end a 2003 lawsuit in which Danesh Mahabir charged police
officers with assault, battery, and unlawful detention continued in the
courts.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions in the prison
system's eight facilities were somewhat upgraded but continued to be
harsh. According to the prison service commissioner, the number of
prisoners at the Port of Spain prison, originally designed to
accommodate 250 inmates, was reduced from 650 in 2005 to 554 at year's
end. The number of prisoners in each 10- by 10-foot cell remained at
five. The recently built maximum-security prison in Arouca helped
relieve the overcrowding at the Port of Spain prison.
Staff shortages compelled the prison service to limit the
``airing'' time provided to prison inmates. This issue served as the
basis of a complaint filed against the prison service by death row
inmate Alladin Mohammed, which was still pending at year's end.
According to prison authorities, at year's end they had brought
charges against 23 prison officers for assault and battery or for poor
conduct on the job, including possession of narcotics and provision of
cell phones to inmates.
In March authorities charged a prison guard with intent to sell
marijuana in the prison. The prison service commissioner told a
parliamentary committee that a ``rogue element'' of prison guards
regularly trafficked drugs, cell phones, and weapons within the
country's jails.
In August and September, inmates in the remand section of the
Golden Grove Prison rioted over poor prison conditions, including
alleged beatings by prison officers, bad food, denial of prison visits
by relatives, and an order depriving inmates of their cell phones.
During the riots, inmates injured prison guards, broke electrical
fixtures, and set fires in their cells. Faced with a situation of near-
anarchy, the prison service commissioner entered into direct
negotiations with the inmates. The prison officers' association
criticized this initiative and called for a prison guard ``sick-out.''
By year's end relations between the prison commissioner and the
association had improved.
Pretrial detainees were held separately from convicted prisoners,
usually in the remand section of the same facilities as convicted
prisoners. However, convicted prisoners often were held in the remand
section until they exhausted their appeals.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, but the Ministry of National Security must approve each
visit.
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 Ministry of
National Security oversees the police service, the prison service, and
the defense force. The police service maintains internal security,
while the defense force is responsible for external security but also
has certain domestic security responsibilities. An independent body,
the Police Service Commission, makes hiring and firing decisions in the
police service, and the ministry has little direct influence over
changes in senior positions. The Government sponsored training programs
and sought expert advice with a view to professionalizing and enhancing
the effectiveness of the police and prison services.
The national police force comprises nine countrywide divisions,
including 17 specialized branches, with approximately 7,000 members.
The Police Service Commission, in consultation with the Prime Minister,
appoints a commissioner of police to oversee the police force.
Municipal police under the jurisdiction of 14 regional administrative
bodies supplement the national police force. The Special Anticrime
Unit, composed of both police and defense force personnel, combats
violent crime--including kidnappings for ransom--and carries out other
security operations. During the year the Government hired 39 British
police officers who assisted police in the investigation of crimes.
Police corruption continued to be a problem. On a number of
occasions during the year, the authorities apprehended members of the
police in connection with illegal drugs, firearms possession, and other
illicit activities. The Police Complaints Authority receives complaints
about the conduct of police officers for transmittal to the Complaints
Division of the Police Service where uniformed officers investigate
them. The authority simply monitors the division's investigations and
its disciplinary measures. Police Service Commission restrictions
limited the division's ability to dismiss police officers. The public
had little confidence in the police complaints process because the
Police Complaints Authority had no power to investigate complaints and
because those investigating complaints against the police were
themselves police officers.
Arrest and Detention.--A police officer may arrest a person either
based on a warrant issued or authorized by a magistrate, or without a
warrant when the officer witnesses the commission of an alleged
offense. Detainees, as well as those summoned to appear before a
magistrate, must appear in court within 48 hours. In the case of more
serious offenses, the magistrate either commits the accused to prison
on remand or allows the accused to post bail, pending a preliminary
inquiry. Detainees were granted prompt access to a lawyer and to family
members.
There is a functioning bail system, although persons charged with
murder, treason, piracy, and hijacking are ineligible, as are persons
charged with kidnapping for ransom for a period of 60 days following
the charge and persons already convicted twice of violent crimes.
However, a judge may grant bail to such persons under exceptional
circumstances, which occurred in July when Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, leader
of the extremist Jamaat al-Muslimeen group, jailed on charges of
sedition, incitement, and terrorism, was granted bail on grounds of ill
health. Where bail was refused, magistrates advised the accused of
their right to an attorney and, with few exceptions, allowed them
access to an attorney, once they were in custody and prior to any
interrogation.
The minister of national security may authorize preventive
detention in order to preclude actions prejudicial to public safety,
public order, or national defense, in which case the minister must
state the grounds for the detention. There were no reports that the
authorities abused this power.
Lengthy pretrial detention resulting from heavy court backlogs and
an inefficient judicial system continued to be a problem. Out of a
prison population of 3,750, 1,402 inmates were waiting to be tried at
year's end. Many criminal indictees waited months, if not years, for
their trial dates in the High Court. An added inefficiency resulted
from the legal requirement that anyone charged and detained must appear
in person for a hearing before magistrate's court every 10 days, if
only to have the case postponed for a further 10 days, pending
conclusion of the investigation.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and the law
provide for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally
respected this provision in practice. Although the judicial process was
generally fair, it was slow due to backlogs and inefficiencies.
In July the President suspended the chief justice after the Court
of Appeal ruled against the latter in a case in which he was charged
with attempting to influence the outcome of a high-profile integrity
trial of the party chairman and parliamentary leader of the opposition
UNC (see section 3). Referring to this development at the September
opening of the Supreme Court of Judicature, the acting chief justice
appealed for the restoration of public trust in the independence and
apolitical nature of the judiciary.
The judiciary is divided into the Supreme Court of Judicature and
the magistracy. The Supreme Court is composed of the High Court and a
Court of Appeal. The magistracy includes the summary courts and the
petty civil courts.
Trial Procedures.--Magistrates try both minor and more serious
offenses, but in the case of more serious offenses, the magistrate must
conduct a preliminary inquiry. Trials are public, and juries are used
in the High Court. Defendants have the right to be present, are
presumed innocent until proven guilty, and have the right to appeal.
While all defendants have the right to consult with an attorney in a
timely manner, an attorney is provided at public expense to defendants
facing serious criminal charges, and the law requires the provision of
an attorney to a person accused of murder. Although the courts may
appoint attorneys for indigent persons charged with indictable offenses
(serious crimes), an indigent person may refuse to accept an assigned
attorney for cause and may obtain a replacement. Defendants can
confront or question witnesses against them, can present witnesses and
evidence on their own behalf, and have access to government-held
evidence relevant to their cases.
Both civil and criminal appeals may be filed with the Court of
Appeal and ultimately with the Privy Council in the United Kingdom.
The regional Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), inaugurated in 2005,
was intended to be a final court of appeal for the 15 member states of
the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). However, the Government has not
passed legislation for it to play this role. The CCJ has a separate
original jurisdiction whereby it interprets and applies the treaty
which established CARICOM as well as the agreement creating the
Caribbean Single Market and Economy.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution and the
law provide for an independent and impartial judiciary in civil
matters, and citizens are free to file law suits against civil
breaches, in both the High Court and petty civil court. The High Court
may review the decisions of lower courts, may order parties to cease
and desist from particular actions, may compel parties to take specific
actions, or may award damages to aggrieved parties. However, the petty
civil court is authorized to hear only cases involving damages of up to
$2,500 (TT$15,000).
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.
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. An independent press, an
effective although slow and inefficient judiciary, and a functioning
democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of speech and of
the press.
During the year, parliament established a cable television channel
exclusively dedicated to the live broadcast of parliamentary
proceedings in their entirety. According to the guidelines governing
the new service, if a member of parliament or a witness makes allegedly
false statements about a person who is outside parliament, that person
has the right to apply to have a rebuttal placed on the parliamentary
record, in which case, media that had reported the original allegation
are required also to report the rebuttal.
On July 4, the Privy Council ordered the Government to issue
immediately a commercial FM broadcasting license to Sanatan Dharma Maha
Sabha (SDMS), the principal Hindu organization in the country. In its
decision, which concluded a six-year-long quest by the Hindu community
for its own radio station, the Privy Council determined that the
Government had subjected the SDMS to unequal treatment under the law
and, in the process, had denied it the right to freedom of expression.
Amid threats of further legal action, the Government granted the
license in September, and at year's end the SDMS was about to begin its
radio broadcasting operations.
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 the law provide for freedom of
assembly, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
In October security guards ordered a symposium on health issues,
sponsored by the newly formed opposition Congress of the People (COP)
party, to halt its proceedings and disperse. The Minister of Health
claimed that the venue had been booked in a manner designed to conceal
the political identity of the sponsoring organization and that the COP
had violated an unwritten rule that the government-owned Eric Williams
Medical Sciences Center could not be booked for political meetings. The
COP leadership charged that the Government violated the party's right
to freedom of assembly, claiming that promotional advertisements for
the symposium not only had named the COP as the event sponsor but had
highlighted the apolitical nature of the symposium agenda.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and the law provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and the law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
The Government limits the number of foreign missionaries allowed in
the country to 30 per denomination at any given time. Missionaries must
meet standard requirements for an entry visa and must represent a
registered religious group. They may not remain in the country for more
than three years per visit but may re-enter after a year's absence.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The return visit of a
controversial Pentecostal preacher prompted the head of the Hindu
community to demand that he be barred from coming or arrested upon
arrival under the Summary Offenses Act for remarks made on his first
visit. However, the Pentecostal preacher came and preached without
incident.
There were no other 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 and the law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and it was not used.
Although the Government acceded to the 1951 UN Convention Relating
to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, it had not passed
legislation to implement its obligations under the convention. 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 placed asylum seekers in
the care of the Living Water Community, a local Catholic social
services agency, while their cases were reviewed by UNHCR and final
resolution reached. Pending parliament's approval of legislation
implementing the UN convention and its protocol, the Ministry of
National Security's immigration division handled all requests for
asylum on a case-by-case basis.
The Government did not provide temporary protection to persons who
may not qualify as refugees, but the Living Water Community provided
such persons with needed social services.
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.--The most recent national
election was held in 2002, and observers found it to be generally free
and fair. The two major political parties that contested the 2002
election were the PNM, which is primarily but not exclusively Afro-
Trinidadian, and the UNC, which is primarily but not exclusively Indo-
Trinidadian. A majority of voters in the 2002 national election
supported the PNM, which retained control of the Government. In
September a substantial number of UNC representatives and senators
split away from the UNC to form the COP, with the aim of creating a
broad-based national political consensus spanning all racial, ethnic,
and religious groups in the country.
There were 18 women in the 67-seat legislature, excluding the
female President of the Senate; six women in the 25-member cabinet; and
10 female judges on the High Court and the Court of Appeal. All major
political parties reached out to voters from relatively small ethnic
minorities, such as the Chinese, Syrian, Lebanese, and European-origin
communities, and members of these groups held important positions in
government. There were six members of these minorities in the
legislature and three members of minorities in the cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread and
growing public perception of serious corruption in the country.
The Integrity in Public Life Act mandates that public officials
disclose their assets, income, and liabilities to an Integrity
Commission. However, a growing number of officials and candidates for
public office were reluctant to comply with this provision, claiming
that such disclosures would make them and their families a target of
criminals engaged in kidnappings for ransom. At year's end the High
Court, in response to a 2005 request by the Integrity Commission, had
yet to issue its interpretation of the Integrity in Public Life Act,
clarifying whether judges were exempt from the act's disclosure
provisions.
In April a magistrate's court convicted UNC Party Chairman and
Parliamentary Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday of failing to disclose a
London bank account under the act. After a week in prison, the court
released Panday on health grounds and gave him bail, pending an appeal
of his case. However, under the law, he was relieved of his opposition
leadership post and prevented from retaining his seat in parliament.
Although he voluntarily resigned his UNC party chairmanship, he resumed
it in September, following the formal split in the UNC, and in December
was called back to serve as interim political leader of the party. At
year's end Panday was still pursuing his appeal through the legal
system.
In a related series of events, Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma was
accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice by trying to
influence the chief magistrate's decision in the Panday case in
Panday's favor. When the DPP ordered the police to arrest the chief
justice in July, Sharma applied for judicial review to the High Court,
which granted his request. When the state appealed this ruling to the
Court of Appeal, the chief justice removed himself from his judicial
responsibilities, retaining only his administrative duties. However,
when the Court of Appeal reversed the High Court's ruling for judicial
review, the President suspended the chief justice from all his
functions. At this point, the state and the chief justice jointly
decided to take the chief justice's request for judicial review to the
Privy Council. In November the Privy Council dismissed the chief
justice's request for judicial review and ordered him to answer the
case against him in criminal court.
At year's end the 2005 bribery cases and allegations against former
PNM minister of works and transport and party chairman Franklin Khan
and against former PNM minister of energy and energy industries Eric
Williams continued to be heard in the courts and to be investigated by
the authorities.
The courts continued to hear a case that implicated the most senior
members of the 1995-2001 UNC government in embezzlement and bid-rigging
on the Piarco Airport expansion project. At year's end the corruption
case against then prime minister Panday, charging that he had accepted
a bribe that led his government to favor a contractor on the project,
was still being heard in the courts.
In June authorities brought charges in magistrate's court against
Hafeez Karamath, part-owner of a desalination company, for conspiring
in 1998-99 to enrich himself by manipulating a bid on a contract for
supplying desalinated water to the Government's Water and Sewerage
Authority. Karamath was released on bail, and investigation into the
matter continued at year's end.
A committee of experts continued to work on reform of the public
procurement regime that would enhance public accountability and reduce
opportunities for corruption by government officials.
The Freedom of Information Act provides for public access to
government documents, upon application. However, critics charged that a
growing number of public bodies were exempted from the act's coverage.
The Government countered that the exemptions were intended to avoid
frivolous requests and searches for 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 human
rights cases and publishing their findings. Government officials
generally were cooperative and responsive to their views.
The ombudsman investigates citizens' complaints concerning the
administrative decisions of government agencies. Where there is
evidence of a breach of duty, misconduct, or criminal offense, the
ombudsman may refer the matter to the authority competent to take
appropriate remedial action. The ombudsman has a quasi-autonomous
status within the Government and publishes a comprehensive annual
report. In 2005 the ombudsman received 1,344 new complaints and made
183 inquiries, which represented a 34 percent increase over the average
number of complaints received in previous years. Important factors
contributing to the increased inflow of complaints included a greater
awareness of the services provided and a growing demand by citizens for
state agencies to provide better services. In addition, the ombudsman
continued to investigate 2,600 complaints carried over from previous
years. During the year the ombudsman resolved 699 complaints.
In 1999 the Government withdrew from the American Convention on
Human Rights. The convention states that such an action does not
release a government from its obligations under the convention with
respect to acts taken prior to the effective date of denunciation. In
2005 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued rulings on cases
predating the Government's withdrawal; by year's end the Government had
not provided any official or public reaction to the rulings.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Government generally respected in practice the constitutional
provisions for fundamental human rights and freedoms for all without
discrimination based on race, origin, color, religion, or gender.
Women.--Many community leaders asserted that abuse of women,
particularly in the form of domestic violence, continued to be a
significant problem. The law provides for protection orders separating
the perpetrators of domestic violence, including abusive spouses, from
their victims, as well as for penalties that include fines and
imprisonment. While reliable national statistics were not available,
women's groups estimated that from 20 to 25 percent of all women
suffered abuse. Increased media attention to domestic violence resulted
in a clear shift in public opinion from past views that had held that
abuse of women in the home was a private matter.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) charged that police
enforcement of the law often was lax. The Division of Gender Affairs
(DGA) in the Ministry of Community Development, Culture, and Gender
Affairs operated a 24-hour hot line for victims of rape, spousal abuse,
and other violence against women, referring callers to eight shelters
for battered women, a rape crisis center, counseling services, support
groups, and other assistance.
Although rape, including spousal rape, is illegal and punishable by
life imprisonment, the courts often handed down considerably shorter
sentences. Both the Government and NGOs estimated that many incidents
of rape and other sexual crimes were unreported, partly due to
perceived insensitivity on the part of the police.
Prostitution is illegal, and the authorities continued to monitor,
investigate, and prosecute major operators believed to be engaged in
soliciting for prostitution. Authorities deported the 26 Colombian and
two Venezuelan women arrested in 2005 for prostitution and illegal
entry into the country.
There are no laws specifically prohibiting sexual harassment.
Although related statutes could be used to prosecute perpetrators of
sexual harassment, and although some trade unions have incorporated
antiharassment provisions in their contracts, both the Government and
NGOs suspected that many incidents of sexual harassment went
unreported.
Women generally enjoyed the same legal rights as men, including
employment, education, and inheritance rights. There are no laws or
regulations requiring equal pay for equal work. While equal pay for men
and women in public service was the rule rather than the exception,
both the Government and NGOs noted considerable disparities in pay
between men and women in the private sector, particularly in
agriculture.
The DGA had primary government responsibility for the protection of
women's rights and women's advancement and sponsored income-generation
workshops for unemployed single mothers, nontraditional skills training
for women, and seminars for men on redefining masculinity.
Children.--A lack of funds and expanding social needs challenged
the Government's ability to carry out its commitment to protect the
rights and welfare of children.
Education is compulsory up to the age of 12, and public education
is free for all elementary and secondary students up to the age of 20.
In addition, higher education is free for nationals enrolled in
undergraduate programs at the country's public institutions as well as
in approved programs at private institutions. The Ministry of Education
estimated that 89 percent of school-age children attended school, and
most students achieved the equivalent of a high school diploma. Some
parts of the public school system failed to meet the needs of the
school-age population due to overcrowding, substandard physical
facilities, and occasional classroom violence. The Government committed
resources to building new facilities and expanded access to free
secondary education.
Medical care for children was widely available, with equal access
for girls and boys.
The Domestic Violence Act provides protection for children abused
at home. The Ministry of Education's Student Support Services Division
reported that young school children were vulnerable to rape, physical
abuse, and drug use, and that some had access to weapons or lived with
drug-addicted parents. Abused children removed from the home were first
assessed at a reception center for vulnerable children and then placed
with relatives, government institutions, or NGOs. According to the Rape
Crisis Society, there were 38 child sexual abuse cases, a decrease from
49 cases in 2005. The Coalition against Domestic Violence operated
Childline, a free and confidential telephone hot line for at-risk or
distressed children and young persons up to age 25. From January
through June, Childline received 1,614 calls, 83 percent from girls and
17 percent from boys.
There were a number of cases of children who, either in their own
homes or in institutional settings, were abused or, in some cases,
brutally tortured to the point of death. Most notably, 4-year-old Amy
Emily Anamanthodo, although known to the police and to the social
service establishment, was raped, sodomized, suffocated, and burned
with cigarettes throughout her life by people close to her, until she
died in May. At year's end authorities held two of her relatives in
custody awaiting trial for the crimes.
The law defines a child as under 18 years of age, outlaws corporal
punishment for children, and prohibits sentencing a child to prison.
One law sets the minimum legal age of marriage at 18 for both males and
females; however, in practice the minimum legal age of marriage is
determined by the distinct laws and attitudes of the various religious
denominations: under the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act, the minimum
legal age of marriage is 16 for males and 12 for females, while under
the Hindu Marriage Act and the Orisa Marriage Act, the minimum legal
age of marriage is 18 for males and 16 for females.
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law does not specifically
prohibit trafficking in persons, there were no substantiated reports
that persons were trafficked to, from, or within the country. In the
event of trafficking, perpetrators can be prosecuted under several
related laws, with penalties ranging from seven years' to life
imprisonment. There were no prosecutions during the year.
The Government had not designated a specific agency to combat
trafficking in persons, and it sponsored no public awareness campaigns
to address this issue during the year. However, in September the
Government cooperated with the International Organization for Migration
in a seminar on trafficking in persons as a first step in promoting an
understanding of trafficking in persons and assessing the extent of its
prevalence in the country. Domestic NGOs were available to provide care
and protection to trafficking victims.
Persons With Disabilities.--There are no statutes either
prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability or mandating
equal access for the disabled to the political process, employment,
education, transportation, housing, health care, and other citizen
services. In December 2005 the Government approved a national policy on
persons with disabilities, and the Ministry of Social Development was
developing guidelines to implement the policy.
In practice persons with disabilities faced discrimination and
denial of opportunities in the form of architectural barriers, employer
reluctance to make necessary accommodations that would enable otherwise
qualified job candidates to work, an absence of support services to
assist children with special needs to study, lowered expectations of
the abilities of persons with disabilities, condescending attitudes,
and disrespect. According to the NGO Disabled People's International,
the majority of public schools and most government and commercial
facilities were inaccessible to wheelchair users, and there were only
five buses modified to accommodate the country's 125,000 persons with
disabilities. However, the national library was widely regarded as a
model of barrier-free design and genuinely equal service to patrons
with disabilities. In addition, a few commercial facilities, such as
some supermarkets, made parking spaces available to disabled shoppers.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country's diverse racial
and ethnic groups lived together in what appeared on the surface to be
peace and mutual respect. However, nonviolent racial tensions regularly
emerged between Afro-Trinidadians and Indo-Trinidadians who each made
up approximately 40 percent of the population.
Indo-Trinidadians and persons of European, Middle Eastern, and
Asian descent predominated in the private sector, and Indo-Trinidadians
also predominated in agriculture. Afro-Trinidadians were employed
heavily in the civil service, the police, and the defense force. Some
Indo-Trinidadians asserted that they were not equally represented in
senior civil service and security force positions and among winners of
state-sponsored housing grants and scholarships. In 2005 some in the
Indo-Trinidadian community challenged the constitutionality of the
Trinity Cross, the country's highest honor, claiming that its Christian
motif was not representative of a multireligious society and was
therefore discriminatory. In May a civil court judge ruled that the
Trinity Cross was in fact indirectly discriminatory, and the Government
removed the cross from the year's roster of Independence Day honors and
undertook to replace it in the future with an alternative
nondiscriminatory award.
Indigenous People.--A very small group of people identified
themselves as descendants of the country's original Amerindian
population. The Government effectively protected their civil and
political rights, and they were not subject to discrimination.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides that all workers,
including those in state-owned enterprises, may form and join unions of
their own choosing without prior authorization. The law also provides
for the mandatory recognition of a trade union when it represents 51
percent or more of the workers in a specified bargaining unit. The
Government's Registration and Certification Board, however, determines
whether a given workers' organization meets the definition of
bargaining unit and can limit union recognition by this means.
According to the National Trade Union Center, one of two umbrella
organizations in the labor movement, some 22 to 24 percent of the
workforce was organized in approximately 25 active unions. Most unions
were independent of government or political party control, although the
Sugar Workers' Union historically was allied with the UNC. A union also
may bring a request for enforcement to the Industrial Court, which may
order employers found guilty of antiunion activities to reinstate
workers and pay compensation, or may impose other penalties including
imprisonment.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, to participate
in collective bargaining and to strike, although there were heavy
restrictions on strikes and collective bargaining. Employees in
``essential services,'' such as police and teachers, do not have the
right to strike, and walkouts can bring punishment of up to 18 months
in prison. These employees negotiate with the Government's chief
personnel officer to resolve labor disputes. There was no official
response to the International Labor Organization (ILO) request that
parliament pass legislation to narrow the definition of ``essential
services.''
There are several export processing zones where the same labor laws
are in effect as in the rest of the country.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Although the law
does not specifically prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by
children, there were no reports that such practices occurred. Laws do,
however, mandate that workers should be paid and impose fines on
employers who violate this law.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
minimum legal age for workers is 12 years. Children from 12 to 16 years
of age may work only in family businesses. Children under the age of 18
may work legally only during daylight hours, with the exception that
16- to 18-year-olds may work at night in sugar factories. The Ministry
of Labor and Small and Micro Enterprise Development and the Ministry of
Social Development are responsible for enforcing child labor
provisions. However, enforcement was not consistent since there was no
comprehensive government policy on child labor and no formal mechanisms
for receiving, investigating, and resolving child labor complaints.
There was no organized exploitation of child labor. A 2004 study by
the UN Children's Fund estimated that 2 percent of children from five
to 14 years of age were engaged in paid work.
The Government had not passed implementing legislation for ILO
conventions 182 and 138, both of which it has ratified. In 2005 the
National Steering Committee on the Prevention and Elimination of Child
Labor completed a comprehensive draft national policy on child labor,
but the cabinet had not yet approved it by year's end.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage is
$1.50 (TT$9.00) per hour, which did not provide a decent standard of
living for a worker and family. Actual wages varied considerably among
industries. There were press reports of minimum wage violations with no
enforcement by the Government.
The law establishes a 40-hour workweek, a daily period for lunch or
rest, and premium pay for overtime. The law does not prohibit excessive
or compulsory overtime. Media carried reports about workers who did not
receive premium pay for their overtime work.
During the year the Government updated its occupational safety and
health legislation, which establishes standards and provides for
inspections to monitor and enforce compliance. By year's end, however,
the Government had not yet fully established the occupational safety
and health administration within the Ministry of Labor and Small and
Micro Enterprise Development. Labor unions and business organizations
criticized the delay, especially in light of a number of high-profile
industrial accidents after the law entered into force.
The law protects workers who file complaints with the labor
ministry regarding illegal or hazardous working conditions. If
complainants refuse to comply with an order that would place them in
danger, and if it is determined upon inspection that hazardous
conditions exist in the workplace, the complainants are absolved from
blame.
__________
URUGUAY
The Oriental Republic of Uruguay, with a population of
approximately 3.2 million, is a constitutional republic with an elected
President and a bicameral legislature. In October 2004 in free and
fair, multiparty elections, Tabare Vazquez, leader of the Broad Front
or Frente Amplio (FA) coalition, won a five-year Presidential term. The
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
The Government generally respected the rights of its citizens.
Although the Government took concrete steps to reduce prison
overcrowding and repair damaged facilities, harsh prison conditions
continued to be a problem. Violence against women and discrimination
against some societal groups continued to challenge government policies
of nondiscrimination. Anecdotal evidence suggested that some
trafficking in persons occurred.
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.
The Government continued to investigate the serious human rights
violations committed during the 1973-85 military dictatorship. In
November former President Juan Bordaberry and former foreign minister
Juan Blanco were convicted of conspiracy to murder four opponents of
the military regime in 1976. Bordaberry and Blanco appealed their
conviction, and the case remained 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 law prohibits such practices, and there were no
reports that government officials employed them. The judicial and
parliamentary branches of government are responsible for investigating
specific allegations of abuse. A government prison monitor reported
that new training of prison guards reduced some forms of abuse. Despite
such efforts, many prisoners remained in crowded cells 23 hours or more
each day, and prisoner-on-prisoner violence continued. Detainees rarely
filed complaints, but the Government investigated those complaints that
were filed.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
poor, as aging facilities were not adequately maintained. There were
fewer reports of abuse of prisoners than in previous years. Human
rights groups complained and government officials agreed that food,
bedding, and clothing were of poor quality and insufficient quantity
and that access to medical care, recreation, and training were poor.
Overcrowding continued due to budget constraints and stiff minimum
sentencing guidelines. A high rate of recidivism and the arrest of a
large number of first-time offenders countered the early release
program begun in 2005. The overcrowding caused sanitation, social, and
health problems in the major facilities. Renovations began on the
maximum-security prison, Libertad, and according to the Government's
prison monitoring agency, the Government repaired 800 prison cells. The
Government also began construction on cells for approximately 200
additional prisoners throughout the prison system. The Government
continued to hold some prisoners in modified shipping containers; these
cells lacked running water and posed sanitation problems.
In addition to overcrowding, the penal system suffered from
understaffing and corruption. Authorities did not always separate
prisoners according to the severity of their crimes. Narcotics and cell
phones were smuggled into facilities, allegedly through bribes to
prison guards. Prison officials took steps to regularize family
visitation, but problems of access remained.
Female and male prisoners were held in separate facilities except
for the Artigas prison, where women were held in a separate facility
within the prison. In general conditions for female prisoners were
significantly better than for male prisoners, due to the small
population and the availability of training and education
opportunities.
The National Institute for Adolescents and Children (INAU) operated
institutions to hold minor detainees. Juveniles who committed serious
crimes were incarcerated in juvenile detention centers, which resemble
traditional jails and have cells. Conditions in some of these
facilities were as poor as in the adult versions, with some youths
permitted to leave their cells only one hour per day.
Judges placed most juvenile offenders in halfway houses that
focused on rehabilitation. These facilities provided educational,
vocational, and other opportunities, and the residents could enter and
leave without restriction.
Pretrial detainees were held together with convicted prisoners.
The Government permitted general prison visits by independent human
rights observers as well as inmate visitation and visits from foreign
diplomats.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions in practice. The law requires police to have a written
warrant issued by a judge before making an arrest (except when police
apprehend the accused during commission of a crime), and authorities
generally respected this provision in practice.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of
Interior administers the National Police and the prison system and is
responsible for domestic security and public safety. The National
Police has a hierarchical structure: the chief of police, director of
its intelligence unit, and director of the antidrug unit report to the
vice minister of the interior.
An internal police investigative unit receives complaints from any
person concerning possible noncriminal police abuse of power, but the
unit was understaffed and could only issue recommendations for
disciplinary action. Ministry of Interior authorities responded
promptly to accusations of alleged police brutality. Police officers
charged with less serious crimes may continue on active duty; those
charged with more serious crimes were separated from active service
until a court resolves their cases. The law requires a proportional use
of force by the police and the use of weapons only as a last resort;
this law was respected in practice. Police were unable to prevent
violence during two labor protests during the year because the new
government had not outlined clear police procedures for such incidents.
Arrest and Detention.--The law provides detainees with the right to
a prompt judicial determination of the legality of detention, which was
not always respected, and requires that the detaining authority explain
the legal grounds for the detention. Police may hold a detainee
incommunicado for 24 hours before presenting the case to a judge, at
which time the detainee has the right to counsel. The law stipulates
that confessions obtained by the police before a detainee appears
before a judge and attorney (without the police present) are not valid.
Further, a judge must investigate any detainee claim of mistreatment.
For a detainee who cannot afford a lawyer, the courts appoint a
public defender. Judges rarely granted bail for persons accused of
crimes that carry at least two years in prison. Between 60 and 65
percent of all persons incarcerated awaited final decisions in their
cases. Because these procedures applied only to the most serious cases,
most persons facing charges were not jailed. Some detainees spend years
in jail awaiting trial, and the uncertainty and length of detention
contributed to tension in the prisons.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The Supreme Court heads the judiciary system and supervises the
work of the lower courts. Criminal trials are held in a court of first
instance. Aggrieved parties have a right of appeal to the appellate
court but not to the Supreme Court. A parallel military court system
operates under a military justice code. Two military justices sit on
the Supreme Court but participate only in cases involving the military.
Military justice applies to civilians only during a state of war or
insurrection.
Trial Procedures.--Trial proceedings usually consist of written
arguments to the judge, which normally are not made public. Only the
judge, prosecutor, and defense attorney have access to all documents
that form part of the written record. Human rights groups reported some
difficulty in maintaining confidentiality between client and attorney.
Individual judges may hear oral arguments at their option. Most judges
choose the written method, a major factor slowing the judicial process.
Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence. Either the defense
attorney or the prosecutor may appeal convictions to a higher court,
which may acquit the person of the crime, confirm the conviction, or
reduce or increase the sentence.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Transparent administrative
procedures handle complaints of abuse against government agents. An
independent and impartial judiciary handles civil disputes, but its
decisions were ineffectively enforced. Local police lacked the training
and manpower to enforce restraining orders, which were the most common
result of civil disputes.
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 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 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.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Jewish community leaders
reported that government officials and society generally respected
members of their community, which numbered approximately 25,000. During
the year Jewish leaders noted a significant increase in the quantity of
anti-Semitic graffiti across the country. Local leaders reported
effective cooperation with police to investigate these incidents. A
Jewish cemetery was vandalized in the capital, and anti-Semitic
graffiti appeared in the second-largest city for the first time. In
September four persons were arrested in connection with anti-Semitic
graffiti. Authorities had not resolved the case by 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 provides that in extreme cases of national emergency an
individual may be given the option to leave the country as an
alternative to trial or imprisonment, but this option has not been
exercised in at least two decades.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
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 and grants asylum only for political crimes as
set forth in the 1928 Treaty of Havana, the 1889 Treaty of Montevideo,
and the 1954 Caracas Convention. During the year the Government
accepted 120 refugees for resettlement. 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 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 October 2004 Tabare
Vazquez, of the FA coalition, won a five-year Presidential term in free
and fair elections. The FA won 16 of 30 seats in the Senate and 52 of
99 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. President Vazquez took office on
March 1, 2005.
Women participated actively in the political process and
government, although primarily at lower and middle levels. Four of 30
senators and 11 of 99 deputies were women. Three of the 13 cabinet
ministers were women. There was one Afro-Uruguayan among the 99
deputies.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated
reports of government corruption during the year.
Although there is no general public disclosure law, the Government
requires all government agencies to produce regular public reports. All
agencies complied with these reporting requirements.
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 law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, religion,
or disability; however, societal discrimination against some groups
existed.
Women.--Violence against women continued to be a significant
problem. The nongovernmental organization (NGO) National Follow-Up
Commission Women for Democracy, Equality and Citizenship reported that
a woman died every nine days as a result of rape or domestic violence.
The law provides for sentences of six months to two years in prison for
a person found guilty of committing an act of violence or of making
continued threats to cause bodily injury to persons related emotionally
or legally to the perpetrator; however, civil courts decided most of
the more than 6,000 domestic cases during the year. Judges in these
cases often issued restraining orders, which were difficult to enforce.
In many instances, courts did not apply criminal penalties.
The state-owned telephone company provided a free nationwide
hotline answered by trained NGO employees for victims of domestic
violence. A directorate within the Ministry of Interior operated
community assistance centers where abuse victims received information
and referrals to government and private organizations for aid. Both the
Ministry of Interior and NGOs operated shelters in which abused women
and their families could seek temporary refuge.
The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape. During the year
police received 805 accusations of rape nationwide. An unknown number
of these claims involved spousal rape, but police had anecdotal
evidence indicating that spousal rape occurred frequently. Authorities
believed that some victims did not report such incidents because of
failure to understand their rights and fear of social stigma.
Prostitution is legal for persons over the age of 18, and
prostitution was visible in major cities and tourist resorts. There
were no known reports of police abuse of individuals engaging in
prostitution. Trafficking in women for prostitution was a problem (see
section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace and punishes
it by fines or imprisonment; however, women filed few such complaints,
a circumstance attributed to a lack of understanding by women of their
rights.
In the judicial system women enjoyed the same rights as men,
including rights under family and property law. However, they faced
discrimination stemming from traditional attitudes and practices, and
no gender discrimination cases have ever been litigated. There was some
segregation by gender in the workforce. Women constituted almost one-
half the workforce but tended to be concentrated in lower-paying jobs;
their salaries averaged two-thirds those of men. Women often pursued
professional careers, and approximately 60 percent of public university
students were women.
Children.--The Government was committed to protecting children's
rights and welfare, and it regarded the education and health of
children as a top priority. The INAU oversees implementation of the
Government's programs for children. The Government provided free
compulsory kindergarten, primary, and secondary education, and 95
percent of children completed their primary education. Girls and boys
were treated equally. Free education was available through the
undergraduate level at the national university.
Health care was free for all citizens.
There was no societal pattern of abuse of children.
Although there were few reliable statistics, polls and arrests
indicated that exploitation of children for prostitution was a problem
(see section 5, Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--While the laws prohibit trafficking in
minors and trafficking-related abuses within the country, they do not
include specific provisions covering the transportation of persons
across international borders. Some evidence of trafficking from and
within the country existed.
The country was a source, destination, and transit point for
trafficked persons, and internal trafficking was a problem; however,
hard information was lacking as to the extent of trafficking.
Trafficking reportedly occurred primarily to and from Argentina and
Brazil across poorly controlled land borders. Based on anecdotal
evidence, government and NGO experts estimated that approximately 100
individuals were trafficked in or through the country during the year,
but there were no reliable estimates on the number of women engaged in
prostitution abroad (generally in Europe, Australia, Argentina, and
Brazil) or on the proportion induced into prostitution by fraud or
subjected to conditions approaching servitude. Some foreign citizens
entered the country to engage in prostitution. Officials believed from
anecdotal information that trafficking mostly affected women between
the ages of 18 and 24.
According to police sources, commercial sexual exploitation of
women and children occurred mostly in the states bordering Brazil. A
child welfare organization expressed concern about possible
prostitution rings exploiting children in Montevideo and the resort
areas of Punta del Este and Maldonado, where taxi drivers or hotel
staff may be involved. There were isolated reports of prostitution by
boys. Police sources indicated that traffickers often perpetrated other
transborder crime such as drug smuggling. Children's rights NGOs
received reports that minors resorted to prostitution to survive or to
assist their families. INAU estimated that 90 percent of minors engaged
in prostitution did so to assist their families, who allowed or
actively promoted the activity.
Laws criminalize trafficking of minors and provide penalties
ranging from six months' to 12 years' imprisonment. No laws
specifically prohibit trafficking of adults. In past years suspected
traffickers were prosecuted on charges of corruption, conspiracy,
fraud, and other felonies. The Ministry of the Interior has primary
responsibility for investigating trafficking cases and maintained a
database of all trafficking-related activities. Authorities responded
promptly to the one trafficking case that came to light during the
year.
The Interdepartmental Commission for the Prevention and Protection
of Children Against Sexual Exploitation continued to work with INAU to
protect victims and witnesses but reported a lack of resources to
pursue these objectives.
INAU provided funding for a number of NGOs that had programs to
assist homeless children and victims of trafficking. A number of NGOs
offered treatment for victims of trafficking, and others provided
shelter, food, or education.
The Ministry of Education produced public service announcements in
an attempt to prevent trafficking. The announcements were aired on
national television. The Government disseminated information and
trained some police forces on new antitrafficking legislation.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities, but the Government did not
effectively enforce these provisions. Local entities lacked resources
to provide appropriate accommodations. Persons with disabilities
regularly experienced discrimination in employment despite government
efforts to assist in individual cases. The Government did not
discriminate against persons with disabilities and provided additional
services as resources allowed; however, difficulties in transportation
inhibited some persons from accessing these services.
A national disabilities commission oversees implementation of a law
on the rights of persons with disabilities. The law mandates
accessibility for persons with disabilities to new buildings or public
services, but the law was not consistently enforced. The law reserves 4
percent of public sector jobs for persons with disabilities, but the
quota was not filled. The country has a generally excellent mental
health system and an interest in the rights of persons with mental
disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country's Afro-Uruguayan
minority, estimated at nearly 6 percent of the population, continued to
face societal discrimination. The NGO Mundo Afro reported that a much
larger percentage of Afro-Uruguayans worked as unskilled laborers than
members of other groups in society despite equivalent levels of
education. Afro-Uruguayans were practically unrepresented in the
legislature or the cabinet, the bureaucratic and academic sectors, or
the mid and upper echelons of private-sector firms.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law promotes the organization of
trade unions and the creation of arbitration bodies and protects union
leaders and negotiators from workplace discrimination. Unions
traditionally organized and operated free of government regulation.
Civil servants, employees of state-run enterprises, and private
enterprise workers may join unions. Unionization was high in the public
sector (more than 80 percent) and low in the private sector
(approximately 5 percent). Labor unions were independent of political
party control but traditionally associated more closely with the Broad
Front political coalition.
The Ministry of Labor's Collective Bargaining Division investigates
antiunion discrimination claims filed by union members. There were no
new developments in the August 2005 complaint by workers that a media
company dismissed several workers for their prounion activities.
There are mechanisms for resolving workers' complaints against
employers. Complaints that employers dismissed organizers for
fabricated reasons (thus allowing employers to avoid penalties)
diminished after the December 2005 enactment of remedial legislation.
The law expressly prohibits antiunion discrimination. The law
requires employers to reinstate workers fired for union activities and
requires employers to pay an indemnity to such workers.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The
constitution provides workers with the right to strike, and workers
exercised this right in practice.
The Government may legally compel workers to work during a strike
if they perform an essential service, which, if interrupted, ``could
cause a grave prejudice or risk, provoking suffering to part or all of
the society.'' In October the Government invoked this power during a
work stoppage by truck company owners. The minister of transportation
stated that the Government stood ready to seize and operate trucks if
owners did not comply with a requirement to resume operations. Owners
complied with the Government order.
Collective bargaining between companies and their unions determines
a number of private-sector salaries. The executive branch, acting
independently, determines public-sector salaries.
All labor legislation fully covers workers employed in the eight
special export zones. No unions operated in these zones, but the
Government did not prohibit their formation.
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 against exploitation in the workplace, including
a prohibition of forced or compulsory labor, and the Ministry of Labor
and Social Security is responsible for enforcing it. Enforcement was
difficult due to a lack of resources and because most child labor was
in the informal sector (which accounted for 40 percent of total
employment in the country). Some children worked as street vendors in
the expanding informal sector or in agricultural activities, areas
generally regulated less strictly and where pay was lower than in the
formal sector.
The law prohibits minors under the age of 15 from working, and this
was generally enforced in practice. Minors between the ages of 15 and
18 require government permission to work, and such permission is not
granted for dangerous, fatiguing, or night work. All workers under age
18 must undergo a physical examination to identify job-related physical
harm. Children between age 15 and 18 may not work more than six hours
per day within a 36-hour workweek and may not work between 10 p.m. and
6 a.m.
Permission to work is granted only to minors who have completed
nine years of compulsory education or who remain enrolled in school and
are working to complete compulsory education. Controls over salaries
and hours for children are stricter than those for adults. Children
over the age of 16 may sue in court for payment of wages, and children
have the legal right to dispose of their own income.
INAU implements policies to prevent and regulate child labor and
provides training on child labor issues. INAU also works closely with
the Ministry of Labor and Social Security to investigate complaints of
child labor and with the Ministry of Interior to prosecute cases. INAU
has seven specially trained inspectors to handle an estimated 2,000
inspections per year; the labor ministry has 109 inspectors to
investigate all types of labor complaints. Authorities imposed
sanctions in approximately 5 percent of the cases.
A program by INAU and an NGO continued to provide food vouchers of
$56 (1,360 pesos) per month to parents who take their children off the
streets and send them to school. This amount approximated what a child
might earn working on the street, and the program was considered
successful.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Ministry of Labor enforces a
legislated minimum monthly wage that covers both the public and private
sectors. The ministry adjusts the minimum wage whenever it adjusts
public sector wages. The monthly minimum wage of $125 (3,000 pesos)
functions more as an index for calculating wage rates than as a true
measure of minimum subsistence levels; it did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. The vast majority of
workers earned more than the minimum wage.
The standard workweek ranged from 44 to 48 hours per week,
depending on the industry, and employers were required to give workers
a 36-hour block of free time each week. The law stipulates that
industrial workers receive overtime compensation for work in excess of
48 hours, entitles workers to 20 days of paid vacation after a year of
employment, and prohibits compulsory overtime beyond a maximum 50-hour
workweek.
The law protects foreign workers and does not discriminate against
them, but official protection requires the companies to report the
foreign workers as employees. Many native and foreign workers worked
informally and thus forfeited certain legal protections.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Security enforces legislation
regulating health and safety conditions in a generally effective
manner. However, some of the regulations cover urban industrial workers
more adequately than rural and agricultural workers. Workers have the
right to remove themselves from what they consider hazardous or
dangerous conditions without jeopardy to their employment; the
Government effectively upheld this right, but some workers claimed a
subsequent loss of other privileges at work based on their refusal to
work in unsafe conditions.
__________
VENEZUELA
Venezuela is a constitutional democracy with a population of
approximately 26 million. In December voters reelected President Hugo
Chavez of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) with approximately 63
percent of the popular vote. Official observation missions from both
the European Union and Organization of American States deemed the
elections generally free and fair, having noted some irregularities,
including continued problems with the electoral rolls (voter
registries), a perception of progovernment bias on the part of the
National Electoral Council (CNE), and questions about the role of the
military in its heavy election day coverage. While civilian authorities
generally maintained control of the security forces, there were
instances in which elements of the security forces acted independently
of government authority.
Politicization of the judiciary, harassment of the media, and
harassment of the political opposition continued to characterize the
human rights situation during the year. The following human rights
problems were reported: unlawful killings; disappearances reportedly
involving security forces; torture and abuse of detainees; harsh prison
conditions; arbitrary arrests and detentions; a corrupt, inefficient,
and politicized judicial system characterized by trial delays,
impunity, and violations of due process; illegal wiretapping and
searches of private homes; official intimidation and attacks on the
independent media; widespread corruption at all levels of government;
violence against women; trafficking in persons; and restrictions on
workers' right of association.
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, security forces committed unlawful
killings, including summary executions of criminal suspects, and
mistreated persons in custody resulting in deaths.
The human rights nongovernmental organization (NGO) Venezuelan
Program of Action and Education in Human Rights (PROVEA) documented 169
unlawful killings at the hands of government security forces from
October 2005 through September 2006.
In July the NGO Victims' Committee Against Impunity reported that
90 percent of homicides in Lara state involved state security forces,
of which more than 50 percent involved officers from the armed forces
or police ranks; 35 percent involved officers of the Scientific, Penal,
and Criminalistic Investigative Body (CICPC-the scientific police); 3
percent involved the National Guard; and 2 percent involved transit
police.
On April 4, authorities discovered the bodies of the Faddoul
brothers, ages 12, 13, and 17, and their driver, who had been kidnapped
41 days before. The kidnappers, alleged to be Caracas Metropolitan
Police officers, demanded a $4.5 million ransom from the children's
father, a Canadian-Venezuelan businessman. Twenty-two individuals
subsequently faced charges, two of whom were Caracas Metropolitan
Police officers. Approximately half of those charged confessed to
involvement and were immediately sentenced to prison. At year's end,
the remaining accused were awaiting trial.
On April 5, news photographer Jorge Aguirre was killed during
demonstrations in the aftermath of the Faddoul murders, allegedly by a
metropolitan police officer or someone masquerading as a police officer
(see section 2.a.). The NGO Foro Penal reported that the individual had
previously been a police officer for both Chacao Municipality and
Caracas Metropolitan Police but had been relieved of his duties for bad
conduct prior to this incident. On April 13, authorities arrested a
former Caracas police officer, Boris Blanco Arcia, after they
discovered pistol cartridges at his home matching those found at the
scene of the shooting. On April 26, authorities indicted active police
officer Charly Briceno in connection with the Aguirre killing, charging
that, while on duty, Briceno drove the motorcycle on which Blanco was
riding when he allegedly shot Aguirre. Blanco was charged with murder
and posing as a police officer, while Briceno was charged with covering
up a criminal act. Blanco Arcia was supposed to have been arraigned on
June 21, but at year's end, no further information was available.
In July family members of the victims of the so-called 1986 Yumare
Massacre asked authorities to reopen the investigation into the case.
Henry Lopez Sisco, then-commander of state intelligence police, faced
charges in the killing of nine students in Yaracuy State. As an Office
of Intelligence and Prevention Services (DISIP) commander, Lopez Sisco
was held responsible in the 1970s and 1980s for the ``elimination'' of
subversive elements, particularly guerrillas. The case lay dormant for
two decades before returning to public attention in July during the
December Presidential elections campaign period; Lopez Sisco was a
security advisor to the primary opposition Presidential candidate. Two
of the nine students' bodies were exhumed on October 5. On December 12,
judicial authorities in Yaracuy ruled that the remaining seven bodies
were to be exhumed, as well, although none had been exhumed by year's
end.
On September 14, three members of the CICPC shot and killed Jesus
Carvajal Cardenas for failing to heed police calls to stop his vehicle.
The three police officers, Jesus Arrioja, Luis Campos, and Jairo Lira,
were indicted on September 19.
On September 22, military forces killed six miners in the La
Paragua region of Bolivar state. Reports indicated that the miners were
strafed from a military helicopter. President Chavez acknowledged
excessive use of military force in these killings; as a result of an
investigation, at least 14 soldiers were arrested. On November 15, 10
soldiers were charged in the killings of the six miners.
On August 31, 24 police officers were sentenced for their
involvement in the June 2005 killings of students Leonardo Gonzalez,
Erick Montenegro, and Edgar Quintero, and injury to three others near a
Caracas police checkpoint. Sentences ranged from three to 30 years'
imprisonment.
There were no developments in the January 2005 killing of Rigoberto
Barrios, or in the March 2005 burning deaths of two soldiers in a
``punishment cell,'' in Sucre State.
There were no reports that security forces killed prisoners;
however, substantial numbers of deaths in prison resulted from other
causes (see section 1.c.).
Prosecutors rarely brought cases against perpetrators of unlawful
killings. When prosecutors investigated, they alleged that unsecured
crime scenes, poor investigative techniques, and constantly changing or
inexperienced personnel ensured that political and human rights abuse
cases were delayed indefinitely or had a preordained result. Sentences
frequently were light, and convictions often were overturned on appeal.
Members of the security forces charged with or convicted of crimes
rarely were imprisoned.
b. Disappearance.--There were no substantiated reports of
politically motivated disappearances.
Human rights groups claimed that police officers sometimes disposed
of their victims' bodies to avoid investigations. PROVEA recorded 15
reports of disappearances allegedly involving security forces in the 12
months through September.
There were no significant developments in the January 2005
disappearance of Silvino Bustillos or in the 1999 forced disappearances
of Oscar Blanco Romero, Roberto Hernandez Paz, and Jose Rivas
Fernandez, for which the Government acknowledged culpability in June
2005.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution states that no person shall be
subjected to cruel, inhumane, or degrading punishment, NGOs, media, and
opposition groups accused security forces of continuing to torture and
abuse detainees.
PROVEA reported that in the 12 months prior to September, it
received 19 complaints of torture (down from 31 the previous year), but
1,394 complaints regarding cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, a
sharp increase from the 503 cases reported the year prior.
On January 11, four armed members of the CICPC came to the home of
Miguel Pina and allegedly tortured him before killing him because of
his purported participation in a bank robbery. Pina's wife alleged that
both she and their daughter were also tortured.
The Government did not authorize independent investigation of
torture complaints. Human rights groups continued to question the
Attorney General's commitment to oversee neutral investigations. Few
cases of torture resulted in convictions.
Reports of beatings and other humiliating treatment of suspects
during arrests were common and involved various law enforcement
agencies.
On August 14, members of the Military Intelligence reportedly took
Captain Luis Figueroa from the Ramo Verde military prison, tortured
him, and returned him to the prison in early morning hours.
On September 13, Rosa Figueroa appeared on the national television
news show La Entrevista to draw attention to the torture of her son
Kristo Damales Figueroa, a soldier incarcerated at Ramo Verde military
prison. The interview included footage taken from a cellular telephone
video showing severe wounds on Damales Figueroa's body, allegedly from
torture.
There were no developments in the alleged February 2005 torture of
retired Venezuelan National Guard Major General Felipe Rodriguez, who
was arrested and held at Military Intelligence Headquarters and
allegedly subjected to sensory deprivation and psychological torture.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
harsh due to scarce resources, poorly trained and corrupt prison staff,
and violence by guards and inmates. The prison monitoring NGO
Venezuelan Prison Observatory (OVP) estimated that existing prisons
were designed to hold approximately 60 percent of the estimated 19,000
prisoners. Severe overcrowding in some prisons and food and water
shortages remained problems.
The Government failed to provide adequate prison security. The
National Guard and the Ministry of Interior and Justice have
responsibility for exterior and interior security, respectively. The
OVP estimated that the prison guard force was 10 percent of the
required strength. Violence among prison gangs, including shootouts and
riots, was common. OVP recorded 378 deaths and 805 injuries in the
prisons through November. Most inmate deaths resulted from prisoner-on-
prisoner violence, riots, fires, and generally unsanitary and unsafe
conditions. Prisoners also died as a consequence of poor diet and
inadequate medical care.
More than 9,000 inmates participated in a hunger strike in July,
insisting on reform of the Organic Law of Penal Processes. Inmates in
16 prisons participated in the strike.
Inmates often had to pay guards and other inmates to obtain
necessities such as space in a cell, a bed, and food. Most prisoners
obtained food from their families, by paying prison guards, or in
barter with other prisoners. Many inmates also profited from exploiting
and abusing others, particularly since convicted violent felons often
were held with pretrial detainees or first-time petty offenders.
Trafficking in arms and drugs fueled gang-related violence and
extortion. Prison officials often illegally demanded payment from
prisoners for transportation to judicial proceedings (see sections 1.d.
and 1.e.).
Security forces and law enforcement authorities often imprisoned
minors together with adults, even though separate facilities existed
for juveniles. Because reform institutions were filled to capacity,
hundreds of children accused of infractions were confined in juvenile
detention centers where they were crowded into small, unsanitary cells,
fed only once a day, and forced to sleep on bare concrete floors. Women
and men were generally held in separate prison facilities, with
juveniles of either gender also held in separate facilities. The
Central Venezuelan University's Center for Women's Studies indicated
that, while no prison had good conditions, women's facilities were
generally less violent and more healthy than men's.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, and such visits took place during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits the
arrest or detention of an individual without a judicial order; provides
for the accused to remain free while being tried, except in specific
cases where the laws of the state or individual judges can supersede
this provision; and provides that any detained individual has the right
to immediate communication with family and lawyers, who in turn have
the right to know of the detainee's whereabouts.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Guard, a
branch of the military, is largely responsible for maintaining public
order, guarding the exterior of key government installations and
prisons, conducting counternarcotics operations, monitoring borders,
and providing law enforcement in remote areas. The Ministry of Interior
and Justice controls the CICPC, which conducts most criminal
investigations, and the DISIP, which collects intelligence within the
country and is responsible for investigating cases of corruption,
subversion, and arms trafficking. Mayors and governors oversee local
and state police forces. Corruption was a major problem among all
police forces, whose members were poorly paid and trained. Impunity for
corruption, brutality, and other acts of violence were major problems.
The National Commission for Police Reform was created in June, and one
of its goals was to create a more defined structure or mechanism for
reporting police abuses.
Some local police forces offered human rights training for their
personnel. In June the Ministry of Interior and Justice announced the
creation of the National Commission for Police Reform. Human Rights
NGOs PROVEA and Foro Penal commended the work of the commission. In
June Chacao Municipality in metropolitan Caracas released a
comprehensive proposal for justice and security, called ``Plan 180,''
to provide police forces with better tools and training to respect
human rights. Foundation Venezuela 180 was created subsequent to the
launch of Plan 180, and began implementing certain elements in Chacao
municipality. Metropolitan Caracas began establishing pilot zones in
which to begin implementing certain elements, as well. Considerable
training projects were underway by year's end.
PROVEA reported that in the year ending in September, there were
103 violent demonstrations and 1,280 peaceful demonstrations, of which
less than 5 percent were repressed forcefully.
Arrest and Detention.--Persons were sometimes apprehended openly
without warrants from judicial authorities. Detainees must be brought
before a prosecutor within 12 hours and before a judge within 48 hours
to determine the legality of the detention. A person accused of a crime
may not be detained for longer than the possible minimum sentence for
that crime, nor for longer than two years, except in certain
circumstances, such as when the defendant is responsible for the delay
in the proceedings. Detainees were promptly informed of the charges
against them.
There was a functioning system of bail, but March 2005 penal code
reforms eliminated bail for certain crimes (see section 2.a.). Bail
also may be denied if the person was apprehended in the act of
committing a crime or if a judge determines that there is a danger that
the accused may flee or impede the investigation. Detainees were
provided access to counsel and family members.
PROVEA documented 1,913 arbitrary detentions in the 12 months prior
to September and criticized the security forces for a systematic
practice of illegal arrests to combat crime.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--While the constitution provides
for an independent judiciary, the judiciary was increasingly less so.
The judiciary also was highly inefficient, sometimes corrupt, and
subject to political influence, particularly from the Attorney
General's Office, which in turn was pressured by the executive branch.
The judicial sector consists of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice and
lower courts, the Attorney General's Office, and the Ministry of
Interior and Justice. The Supreme Tribunal of Justice is the country's
highest court and directly administers the lower courts through the
Executive Directorate of the Judiciary.
According to the NGO Foro Penal, less than 40 percent of the judges
were provisional and temporary. The Supreme Tribunal of Justice's
Judicial Committee may hire and fire temporary judges without cause and
without explanation, and it did so. Provisional judges legally have the
same rights and authorities as permanent judges. The provisional and
temporary judges, lacking tenure in their profession, were particularly
subject to political influence from the Ministry of Interior and
Justice and the Attorney General.
The law provides that the Moral Council (attorney general, human
rights ombudsman, and comptroller general) may suspend judges and
allows the National Assembly to revoke the appointment of supreme
tribunal of justice judges by a simple majority vote. Human Rights
Watch noted that the law threatens the independence of the judiciary by
subjecting it to political control.
Lower court judges hear pretrial motions, including prosecution and
defense motions, prior to criminal cases going to trial judges.
Executive judges oversee the application of sentences. Appeals courts,
consisting of three-judge panels, review lower court decisions. The
Attorney General oversees the prosecutors who investigate crimes and
bring charges against criminal suspects.
In May 2005 the Penal Chamber of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice
revoked the October 2004 appeals court ruling dismissing the case
against Baruta mayor Henrique Capriles Radonski on charges relating to
a violent demonstration in front of the Cuban embassy in 2002 and
ordered the case reheard. The trial faced substantial delays throughout
the year. In July the Penal Chamber of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice
removed the judge in the case without explanation. In October the
Supreme Court announced a shuffling of federal judges, depriving the
Capriles case of an appointed judge and delaying the trial until it
began anew in December, before the 30th judge to preside over this
case. Capriles was acquitted of all charges against him on December 15.
The prosecution indicated that it would appeal.
In December Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez announced that the
investigation of two suspected material authors and an intellectual
author of the 2004 killing of prosecutor Danilo Anderson was on hold,
as the three were in Miami and the law prohibits accusations in
abstentia. Rodriguez shelved cases against businessman Nelson Mezerhane
and two other suspects due to lack of evidence. A judge was reviewing
this decision at year's end, however, as the law requires prosecutors
either to accuse or to exonerate suspects after two years of
investigation. A seventh suspect was exonerated.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for open, public, and fair
trials with oral proceedings. The accused have the right to be present
and consult with an attorney. Public defenders are provided for
indigent defendants, but there continued to be a shortage of public
defenders. Defendants have the right to question witnesses against them
and present their own witnesses. The accused and their attorneys have
access to government-held evidence. Defendants are innocent until
proven guilty. Defendants and plaintiffs have the right of appeal.
Trial delays were common. A professional judge and two ``lay
judges'' try serious cases; a single judge may hear serious cases if
requested by the defendant or victim or if attempts to appoint lay
judges have failed. Difficulty in finding persons willing to serve as
lay judges also resulted in delays.
The law provides that trials for military personnel charged with
human rights abuses be held in civilian rather than military courts;
the provision does not apply to cases that predate the 1999
constitution.
Human rights NGOs continued to express concern that the Supreme
Tribunal of Justice's selection of military judges from a list of
candidates provided by the minister of defense linked the careers of
military judges to the high command.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were an estimated 13
political prisoners in the country. In some cases, the political
prisoners were held in distinct penal facilities, including DISIP
quarters. Given their profile, they were often extended certain
courtesies not given to general prison populations, such as individual
cells and access to cellular telephones.
The International Committee of the Red Cross was permitted access
to these political prisoners.
After the December 3 elections, NGOs Foro Penal and VIVE mounted a
very public campaign to seek amnesty for all political prisoners and
collected signatures to propose legislation on national amnesty and
reconciliation for 2007.
Retired Army General Francisco Uson remained imprisoned at the Ramo
Verde military prison for ``defaming'' the army, despite being retired
and not subject to military jurisdiction. There were indications in
July that Uson was threatened, specifically that his ``physical and
moral integrity'' were in danger. Sources close to Uson claimed that
prison authorities sought to ``eliminate'' certain prisoners who were
an ``annoyance'' to the Government.
Former Caracas Metropolitan Police commissioners Ivan Simonovis,
Henry Vivas, and Lazarro Forero, along with eight other police
officers, remained imprisoned without conviction, stemming from charges
of being accomplices to murder during the events related to the civil
disturbances in 2002. Although Simonovis was not present at the site of
the unrest, he and the 10 other prisoners were accused of shooting and
killing unarmed protesters. The defendants argued that they were
protecting the protesters and were ambushed. Simonovis, Vivas, and
Forero have remained imprisoned for approximately two years, while the
eight additional officers have been in jail for more than three years.
On May 30, DISIP officials arrested and detained the former
opposition governor of Yaracuy State, Eduardo Lapi, on charges of
corruption and misappropriation of government funds, stemming from a
highway project during his administration, which ended in 2004. Lapi
remained imprisoned even though his case had not made it to trial.
While governor, he was an outspoken critic of President Chavez. The
prosecution claimed Lapi was considered a flight risk, thus
necessitating his detention, although Lapi volunteered to surrender his
passport. Lapi's trial has been delayed indefinitely.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There were separate civil
courts that permitted citizens to bring lawsuits seeking damages. Like
all courts in the country, however, the civil elements of the judiciary
remained subject to strong executive control.
There were administrative remedies available, but they were
generally inefficient. The most common consumer-protection mechanism
was the Institute for the Defense of the Consumer and the User
(INDECU), which fell under the rubric of the Ministry of Light Industry
and Commerce. INDECU used reconciliation, mediation, and arbitration to
settle disputes and was empowered to sanction the providers of goods
and services who violated the law.
Other entities that provided administrative or civil remedies
included the Superintendencies of Banks, Free Competition, Insurance,
Leasing, and Securities.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution provides for the inviolability of the
domestic home and personal privacy; however, security forces routinely
infringed on citizens' privacy rights by searching homes without
warrants, for example during anticrime sweeps in poor neighborhoods.
There were reports of illegal wiretapping and invasion of privacy by
the security forces.
On August 17, Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez acknowledged that
charges of complicity in the alleged August 13 escape of former labor
leader Carlos Ortega and members of the Faria military family from the
Ramo Verde military prison, which were levied against independent
television network Globovision, were based on intercepted e-mails from
the network's director's assistant. Rodriguez refused to answer
questions about whether or not there was proper legal authorization to
intercept the correspondence.
The Government was complicit with others, including MVR deputy Luis
Tascon, in creating and maintaining the ``Tascon'' and ``Maisanta''
Lists, which were used to identify and punish regime opponents. Early
in the year, the Tascon List, which provided names and identification
numbers of all persons who had signed petitions to recall President
Chavez, was combined with lists of participants in the country's social
missions and voting records. The combined lists created a program,
called Programa Maisanta that not only identified the political
orientation of individuals but also attempted to characterize the
degree of their revolutionary dedication.
The use of fingerprint machines and electronic voting led many
citizens to believe their votes were not secret and were subject to
government tampering. Opponents of these methods in November 2005
demonstrated that the fingerprint machines held flash memory, in theory
permitting vote sequence to be recorded and thereby fueling speculation
that voter identity could be reconstructed. Some voters feared that the
Government, if it could obtain voting records, would use the
information against those supporting the opposition. Signatures
provided to the CNE for the 2004 recall referendum were circulated via
the Tascon List, which the Government used to harass, and in many cases
fire, opposition supporters. Voter intimidation remained a very
significant factor during the December elections.
In its annual report released in December, PROVEA expressed concern
over official political discrimination against, and firing of, state
employees whose views differed from those of the Government. According
to PROVEA, the Government used coercion and the threat of dismissal to
compel state employees to attend partisan political functions (see
section 3).
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 combination of new laws governing
libel and broadcast media content, legal harassment, and physical
intimidation resulted in limitations on these freedoms and a climate of
self-censorship. The Government employed a variety of mechanisms--
legal, economic, regulatory, judicial, and rhetorical--to harass the
private media, engendering a repressive attitude towards a free press.
The President frequently preempted broadcasting on the nation's
airwaves to present government programs. Independent media observers
criticized the state media for extreme progovernment politicization.
The Government denied private media equal access to many official
events, and, in cases when private media had access to government
facilities, they often did not have access to officials and
information. For example, only the Government radio and television
stations were authorized to have reporters at the Presidential palace.
Major independent all-news outlet Globovision reported on August 15
that independent journalists were denied access to penal installations
at Ramo Verde, the military prison from which four high-profile
prisoners escaped on August 13. According to Globovision, only official
government media outlets were given access inside the facility.
Globovision also reported that on August 17, several of their
journalists were detained while covering the processing of 14 military
officials charged with involvement in the escape. State-controlled
television and radio stations and many foreign news reporters continued
to have full access to official events.
Amendments to the penal code in March 2005 make insulting the
President punishable by six to 30 months in prison and eliminate bail,
with lesser penalties for insulting lower ranking officials. Comments
exposing another person to public contempt or hatred are subject to a
one- to three-year prison sentence and a fine. Inaccurate reporting
that disturbs the public peace is punishable with a prison sentence of
two to five years. The requirement that media disseminate only ``true''
information was undefined and open to politically motivated
interpretation.
The law requires that practicing journalists have journalism
degrees and be members of the National College of Journalists, and it
prescribes three- to six-month jail terms for those who practice
journalism illegally. These requirements were waived for foreigners and
opinion columnists.
Throughout the year, various international organizations expressed
concern about the country's lack of press freedom and the harassment,
intimidation, and violence, including killings, directed at
journalists. Such harassment came from government actors as well as
other government supporters. Amnesty International's 2005 report,
issued in May, expressed concern that the Government used tax and
administrative measures to restrict freedom of expression, for example
by closing the newspaper El Impulso. At its annual assembly in
September, the International American Press Association criticized the
country's record on press freedom. On October 12, the Office of the
Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS)
presented a report covering the period from July to September 30, which
highlighted infringements on freedom of expression in the country.
Specifically, the special rapporteur highlighted the unsolved killing
of Jesus Rojas Flores and the attack on regional newspaper Correo del
Caron!.
On June 16, journalist Jose Joaquin Tovar Figueroa, editor of
Ahora, was shot to death in Caracas. Reporters Without Borders believed
that Tovar's murder was likely a direct result of his critical, anti-
Chavez reporting. At year's end, no arrests had been made, and there
were no further details about who was behind Tovar's killing.
On July 25, three journalists working for regional newspaper Diario
Los Andes were attacked while investigating a story on border security
in Tachira state. DISIP (intelligence) agents reportedly detained the
journalists after spotting the photographer taking pictures and
demanded they turn over the camera. A DISIP agent beat one of the
journalists while attempting to pull her from the vehicle.
On July 26, approximately 40 individuals, including municipal
employees, forced their way into a radio interview and hurled
invectives at the interviewee, the editor of El Carabobeno. The
protesters burned issues of the newspaper and threatened to set fire to
the building.
On August 23, journalist Jesus Flores Rojas was killed in
Anzoategui State. Flores was critical of the Government in his writings
and in his weekly columns attributed to public officials possible acts
of corruption. Several international organizations condemned the
killing, and Reporters Without Borders indicated Flores's killing was
directly tied to his critical writings. By year's end, there had been
no arrests made in regard to this killing.
On August 26, police officers in Simon Rodriguez Municipality of
Anzoategui State beat and insulted Adrian Salazar, a reporter for the
daily Nueva Prensa de Oriente. Salazar stated that he did not know the
motive for the beating but did not dismiss the possibility it was
related to his journalistic endeavors. The police officers accosted him
as he arrived at his home. They were later stripped of their official
responsibilities, pending investigation of the matter.
On September 22, the chief of security for the municipality of
Sucre, in Bolivar State, along with one of the mayor's bodyguards,
attacked the headquarters of radio station La Maripena. The attackers
broke protective barriers of the station's transmitter and threw rocks
into the building. The Venezuelan Institute of Press and Society
reported that the attackers responded violently to the radio station
director's photographing them while they were guarding official
vehicles during a miners' protest. Following the attack, the
perpetrators stole one of the radio station's transmitters, causing an
outage that lasted two days. Media reports speculated that the attacks
were in response to the radio station's criticism of government acts.
While the law permits the President to suspend telecommunications
broadcasts, it was not invoked during the year; however, the Government
threatened to review and cancel broadcasting licenses. On June 14,
President Chavez announced he had directed a review of all radio and
television licenses because many outlets had hidden behind ``freedom of
expression'' in an effort to divide the country.
Some commercial radio stations complained that broadcasting
frequencies for community radios were not allocated in accordance with
broadcast regulations. According to the National Venezuelan Radio
Broadcasting Chamber, most of these community radio stations neither
received broadcasting licenses nor followed regulations, and they
interfered with the broadcasts of licensed stations. The Government
reportedly funded the community stations, whose broadcasting was
progovernment.
The law permits the Government to order national broadcast cadenas
(lengthy, commercial-free programming, usually consisting of
Presidential speeches) to require all broadcast media to preempt
scheduled programming and transmit the Government's entire message. Use
of cadenas was much more restrained in elections during the year,
compared to 2005. Both the OAS and EU, however, mentioned abuse of
government resources as an irregularity during the election campaign,
citing cadenas and other government public media methods. According to
private media sources, there were approximately 182 cadenas during the
year, totaling more than 90 hours of air time.
In mid-March the Government temporarily imprisoned two journalists.
Gustavo Azocar, a Tachira state journalist who questioned the
qualifications of a judge involved in a sensitive political case, was
imprisoned March 7 pending trial for allegedly failing to appear at
court dates. One week later, on March 13, a Caracas court issued an
arrest warrant for El Nacional columnist Ibeyise Pacheco, who was found
guilty of defamation in 2005 and punished with nine months of house
arrest (after reportedly being threatened with detention at DISIP).
Both journalists were released almost immediately following
international outcry.
On July 13, an appeals court sentenced journalist Henry Crespo to
one year and four months in prison for allegedly defaming the MVR
governor of Guarico State, Eduardo Manuitt.
On August 11, a circuit court judge issued an arrest warrant
against Miguel Salazar, editor of the weekly Las Verdades de Miguel.
Salazar, who was facing prosecution for aggravated slander, reportedly
failed to appear before the court, as ordered by the judge. Salazar was
accused of slandering several high-ranking officials, including the
former secretary of the presidency, the governor of Guarico State, and
a National Assembly deputy and his political party.
On May 18, the MVR-controlled Bolivar state legislature decided
that the building in which the anti-Chavez newspaper Correo del Caroni
operated had been incorrectly purchased and zoned in 1991 and
recommended to the state governor that the building be demolished and
the newspaper closed. On June 26, an act of sabotage left the newspaper
without electricity and caused an explosion.
On June 19, Numa Rojas, the MVR mayor of Maturin, Monagas State,
withdrew all municipal advertisements and indicated that reporters from
two local newspapers would be denied access to city hall and MVR
headquarters. Rojas reportedly acted in retaliation for the papers'
accusations of corruption against the daughter of the mayor's
girlfriend. Rojas held a public rally in Maturin inviting municipal
employees to assemble and protest against those media that opposed him.
On June 8, the National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL)
forced the removal of Valencia radio station 810 AM's transmitter from
public lands. The stated justification for the closure concerned
ownership and zoning of the real estate where the transmitter was
located. The closure was seen by station management and other media as
a government effort to close all media outlets that criticized the
President. CONATEL ordered the radio station to relocate within a
period of 45 days; citing insufficient resources and time to do so, the
radio station closed down.
On August 7, supporters of the independent political movement ROGE
assaulted journalist Manases Capriles of the daily El Siglo when he was
covering a protest in the town of Turmero, Aragua State. According to
Capriles, a town councilmember who belongs to the movement tried to
snatch the notebook in which Capriles was taking notes and threatened
to kill him. Several other protesters surrounded Capriles and beat him
with sticks. Several policemen were reportedly present but did nothing
to stop the beating.
On December 28, 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. International press freedom organizations, including
Reporters Without Borders, the Inter-American Press Association, and
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights special rapporteur for
freedom of expression, condemned the decision as an attempt to silence
a media outlet.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet. The Government sometimes monitored some e-mails (see
section 1.f.). 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 reported
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. PROVEA noted
that at least 113 injuries resulted from security force interventions
in peaceful demonstrations, a significant decrease from the previous
year.
There was also one death reported during a peaceful demonstration.
PROVEA reported that Jose Gonzalez, a student protester in Cumana,
Sucre State, was killed on March 21, when he fell from the roof of a
building as a result of being struck by a tear gas canister thrown by a
police officer.
Human rights groups continued to criticize the March 2005 penal
code revision for the strict penalties it imposes on some forms of
peaceful demonstration. The law outlaws pot-banging protests often
identified with opponents of the Government and punishes street
closures with up to eight-year prison terms. The NGO Foro Penal filed
an official complaint before the Supreme Court on June 27, challenging
the legality of this measure, which, by year's end, had not been heard.
Government supporters sometimes disrupted marches and rallies.
Supporters and opponents of the Government demonstrated in the capital
and other cities during the year. Opposition Presidential candidate
Manuel Rosales's campaign rallies and marches were often disrupted by
government supporters, who typically threw bottles and other debris at
Rosales supporters.
Freedom of Association.--While the constitution provides for
freedom of association, the Government only partially respected this
right. Although indicating that they generally operated without
interference, professional and academic associations complained that
the CNE repeatedly interfered with their attempts to hold internal
elections. A 2000 Supreme Tribunal of Justice ruling declared that
groups belonging to civil society could not receive money from foreign
governments or groups influenced by foreign governments, engage in
political activism, or be run by members of the military or religious
groups. The Government indefinitely postponed its conspiracy case
against the NGO SUMATE, which was based in part on the fact that the
organization received financing from abroad (see section 4).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, on the condition that its practice does not violate public
morality, decency, or the public order, and the Government generally
respected this right in practice.
The Directorate of Justice and Religion (DJR) is mandated to
maintain a registry of religious groups. Registration is required for
legal status as a religious organization. Requirements for registration
are largely administrative but stipulate that groups serve the
community's social interests. Foreign missionaries require a special
visa to enter the country, and they noted increased difficulties.
Catholic bishops continued to urge the Government to protect
democratic freedoms, including voting rights.
On February 3 the Supreme Court denied the request of the New
Tribes Mission for a stay of the Interior Ministry's November 2005
resolution ordering the group's withdrawal. The New Tribes Mission
subsequently removed all of its personnel from indigenous tribal areas
in compliance with the ruling, but continues to appeal the decision.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were reports that
citizens harassed Mormon missionaries in poor areas.
There were more than 15,000 Jews in the country. The President,
government institutions and officials, and government-affiliated media
outlets promoted anti-Semitism through numerous anti-Semitic comments;
these actions created a spillover effect into mainstream society, which
witnessed a rise in anti-Semitic vandalism, caricatures, and
expressions at rallies. Incidents of intimidation, vandalism, and
physical attacks against Jewish institutions became more frequent.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported that the President and
government officials expressed anti-Semitic sentiments, blaming Israel
and the Jews for the world's problems and utilizing stereotypes about
Jewish financial influence and control. For example, in an interview
broadcast domestically and on Al-Jazeera television, President Chavez
said Israel's actions regarding the Palestinians and Lebanon were
``perpetrated in the fascist manner of Hitler--they are doing what
Hitler did to the Jews.''
On January 21, a group of Jewish intellectuals published a letter
condemning remarks made by President Chavez in December 2005 referring
to ``some minorities, the descendants of the same ones who crucified
Christ.'' Some international Jewish groups and observers criticized
Chavez' remarks as anti-Semitic; others said his remarks were simply
anti-imperialistic. Days later, the Government announced that it would
remove from the Caracas Museum of Contemporary Art the name of Sofia
Imber, the retired museum founder and a signatory to the letter. Imber
said the name change was already in the offing but considered the
timing a result of her signing the January 21 letter.
The local Jewish community maintained strong concerns over anti-
Semitic comments that regularly appeared in the Government's de facto
official daily newspaper, Vea, and some recurring slurs by the hosts of
La Hojilla, a pro-Chavez talk show on official government television.
Anti-Semitic graffiti increased on synagogue walls in the Caracas
areas following the July-August conflict involving Israel and Lebanon,
and editorials and political cartoons in government media outlets
adopted pro-Hizballah stances and often failed to distinguish between
anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli sentiments. The ADL documented that anti-
Semitic graffiti and leaflets appeared near synagogues and densely
populated Jewish neighborhoods with statements including ``Jews
Assassins,'' ``Jews Dogs,'' ``Go Away Zionists,'' and with Stars of
David equated with swastikas.
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 numerous reports that persons were denied passports
and other official documents by government agencies for having signed
the 2004 recall referendum. There were regular reports of individuals
bribing authorities for expedited issuance of identification documents.
Extremely long waits for issuance of passports often had the effect of
restricting freedom of foreign travel.
The law prohibits forced exile, and it was not used.
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 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 cooperated with the UN High Commission for Refugees
(UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and
asylum seekers. The UNHCR reported 2,566 applicants for refugee status
in the country during the year, 261 of whom were recognized as
refugees.
On October 17, according to the Jesuit Refugee Service of Venezuela
(SJR), armed militants forcibly displaced 32 families numbering almost
300 individuals from Santa Ines Village in Apure State. The 32 families
were a mixture of Colombian refugees and internally displaced persons.
With the SJR's assistance, 21 individuals presented official complaints
to the Public Ministry, which had not been addressed by 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 through
periodic elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--On December 3, voters
reelected Hugo Chavez as President in elections that observers judged
to be generally free and fair. The European Union, the OAS, and the
Carter Center sent official electoral observation missions and deemed
the elections to be generally free and fair. President Chavez was
reelected with approximately 63 percent of the national vote. Chavez
received the most votes in each state in the country, as well as in the
Caracas metropolitan area. While judged to be generally free and fair,
the observation missions did note some irregularities, such as the
Government's failure to heed previous observer missions'
recommendations. They also noted minor problems with the ``Plan
Republica,'' the military's plan to enforce security at polling sites
and protect the integrity of both voters and voting materials.
Eighty-one different political parties appeared on the Presidential
ballot in December. Notable political party Christian Democrats barely
surpassed the threshold of 1 percent of votes needed to remain on the
ballot. Movement Towards Socialism failed to obtain enough votes to
remain on the ballot, barring collection of the requisite number of
signatures. Democratic Action, having boycotted national elections for
two elections in a row, also lost the right to remain on the ballot
without a signature drive.
In December, following his reelection, Chavez announced the
dissolution of the primary political party, the Fifth Republic
Movement, and his plans to create one unified progovernment party.
In September opposition members revealed a videotape of the
minister of energy and President of the state oil-company PDVSA, Rafael
Ramirez, threatening workers with loss of their jobs if they did not
vote for the Government in December elections. Ramirez invoked the
terminology ``rojo, rojito'' (``red, very red'') to describe the
political orientation of the oil company. Other government agencies,
including the military and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adopted the
mantra as a manner of proclaiming their loyalty to the current
government (see section 1.f.).
In May the National Assembly appointed a new five-member CNE board
consisting of four progovernment representatives and one opposition
member, skewing the CNE in the Government's favor.
There were 34 women in the 165-seat assembly, 3 women in the 21-
member cabinet, and nine women among the 32 justices on the Supreme
Tribunal of Justice.
The constitution reserves three seats in the National Assembly for
indigenous people, which were filled in the 2000 election and remained
occupied during the year. There were no indigenous members in the
cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a perception of
widespread corruption at all levels of the Government. Journalists
reported several cases of apparent corruption implicating high-level
government officials, but none was investigated. Officials acknowledged
that the National Office of Identification and Immigration, the agency
responsible for issuing identity cards and passports, was corrupt.
On May 24, the Government's Moral Republican Council suspended
Supreme Court Justice Luis Velasquez Alvaray for alleged mismanagement
of public funds earmarked to purchase property for the construction of
a judicial complex. Velasquez Alvaray counter-accused several high-
ranking government officials, including Vice President Jose Vicente
Rangel, of corruption. On June 8, the National Assembly unanimously
voted to remove Velasquez Alvaray. Amid concerns of safety following
his counteraccusations, Velasquez Alvaray disappeared, and at year's
end his whereabouts were uncertain.
The law provides for citizens' access to government information.
Human rights groups reported that the Government routinely ignored this
requirement and did not make information available.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of independent domestic and international human
rights groups generally operated without government restriction,
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases.
Government officials were somewhat responsive to their views. Major
domestic human rights NGOs that operated independently from the
Government included COFAVIC, PROVEA, Red de Apoyo, and the Venezuelan
Prison Observatory. However, many NGOs reported threats and harassment,
especially in a climate of possible criminalization of receipt of
foreign funding. For example, the director of Una Ventana a la Libertad
reported receiving threatening phone calls and that DISIP agents told
him that he and his family were being watched for receiving funds from
foreign government agencies.
COFAVIC's executive director continued to operate under threats of
personal harm. The Interamerican Commission of Human Rights ruled in
2005 that the threats were credible and ruled the Government should
provide her security detail. After Caracas Metropolitan Police withdrew
these bodyguards in late 2005, the IACHR reinstituted the security
detail. In October COFAVIC's director indicated that the Government
continued to try to convince the courts to overrule the IACHR ruling,
suggesting that the threats were fabricated.
In July 2005 a Caracas court ruled that SUMATE leaders Maria Corina
Machado, Alejandro Plaz, Luis Enrique Palacios, and Ricardo Estevez
would stand trial for conspiracy to destroy the country's republican
form of government. The charges were based on the group's acceptance of
funds from a foreign source in 2003. The trial briefly resumed during
the year but was indefinitely postponed. The defendants were free
pending trial at year's end.
However, in mid-July the National Assembly opened a separate
investigation against SUMATE leaders for treason, conspiring against
the National Electoral Council, and inciting criminal activity because
they allegedly accepted foreign money to organize an opposition primary
to choose a Presidential candidate for the December election. The
legislature's investigation concluded that the NGO attempted to commit
treason, evade taxes, and violate foreign exchange rules. The results
were forwarded to the Attorney General, Foreign Exchange Commission,
and Tax Authority for follow-up. As of late October, the Tax Authority
and superintendent of banks had begun investigations into Machado's and
Plaz's personal and business activities.
A draft International Cooperation Law was under consideration in
the National Assembly at year's end. The draft law clearly delineates
those sectors in which NGOs are allowed to function; noticeably absent
from the list are sectors such as human rights and democracy promotion
or advocacy. The proposed legislation would also establish a public
entity that reports directly to the President and ``which is to be
responsible and charged with carrying out and backing international
cooperation policies, projects, and activities fostered by the State,
by drawing on, providing, and administering funds originating from or
destined to international cooperation activities'' and gives the
Government the option of requiring international donors to deposit
their funding in a government fund, which would administer these funds
on behalf of the donors. The proposed legislation would also create a
parallel registration mechanism (above and beyond the civil
registration, the tax system, social security registration, etc.),
which would require each NGO to submit to a series of requirements
specified by the Government, after which the federal government would
decide whether or not they can be registered, and, in turn, operate in
the country. The law, if enacted, would be regulated by decree of the
President of the republic, allowing him or her to establish any
regulation or addendum to the law by executive order.
Several domestic human rights NGOs received threats and
intimidation by government representatives and supporters. On April 21,
unknown assailants shot and injured human rights defender Maria del
Rosario Guerrero Galluci and her husband Adolfo Martinez Barrios in
Guarico State. Guerrero had accused the Guarico police of human rights
abuses.
The Government cooperated with international governmental
organizations and permitted visits by OAS representatives. The OAS, EU,
and the Carter Center all received invitations and sent official
electoral observation missions to the country to cover the December
Presidential election. The Government, however, considerably delayed
the accreditation of these missions, in some cases not agreeing to
their observation until only weeks prior the election--thereby reducing
the missions' ability to efficiently prepare for an impartial and
thorough observation.
Although the ombudsman is responsible for ensuring that citizens'
rights are protected in a conflict with the state, human rights NGOs
claimed that the Ombudsman's Office was not independent and rarely
acted on public interest cases.
The National Assembly's Sub-Commission on Human Rights played an
insignificant role in the national debate on human rights.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Although the law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender,
disability, language, or social status, discrimination against women,
persons with disabilities, and indigenous people were problems.
Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence, and violators faced
penalties of six to 18 months in prison. Violence against women
continued to be a problem, and women faced substantial institutional
and societal prejudice with respect to rape and domestic violence. The
Center for Women's Studies reported that one woman in Caracas died
every 10 days from domestic violence According to the Pan American
Health Organization, 70 percent of women killed in the country were
killed by their husbands, boyfriends, or ex-partners. The law requires
police to report domestic violence and obligates hospital personnel to
notify the authorities when they admit patients who are victims of
domestic abuse. Police generally were reluctant to intervene to prevent
domestic violence, and the courts rarely prosecuted those accused of
such abuse. Women generally were unaware of legal remedies and had
little access to them. The Government sought to combat domestic
violence through a public awareness campaign and a national victim
assistance hot line, which was created in 2005 and administered by the
National Women's Institute, a government agency. It was widely
advertised during the year and continued to enjoy much success.
On November 25, the National Assembly passed the Organic Law on the
Right of Women to a Life Free of Violence. The law preserves the life
and physical integrity of women facing violent circumstances or who may
be vulnerable to violence.
The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape, but it remained a
problem. Rape is punishable with prison terms of eight to 14 years,
although cases often were not reported to the police. An adult man
guilty of raping an adult female acquaintance may avoid punishment if
he marries the victim before sentencing.
Prostitution is legal. While there was no government information on
the extent of prostitution, local antitrafficking NGO Association of
Women for Welfare and Mutual Help noted that prostitution was a serious
problem, particularly in Caracas and domestic tourist destinations.
Sexual harassment is illegal and punishable with a prison sentence
of six to 18 months. Sexual harassment was common in the workplace but
rarely reported. There were no reported cases of sexual harassment
during the year.
Women and men are legally equal in marriage, and the law provides
for gender equality in exercising the right to work. The law specifies
that employers must not discriminate against women with regard to pay
or working conditions. According to the Ministry of Labor and the
Venezuelan Workers Confederation (CTV), these regulations were enforced
in the formal sector, although women reportedly earned 30 percent less
than men on average. Although reliable official statistics were
unavailable, the Central Venezuelan University's Center for Women's
Studies reported that the unemployment rate for women was generally
believed to be 3 percent higher than that for men. Some estimates
placed female unemployment as high as 22 percent. The National
Institute for Women, a government agency, worked to protect women's
rights.
Through November the Women's Development Bank (BANMUJER),
administered by the Ministry of Popular Economy, awarded 12,450 loans,
totaling approximately $28 million (60 million bolivars), that
benefited more than 340,000 individuals. BANMUJER also held
professional training courses on the creation of microbusinesses for
approximately 109,000 individuals.
The law provides women with property rights equal to men's. In
practice, however, women frequently waived these rights by signing over
the equivalent of ``power of attorney'' to their husbands.
The Fatherland For All political party and the Women's Manuelita
Saenz Movement held a national conference in August with the aim of
creating a national strategy to institutionalize women's roles in the
political and economic sectors.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare. The law provides for universal, compulsory, and free education
up to the university-preparatory level; however, the UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF) reported that in 2004 an estimated 45 percent of boys and 35
percent of girls left school before the ninth grade. Many children of
African and indigenous descent had no access to the education system.
The Government provided numerous government health care programs
for boys and girls on the basis of equal access.
Reports of child abuse were rare due to a fear of entanglement with
the authorities and ingrained societal attitudes regarding family
privacy. According to UNICEF and NGOs working with children and women,
child abuse, including incest, often occurred at home. Although the
judicial system acted to remove children from abusive households,
public facilities for such children were inadequate and had poorly
trained staff.
The human rights NGO For the Rights of Children and Adolescents
estimated that approximately 15,000 children lived on the street.
UNICEF concurred that official government statistics, putting this
figure at 1,500, grossly underrepresented the actual number.
Authorities in Caracas and several other jurisdictions imposed curfews
on unsupervised minors to cope with this problem. Because reform
institutions were filled to capacity, hundreds of children accused of
infractions, such as curfew violations, were confined in inadequate
juvenile detention centers (see section 1.c.).
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the constitution prohibits
slavery or servitude and the law prohibits trafficking in persons,
there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, and within
the country. There is no implementing law specifically for prosecution
of trafficking in persons.
The country was reported to be a source, destination, and transit
country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of
commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. An underdeveloped
legal framework, corruption among immigration authorities, and the ease
with which fraudulent passports, identity cards, and birth certificates
could be obtained created favorable conditions for trafficking. No
overall statistics on trafficking were available from government or NGO
sources.
Women and children from Colombia, China, Peru, Ecuador, and the
Dominican Republic were trafficked to and through the country and
subjected to commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor. Citizens
were trafficked internally and to Western Europe, particularly Spain
and the Netherlands, and countries in the region such as Mexico, Aruba,
and the Dominican Republic for commercial sexual exploitation. The
country was a transit country for undocumented migrants from other
countries in the region--particularly Peru and Colombia--and for Asian
nationals, some of whom were believed to be trafficking victims.
Subgroups particularly at risk included women from poor areas.
Trafficking may be prosecuted under laws against forced
disappearance and kidnapping, with penalties of two to six years'
imprisonment, and under a law to protect children, with a penalty of
one to 10 months' income for trafficking in children and two to six
years' imprisonment for trafficking a child abroad. In addition, under
a law against organized crime, child trafficking by members of an
organized group is punishable by 10 to 18 years' imprisonment.
Government efforts to combat trafficking are the responsibility of
the public prosecutor's Family Protection Directorate, the National
Institutes for Women and Minors, and the Ministry of Interior and
Justice's Crime Prevention Unit. Enforcement efforts generally were
limited.
The Government provided trafficking victims with psychological and
physical examinations. Several NGOs complained that they lacked
government support and cooperation to assist victims and prevent future
cases of human trafficking.
In August the Ministry of Interior and Justice hosted a roundtable
on trafficking in persons; the minister of justice presided, and nearly
every cabinet ministry had high-level representation. The heads of the
CICPC and DISIP, as well as local NGO experts on the subject,
participated. The event culminated with a comprehensive plan to address
trafficking in persons in the country, although by year's end the plan
had not been implemented.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution prohibits
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities in
education, employment, health care, and the provision of other state
services. Persons with disabilities had minimal access to public
transportation, and ramps practically were nonexistent, even in
government buildings. The law requires that all newly constructed or
renovated public parks and buildings provide access and prohibits
discrimination in employment practices and in the provision of public
services; however, the Government had not made a significant effort to
implement the law, inform the public of it, or to combat societal
prejudice against persons with disabilities.
Indigenous People.--Although the law prohibits discrimination based
on ethnic origin, members of the country's indigenous population
suffered from inattention to and violation of their rights. There were
approximately 316,000 indigenous people in 27 ethnic groups, many of
whom were isolated from urban areas and lacked access to basic health
and educational facilities. Their communities suffered from high rates
of disease. The Government included indigenous people in its literacy
campaigns, in some cases teaching them to read and write in their own
languages, as well as in Spanish.
The law creates three seats in the National Assembly for indigenous
deputies and also provides for ``the protection of indigenous
communities and their progressive incorporation into the life of the
nation.'' Nonetheless, local political authorities seldom took account
of the interests of indigenous people when making decisions affecting
their lands, cultures, traditions, or the allocation of natural
resources. Few indigenous people held title to their land, and many did
not want to do so because most indigenous groups rejected the concept
of individual property. Instead, they called on the Government to
recognize lands traditionally inhabited by them as territories
belonging to each respective indigenous group.
The NGO Consorcio Desarrollo y Justicia reported that the federal
government did not recognize these lands and continued to fail to hand
over any such land that it considered government-owned. The Government
also drew arbitrary boundaries around lands claimed by indigenous
groups, to their detriment.
Although the National Agrarian Institute granted the Bari and
Sierra de Perija indigenous communities property rights to 200 hectares
for 20 years, the Government did not recognize these property rights
during the year. The Environment and Natural Resources Ministry redrew
the demarcation lines, severely limiting these communities' claims to
this land. The few hectares left to these communities were heavily
populated by strip mining interests.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--While the law provides that all
private and public sector workers (except members of the armed forces)
have the right to form and join unions of their choice, the Government
continued to violate these rights. Approximately 10 to 12 percent of
the 12 million-person labor force was unionized.
The CNE has the authority to administer internal elections of labor
confederations. In 2004 the CNE issued regulations governing internal
elections that many labor leaders claimed violated freedom of
association. Furthermore, the CNE failed to certify the results of
elections held during the year by more than 500 unions and federations
under these new regulations. Labor leaders complained that the CNE also
failed to give permission to hold elections to hundreds of unions and
federations.
In January 2005 the CNE passed a resolution annulling the CTV's
2001 election results. In addition the Government refused to appoint
the CTV secretary general as labor's representative at the
International Labor Organization (ILO) annual meeting. In 2005 the ILO
called upon the Government to recognize the CTV's elected leadership,
but the Government had not done so.
The Ministry of Labor continued to deny registration to UNAPETROL,
a union composed of oil workers who were later fired for participating
in the 2002 to 2003 national strike (see section 6.b.).
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides that all public and private sector workers have the right to
conduct their activities without interference and protects collective
bargaining. The law stipulates that employers must negotiate a
collective contract with the union that represents the majority of
their workers. The ILO continued to object to this provision and
requested that the Government amend it so that ``in cases where no
union organization represents an absolute majority of workers, minority
organizations may jointly negotiate a collective agreement on behalf of
their members.''
The Government continued to show preference toward government-
affiliated unions in collective bargaining agreements and fostered the
creation of parallel unions such as the National Union of Venezuelan
Workers. CTV leaders claimed that the Ministry of Labor routinely
rejected collective bargaining agreements negotiated by CTV affiliates
on administrative grounds. CTV leaders further claimed that, in those
sectors or firms where contracts were rejected, ministry officials
facilitated the rapid formation of parallel unions, which legally could
force a vote among workers over which union would represent them. The
CTV also complained that the ministry usually designated the parallel
union as the one authorized to negotiate the contract.
Although the law recognizes the right of all public and private
sector workers to strike in accordance with conditions established by
labor law, public servants may strike only if the strike does not cause
``irreparable damage to the population or to institutions.''
Replacement workers are not permitted during legal strikes, and the
President may order public or private sector strikers back to work and
submit their disputes to arbitration if the strike ``puts in immediate
danger the lives or security of all or part of the population.''
The Government had resolved approximately 25 percent of the cases
involving 19,000 PDVSA employees who were fired during and in the
aftermath of the 2002-03 national strike. The Government continued to
deny the former workers severance and pension benefits as well as
access to company housing, schools, and medical clinics.
On August 13, former CTV President Carlos Ortega, who in December
2005 was convicted and sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment for his role
in the 2002-03 national strike, escaped from Ramo Verde prison. His
whereabouts were unknown at year's end.
Labor law and practice are the same in the sole export processing
zone of Punto Fijo, Falcon State, as in the rest of the country.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--While the law
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, there were
reports of trafficking in children for employment purposes,
particularly in the informal economic sector (see sections 5 and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace. The Ministry
of Labor and the National Institute for Minors enforced child labor
policies effectively in the formal sector of the economy but less so in
the informal sector. The Community Center of Apprenticeship, a domestic
NGO promoting the rights of children, estimated that there were
approximately one million minors working in the country and that a
large percentage of them did not receive the benefits due to them under
the law.
The law permits children between the ages of 12 and 14 to work only
if the National Institute for Minors or the Ministry of Labor grants
special permission; children between the ages of 14 and 16 may not work
without the permission of their legal guardians. Those under 16 years
of age may by law work no more than six hours per day or 30 hours per
week. Minors under the age of 18 may work only between 6 a.m. and 7
p.m. Minors may not work in mines or smelting factories, in occupations
that risk life or health or could damage intellectual or moral
development, or in public spectacles. Fines are established for
employing children ages eight to 11, and for employing a 12- or 13-
year-old without a work authorization. Employing a child younger than
eight years of age is punishable by one to three years' imprisonment.
The law prohibits inducing the prostitution and corruption of minors.
Penalties range from three to 18 months in prison and up to four years
in prison if the minor is younger than 12 years old. If the crime is
committed repeatedly, or for profit, it is punishable by three to six
years' imprisonment. Prison sentences for inducing a minor into
prostitution are increased by up to five years if various aggravating
circumstances occur. Penalties for several crimes relating to child
prostitution do not apply if the perpetrator marries the victim. The
production and sale of child pornography is prohibited, and the law
establishes penalties of 16 to 20 years' imprisonment for this crime.
The law establishes sentences of one to three years' incarceration for
forced child labor. There were no substantiated reports that these
penalties were enforced.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports ran educational
programs to reincorporate school dropouts and adults into the
educational system; however, there was no independent accounting of the
effectiveness of the programs. The Government also provided free adult
educational and technical training through the Barrio Adentro Mission
program.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Minimum wage rates are adjusted
annually by administrative decree, which the legislature may suspend or
ratify but may not change. In September the Government raised the
monthly minimum wage to $238 (512,325 bolivars). The national minimum
wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family. The Ministry of Labor enforced minimum wage rates effectively
in the formal sector, but approximately 50 percent of the population
worked in the informal sector, where labor laws and protections
generally were not enforced.
The law stipulates that the work week may not exceed 44 hours.
Managers are prohibited from obligating employees to work additional
time, and workers have the right to weekly time away from work.
Overtime may not exceed two hours daily, 10 hours weekly, or 100 hours
annually, and may not be paid at a rate less than time-and-one-half.
The ministry effectively enforced these standards in the formal sector.
While the constitution provides for secure, hygienic, and adequate
working conditions, authorities did not implement the Health and Safety
Law. The law states that employers are obligated to pay specified
amounts (up to a maximum of 25 times the minimum monthly salary) to
workers for accidents or occupational illnesses, regardless of who is
responsible for the injury. Workplaces must maintain ``sufficient
protection for health and life against sickness and accidents,'' and
penalties range from one-quarter to twice the minimum monthly salary
for first infractions. In practice ministry inspectors seldom closed
unsafe job sites. Under the law, workers may remove themselves from
dangerous workplace situations without jeopardy to continued
employment.
__________
APPENDIX A
----------
Notes on Preparation of the Country Reports and Explanatory Notes
----------
The annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices are
based on information available from a wide variety of sources,
including U.S. and foreign government officials, victims of
human rights abuse, academic and congressional studies, and
reports from the press, international organizations, and
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) concerned with human
rights. We find particularly helpful, and make reference in the
reports to, the role of NGOs, ranging from groups within a
single country to those that concern themselves with human
rights worldwide. While much of the information that we use is
already public, information on particular abuses frequently
cannot be attributed, for obvious reasons, to specific sources.
By law, the Secretary of State must submit the Country
Reports to Congress by February 25. The Country Reports cover
respect for human rights in foreign countries and territories
worldwide; they do not purport to assess any human rights
implications of actions by the United States Government or its
representatives, nor do they consider human rights implications
of actions by the United States Government or of coalition
forces in Iraq or Afghanistan. To comply with the congressional
requirement for the reporting of human rights practices, we
provide guidance to U.S. diplomatic missions in July for
submission of draft reports in September and October, which we
update at year's end as necessary. Other offices in the
Department of State provide contributions, and the Bureau of
Democracy, Human Rights and Labor prepares a final draft. Due
to the submission deadline, the report may not reflect
developments that became known only after the end of the year.
We make every effort to include references to major events or
significant changes in trends.
We have attempted to make the reports as comprehensive,
objective and uniform as possible in both scope and quality of
coverage. We have paid particular attention to attaining a high
standard of consistency in the reports despite the multiplicity
of sources and the obvious problems associated with varying
degrees of access to information, structural differences in
political, legal, and social systems, and differing trends in
world opinion regarding human rights practices in specific
countries.
Evaluating the credibility of reports of human rights
abuses is often difficult. Most governments and opposition
groups deny that they commit human rights abuses and sometimes
go to great lengths to conceal any evidence of such acts. There
are often few eyewitnesses to specific abuses, and they
frequently are intimidated or otherwise prevented from
reporting what they know. On the other hand, individuals and
groups opposed to a government sometimes have powerful
incentives to exaggerate or fabricate abuses, and some
governments similarly distort or exaggerate abuses attributed
to opposition groups. We have made every effort to identify
those groups (for example, government forces or terrorists) or
individuals that are believed, based on all the evidence
available, to have committed human rights or other abuses. Many
governments that profess to oppose human rights abuses in fact
secretly order or tacitly condone them or simply lack the will
or the ability to control those responsible for them.
Consequently, in judging a government's policy, the reports
look beyond statements of policy or intent and examine what a
government has done to prevent human rights abuses, including
the extent to which it investigates, brings to trial, and
appropriately punishes those who commit such abuses.
To increase uniformity, each country report begins with a
brief overview that includes a description of the country's
political structure and the extent to which civilian
authorities control security agencies. The overview summarizes
human rights developments during the calendar year, identifying
abuses and notable specific improvements.
We have continued the effort from previous years to cover
human rights problems affecting women, children, persons with
disabilities, and indigenous people in the reports. The
appropriate section of each country report discusses any abuses
that are targeted specifically against women (for example, rape
or other violence perpetrated by governmental or organized
opposition forces, or discriminatory laws or regulations). In
Section 5, we discuss socioeconomic discrimination;
discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS; societal violence
against women, children, homosexuals, persons with
disabilities, or ethnic minorities; and the efforts, if any, of
governments to combat these problems.
The following notes on specific sections in each country
report are not meant to be comprehensive descriptions but
rather to provide an overview of the key problems covered and
their organization:
Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Includes
killings by governments without due process of law or where
there is evidence of a political motive. Also covers
extrajudicial killings (for example, the unlawful and
deliberate killing of individuals carried out by order of a
government or with its complicity), as well as killings by
police or security forces and actions that resulted in the
unintended death of persons without due process of law (for
example, mistargeted bombing or shelling or killing of
bystanders). The section generally excludes combat deaths and
killings by common criminals if the likelihood of political
motivation can be ruled out. Deaths in detention due to adverse
conditions are covered in detail in the section on ``Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.''
Disappearance.--Covers cases in which political motivation
appears likely and in which the victims have not been found or
perpetrators have not been identified. Cases eventually
classified as political killings in which the bodies of missing
persons are discovered also are covered in the previous
section, while those eventually identified as having been
arrested or held in detention may be covered under ``Arbitrary
Arrest or Detention.''
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Covers torture (an act of intentionally inflicting
severe pain, whether physical or mental) and cruel, inhuman, or
degrading treatment or punishment committed by or at the
instigation of government forces, including paramilitary
forces, or opposition groups. The section discusses actual
occurrences, not whether they fit any precise definition, and
includes use of physical and other force that may fall short of
torture but which is cruel, inhuman, or degrading, including
judicially sanctioned violent or abusive punishment. There also
may be discussion of poor treatment that may not constitute
torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. The section
also covers prison conditions and deaths in prison due to
adverse conditions.
Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Includes cases in which
detainees, including political detainees, are held arbitrarily
in official custody without being charged or, if charged, are
denied a public preliminary judicial hearing within a
reasonable period. The section also includes subsections on the
role of the police and security apparatus, arrest and detention
practices, and any amnesties that may have occurred during the
year.
Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Describes the court system
and evaluates whether there is an independent judiciary and
whether trials are both fair and public (failure to hold any
trial is noted in the section above). The subsection
``Political Prisoners and Detainees'' covers persons convicted,
imprisoned or detained essentially for political beliefs or
nonviolent acts of dissent or expression, regardless of the
actual legal charge. The subsection ``Civil Judicial Procedures
and Remedies'' inquires whether there is access to an
independent and impartial court to seek damages for or
cessation of an alleged human rights violation. The optional
subsection ``Property Restitution'' is included if there is a
systemic failure of a government to enforce court orders with
respect to restitution or compensation for the taking of
private property under domestic law.
Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--Includes government punishment of family
members for alleged violations by individuals and efforts to
coerce or forbid membership in a political organization.
Discusses the ``passive'' right of the individual to
noninterference by the state. It includes the right to receive
foreign publications, for example, while the right to publish
is discussed under ``Freedom of Speech and Press.'' Includes
the right to be free from coercive population control measures,
including coerced abortion and involuntary sterilization, but
does not include cultural or traditional practices, such as
female genital mutilation, which are addressed in Section 5.
Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal
Conflicts.--This optional section describes abuses in countries
experiencing significant internal armed conflict. Includes
indiscriminate, nonselective killings arising from excessive
use of force, or by the shelling of villages (deliberate,
targeted killing is discussed in the section on ``Arbitrary or
Unlawful Deprivation of Life''). Also includes abuses against
civilian noncombatants. For countries where use of this section
would be inappropriate because there is no significant internal
or external conflict, killings by security forces are discussed
in the section on ``Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of
Life''; nonlethal abuses are discussed in the section on
``Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.''
Freedom of Speech and Press.--Evaluates whether these
freedoms exist and describes any direct or indirect
restrictions. A subsection (``Internet Freedom'') includes
discussion of monitoring or restriction on the peaceful
expression of opinion via the Internet. Another subsection,
entitled ``Academic Freedom and Cultural Events,'' asks for
information on restrictions, intimidation and censorship in
these fields.
Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Evaluates
the ability of individuals and groups (including political
parties) to exercise these freedoms. It considers instances of
government failure to provide permits and licenses for
meetings, demonstrations, as well as information on the ability
of trade associations, professional bodies, NGOS and similar
groups to maintain relations or affiliate with recognized
international bodies in their fields. The right of workers to
associate, organize, and bargain collectively is discussed
under the section on ``Worker Rights'' (see Appendix B).
Freedom of Religion.--Discusses whether the law provides
for the right of citizens of any religious belief to worship
free of government interference and whether the government
generally respected that right. The section covers the freedom
to publish religious documents in foreign languages; addresses
the treatment of foreign clergy and whether religious belief or
lack thereof affects membership in a ruling party, a career in
government, or ability to obtain services and privileges
available to other citizens. The subsection ``Societal Abuses
and Discrimination'' reports societal violence, harassment and
discrimination against members of religious groups. Examples of
anti-Semitism, if applicable, are included in this subsection.
The annual International Religious Freedom Report supplements
the information in this section.
Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Includes subsections
``Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)'' (if applicable) and
``Protection of Refugees.'' Refugees may refer to persons
displaced by civil strife or natural disaster as well as
persons who are ``refugees'' within the meaning of the Refugee
Act of 1980, that is, persons with a ``well-founded fear of
persecution'' in their country of origin or, if stateless, in
their country of habitual residence, on account of race,
religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group,
or political opinion. The section also discusses whether, and
under what circumstances, governments exiled citizens,
restricted foreign travel, especially for women, and revoked
passports.
Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government.--Discusses the extent to which
citizens have freedom of political choice and the legal right
and ability in practice to change the laws and officials that
govern them. The subsection ``Elections and Political
Participation'' assesses whether elections were free and fair,
including participation by women and minorities on an equal
basis. The subsection ``Government Corruption and
Transparency'' covers allegations of corruption in the
executive or legislative branches of government and actions
taken to combat it. Also, the subsection covers whether the
public has access in law and practice to government
information.
Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights.--Discusses whether the government permits the free
functioning of local human rights groups (including the right
to investigate and publish their findings on alleged human
rights abuses), whether these groups are subject to reprisal by
government or other forces, and whether government officials
are cooperative and responsive to their views. The section also
discusses whether the government grants access to and
cooperates with outside entities (including foreign human
rights organizations, international organizations, and foreign
governments) interested in human rights developments in the
country. Reports on national human rights commissions,
parliamentary commissions, relations with international war
crimes tribunals and truth or similar commissions.
Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in
Persons.--Contains subheadings on Women, Children, Trafficking
in Persons, and Persons with Disabilities. If applicable, also
includes subheadings on National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities,
Indigenous People, Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination,
and Incitement to Acts of Discrimination. Addresses
discrimination and abuses not discussed elsewhere in the
report, focusing on laws, regulations, or state practices that
are inconsistent with equal access to housing, employment,
education, health care, or other governmental benefits for
members of specific groups. (Abuses by government or opposition
forces, such as killing, torture and other violence, or
restriction of voting rights or free speech targeted against
specific groups would be discussed under the appropriate
preceding sections.) The subsection ``Women'' discusses
societal violence against women, e.g., ``dowry deaths,''
``honor killings,'' wife beating, rape, female genital
mutilation, and government tolerance of such practices, as well
as the extent to which the law provides for, and the government
enforces, equality of economic opportunity for women. The
subsection ``Children'' discusses violence or other abuse
against children. Coverage of the practice of child marriage
has been expanded in this year's report. The subsection
``Persons with Disabilities'' covers discrimination against
persons with physical and mental disabilities in, among other
things, employment, education, and the provision of other
government services.
The trafficking in persons subsection covers all acts
involving the recruitment, harboring, transportation,
provision, or obtaining of a person (man, woman, or child) for
labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion
for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude,
peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. Sex trafficking is the
recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining
of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act induced by
force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to
perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age. Reporting
describes any legal prohibitions against trafficking; the
extent to which the government enforces these prohibitions; the
extent and nature of trafficking in persons to, from, or within
the country, other geographic regions or countries affected by
the traffic; the participation, facilitation, involvement or
complicity of any government agents in trafficking; and aid or
protection available to victims.
Worker Rights.--See Appendix B.
Explanatory Notes
Occasionally the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
state that a country ``generally respected'' the rights of its
citizens. The phrase ``generally respected'' is used because
the protection and promotion of human rights is a dynamic
endeavor; it cannot accurately be stated that any government
fully respected these rights all the time without
qualification, in even the best of circumstances. Accordingly,
``generally respected'' is the standard phrase used to describe
all countries that attempt to protect human rights in the
fullest sense, and is thus the highest level of respect for
human rights assigned by this report.
In some instances, this year's Country Reports use the word
``Islamist,'' which should be interpreted by readers as a
Muslim who supports Islamic values and beliefs as the basis for
political and social life.
Since the Secretary of State designates foreign groups or
organizations as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) on the
FTO list, only those groups on the FTO list dated October 11,
2005 will be described as ``terrorists'' in the reports.
When describing whether a government provides ``protection
against refoulement,'' the reports are referring to the
international legal principle contained in the Convention
relating to the Status of Refugees that prohibits states from
expelling or returning a refugee in any manner whatsoever to
the frontiers of territories where his or her life or freedom
would be threatened on account of race, religion, nationality,
political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.
Subject headings in these reports are used to introduce
general topics, and the report text that follows such headings
is intended to describe facts generally relevant to those
topics and is not intended to reach conclusions of a legal
character.
----------
APPENDIX B
----------
Reporting on Worker Rights
----------
The 1984 Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Renewal
Act requires reporting on worker rights in GSP beneficiary
countries. It states that internationally recognized worker
rights include: ``(A) the right of association; (B) the right
to organize and bargain collectively; (C) a prohibition on the
use of any form of forced or compulsory labor; (D) a minimum
age for the employment of children; and (E) acceptable
conditions of work with respect to minimum wages, hours of
work, and occupational safety and health.'' All five aspects of
worker rights are discussed in each country report under the
section heading ``Worker Rights.'' The discussion of worker
rights considers not only laws and regulations but also their
practical implementation.
This discussion is informed by internationally recognized
labor standards, including the Conventions and Recommendations
of the International Labor Organization (ILO). Differences in
the levels of economic development are taken into account in
the formulation of these standards. For example, many ILO
standards concerning working conditions permit flexibility in
their scope, implementation, and coverage. Governments are
expected to take steps over time to achieve the higher levels
specified in such standards. However, this flexibility applies
only to internationally recognized standards concerning working
conditions, not to the basic human rights standards, such as
freedom of association, the right to organize and bargain
collectively, the prohibition of forced labor and child labor,
and the absence of discrimination in employment. Some specific
guidelines derived from international standards are discussed
below.
The right of association has been defined by the ILO to
include the right of workers and employers to establish and
join organizations of their own choosing without previous
authorization; to draw up their own constitutions and rules,
elect their representatives, and formulate their programs; to
join in confederations and affiliate with international
organizations; and to be protected against dissolution or
suspension by administrative authority.
The right of association includes the right of workers to
strike. While it is generally accepted for strikes to be
restricted in essential services, the interruption of which
would endanger the life, personal safety, or health of a
significant portion of the population, and in the public
sector, these restrictions must be offset by adequate
safeguards for the interests of the workers concerned (for
example, mechanisms for mediation and arbitration, due process,
and the right to judicial review of legal actions). Reporting
on restrictions on the ability of workers to strike generally
includes information on any procedures that may exist for
safeguarding workers' interests.
The right to organize and bargain collectively includes the
right of workers to be represented in negotiating the
prevention and settlement of disputes with employers, the right
to protection against interference, and the right to protection
against acts of antiunion discrimination. Governments should
promote mechanisms for voluntary negotiations between employers
and workers and their organizations. Coverage of the right to
organize and bargain collectively includes a review of the
extent to which collective bargaining takes place and the
extent to which workers, both in law and practice, are
protected against antiunion discrimination.
Forced or compulsory labor is defined as work or service
exacted under the menace of penalty and for which a person has
not volunteered. ``Work or service'' does not apply where
obligations are imposed to undergo education or training.
``Menace of penalty'' includes loss of rights or privileges as
well as penal sanctions. The ILO has exempted the following
from its definition of forced labor: compulsory military
service, normal civic obligations, certain forms of prison
labor, emergencies, and minor communal services. Constitutional
provisions concerning the obligation of citizens to work do not
violate this right so long as they do not take the form of
legal obligations enforced by sanctions and are consistent with
the principle of ``freely chosen employment.''
Prohibition of child labor and minimum age for employment
concerns the effective abolition of child labor by raising the
minimum age for employment to a level consistent with the
fullest physical and mental development of young people. ILO
Convention 182 on the ``worst forms of child labor'' identifies
anyone under the age of 18 as a child and specifies certain
types of employment as ``the worst forms of child labor.''
These worst forms of labor include slavery, debt bondage,
forced labor, forced recruitment into armed conflict, child
prostitution and pornography, involvement in illicit activity
such as drug production or trafficking, and ``work which, by
its nature, or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is
likely to harm the health, safety or morals or children.'' In
limited circumstances, ILO Convention 182 permits the
employment of children between the ages of 16 and 18 in what
the convention describes as an ``unhealthy environment,'' if
adequate protective measures have been taken.
Acceptable conditions of work refers to the establishment
and maintenance of mechanisms, adapted to national conditions,
that provide for minimum working standards, that is: wages that
provide a decent living for workers and their families; working
hours that do not exceed 48 hours per week, with a full 24-hour
day of rest; a specified number of annual paid leave days; and
minimum conditions for the protection of the safety and health
of workers.
----------
APPENDIX C.--Selected International Human Rights Conventions
(See Footnotes for Treaty/Convention Titles)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COUNTRY A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afghanistan.............................................. P -- -- P -- P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- -- -- -- S P P --
Albania *................................................ P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Algeria.................................................. P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Andorra.................................................. -- -- -- P -- P P -- P -- -- -- P P -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P P P --
Angola................................................... -- P P -- P P P -- -- P -- P -- P P P P -- P P -- P -- P P
Antigua & Barbuda........................................ P P P P P P P -- -- 1 P P P -- -- P P -- P P P P P P P
Argentina................................................ -- P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
Armenia.................................................. -- P P P P P P -- P -- -- P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Australia................................................ P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P
Austria.................................................. P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Azerbaijan............................................... P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P -- P -- -- P P P P
Bahamas.................................................. P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P -- -- P P -- P P P P -- P P
Bahrain.................................................. P P -- P -- P P -- -- -- P P P P -- -- -- -- -- P P P P P P
Bangladesh............................................... P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P -- -- -- -- P P P P P P
Barbados................................................. P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P -- P P
Belarus.................................................. P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Belgium.................................................. P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Belize................................................... 1 P P P P P P -- -- -- 1 P P P S P P -- P P P P P P P
Benin.................................................... 2 P P -- P P P -- -- -- -- P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Bhutan *................................................. -- -- -- -- -- P P -- -- -- -- -- S -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P -- P --
Bolivia.................................................. P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
Bosnia & Herzegovina..................................... P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Botswana................................................. 1 P P -- P P P -- -- -- 1 P P P -- P P -- P P P P P P P
Brazil................................................... P P -- P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
Brunei *................................................. 1 -- -- -- -- P P -- -- -- 1 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P P P -- P --
Bulgaria................................................. 2 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Burkina Faso............................................. -- P P P P P P P -- -- -- P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Burma.................................................... P P P P -- P P S -- S -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P -- P --
Burundi.................................................. -- P P P P P P -- -- P -- P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Cambodia................................................. -- P P P P P P S S P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Cameroon................................................. P P P -- P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Canada................................................... P -- P P -- P P -- -- P P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P
Cape Verde............................................... -- P P -- P P P -- -- -- -- P P P P -- P -- -- P P P P P P
Central African Republic................................. 2 P P -- P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P -- P P
Chad..................................................... -- P P -- P P P -- -- -- -- P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Chile.................................................... P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
China.................................................... 2 -- -- P -- P P -- -- P -- -- P S P P P -- P P P P P P P
China (Hong Kong)........................................ P -- -- P -- -- -- -- -- P -- -- P -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P P P --
China (Macau from 12-20-99).............................. -- -- -- P -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P --
China (Macau to 12-19-99)................................ -- -- -- P -- -- -- P -- -- P -- P P P P P -- -- -- -- P P P --
China (Taiwan only)*..................................... P -- -- P -- -- -- -- -- P P -- P S S -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Colombia................................................. S P P P P P P -- -- P -- P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
Comoros.................................................. -- P P P P P P -- -- -- -- P P -- -- -- -- -- P P P P S P P
Congo, Democratic Republic of............................ -- P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Congo, Republic of....................................... 2 P P -- P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P -- P P
Cook Islands............................................. -- -- -- -- -- P P -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P P P -- -- --
Costa Rica............................................... -- P P P P P P -- -- P -- P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
Cote D'Ivoire............................................ 2 P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Croatia.................................................. P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Cuba..................................................... P P P P P P P P -- P P P P -- -- -- -- -- P P P P P P --
Cyprus................................................... P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Czech Republic........................................... 2 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P
Denmark.................................................. P P P P P P P S P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Djibouti................................................. -- P P -- P P P P -- -- P P S P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Dominica................................................. P P P -- P P P -- -- 1 P P -- P P P P P P P P P -- P P
Dominican Republic....................................... S P P S P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P P P P P P S P P
East Timor............................................... -- -- -- -- -- -- P -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P P -- -- -- --
Ecuador.................................................. P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
Egypt.................................................... P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
El Salvador.............................................. -- P P P P P P -- -- S S P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
Equatorial Guinea........................................ -- P P -- P P P -- -- -- -- P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Eritrea.................................................. -- P P -- P P P -- -- -- -- P P P P -- -- -- P -- -- P -- P --
Estonia.................................................. 2 P P P P P P -- P -- -- P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P
Ethiopia................................................. P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Fiji..................................................... P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P -- -- P P -- P -- -- P -- P P
Finland.................................................. P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
France................................................... P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Gabon.................................................... -- P P P P P P -- -- P -- P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P
Gambia................................................... 1 P P P P P P -- -- -- 1 P P P P P P -- P P P P S P P
Georgia.................................................. -- P P P P P P -- P P -- P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Germany.................................................. P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Ghana.................................................... 2 P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P
Greece................................................... P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Grenada.................................................. 1 P P 1 P P P -- -- 1 1 P S P P -- -- P P P P P -- P P
Guatemala................................................ P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
Guinea................................................... P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Guinea-Bissau............................................ -- P -- -- P P P -- -- -- -- P S S P P P -- -- P P P S P --
Guyana................................................... 1 P P -- P P P -- -- -- ..... P P P P -- -- -- P P P P P P P
Haiti.................................................... 2 P P P P P P P -- P P P P P -- P P P -- P P P -- P --
Holy See................................................. -- -- -- -- -- P P -- -- -- -- -- P -- -- P P -- -- P P -- P P --
Honduras................................................. -- P P P P P P P -- -- -- P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
Hungary.................................................. P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Iceland.................................................. -- P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
India.................................................... P P -- P -- P P P -- P P P P P P -- -- -- -- -- -- P S P --
Indonesia................................................ -- P P -- P P P -- -- P -- P P P P -- -- -- P -- -- P P P P
Iran..................................................... S P -- P -- P P S -- -- P P P P P P P -- -- S S -- -- P P
Iraq..................................................... P P -- P P P P P -- -- P P P P P -- -- -- P -- -- P -- P P
Ireland.................................................. P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Israel................................................... P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P -- -- P P P P
Italy.................................................... P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Jamaica.................................................. P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P
Japan.................................................... -- P P -- P P P P -- P -- -- P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Jordan................................................... P P -- P P P P P -- P P P P P P -- -- -- P P P P P P P
Kazakhstan............................................... -- P P P P P P S P P -- P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Kenya.................................................... -- P -- -- P P P -- -- -- -- P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Kiribati *............................................... 1 P P -- P P P -- -- 1 1 P -- 1 1 -- 1 -- -- -- -- P -- P --
Korea, Dem. Rep. of *.................................... -- -- -- P -- P P -- -- -- -- -- -- P P -- -- -- -- P -- P -- P --
Korea, Republic of *..................................... -- -- -- P -- P P P -- P -- -- P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Kuwait................................................... P P P P -- P P P -- -- P P P P P -- -- -- P P P P P P P
Kyrgyzstan............................................... P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Laos..................................................... -- P -- P -- P P P -- P P -- P S S -- -- -- P P P P -- P P
Latvia................................................... 2 -- P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Lebanon.................................................. 2 P -- P P P P -- -- P -- P P P P -- -- -- P P P P P P P
Lesotho.................................................. P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Liberia.................................................. P P P P P P P S -- S S P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P
Libya.................................................... P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P -- -- -- P P P P P P P
Liechtenstein *.......................................... -- -- -- P -- P P -- P -- -- -- P P P P P -- -- P P P P P --
Lithuania................................................ S P P P P P P -- P -- -- P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Luxembourg............................................... -- P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Macedonia................................................ 2 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Madagascar............................................... P P P -- P P P S -- P P -- P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P
Malawi................................................... P P P -- P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Malaysia................................................. -- P -- P P P P -- -- -- P -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P -- -- P -- P P
Maldives *............................................... -- -- -- P -- P P -- -- -- -- -- P P P -- -- -- -- -- P P P P P
Mali..................................................... P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Malta.................................................... P P P -- P P P -- P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Marshall Islands *....................................... -- -- -- -- -- -- P -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P -- P --
Mauritania............................................... P P P -- P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Mauritius................................................ P P P -- P P P -- -- P P P P P P -- -- -- P P P P P P P
Mexico................................................... P P P P -- P P P -- P P P P P P P P P -- P -- P P P P
Micronesia *............................................. -- -- -- -- -- P P -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P P P -- P --
Moldova.................................................. -- P P P P P P -- P P -- P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Monaco *................................................. P -- -- P -- P P -- S -- -- -- P P P P -- -- -- P P P P P --
Mongolia................................................. P -- P P P P P -- -- P P -- P P P -- -- -- P P P P P P P
Montenegro *............................................. P -- -- P -- P P P -- P P -- P P P P P -- -- P P P P P --
Morocco.................................................. P P -- P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P S S P P P P
Mozambique............................................... -- P P P P P P -- -- -- -- P P P -- P P -- P P P P P P P
Namibia.................................................. -- P P P P P P -- -- -- -- P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P
Nauru *.................................................. -- -- -- -- -- P P -- -- -- -- -- S S -- -- -- -- -- P P -- S P --
Nepal.................................................... P P -- P P P P P -- P P -- P P P -- -- -- P -- -- P P P P
Netherlands.............................................. P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
New Zealand.............................................. P P -- P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P
Nicaragua................................................ P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
Niger.................................................... P P P -- P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Nigeria.................................................. P P P -- P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Niue..................................................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P --
Norway................................................... P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Oman *................................................... -- P -- -- -- P P -- -- -- -- P P -- -- -- -- -- P P P P -- P P
Pakistan................................................. P P P P P P P P -- P P P P -- S -- -- -- P S S P -- P P
Palau.................................................... -- -- -- -- -- P P -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P P -- -- P --
Panama................................................... S P P P P P P -- -- -- -- P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
Papua New Guinea......................................... P P P P P P P -- -- P -- P P -- -- P P -- P -- -- P -- P P
Paraguay................................................. -- P P P P P P -- -- P -- P S P P P P P P P P P P P P
Peru..................................................... P P P P P P -- -- P S P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
Philippines.............................................. P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P S P P P P P
Poland................................................... 2 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Portugal................................................. 2 P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Qatar.................................................... -- P -- -- -- P P -- -- -- -- -- P -- -- -- -- -- P P P -- P P P
Romania.................................................. P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Russia................................................... P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Rwanda................................................... -- P P P P P P -- -- -- P P P P P P P -- P P P P -- P P
Samoa *.................................................. -- -- -- -- -- P P -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P P -- -- P P P -- P --
San Marino............................................... -- P P -- P P P -- P -- P P P P P -- -- -- P P P -- P P P
Sao Tome & Principe...................................... -- P P -- P P P -- -- -- -- P S S S P P -- P P P S S P P
Saudi Arabia............................................. P P -- P -- P P -- -- -- P P P -- -- -- -- -- -- P P P P P P
Senegal.................................................. 2 P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Serbia................................................... -- P P -- P -- P -- P -- -- P -- -- -- -- -- -- P P -- P -- -- P
Seychelles............................................... 2 P P P P P P P -- 1 P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Sierra Leone............................................. P P P -- P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P --
Singapore................................................ P -- P P P P P -- -- P -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P -- -- P -- P P
Slovak Republic.......................................... 2 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Slovenia................................................. -- P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Solomon Islands.......................................... P P -- -- -- P P -- -- P P -- 1 -- 1 P P -- -- P P P -- P --
Somalia.................................................. -- P -- -- -- P P -- -- -- -- P P P P P P -- -- -- -- -- P S --
South Africa *........................................... P P P P P P P P -- S -- P P P S P P -- P P P P P P P
Spain.................................................... P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Sri Lanka................................................ P P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P -- -- -- P -- -- P P P P
St. Kitts & Nevis *...................................... 1 P P -- P P P -- -- 1 1 P P -- -- P -- -- P P P P -- P P
St. Lucia................................................ P P P 1 P P P -- -- 1 P P P -- -- -- -- -- -- P P P -- P P
St. Vincent & the Grenadines *........................... P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P
Sudan.................................................... P P -- -- P P P -- -- -- P P P P P P P -- P P P -- S P P
Suriname................................................. 2 P P -- P P P -- -- 1 P P P P P P P P -- P P P -- P P
Swaziland................................................ 1 P P -- P P P -- -- P 1 P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Sweden................................................... P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Switzerland.............................................. P P P P P P P -- P -- P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Syria.................................................... P P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P -- -- -- P P -- -- P P P
Tajikistan *............................................. -- P P -- P P P P -- P -- P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Tanzania................................................. P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P -- P P
Thailand................................................. -- P -- -- -- P P -- -- P -- P P P P -- -- -- P -- -- P -- P P
Togo..................................................... 2 P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Tonga *.................................................. 1 -- -- P -- P P -- -- 1 1 1 P -- -- -- -- -- -- P P -- -- P --
Trinidad & Tobago........................................ P P P -- P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P -- P P
Tunisia.................................................. P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Turkey................................................... P P P P P P P -- P P P P P S S P P -- P -- -- P P P P
Turkmenistan............................................. P P P -- P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P --
Tuvalu *................................................. 1 -- -- -- -- P P -- -- 1 1 -- -- 1 -- P P -- -- -- -- P -- P --
Uganda................................................... P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Ukraine.................................................. P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
United Arab Emirates..................................... -- P -- P -- P P -- -- -- -- P P -- -- -- -- -- P P P P -- P P
United Kingdom........................................... P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
United States............................................ P -- -- P -- P P -- -- P P P P P S -- P S -- S S S P S P
Uruguay.................................................. S P P P P P P -- -- S P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
Uzbekistan............................................... -- P -- P P P P P -- P -- P P P P -- -- -- -- P P P P P --
Vanuatu *................................................ -- -- P -- P P P -- -- -- 1 P -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P P P -- P P
Venezuela................................................ -- P P P P P P P -- P -- P P P P -- P P P P P P P P P
Vietnam *................................................ P -- -- P -- P P -- -- -- -- -- P P P -- -- -- P P -- P -- P P
Yemen.................................................... P P P P P P P P -- P -- P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Yugoslavia (the former Yugoslavia)....................... P P P P P P P P -- P P -- P P P P P -- P P P P P P --
Zambia................................................... P P P -- P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P
Zimbabwe................................................. 1 P P P P P P P -- P P P P P P P P -- P P P P -- P P
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P = Party
S = Signatory
* = non-ILO member
1 = Based on general declaration concerning treaty obligations prior to independence
2 = Party to 1926 Convention only
========================================================================================================================================================================================================================================
Key to Human Rights Conventions: A--Slavery B--ILO Convention 29 C--ILO Convention 87 D-- Genocide E--ILO Convention 98 F--Prisoners of War G--Civilians in War H--Traffic in Persons I--European HR Conv. J--Pol. Rights of
Women K--Suppl. Slavery Conv. L--ILO Convention 105 M--Racial Discrimination N--Civil and Pol. Rights O--Econ./Soc./Cul. Rights P--UN Refugee Convention Q--UN Refugee Protocol R--American HR Conv. S--ILO Convention 138
T--Geneva Protocol I U--Geneva Protocol II V--Disc. Against Women W--Torture X--Rights of the Child Y--ILO Convention 182
APPENDIX D
----------
Description of International Human Rights Conventions in Appendix C
----------
A. Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery of
September 25,1926, as amended by the Protocol of December 7,
1953.
B. Convention Concerning Forced Labor of June 28, 1930
(ILO Convention 29).
C. Convention Concerning Freedom of Association and
Protection of the Right to Organize of July 9, 1948 (ILO
Convention 87).
D. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide of December 9, 1948.
E. Convention Concerning the Application of the Principles
of the Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively of July 1,
1949 (ILO Convention 98).
F. Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of
Prisoners of War of August 12, 1949.
G. Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of
Civilian Persons in Time of War of August 12, 1949.
H. Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in
Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others
of March 21, 1950.
I. European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms of November 4, 1950.
J. Convention on the Political Rights of Women of March
31, 1953.
K. Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery,
the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to
Slavery of September 7, 1956.
L. Convention Concerning the Abolition of Forced Labor of
June 25, 1957 (ILO Convention 105).
M. International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination of December 21, 1965.
N. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of
December 16, 1966.
O. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights of December 16, 1966.
P. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of July
28, 1951.
Q. Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees of January
31, 1967.
R. American Convention on Human Rights of November 22,
1969.
S. Convention Concerning Minimum Age for Admission to
Employment of June 26, 1973 (ILO Convention 138).
T. Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of August
12, 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of
International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), of June 8, 1977.
U. Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of August
12, 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-
International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II), of June 8, 1977.
V. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women of December 18, 1979.
W. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment of December 10, 1984.
X. Convention on the Rights of the Child of November 20,
1989.
Y. Convention Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate
Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor of
June 17, 1999 (ILO Convention 182).
----------
APPENDIX E.--Country Assistance FY 2006
($ in thousands)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Country/Account Summary TOTAL ACI SEED FSA CSH DA ESF FMF GHAI IMET INCLE MRA NADR PKO PL 480 TI OTHER
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS 21,840,171 727,155 357,390 508,860 1,591,425 1,508,760 2,616,075 4,464,900 1,975,050 85,877 472,428 783,090 405,999 173,250 1,138,500 39,600 4,991,812
========================================================================================================================================================================================================================================
Africa 3,635,295 -- -- -- 391,936 596,273 133,135 13,860 1,239,152 10,177 3,168 -- 26,446 110,866 850,873 14,583 244,826
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Angola 32,171 -- -- -- 13,634 5,468 2,970 -- -- 486 -- -- 6,120 -- 3,493 -- --
Benin 16,731 -- -- -- 7,606 4,378 -- -- -- 145 -- -- -- -- 1,591 -- 3,011
Botswana 43,231 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 41,000 760 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,471
Burkina Faso 20,611 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 123 -- -- -- -- 17,709 -- 2,779
Burundi 25,488 -- -- -- 2,570 2,917 3,811 -- -- 140 -- -- -- -- 14,669 1,381 --
Cameroon 3,225 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 231 -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,994
Cape Verde 7,011 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 124 -- -- -- -- 5,195 -- 1,692
Central African 670 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 105 -- -- -- -- 565 -- --
Republic
Chad 30,539 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 342 -- -- 2,405 -- 26,475 -- 1,317
Comoros 53 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 53 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Cote d'Ivoire 33,676 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 30,137 -- -- -- 100 -- 3,439 -- --
Democratic Republic of the Congo 90,176 -- -- -- 23,537 21,447 4,950 -- -- 306 -- -- -- -- 39,898 38 --
Djibouti 11,431 -- -- -- -- -- 4,950 3,960 -- 307 -- -- 120 -- 2,094 -- --
Eritrea 2,832 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 400 -- 2,432 -- --
Ethiopia 307,850 -- -- -- 30,692 31,910 9,900 1,980 109,500 594 -- -- 270 -- 123,004 -- --
Gabon 231 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 231 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Gambia 5,202 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 72 -- -- -- -- 3,034 -- 2,096
Ghana 72,104 -- -- -- 18,157 27,354 -- 495 -- 645 -- -- 100 -- 22,656 -- 2,697
Guinea 27,139 -- -- -- 7,001 9,140 -- -- -- 376 -- -- -- -- 8,330 -- 2,292
Guinea-Bissau 136 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 136 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Kenya 272,677 -- -- -- 17,840 21,615 6,420 -- 175,950 -- -- -- 4,763 -- 42,965 -- 3,124
Lesotho 2,297 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,297
Liberia 105,997 -- -- -- 2,867 23,726 42,719 1,980 -- 130 990 -- 220 -- 26,971 6,394 --
Madagascar 40,666 -- -- -- 11,526 10,266 -- -- -- 231 -- -- -- -- 16,426 -- 2,217
Malawi 50,047 -- -- -- 21,125 18,632 -- -- -- 345 -- -- -- -- 7,838 -- 2,107
Mali 42,483 -- -- -- 16,554 15,349 -- -- -- -- -- -- 564 -- 6,361 -- 3,655
Mauritania 8,960 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 6,065 -- 2,895
Mauritius 1,029 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 126 -- -- 903 -- -- -- --
Mozambique 130,791 -- -- -- 17,262 13,407 -- -- 79,600 245 -- -- 2,344 -- 15,601 -- 2,332
Namibia 62,395 -- -- -- 1,168 7,079 -- -- 51,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,648
Niger 23,162 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 905 -- 19,445 -- 2,812
Nigeria 180,354 -- -- -- 21,544 12,488 4,950 990 138,600 792 990 -- -- -- -- -- --
Republic of the Congo 939 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 155 -- -- -- -- 784 -- --
Rwanda 95,259 -- -- -- 7,284 7,257 -- -- 60,000 288 -- -- -- -- 20,430 -- --
Sao Tome and Principe 289 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 289 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Senegal 51,245 -- -- -- 14,001 25,909 -- 495 -- 1,089 -- -- 1,200 -- 4,503 -- 4,048
Seychelles 103 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 103 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Sierra Leone 29,538 -- -- -- -- 3,756 13,000 -- -- 311 -- -- -- -- 12,471 -- --
Somalia 35,289 -- -- -- -- 7,912 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 27,377 -- --
South Africa 227,587 -- -- -- 5,070 25,662 1,287 -- 191,553 -- 594 -- 39 -- -- -- 3,382
Sudan 498,773 -- -- -- 19,000 70,000 19,800 -- -- -- -- -- 3,020 70,000 145,208 6,755 164,990
Swaziland 2,005 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 123 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,882
Tanzania 154,013 -- -- -- 21,954 12,617 -- -- 100,312 -- -- -- 2,701 -- 13,711 -- 2,718
Togo 2,756 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 37 -- -- 32 -- -- -- 2,687
Uganda 246,232 -- -- -- 20,648 23,414 -- -- 145,000 340 -- -- 140 -- 54,862 -- 1,828
Zambia 168,880 -- -- -- 16,004 27,972 -- -- 116,000 261 -- -- 100 -- 4,488 -- 4,055
Zimbabwe 17,559 -- -- -- 10,973 3,601 2,970 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 15 --
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Africa Regional 158,117 -- -- -- 28,204 68,949 15,408 3,960 -- 136 594 -- -- 40,866 -- -- --
Central Africa Regional 17,500 -- -- -- -- 17,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
East Africa Regional 45,197 -- -- -- 10,098 20,299 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 14,800
Southern Africa 174,983 -- -- -- 7,401 16,799 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 150,783 -- --
Regional
West Africa Regional 57,666 -- -- -- 18,216 39,450 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
========================================================================================================================================================================================================================================
East Asia & Pacific 537,360 -- -- -- 106,551 96,988 181,665 37,867 31,214 9,169 10,395 -- 31,049 -- 14,068 -- 18,394
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brunei 18 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 18 -- -- -- --
Burma 10,890 -- -- -- -- -- 10,890 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Cambodia 56,014 -- -- -- 28,556 5,483 14,850 990 -- 54 -- -- 5,000 -- -- -- 1,081
China 10,593 -- -- -- -- 4,950 3,960 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,683
East Timor 23,487 -- -- -- -- -- 18,810 990 -- 193 1,485 -- -- -- 1,182 -- 827
Fiji 2,561 -- -- -- -- -- -- 494 -- 235 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,832
Indonesia 157,168 -- -- -- 28,017 33,199 69,300 990 -- 938 4,950 -- 6,888 -- 12,886 -- --
Kiribati 1,362 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,362
Laos 4,290 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 990 -- 3,300 -- -- -- --
Malaysia 2,417 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 891 -- -- 1,526 -- -- -- --
Mongolia 13,008 -- -- -- -- -- 7,425 2,970 -- 866 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,747
Papua New Guinea 288 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 288 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Philippines 115,954 -- -- -- 24,651 24,212 24,750 29,700 -- 2,926 1,980 -- 4,968 -- -- -- 2,767
Samoa 1,368 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,368
Singapore 140 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 140 -- -- -- --
Solomon Islands 171 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 149 -- -- -- -- -- -- 22
Taiwan 450 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 450 -- -- -- --
Thailand 12,035 -- -- -- -- -- 990 1,485 -- 2,369 990 -- 3,989 -- -- -- 2,212
Tonga 1,732 -- -- -- -- -- -- 248 -- 113 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,371
Vanuatu 2,220 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 98 -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,122
Vietnam 40,831 -- -- -- -- 3,818 1,980 -- 31,214 49 -- -- 3,770 -- -- -- --
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
East Asia and Pacific 29,710 -- -- -- -- -- 28,710 -- -- -- -- -- 1,000 -- -- -- --
Regional
Asia and Near East Regional 17,654 -- -- -- 6,386 11,268 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Regional Development 32,999 -- -- -- 18,941 14,058 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Mission--Asia
========================================================================================================================================================================================================================================
Europe and Eurasia 1,026,629 -- 357,390 406,848 5,146 100 36,630 140,571 -- 27,703 -- -- 26,081 -- 3,370 -- 22,790
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Albania 32,210 -- 24,750 -- -- -- -- 3,465 -- 1,028 -- -- 1,005 -- -- -- 1,962
Armenia 76,312 -- -- 69,000 -- -- -- 3,960 -- 838 -- -- 700 -- -- -- 1,814
Azerbaijan 47,873 -- -- 34,205 -- -- -- 3,960 -- 823 -- -- 5,064 -- 1,954 -- 1,867
Belarus 11,734 -- -- 11,484 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 250 -- -- -- --
Bosnia and Herzegovina 51,022 -- 39,600 -- -- -- -- 8,910 -- 973 -- -- 1,539 -- -- -- --
Bulgaria 35,177 -- 20,100 -- -- -- -- 9,900 -- 1,580 -- -- 400 -- -- -- 3,197
Croatia 16,150 -- 14,850 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,300 -- -- -- --
Cyprus 20,150 -- -- -- -- -- 19,800 -- -- -- -- -- 350 -- -- -- --
Czech Republic 5,993 -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,957 -- 2,036 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Estonia 5,797 -- -- -- -- -- -- 4,451 -- 1,296 -- -- 50 -- -- -- --
Georgia 87,392 -- -- 67,780 -- 100 -- 11,880 -- 1,275 -- -- 3,137 -- 1,416 -- 1,804
Greece 573 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 573 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Hungary 4,799 -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,474 -- 1,685 -- -- 640 -- -- -- --
Ireland 16,830 -- -- -- -- -- 16,830 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Kosovo 77,800 -- 77,700 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 100 -- -- -- --
Latvia 7,376 -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,940 -- 1,326 -- -- 110 -- -- -- --
Lithuania 6,274 -- -- -- -- -- -- 4,455 -- 1,281 -- -- 538 -- -- -- --
Macedonia 43,732 -- 35,100 -- -- -- -- 3,960 -- 700 -- -- 2,295 -- -- -- 1,677
Malta 760 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 760 -- -- -- --
Moldova 22,027 -- -- 17,820 -- -- -- 495 -- 989 -- -- 320 -- -- -- 2,403
Montenegro 15,000 -- 15,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Poland 31,840 -- -- -- -- -- -- 29,700 -- 2,140 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Portugal 593 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 593 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Romania 37,356 -- 20,000 -- -- -- -- 12,870 -- 1,485 -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,001
Russia 84,331 -- -- 80,200 2,970 -- -- -- -- 461 -- -- 700 -- -- -- --
Serbia 71,010 -- 69,450 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,560 -- -- -- --
Slovakia 5,328 -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,960 -- 962 -- -- 406 -- -- -- --
Slovenia 1,439 -- -- -- -- -- -- 494 -- 895 -- -- 50 -- -- -- --
Turkey 18,591 -- -- -- -- -- -- 14,850 -- 3,011 -- -- 730 -- -- -- --
Ukraine 105,144 -- -- 82,160 2,176 -- -- 10,890 -- 1,753 -- -- 3,100 -- -- -- 5,065
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eurasia Regional 44,199 -- -- 44,199 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Europe Regional 41,817 -- 40,840 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 977 -- -- -- --
========================================================================================================================================================================================================================================
Near East 5,221,406 -- -- -- -- 10,284 1,351,350 3,814,469 -- 12,244 990 -- 16,798 -- 4,723 343 10,205
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Algeria 823 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 823 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Bahrain 19,005 -- -- -- -- -- -- 15,593 -- 651 -- -- 2,761 -- -- -- --
Egypt 1,779,287 -- -- -- -- -- 490,050 1,287,000 -- 1,208 -- -- 1,029 -- -- -- --
Iraq 60,390 -- -- -- -- -- 55,440 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 4,950
Israel 2,495,326 -- -- -- -- -- 237,600 2,257,200 -- -- -- -- 526 -- -- -- --
Jordan 462,427 -- -- -- -- -- 247,500 207,900 -- 3,020 -- -- 2,491 -- -- -- 1,516
Kuwait 628 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 628 -- -- -- --
Lebanon 49,324 -- -- -- -- 2,000 39,600 3,713 -- 752 -- -- 2,978 -- 281 -- --
Morocco 38,937 -- -- -- -- 8,284 10,890 12,375 -- 1,884 990 -- 775 -- -- -- 3,739
Oman 15,395 -- -- -- -- -- -- 13,860 -- 1,135 -- -- 400 -- -- -- --
Qatar 906 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 906 -- -- -- --
Saudi Arabia 1,577 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,577 -- -- -- --
Tunisia 10,285 -- -- -- -- -- -- 8,413 -- 1,847 -- -- 25 -- -- -- --
United Arab Emirates 961 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 961 -- -- -- --
West Bank and Gaza 153,285 -- -- -- -- -- 148,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 4,442 343 --
Yemen 18,700 -- -- -- -- -- 7,920 8,415 -- 924 -- -- 1,441 -- -- -- --
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Near East Regional 114,150 -- -- -- -- -- 113,850 -- -- -- -- -- 300 -- -- -- --
========================================================================================================================================================================================================================================
South and Central Asia 2,084,389 -- -- 102,012 168,381 248,639 747,470 305,118 -- 9,085 267,620 -- 57,536 -- 166,457 3,497 8,574
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afghanistan 967,780 -- -- -- 41,449 174,021 428,600 -- -- 979 232,650 -- 30,050 -- 60,031 -- --
Azerbaijan 1,867 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,867
Bangladesh 85,275 -- -- -- 31,509 10,889 4,950 990 -- 930 -- -- 5,094 -- 30,207 -- 706
India 124,949 -- -- -- 52,815 19,700 4,950 -- -- 1,272 -- -- 2,711 -- 43,501 -- --
Kazakhstan 33,783 -- -- 24,750 -- -- -- 3,465 -- 995 -- -- 2,041 -- -- -- 2,532
Kyrgyz Republic 36,525 -- -- 29,029 -- -- -- 1,881 -- 887 -- -- 2,917 -- -- -- 1,811
Maldives 173 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 173 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Nepal 35,582 -- -- -- 18,613 8,393 4,950 -- -- 644 -- -- -- -- 1,213 1,769 --
Pakistan 706,609 -- -- -- 22,757 26,990 296,595 297,000 -- 2,037 34,970 -- 8,585 -- 17,675 -- --
Sri Lanka 14,527 -- -- -- -- 3,705 3,960 990 -- 529 -- -- 3,615 -- -- 1,728 --
Tajikistan 40,403 -- -- 23,760 -- -- -- 495 -- 348 -- -- 1,970 -- 13,830 -- --
Turkmenistan 7,596 -- -- 4,950 -- -- -- 297 -- 291 -- -- 400 -- -- -- 1,658
Uzbekistan 17,820 -- -- 17,820 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Central Asia Regional 2,941 -- -- 1,703 1,238 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
South Asia Regional 4,941 -- -- -- -- 4,941 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
South and Central Asia 3,618 -- -- -- -- -- 3,465 -- -- -- -- -- 153 -- -- -- --
Regional
========================================================================================================================================================================================================================================
Western Hemisphere 1,639,779 683,325 -- -- 140,861 262,360 120,456 109,950 65,300 12,876 63,535 -- 13,710 -- 109,613 13,623 44,170
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Argentina 1,632 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,082 -- -- 550 -- -- -- --
Bahamas 1,747 -- -- -- -- -- -- 99 -- 399 495 -- 754 -- -- -- --
Belize 2,334 -- -- -- -- -- -- 198 -- 294 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,842
Bolivia 136,678 79,200 -- -- 17,233 10,091 5,940 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 15,953 5,373 2,888
Brazil 13,559 5,940 -- -- 3,605 2,899 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,115 -- -- -- --
Chile 1,708 -- -- -- -- -- -- 592 -- 646 -- -- 470 -- -- -- --
Colombia 564,003 464,781 -- -- -- -- -- 89,100 -- 1,673 -- -- 5,476 -- 2,973 -- --
Costa Rica 1,731 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,731
Cuba 10,894 -- -- -- -- 1,984 8,910 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Dominican Republic 28,229 -- -- -- 12,721 7,835 840 941 -- 1,328 -- -- 1,285 -- -- -- 3,279
Eastern Caribbean 5,136 -- -- -- -- -- -- 905 -- 695 -- -- 404 -- -- -- 3,132
Ecuador 32,712 19,800 -- -- -- 6,578 3,265 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,069
El Salvador 47,778 -- -- -- 8,144 24,165 -- 9,900 -- 1,782 -- -- 423 -- 856 -- 2,508
Guatemala 54,159 -- -- -- 12,040 10,504 5,445 -- -- 488 2,475 -- -- -- 19,515 -- 3,692
Guyana 23,846 -- -- -- -- 3,920 -- 99 18,000 312 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,515
Haiti 205,738 -- -- -- 19,801 29,700 49,500 988 47,300 213 17,500 -- -- -- 35,955 4,569 212
Honduras 53,105 -- -- -- 13,140 20,604 -- 891 -- 1,218 -- -- 315 -- 13,105 -- 3,832
Jamaica 17,580 -- -- -- 4,472 7,821 -- 594 -- 908 990 -- 110 -- -- -- 2,685
Mexico 68,276 -- -- -- 3,990 11,357 11,385 -- -- 8 39,600 -- 625 -- -- -- 1,311
Nicaragua 50,178 -- -- -- 7,699 22,169 3,366 594 -- 740 -- -- 9 -- 13,006 -- 2,595
Panama 10,423 4,455 -- -- -- 200 990 990 -- 894 -- -- 175 -- -- -- 2,719
Paraguay 13,313 -- -- -- 2,884 4,385 1,980 -- -- -- -- -- 1,010 -- -- -- 3,054
Peru 144,340 106,920 -- -- 14,213 9,369 2,765 -- -- -- -- -- 205 -- 8,250 -- 2,618
Suriname 1,883 -- -- -- -- -- -- 99 -- 196 -- -- 100 -- -- -- 1,488
Trinidad and Tobago 234 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 234 -- -- -- --
Venezuela 5,910 2,229 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,681 --
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caribbean Regional 11,326 -- -- -- 6,435 4,891 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Central America 16,832 -- -- -- 6,167 10,665 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Regional
Latin America and Caribbean Regional 80,055 -- -- -- 8,317 71,738 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
South America 1,485 -- -- -- -- 1,485 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Regional
Western Hemisphere 32,955 -- -- -- -- -- 26,070 3,960 -- -- 2,475 -- 450 -- -- -- --
Regional
========================================================================================================================================================================================================================================
Bureau of International Security and 169,813 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 169,813 -- -- -- --
Nonproliferation
CTBT International Monitoring System 14,207 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 14,207 -- -- -- --
Export Control and Related Border Security 16,907 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 16,907 -- -- -- --
Assistance
Global Threat Reduction (formerly NWMDE) 52,074 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 52,074 -- -- -- --
International Atomic Energy Agency Voluntary 49,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 49,500 -- -- -- --
Contribution
Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund 37,125 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 37,125 -- -- -- --
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau of Political and Military Affairs 128,311 -- -- -- -- -- -- 43,065 -- 4,623 -- -- 18,239 62,384 -- -- --
FMF Admin 41,085 -- -- -- -- -- -- 41,085 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Military Health Affairs 1,980 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,980 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
IMET Admin 4,623 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 4,623 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Global Peace Operations Initiative 43,384 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 43,384 -- -- --
Multinational Force and Observers 19,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 19,000 -- -- --
Humanitarian Demining Program 7,890 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 7,890 -- -- -- --
International Trust Fund 9,900 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 9,900 -- -- -- --
Small Arms/Light Weapons Destruction 449 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 449 -- -- -- --
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration 817,740 -- -- -- -- -- 4,950 -- -- -- -- 783,090 -- -- -- -- 29,700
Administrative Expenses 21,285 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 21,285 -- -- -- -- --
Humanitarian Migrants to Israel 39,600 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 39,600 -- -- -- -- --
Migration 12,889 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 12,889 -- -- -- -- --
Refugee Admissions 159,440 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 159,440 -- -- -- -- --
Strategic Global Priorities 66,624 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 66,624 -- -- -- -- --
MRA--Africa 245,486 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 245,486 -- -- -- -- --
MRA--East Asia 22,594 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 22,594 -- -- -- -- --
MRA--Europe 43,429 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 43,429 -- -- -- -- --
MRA--Near East 97,215 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 97,215 -- -- -- -- --
MRA--South Asia 50,193 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 50,193 -- -- -- -- --
MRA--Western Hemisphere 24,335 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 24,335 -- -- -- -- --
US Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance 29,700 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 29,700
(ERMA)
Wheelchair Fund (PRM) 4,950 -- -- -- -- -- 4,950 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau of International Narcotics and Law 170,550 43,830 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 126,720 -- -- -- -- -- --
Enforcement Affairs
Air Bridge Denial Program 13,860 13,860 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Critical Flight Safety Program 29,970 29,970 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Anticrime Programs 10,395 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 10,395 -- -- -- -- -- --
Civilian Police Programs 1,980 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,980 -- -- -- -- -- --
Demand Reduction 9,900 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 9,900 -- -- -- -- -- --
International Law Enforcement Academies 15,840 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 15,840 -- -- -- -- -- --
International Organizations 3,960 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,960 -- -- -- -- -- --
Interregional Aviation Support 62,865 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 62,865 -- -- -- -- -- --
Trafficking in Persons 4,950 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 4,950 -- -- -- -- -- --
Program Development and Support 16,830 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 16,830 -- -- -- -- -- --
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau of Democracy Human Rights and Labor 94,050 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 94,050
Democracy Fund 94,050 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 94,050
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau of Oceans and International 7,920 -- -- -- -- -- 7,920 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Asia--Pacific Partnership 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Oceans, Environmental and Science Initiative 6,920 -- -- -- -- -- 6,920 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in 11,880 -- -- -- -- -- 11,880 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Persons
Trafficking in Persons 11,880 -- -- -- -- -- 11,880 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism 46,327 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 46,327 -- -- -- --
Anti-Terrorism Assistance 43,555 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 43,555 -- -- -- --
Counter Terrorism Engagement with Allies 990 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 990 -- -- -- --
Counter Terrorism Financing 1,086 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,086 -- -- -- --
Terrorist Interdiction Program 696 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 696 -- -- -- --
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator 639,384 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 639,384 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Central Programs 285,232 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 285,232 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
International Partnerships 227,700 -- -- -- -- -- -- 227,700 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Other Bilateral Programs 50,552 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 50,552 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Strategic Information/Evaluation 31,185 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 31,185 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Technical Oversight and Management 44,715 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 44,715 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
USAID Functional Bureaus and Admin 2,008,355 -- -- -- 778,550 294,116 20,619 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --10,604 7,554 918,120
Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian 128,183 -- -- -- 2,970 107,564 17,649 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Assistance (DCHA)
DCHA Contingency 7,554 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 7,554 --
P.L. 480 Adjustment -10,604 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 10,604 -- --
International Disaster and Famine Assistance 181,560 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 181,560
(IDFA)
Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade (EGAT) 168,968 -- -- -- -- 165,998 2,970 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Global Development Alliances (GDA) 12,180 -- -- -- 300 11,880 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Global Health (GH) 320,387 -- -- -- 320,387 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
International Partnerships 452,319 -- -- -- 452,319 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Legislative & Public Affairs 1,801 -- -- -- -- 1,801 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Policy and Program Coordination (PPC) 9,447 -- -- -- 2,574 6,873 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID Development Credit Program--Subsidy [21,000] -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- [21,000]
USAID Development Credit Authority--Admin 7,920 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 7,920
USAID Operating Expense 623,700 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 623,700
USAID Capital Investment Fund 69,300 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 69,300
USAID IG Operating Expense 35,640 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 35,640
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Organization 303,888 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 303,888
Center for Human Settlements 149 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 149
IMO Maritime Security Programs 396 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 396
International Civil Aviation Organization 941 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 941
International Conservation Programs 5,890 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,890
International Contributions for Scientific, 990 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 990
Educational, and Cultural Activities
International Panel on Climate Change/UN 5,940 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,940
Framework Convention on Climate Change
Montreal Protocol Multilateral Fund 21,285 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 21,285
OAS Development Assistance Programs 4,702 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 4,702
OAS Fund for Strengthening Democracy 2,475 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,475
UN Children's Fund 125,730 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 125,730
UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) [10,000] -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- [10,000]
UN Development Fund for Women 3,218 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,218
UN Development Program 108,900 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 108,900
UN Environment Program 10,159 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 10,159
UN Office for the Coordination of 805 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 805
Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA)
UN Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation 1,485 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,485
in the Field of Human Rights
UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture 6,517 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 6,517
UNIFEM Trust Fund 1,485 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,485
World Meteorological Organization 1,881 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,881
World Trade Organization 940 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 940
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Independent Department and Agencies 2,019,859 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,019,859
African Development Foundation 22,770 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 22,770
Treasury Technical Assistance 19,800 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 19,800
Debt Restructuring 64,350 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 64,350
Export-Import Bank--Administrative Expenses 72,468 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 72,468
Export-Import Bank--Direct Loans, Negative --50,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --50,000
Subsidies
Export-Import Bank--Inspector General 990 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 990
Export-Import Bank--Loan Subsidy 74,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 74,000
Inter-American Foundation 19,305 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 19,305
Millennium Challenge Account 1,752,300 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,752,300
OPIC--Administrative Expenses 41,851 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 41,851
OPIC--Credit Subsidy 20,073 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 20,073
OPIC--Net Offsetting Collections --223,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --223,000
Peace Corps Other 154,561 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 154,561
Trade and Development Agency 50,391 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 50,391
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Financial Institutions 1,277,236 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,277,236
Global Environment Facility 79,200 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 79,200
International Development Association 940,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 940,500
Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency 1,287 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,287
Asian Development Fund 99,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 99,000
African Development Fund 134,343 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 134,343
African Development Bank 3,602 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,602
European Bank for Reconstruction and 1,006 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,006
Development
Enterprise for the Americas Multilateral 1,724 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,724
Investment Fund
Inter-American Investment Corporation 1,724 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,724
International Fund for Agricultural 14,850 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 14,850
Development
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Other: ERMA, IDFA, DF, IRRF, Peace Corps, U.S. ID administrative accounts, International Financial Institutions, International Organizations and Programs, and Independent Agencies
Note: The table includes total allocations of Foreign Operations programs and P.L. 480 Title II.
FY 2006 Supplemental
($ in thousands)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Country/Account Summary TOTAL CSH DA ESF IDFA INCLE MRA PKO PL 480 DF IRRF Other*
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FY 2006 SUPPLEMENTAL 2,881,030 113,000 16,500 1,681,00 217,630 107,700 75,700 178,000 350,000 22,500 5,000 114,000
0
================================================================================================================================================================================================
Africa 589,800 -- -- 50,000 66,300 -- -- 121,000 350,000 2,500 -- --
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Democratic Republic of the Congo--Democracy Fund 2,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,500 -- --
Ethiopia 21,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 21,500 -- -- --
Kenya 49,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 49,500 -- -- --
Liberia 50,000 -- -- 50,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Somalia 54,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 54,000 -- -- --
Sudan 407,300 -- -- -- 66,300 -- -- 116,000 225,000 -- -- --
Africa Regional 5,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,000 -- -- -- --
================================================================================================================================================================================================
Near East 1,646,400 -- -- 1,530,00 -- 91,400 -- -- -- 20,000 5,000 --
0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iran--Democracy Fund 20,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 20,000 -- --
Iraq 1,571,400 -- -- 1,480,00 -- 91,400 -- -- -- -- -- --
0
Jordan 50,000 -- -- 50,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund 5,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,000 --
================================================================================================================================================================================================
South and Central Asia 99,300 5,300 10,500 83,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afghanistan 43,000 -- -- 43,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Pakistan 56,300 5,300 10,500 40,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
================================================================================================================================================================================================
Western Hemisphere 42,300 2,500 6,000 17,500 -- 16,300 -- -- -- -- -- --
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colombia 16,300 -- -- -- -- 16,300 -- -- -- -- -- --
Guatemala 6,000 -- 6,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Haiti 20,000 2,500 -- 17,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
================================================================================================================================================================================================
Bureau of Political and Military Affairs 57,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- 57,000 -- -- -- --
Global Peace Operations Initiative 57,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- 57,000 -- -- -- --
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration 75,700 -- -- -- -- -- 75,700 -- -- -- -- --
Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) 75,700 -- -- -- -- -- 75,700 -- -- -- -- --
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
USAID 357,530 105,200 -- -- 151,330 -- -- -- -- -- -- 101,000
Global Health--Avian Influenza (GH) 105,200 105,200 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
DCHA Contingency 151,330 -- -- -- 151,330 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
USAID Operating Expenses (OE) 101,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 101,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Department of Treasury 13,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 13,000
Treasury Technical Assistance 13,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 13,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Other: U.S. ID OE and Treasury Technical Assistance
APPENDIX F
----------
UN General Assembly's Third Committee Country Resolution Votes--2006
----------
UN General Assembly's Third Committee Country Resolution Votes--2006
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Belarus Burma DPRK Iran
---------------------------------------------------------------
05 06 05 06 05 06 05 06
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afganistan...................................... y y y y n n
Albania......................................... y y y y y y
Algeria......................................... n n a n n n
Andorra......................................... y y y y y y
Angola.......................................... a a a a a a
Antigua-Barbuda................................. a a a a a a
Argentina....................................... y y y y y y
Armenia......................................... n y n n
Australia....................................... y y y y y y
Austria......................................... y y y y y y
Azerbaijan...................................... n y a n n
Bahamas......................................... a a a a a a
Bahrain......................................... a a a a n n
Bangladesh...................................... n n a a n n
Barbados........................................ a a a a a a
Belarus......................................... n n n n n n
Belgium......................................... y y y y y y
Belize.......................................... a a y y y y
Benin........................................... a a a a a a
Bhutan.......................................... a a y y a a
Bolivia......................................... y y y y y a
Bosnia/Herzeg................................... y y y y y a
Botswana........................................ a a a a a a
Brazil.......................................... a y y y a a
Brunei Dar-Salam................................ a n a a n n
Bulgaria........................................ y y y y y y
Burkina Faso.................................... a a a a a a
Burundi......................................... a y a a a y
Cambodia........................................ n a a
Cameroon........................................ a a a a a a
Canada.......................................... y y y y y y
Cape Verde...................................... a a a a a
Central Afr Rep................................. a a a
Chad............................................
Chile........................................... y y y y y y
China........................................... n n n n n n
Colombia........................................ a a a a a a
Comoros......................................... y n
Congo........................................... a n a a
Costa Rica...................................... a a y a y a
Cote D'ivoire................................... a a a a a a
Croatia......................................... y y y y y y
Cuba............................................ n n n n n n
Cyprus.......................................... y y y y y y
Czech Republic.................................. y y y y y y
Dem Rep of Korea................................ n n n n n n
Dem Rep of Congo................................ n n a a a n
Denmark......................................... y y y y y y
Djibouti........................................ a a a a n n
Dominica........................................
Dominican Rep................................... y y y y y y
Ecuador......................................... a y y y y y
Egypt........................................... n n n n n n
El Salvador..................................... y y y y y y
Equat Guinea.................................... a y
Eritrea......................................... a a a a a a
Estonia......................................... y y a y y y
Ethiopia........................................ n a a a a a
Fiji............................................ y a y y y y
Finland......................................... y y y y y y
France.......................................... y y y y y y
Gabon...........................................
Gambia.......................................... n n
Georgia......................................... y y y a
Germany......................................... y y y y y y
Ghana........................................... a a a y a a
Greece.......................................... y y y y y y
Grenada.........................................
Guatemala....................................... y y y y y y
Guinea.......................................... a n n n n
Guinea-Bissau................................... a a a y a
Guyana.......................................... a a a a a a
Haiti........................................... a a y a y a
Honduras........................................ y y y y y y
Hungary......................................... y y y y y y
Iceland......................................... y y y y y y
India........................................... n n a a n n
Indonesia....................................... n n n n n n
Iran (Islamic Rep).............................. n n n n n n
Iraq............................................ y y a
Ireland......................................... y y y y y y
Israel.......................................... y y y y y y
Italy........................................... y y y y y y
Jamaica......................................... a a a a a a
Japan........................................... y y y y y y
Jordan.......................................... a a a a a
Kazakhstan...................................... n a y y n n
Kenya........................................... a a a a a a
Kiribati........................................ y y
Kuwait.......................................... a a a a n n
Kyrgyzstan...................................... n a a a n n
Lao Rep......................................... a n n n a a
Latvia.......................................... y y y y y y
Lebanon......................................... n y y n n
Lesotho......................................... a a a a a a
Liberia......................................... a
Libyan AJ....................................... n n n n n n
Liechtenstein................................... y y y y y y
Lithuania....................................... y y y y y y
Luxembourg...................................... y y y y y y
Madagascar...................................... a a a a
Malawi.......................................... a a y a
Malaysia........................................ n n n a n n
Maldives........................................ y y n n
Mali............................................ a a a a a a
Malta........................................... y y y y y y
Marshall Islands................................ y y y y y y
Mauritania...................................... a a a n n
Maurtius........................................ a y a a a a
Mexico.......................................... a y y y y a
Micronesia (FS)................................. y y y y y y
Moldova......................................... y y y y y y
Monaco.......................................... y y y y y y
Mongolia........................................ a y a a
Montenegro...................................... y y y y
Morocco......................................... n y a y n n
Mozambique...................................... a a a a a a
Myanmar......................................... n n n n n n
Namibia......................................... a a a n a a
Nauru........................................... y y y y y
Nepal........................................... a a a a a a
Netherlands..................................... y y y y y y
New Zealand..................................... y y y y y y
Nicaragua....................................... y y y y y y
Niger........................................... a a a a n n
Nigeria......................................... a a a a a a
Norway.......................................... y y y y y y
Oman............................................ n n
Pakistan........................................ n n a a n n
Palau........................................... y y y y y y
Panama.......................................... a y y y a a
Papua N Guinea.................................. a a y y y a
Paraguay........................................ y y y y y y
Peru............................................ y y y y y y
Philippines..................................... a a a y a a
Poland.......................................... y y y y y y
Portugal........................................ y y y y y y
Qatar........................................... n a a a n n
Rep of Korea.................................... y y a y a a
Romania......................................... y y y y y y
Russian Federation.............................. n n n n n n
Rwanda.......................................... a a a a a
St Kitts-Nevis.................................. a
Saint Lucia..................................... a n
St Vincent-Grenedines........................... y y
Samoa........................................... a a y y y y
San Marino...................................... y y y y y y
Sao Tome Principe...............................
Saudi Arabia.................................... a a y y n n
Senegal......................................... a a a a n n
Serbia.......................................... y y y y y y
Seychelles......................................
Sierra Leone.................................... a a a a a a
Singapore....................................... a a a a a a
Slovakia........................................ y y y y y y
Slovenia........................................ y y y y y y
Solomon Islands................................. a a a y y y
Somalia......................................... n
South Africa.................................... n a a a n n
Spain........................................... y y y y y y
Sri Lanka....................................... a a a a n n
Sudan........................................... n n n n n n
Suriname........................................ a a a a a a
Swaziland....................................... a a n a n a
Sweden.......................................... y y y y y y
Switzerland..................................... y y y y y y
Syrian AR....................................... n n y n n n
Tajikistan...................................... n n n n n
Thailand........................................ a a a a a a
The FYR Macedonia............................... y y y y y y
Timor-Leste..................................... y y y y y
Togo............................................ a a a n n n
Tonga........................................... y y y y y
Trinidad-Tobago................................. a a a a
Tunisia......................................... a n n
Turkey.......................................... y y y y
Turkmenistan.................................... a a n a n a
Tuvalu.......................................... y y y y y y
Uganda.......................................... a a a a a a
Ukraine......................................... y y y y y y
U A Emirates.................................... a a a a a a
United Kingdom.................................. y y y y y y
U R Tanzania.................................... a a a a a a
United States................................... y y y y y y
Uruguay......................................... y y y y a
Uzbekistan...................................... n n n n n n
Vanuatu......................................... a y y
Venezuela....................................... n n n n n n
Vietnam......................................... n n n n n n
Yemen........................................... a a a a n n
Zambia.......................................... a a a a a a
Zimbabwe........................................ n n n n n n
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Final Vote
yes......................................... 70 79 84 91 77 70
no.......................................... 31 28 22 21 51 48
abstain..................................... 67 63 62 60 46 55
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX G
----------
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
----------
Preamble
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the
equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family
is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have
resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience
of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings
shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear
and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the
common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to
have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny
and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the
rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of
friendly relations between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the
Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in
the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal
rights of men and women and have determined to promote social
progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve,
in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of
universal respect for and observance of human rights and
fundamental freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms
is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this
pledge,
Now, therefore, The General Assembly, proclaims this
Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of
achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that
every individual and every organ of society, keeping this
Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and
education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and
by progressive measures, national and international, to secure
their universal and effective recognition and observance, both
among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the
peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should
act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set
forth in this Declaration, without distinction of an kind, such
as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other
status.
Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of
the political, jurisdictional or international status of the
country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be
independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other
limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of
person.
Article 4
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and
the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a
person before the law.
Article 7
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any
discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled
to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of
this Declaration and against any incitement to such
discrimination.
Article 8
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the
competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental
rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or
exile.
Article 10
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public
hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the
determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal
charge against him.
Article 11
1. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to
be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a
public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary
for his defence.
2. No one shall be held guilty without any limitation due
to race, of any penal offence on account of nationality or
religion, have the any act or omission which did not constitute
a penal offence, under national or international law, at the
time when it was committed.
Article 12
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with
his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks
upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the
protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and
residence within the borders of each state.
2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including
his own, and to return to his country.
Article 14
1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other
countries asylum from persecution.
2. This right may not be invoked in the case of
prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or
from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United
Nations.
Article 15
1. Everyone has the right to a nationality.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality
nor be denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 16
1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to
race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to
found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to
marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and
full consent of the intending spouses.
3. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of
society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 17
1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as
in association with others.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience
and religion; this right includes freedom to change his
religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community
with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion
or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and
expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless of
frontiers.
Article 20
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly
and association.
2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21
1. Everyone has the right to take part in the Government of
his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
2. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service
in his country.
3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the
authority of government; this will shall be expressed in
periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and
equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by
equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22
1. Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to
social security and is entitled to realization, through
national effort and international cooperation and in accordance
with the organization and resources of each State, of the
economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his
dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23
1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of
employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to
protection against unemployment.
2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to
equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable
remuneration insuring for himself and his family an existence
worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by
other means of social protection.
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions
for the protection of his interests.
Article 24
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including
reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays
with pay.
Article 25
1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate
for the health and well-being of himself and of his family,
including food, clothing, housing and medical care and
necessary social services, and the right to security in the
event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age
or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his
control.
2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care
and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of
wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26
1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be
free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages.
Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and
professional education shall be made generally available and
higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the
basis of merit.
2. Education shall be directed to the full development of
the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for
human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote
understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations,
racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of
the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of
education that shall be given to their children.
Article 27
1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the
cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share
in scientific advancement and its benefits.
2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral
and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary
or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in
which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can
be fully realized.
Article 29
1. Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the
free and full development of his personality is possible.
2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone
shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by
law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and
respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting
the just requirements of morality, public order and the general
welfare in a democratic society.
3. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised
contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying
for any State, group or person any right to engage in any
activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any
of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
Hundred and eighty-third plenary meeting
Resolution 217(A)(III) of the United Nations General Assembly,
December 10, 1948
(THIS MATERIAL IS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND MAY BE REPRINTED WITHOUT
PERMISSION; CITATION OF THIS SOURCE IS APPRECIATED.)